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.

BAKED Sunday Morning: Pecan Tassies

This week's BAKED Sunday Mornings recipe takes me back to South Carolina. My dad used to buy pecan tassies at the golf course where he played every weekend and bring them home for a morning treat. He and I were the only ones in the family that really enjoyed them because my mom and my brothers felt these were more like eating candy and they preferred to eat a "real" pecan pie.

These were smaller than the ones of my childhood, and not as gooey, but they did have the flavor that I remembered. The dough for the tassie shells is soft and easy to work with and the filling is just as easy to make. These were a perfect Sunday morning treat and since I only made half of the recipe they disappeared before early afternoon because it is really difficult to eat just one. We really liked these and I will be making these again and for sure adding them to my holiday baking list.

You can see what the other members thought about pecan tassies over at BAKED Sunday Mornings and you can also get the recipe while you are there.

French Friday with Dorie: M. Jacques' Armagnac Chicken

As much as I wanted to use Armagnac to make this week's French Friday with Dorie recipe, seeing that it is the name of the dish after all, when I saw that a bottle would cost around $40, I decided to use some of the brandy that I had on hand instead. And since I was subbing the Armagnac with brandy, I took Dorie's Bonne Idée and bought some prunes to add to the pot along with the herbs. These prunes were a little more expensive, but I liked that they had no preservatives and since I saved money by not spending it on the liquor I figured I could splurge on the prunes. I have never tasted Armagnac, but from Dorie's description, it sounds like it is a sweet liquor and I was hoping that the prunes would pair well with the brandy and make it a good substitution.

What I really liked about making this is that it didn't require a lot of time chopping vegetables and there is just enough olive oil to make them glisten in the pot. A sprig of rosemary, thyme, and a bay leaf, along with some salt and white pepper is all the seasoning this dish requires. I had to cook mine in the oven an extra 20 minutes because my bird was 4 lbs. and when I checked at 60 minutes it wasn't as browned as I wanted, so I left it in for another 20 minutes.

When I took the pot out of the oven, the chicken was nicely browned and there was a good amount of sauce in the pot. I removed the chicken and added less than the 1 cup of water Dorie says to in the recipe and added a little more brandy. I cooked it until it thickened and the prunes had started to melt. It smelled so wonderful throughout the house that John came in to see what was for supper.

I don't know what we missed, not making this with Armagnac, but I can't imagine it tasting better. The chicken was cooked perfectly - moist and succulent and with the vegetables in the sauce it was one of the tastiest dishes that I have fixed so far from Around My French Table. The next time I make this, even though it has potatoes - I won't skip the potatoes because they are so flavorful with this sauce - I will make a pot of sticky white rice because it would taste incredible with this sauce.

The Magic Language of Things

When I found a beautiful curved dish at a Goodwill many years ago, I had no idea that it had been designed by one of the most important woman designers in modern history. At the time, I was drawn to its shape and by the brightly colored floral pattern, and later I learned that the shape of the piece is what distinguished the designer from other designers of her time. So, when I heard that Eva Zeisel had died on December 30th at the age of 105, I was sad, but at the same time I thought what a long and illustrious life she lived. She was an industrial designer, known for her work in ceramics, and she designed into her 100s. Her design career spanned seventy-five years. Pretty amazing.

If you don't recognize her name, than perhaps you'll recognize some of her work. She designed these pieces in the 1940s and Crate and Barrel has recreated some of these pieces in a new line. Every time I walk into Crate and Barrel, I look for the gravy boat. Known for the sensual curves in her designs, Eva Zeisel often told interviewers that she was inspired by mother and child and many of her pieces resemble birds and look like a mother bird nestling her young.

The piece that I found at the Goodwill was one that she designed for Hall China in the 1950s, from her Bouquet collection. It is the celery dish in the top of the photo. Last year, I was lucky enough to find a matching plate when I was out thrifting. I was thrilled that I had found another Eva Zeisel design to add to my collection. 

I've read that Eva's work in industrial design was her 'search for beauty.' I think she found it, don't you?

You can read about Eva and her work at http://evazeiseloriginals.com/. And just a few months ago, a new book was published: Eva Zeisel on Design: The Magic Language of Things.

French Friday with Dorie: Bubble-Top Brioches

Happy First French Friday of 2012! This recipe is the perfect French recipe to begin the new year. I have always wanted to taste brioche, but never seem to find it at the stores or bakeries around here and have never made it before. Although it takes some planning ahead because you need to give the dough an overnight rest, it doesn't really take that much time to make and couldn't be easier to put together.

The only time during the process of making this bread that I had a question, was when the dough was in the stand mixer and I wasn't sure if it had gotten to the point if it was pulling away from the sides and crawling up the dough hook as Dorie describes in the book. She said the time would take about 10 minutes or so, but mine it kind of looked like it was during that after 15 minutes of mixing, so I decided to stop and hoped that it would turn out okay. I slapped it into a bowl, wrapped it in plastic and put it into the refrigerator to chill. I made this on Monday night, so having to slap the dough down every 30 minutes for 2 hours, was a little pain because I was getting tired by this time, but I certainly didn't want to skip this step.

The next day after work, I pulled the bowl out of the refrigerator and pinched some off to roll into little balls to put into the muffin pan. After letting the dough rise an hour by the window, I put the pan into the oven and 15 minutes later I had these beautiful bubble-top brioches! After letting them cool a few minutes, we tasted them and honestly we weren't that impressed because although they smelled wonderful, they didn't have a lot of flavor, but after cooling down completely and eating a few more, they started growing on us and we ended up devouring them. I even took a few to work the following morning in a zip-lock bag, and pulled it out during a meeting to have something to munch on. As soon as I unzipped the baggie the wonderful smell of yeast-risen bread filled the room. Several people glanced over, but didn't say anything as I broke off a bubble and popped it into my mouth. It was the perfect mid-morning snack - not sweet, but a light eggy taste and so pillowy soft.

I had enough dough to make several muffin pans of bubble-top brioche rolls, and one small loaf. We had freshly baked bread all week, but by far our favorite was the bubble-top loaf that we toasted lightly and ate with a smear of butter. It can't get much better than that!

Visit French Fridays with Dorie to see what the rest of the group thought of this week's recipe.

A Coloring Journal

I have long been a colorer. Ever since my mom bought me my first coloring book and crayons I have spent long hours coloring away. I even keep a coloring book and crayon set stashed in one of my desk drawers at work and take them out when I have had a stressful day and need to look at something besides a computer screen. Coloring just relaxes me. While browsing through Etsy this morning, I discovered this coloring journal for grown-ups by Cynthia Emerlye and love the idea that it mixes beautiful, complex images to color with blank pages to write down your thoughts and meditations.

I think I am ready to move on from my Suzi's Zoo coloring book. You can find Cynthia's coloring journal on her Web site and while you are there, check out her other beautiful artwork. She also sells some of her work in her Etsy shop and she has an art blog at www.EmerlyeArts.blogspot.com. Check out her lovely kirigami Valentine she just posted.