Almond Sole Meunière

French Friday with Dorie

This week's recipe is supposed to be Almond Flounder Meunière, but we can't get flounder on the West Coast. I looked for an alternative fish on my Seafood Watch app from Monterey Bay Aquarium and it suggested wild caught Pacific Sole. And by sheer coincidence, John and I stopped by Costco on the way home from work Monday night and lo and behold they had some wild caught Pacific Dover Sole! 

Dorie states in her intro that this dish is a blend of sole amandine because of the almonds in the recipe and sole meunière because it is cooked in brown butter and garnished with parsley. She made this with flounder because on the East Coast that is easier to find. I remember when I was a teenager in South Carolina going out to lunch with my best friend and she ordered fish almondine every time we went out. EVERY TIME. I liked it and ordered it occasionally, but she was obsessed with it. I don't know if it was because I was thinking back to those teenage years, when I started cooking the fish, or if I was distracted thinking about work, but whatever the reason I found myself dipping the fish into the beaten egg and then rolling it into the ground almonds before slipping them into the hot skillet with the browned butter. As soon as I did that I woke up from my reverie and knew that I made a mistake. The sole is so delicate that it fell apart from the weight of the egg and almonds. It was not a complete disaster because I just finished cooking the pieces of sole and set them aside for tacos because I knew that's how we would end up eating them anyway.

With the three remaining sole filets I followed the recipe exactly and they didn't fall apart. I garnished them with toasted sliced almonds and a little bit of parsley and some lemon wedges on the side. We thought this was a nice change - the sole was light, and tasty with the brown butter and ground almonds, and the crunch and taste of the almond slices made it extra special.

See what kind of fish the rest of the group used in this recipe over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Navarin Printanier

French Friday with Dorie

Navarin Printanier means lamb stew with spring vegetables and it is a classic slow braised dish served during the Easter season. Lamb is a meat of choice for us, especially in the spring, so I was really happy when I saw this recipe was on the schedule and it did not disappoint. After going to several grocery stores only to find leg of lamb and lamb shanks, I finally found some local lamb stew meat from a farm in Davis, CA at BelAir. 

Small white onions, carrots, and small bits of turnip are cooked in a sugar glaze until browned and then added to lightly seasoned pieces of lamb that has been cooked in broth for 15 minutes. Along with some small potatoes, the stew simmers on the stove for another 15 minutes before finishing off in the oven for 30 minutes. Lucky for us the temperatures dropped from 90 over the weekend to high 60s by mid-week, so this was a perfect dinner choice.

I started preparing this dish after I got home from work and served dinner in just over 2 hours. This was a warm and satisfying meal on a cool spring evening. The lamb was tender and delectable and the sauce, although a simple beef broth base, gave this lamb and vegetables so much flavor. This was a hit with all of us and my daughter declared it a keeper recipe.

See what the rest of the group thought over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Coconut Friands

French Friday with Dorie

Do you like to eat a little something sweet with your cup of tea or coffee? Then these coconut friands are just the treat for you. Dorie's friands are little tea cakes made with egg whites, unsweetened coconut, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla extract and melted butter - and are perfect little bites that take hardly any time to prepare.

A few years ago I bought these molds that were made in Sweden at the American Cancer Society thrift store, so I decided this recipe would be a good one to try with the molds. I also decided to make some of the friands with raspberries when Dorie suggested that friands were good with little bits of fruit.

And I made some with just coconut because I knew John would probably like these the best and he did, although he thought the ones with raspberries were also delicious. My daughter and I liked both versions, but we particularly liked the ones with raspberries because the raspberries gave the friand a lovely little sweet tanginess. What is also tasty is that as they bake they develop a crunchy coating and so when you bite into them you taste a sweet crunchy top along with moist coconut cake. 

The only difficult thing about these tea cakes is keeping yourself from eating an entire plateful.

You can see rest of the group's friands by following the links over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Sardine Rillettes

French Friday with Dorie

When I see a can of sardines or anchovies it reminds me of my dad because he loved eating those little fish. I remember small stacks of those tins in our pantry when I was growing up, but you won't find them in my pantry - only when there is a FFwD recipe on the schedule will they make a very brief appearance. So, for this week's recipe I decided to buy just one can of sardines because I knew that I wouldn't be eating more than a nibble and wasn't sure if anyone else would like this recipe.

Of course not realizing it, I bought a can that needed to be deboned. It wasn't that difficult to do, but it was more handling of the sardines than I really would have preferred. The rillettes consist of cream cheese, a little chopped onion, minced white and light green parts of a scallion, lemon juice from half a lemon, and salt and pepper. I snipped some parsley and chives from my herb garden and minced those before adding to the mixture. When I took a little taste before putting the rillettes in the fridge to chill, I didn't think it tasted that bad.

I toasted some thin slices of wheat bread and cut the crusts off to serve the sardine rillettes. I also chopped some green onion and finely minced serrano pepper to add a little heat and give it some visual appeal. I ate one and that was enough for me. All I could taste was sardine with a little hint of onion. John ate the rest and said he thought it tasted like tuna fish and really liked it with the serrano pepper. He said that he would prefer to eat it as a regular-size sandwich with his pepper on the side (this is how he always eats tuna fish). He really liked the cream cheese instead of the mayonnaise in tuna fish. The jury is still out where my daughter is concerned because she won't be able to give this a try until Friday afternoon. Even though she looked at me like I was crazy when I told her what was on the schedule this week, she doesn't mind eating sardines at all, so I have a feeling I will be in the minority opinion on this dish.

See what the rest of the group thought about sardine rillettes over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Asparagus and Bits of Bacon

French Friday with Dorie

While making this week's dish I felt like it was déjà vu and then I remembered it was pretty much the same preparation for the asparagus in the Bacon and Egg Asparagus Salad we made last year. I don't really enjoy peeling the asparagus, but it sure makes the asparagus cook faster. It would have been easier to peel thicker stalks, but a bunch of thin asparagus was in our farm fresh csa box this week. Perfect timing!

I wish I could tell you, though, what this recipe tasted like as written, but when Dorie said to set aside the walnut oil and lemon juice mixture - that's exactly what I did. And I forgot about it. But, I can tell you that even without this mixture the asparagus and bits of bacon and onion was pretty tasty.

After a busy week at work and coming home tired every night, it was nice to have a simple recipe to prepare. We nibbled on this with leftovers from the previous night, but it would be a perfect side for so many main dishes. 

See what the others thought about it over at French Fridays with Dorie. Next week's recipe is Sardine Rillettes. Now that should be interesting!

Crab and Grapefruit Salad

French Friday with Dorie

This week's recipe was not one I was particularly looking forward to making, not because I don't care for crab, because I do, but the combination of crab and grapefruit together did not appeal to me. However, I should have expected by now that when I feel this way about one of Dorie's recipes I usually end up liking it far more than I expected. It was certainly the case with this salad.

I haven't had ruby grapefruit in a very long time, so when we were at Trader Joe's a few days ago I bought a bag of them. I'm really glad I did because John has eaten almost all of them. I also bought my lump crab there and at $8.99 for 8 oz. I decided that it would be plenty for the two of us. I had some red bell pepper in the freezer, so I let it thaw, chopped a few slices, and added it to the salad along with a seeded cucumber, a seeded and minced serrano pepper and a scallion. I mixed in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and a tablespoon of grapefruit juice, along with some salt and white pepper and gently tossed the salad. 

I shook a few drops of Tabasco sauce on top and garnished with spearmint leaves. 

The Tabasco and serrano pepper gave the salad just the right amount of heat and was a perfect balance to the cold crab meat and tart grapefruit. John really enjoyed it and said it reminded him of Mexican shrimp cocktail. He added more Tabasco sauce to his. I was really surprised at how much I liked this. It was cool and refreshing and for me it was a complete meal. This would be a perfect salad to serve on a hot summer day.

Visit French Fridays with Dorie to check out the other crab and grapefruit salads. 

Cocoa Sablés

French Friday with Dorie

Dorie states in the intro to this recipe that sablé means sandy and that it describes the slightly crumbly texture. What I like about these cookies is that you can make them ahead of time, roll them up and keep them in the fridge until you are ready to slice and bake them. And that's just what I did.

The dough comes together easily in the stand mixer. I used Valrhona cocoa powder in mine and also chopped some Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate so there would be little pieces of chocolate throughout the dough. I cut the dough in half and made two rolls and left them in the fridge for a few days. One of the rolls I put in the freezer to slice and bake for another time. 

I tried to cut my slices about 1/4 inch thick, but some of the thicknesses varied. Half of the roll I baked plain and the other half I brushed egg yolk on and rolled it in sanding sugar. While both versions were delicious, I think all of us, except John, preferred the sugar-edged cocoa sablés.

But no matter which way you prefer them, they are one tasty cookie. They are a buttery rich melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cookie and the sugar-edged ones have a nice little crunch.

I think these would taste fantastic rolled in some fleur de sel. Check out what the others did with this week's recipe over at French Fridays with Dorie. You can find this recipe on pp. 402-403 in Around My French Table.

Cheese-topped Onion Soup

French Fridays er...Monday with Dorie

I hated missing French Friday this past week. Just hated it, but I had one of those weeks where I couldn't find the time to make this soup and I wanted the time to make it. Little did I know that I really needed the time. I have never made French Onion Soup at home, but it is my very favorite soup and it is always the soup of choice when we eat out. I have wanted to make Julia Child's French Onion soup forever, but I just haven't gotten around to it. That is why I really like French Fridays with Dorie - because I do get around to making some of those recipes that I have always wanted to try and I didn't want to miss out on this one.

So instead of making it by Friday, I made it on Saturday. When I read through the recipe, Dorie says that it would take 'an hour or more' to caramelize the onions. I have caramelized an onion or two before and, no sweat, but, I have never caramelized six LARGE onions before and didn't realize that on my stove it would take an eternity for my onions to achieve that lovely, caramel brown color. I started chopping and thinly slicing my onions at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday evening and put them on the lowest setting before warm on my stove and would come back and stir every so often. They just remained a pale white, and slowly turned to a muted color. John was a good sport (when isn't he?) and so I fixed him something else to eat. Four and a half hours later, my onions were just starting to get bits of caramelization going on the bottom of the dutch oven and slightly turning brown. By 11:00 I decided they were finally brown enough and added some flour and let it work in a little bit before adding some of the dry white wine. I used beef stock instead of the chicken stock in the recipe and the rest of the wine and let it simmer for another 30 minutes or so. At midnight, I was at the point that I just didn't care anymore, but I still went ahead and toasted my slices of baguette, added a teaspoon each of brandy to each soup bowl, ladled some soup over the brandy, topped the bowls of soup with the toasted slices and Gruyère and slid them under the broiler.

I was so tired by the time I took the soup out of the oven, that I had lost my appetite and really wasn't sure I liked the taste of the soup. John loved it and said it was much better than any french onion soup we have had in restaurants and he liked that it wasn't very salty. 

That Sunday afternoon, however, I reheated some of the soup, cut up some of the baguette into croutons and put them under the broiler to toast. I added them to the cup of soup and topped with some Gruyère and slid it under the broiler for a few minutes, sat down at the dining room table and tasted it again. It was heavenly! John was right - it tasted better than any onion soup I have ordered in a restaurant. The combination of the soup with the toasted croutons and the melted cheese was so very delicious. I don't know why it took so long for the onions to caramelize. Obviously, the lowest setting on my stove is really too low, so next time I will have to play around with the heat a little bit without burning the onions because I do want there to be a next time for making this. 

I can't wait to see the rest of the group's french onion soup over at French Fridays with Dorie. 

Mussels and Chorizo with Fettucine

French Fridays with Dorie

This was one of those meals that I knew was going to be good before I even made it. One of those messy, but delicious bread-sopping-up-sauce kind of meals. And it did not disappoint.

Since it was only going to be the two of us for dinner, I halved the recipe and bought 2 pounds of mussels. Turned out this would have been enough for 4 or more because I served it with linguine and there was enough for leftovers. I thought I would be a little squeamish scrubbing the mussels, but I only squealed once when I grabbed a mussel and it was open. I tapped it on the counter a few times and left it there thinking it must be dead, but by the time I finished scrubbing the rest of the mussels, its shell had closed. I only had to debeard three of them, so I didn't think that was bad at all. I don't think I would have enjoyed debearding all 2 pounds. 

When I served it, I left the mussels in their shells because I didn't want the linguine to get cold and we ate it for a bit and while we enjoyed it, we discovered that we enjoyed this dish much more when we scooped the mussels from their shells and could just eat the pasta, mussels, and sauce without having to fiddle with the shells. The sauce is so flavorful with tomatoes, red bell pepper, onions, garlic, some chorizo, and chardonnay.

John really enjoyed the mussels and chorizo sauce and I realized later that even though I had halved the recipe, when I added the chardonnay I used the full amount (3/4 cup), so probably had more wine and sauce than should have been, but with the pasta it was perfect. John said he would have probably enjoyed it more as a soup instead of with the pasta. I, on the other hand, really thought it was delicious with the pasta and loved the drunken sauce soaked garlic bread.

You can find this recipe on page 316 of Around My French Table. Visit the other Doristas and see what they thought of this recipe over at French Fridays with Dorie.

French Friday with Dorie: Gorgonzola-Apple Quiche

Gorgonzola dulce. Soft. Mild. Creamy. Delicious. What a delightful surprise this was in our French Friday recipe. I paired it with a sweet tart Pink Lady apple and it was a perfect combination.

I made two 4 and 1/2 inch quiches with Dorie's tart dough recipe. Her tart dough always bakes into the most beautiful, flaky pastry shell. You only need a few ingredients for the filling: onion, apple, gorgonzola dulce, heavy cream, eggs and salt and pepper to taste. That's it.

The result is a creamy, salty sweet quiche that has a slight crunch from the apple pieces. I made this for Sunday brunch and it is a quiche that I will be making again. Next time I think I will take Dorie's suggestion and throw in some toasted walnuts for a surprise and some added crunch and John thought it would be extra tasty with some finely diced green onion instead of the yellow onion I used which would also give it a bit more color. This is a recipe to have fun and play around with.

You can see what the rest of the group did with the quiche over at French Fridays with Dorie.

French Friday with Dorie: Broth-Braised Fennel

It seems to me since I started cooking along with French Fridays with Dorie over a year ago, that I have said so many times "I have never eaten this before," or "I have never fixed this before," or "I have never heard of this before." Sad, but true. It makes me wonder what on earth I have been cooking all these years. Have we just been eating the same things over and over again and didn't even realize it?! At any rate, that's what I enjoy so much about being part of this group is that I have expanded my cooking repertoire in leaps and bounds and hearing my family declare, "This is a keeper!" at the end of a meal is so very satisfying.

The recipe on the schedule for today is a perfect example. I have used fennel seeds and fresh fennel fronds in my cooking over the years, but have never used the bulb. I have seen them in the grocery stores and at the markets, and I must confess that I usually just glide right past them because although I like licorice, it is not something I choose to eat very often and I find the smell of fennel to be a little overpowering, but when I saw Dorie's Bonne Idée for making broth-braised fennel I decided we needed to bite the bullet and give it a try and so I made it instead of the potatoes.

The braising liquid consists of chicken broth, some water, a little bit of extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, a strip of lemon zest, a bay leaf, fresh thyme, and rosemary with some salt and pepper to taste. After bringing it to a boil for 5 minutes you add the fennel, cover and cook. Since my fennel bulbs were large, I quartered them, and cooked them for 20 minutes until I could pierce them with a fork.

The result was a side dish that we both loved. And actually John remarked that he could easily eat a bowl of this as a meal. I thought it would taste like licorice, but it didn't at all. Instead, it had this wonderful subtle flavor, but with layers of depth to it from braising in the aromatic sauce. John liked it so much that I found him digging around in the refrigerator the next day looking to see if there was any leftover. Needless to say, I won't be walking past it at the market any longer.

I'm eager to see what the other group members thought of this recipe. You can find their links over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Cookbook Giveaway! If you don't already have a copy of Dorie's book, Baking with Julia, I am giving away a used copy on my blog. The giveaway (see previous post) closes at midnight pacific time on Tuesday, January 31st. An entry will be selected at random to receive the book and will be announced on my blog on Wednesday, February 1st. Although used, the book is in really good condition.

French Friday with Dorie: Quatre-Quarts

I have been making pound cakes all my life, but this is the first time I have made a French version. Quatre-quarts means four-fourths and the French recipe calls for equal measures of four ingredients: eggs, butter, flour, and sugar. Dorie made the recipe easy for us by allowing for the differences between American and French flours and tweaked the French recipe a bit, so no weighing was necessary to make this basic cake.

I have always made my pound cakes in a loaf pan, but Dorie suggests using a spring form pan. Since John recently found this heart-shaped pan for me I decided to use it instead. One of the things that was different about making this than the pound cakes I am used to is that you separate the eggs and whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then fold them into the batter making this a lighter cake than the American version. And instead of using vanilla extract, I used the option of brandy which gave it an extra bit of sweetness. I really liked Dorie's sprinkling of light brown sugar on top of the cake to give it a little golden twinkle.

Since I often serve pound cake with fruit and whipped cream, I decided to do the same with the quatre-quarts. We both enjoyed it served this way, but I also really liked it plain the next morning with my morning coffee. 

Dorie said this cake would be dry by our standards, but I didn't think it was dry at all. Check out the other quatre-quarts over at French Fridays with Dorie to see what the other group members thought.