{FFWD} curied chicken, peppers, and peas en papillote

What? Friday already. Where does each week go? I simply run out of days – until I remember it’s Friday and I need to at least look at the recipe for French Friday. This week was one I have had marked for a while.

Colorful! Easy! Very Good! Slices of chicken along with peas, red peppers, and red onions tossed with curry powder and oil. Wrapped in foil and baked. A quick lunch.

I only made 1/2 of recipe but I kept the same amount of Curry Powder – 1 Tbl – which I plan to increase {Thanks to my Friend, Nancy, I have some homemade curry powder.} next time I make this because I love the flavor. (I might also add some ‘shrooms.)

You can visit the other “Doristas” and check out their Curry Packets.

IF you want to try it for yourself the recipe is on page 221 of Dorie’s around my French table

 

{FFwD} Gâteau Basque

I know I haven’t been in on the Friday Fun lately. Life has been too crazy. And I have been in a cooking/baking funk. Seeing this week’s choice kinda brought me out of it. And while I was expecting more of a cake that fact that it was a filled, with cherry jam, giant cookie was just fine with me.

According to Dorie this gâteau is a ‘double crusted tart, one in which the crust is like butter cookies.” Bingo! Perfect quick and tasty dessert.

It was good with just a little whipped cream. Even better with some home made vanilla ice cream.

You can see the rest of the Gâteaus on French Fridays with Dorie.

If you want to try the recipe it is on NPR but you REALLY need to get Dorie’s Around my French Table for your bookshelf

 

{FFwD} tuna rillettes

What is it about French that makes so many things sound romantic, or elegant, or complicated? Like this Tuna RILLETTE! which is really a richly spiced tuna salad. No mayo, but cream. Shallots. Curry powder, yes, curry powder and a pinch of allspice. Not your mama’s tuna salad. Instead of just spreading it on bread, I served it Hors d’oeuvre style with some toasted herb and spinach tortilla chips.

Pretty tasty! I increased the curry powder and the allspice because we like to really taste the spices. Oh, yeah! Good stuff. Thanks, Dorie, for upping the value of tuna ‘salad’.

Check with the other Doristas and their rillettes.

The recipe is on page 28 of Dorie’s around my french table

 

{FFwD} quiche maraîchère

Which translates into darn good fresh veggie quiche!! Lots of leeks {first time fresh from MY garden}, sweet peppers, celery, carrots, and very, very little custard.

One of my favorite things to make is quiche. But I don’t make them as often as I would like because they usually call for TONS of eggs. Not this one – one whole egg and one yolk. {I used two whole eggs instead.} That’s it!! And some cream. I am wondering if I can use this little bit of custard in some other quiches!

While the veggies and custard were VERY tasty, the star of the show was the Gruyère sprinkled on top. The smoky flavor just took the quiche to a much higher level!! I will be very sad when this one is gone….oh, wait, I can make another. Maybe with some squash this summer from the garden, or eggplant, or Romas, or…shoot, the possibilities are endless.

More quiche can be found on French Fridays with Dorie and the recipe is on page 158 in Dorie’s around my French table.

 

{FFwD} Visitandine

Visit…what? Interesting! A white cake. A little like a sponge cake. A good base for just about anything you might want. According to Nick Malgierei,

“The cakes don’t derive from an ancient Hebrew recipe, but were originated in the convent of a community of French nuns called the Sisters of the Visitation, colloquially known in French as the “Visitandines.”

Just an interesting tidbit. I wondered why they were called Visitandines.

Easy to make I ended up with three 4 1/2″ ‘tarts’ from the full recipe.

I just think the fluted sides make a cake rather elegant. I plan to use one for Strawberry Shortcake

and will figure out what to do with the other two later. Ice Cream Sundae? Little Frosted Cake? We’ll see!! {But had to go out of town unexpectedly so all you have for now is cake. I’ll let you know what I use them for!}

The recipe is on page 436 of Dorie’s around my french table

And see what the other Doristas did with their Visitandines.

 

{FFwD}This tart was a fine thing….

It isn’t often, okay, its never, that I serve a pre-dinner snack. And a French one at that. Tonite it was differnt. Tonite we had a fine little tart just before we ate. Puff pastry, onions, bacon, scallops. All these came together in Dorie’s scallop and onion tartes finesWhat wonderful flavors these were. Just the fragrance of the soft caramelizing onions was enticing, but then you add the bacon and … Well, what can I say. Baked rounds of puff pastry are topped with an onion and bacon mixture. These are topped with slivers of scallop. While Dorie used raw scallops and then warmed the whole thing in a very hot oven I sliced and then quickly seared my scallops first. It definitely enhanced the flavor of the scallops. I did this because I wanted to make sure the scallops were done. And the Hubs does not like undercooked seafood.

If you would like to see other Tartes Fines click on over the French Fridays with Dorie.

The recipe is in Dorie Greenspan’s around my french table on page 168

 

{FFFwD} Still Soup Weather in the South!

This has been a crazy winter.

Snow.
Heat.

Snow.

Rain.

Heat.
Snow

etc etc. Even for Louisiana it is weird weather!!

So while it is still on the cool side I was glad to try one more soup. This one from Dorie’s around my french table for French Fridays with Dorie. this time…

Dorie describes this s rustic. A soup that would, “sit on the back of the stove…until it was thick enough for a heavy spoon to stand upright in it.” And that is an apt description. So much good stuff in this soup it is almost a stew: cabbage, navy beans, carrots, onions, celery leeks, potatoes, sausage, and pork. All coming together in a delicious soup. There is supposed to be duck in the soup but when I pulled mine from the freezer it was beyond use. Next time. Any way, step by step the soup is built. Brown the pork roast and then put it in the pot with the broth and veggies. After a couple of hours it is done. Shred the pork and add it back in. Sausage, too. I do think next time I will brown the sausage first just to add some more depth, and color!!

It was very filling, very flavorful, very much repeatable. With some toasted corn muffins it was the perfect supper for a very cool, not cold anymore, winter night. I would like to try it in the crockpot and Liz has a link on her site for that. If you want the recipe – Liz has it on site, That Skinny Chick Can Bake. Or in Dorie’s book on page 86 in AMFT.

Check with the other Doristas and their soups.

 

{FFwD} Not yo’ Mama’s Pancakes!!

When I think of Paris, I think of crepes. Thin, lacy, delicate little pancakes folded and filled with….just about anything. Elegant, warm, exquisite little pockets of sweetness. Dorie’s recipe for Butter and Rum Crepes: plain and fancy calls for cinnamon sugar filling, or lemon curd. I had some honey caramel in the cabinet and some chocolate syrup. Perfect for dessert. Especially with whipped cream on top.

The crepe batter contains citrus zest and rum. I only had orange so I left out the suggested lemon zest. The rum, which you can use instead of vanilla, was rather subtle.

I was leery of making these but they turned out to be quite simple and the results were better than I expected.

The recipe is in Dorie’s around my French table on page 411. Check with the other Doristas for their crepes.

 

{FFWD} baked apples with fruits and nuts

Sometimes all you really want for dessert is something light and sweet. Not cake, not pie, not cupcakes. Fruit would work. Not fresh, but baked. Like Dorie’s baked apples filled with fruits and nuts.

Simple. Filling. NOT heavy. Perfect.

Apples are cored, filled with butter, fruit, and nuts. Then topped with the reduced sauce (apple juice and butter) and just a little whipped cream. Yes, it was good!

I used chopped pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, and KAF fruit cake chopped fruit. The apples baked for about 50 minutes but could have gone a little longer.

The recipe is on page 394 of Dorie’s around my french table

And find out how the other Frenchy Doristas felt about this little treat.

 

{FFWD} pasta risotto

Mac and Cheese!

I can do Mac and cheese.
Even when it’s call dressy pasta ‘risotto’! Next time you want to make mac and cheese, instead of your regular ingredients. use chicken broth, mascarpone, and Parm. And lots of pepper!

This was nice and creamy and peppery. It was perfect with B’s ribs on New Years Day. Along with the cabbage and black eyed peas.

The only thing I would change would be to use less Parm cheese. We like it, but not THAT much (1/2 cup).

The recipe is on page369 of Dorie’s around my French table

And the rest of the Dorista’s mac and cheese can be found HERE!!