ffwd - gnocchi a la parisienne

What an interesting recipe! Cream puff dough, poached, and then blanketed in bechamel and baked. Well, in my book, anything with bechamel has to be good. Seriously, such simple ingredients. But even as I looked at the recipe, I thought this can't be good for you!!!

I decided that I would take a couple of Dorie's suggestions, and throw in a twist of my own, since the night that I was going to be making this - there was going to be no sharing involved. When we made gougeres, I loved, loved the idea that I could freeze the unbaked dough, and then pop them into the oven whenever I wanted some. So when  read Dorie's storing suggestion, I vowed to do just that. I made my choux paste, and then plopped about 2/3 of the dough by teaspoonfuls on my lined baking sheet and froze them. I also wondered how the dough would turn out if I baked it. So, for another portion, I formed nice little puffs on another sheet that I could pop in the oven. Then on to making the actual gnocchi! The process was easy, and while there were a number of steps, nothing too terribly difficult. I decided to add a little truffle salt to my sauce, thinking - how can I go wrong?? Of course, it occurred to me that a drizzle of truffle oil on top wouldn't be a bad thing either.

I ended up with a bit more sauce than gnocchi, but that was ok. I thought it was fun to have both the puffs and the gnocchi at the same time, offering some nice contrast.

Let's face it though - this dish is rich!!!! at least mine was. But the gnocchi turned out light and fluffy (even without separating the last egg), and were really lovely. Decadant comfort food, for sure. But a guilty pleasure! I was pleased that my leftovers were still pretty tasty when re-heated - maybe not really perfect, but tastly nonetheless. (I wasn't willing to toss out a single bite!). Now I'm figuring out how I'll prepare the ones I have in the freezer. Hmmm... maybe with a side of sauteed mushrooms? or it really would be good with a nice short rib braised in red wine... I think I'd like to have a little something to offset the richness of the gnocchi and the sauce, but they were awfully good - and the ones in the freezer will be out soon enough! 

ffwd - paris mushroom soup

This is kind of tale of two recipes. There are two different steps involved in creating this soup. I'd made this recipe before - with three important differences: I used a combination of mushrooms - not sticking with the white mushrooms noted in the recipe; I used my beloved immersion-blender instead of a regular blender; and I didn't make the salad. With not the very best of results... funny color, not chunky, but not silky smooth, and no interesting texture elements. So with the new year, I resolved to correct my errors. I planned to make guinea pigs of some of my family members, so I organized to have them over (not too much of an effort) and went about planning our meal, and making the soup itself ahead, since this was going to be a "school night" dinner party. I ended up being happy that I'd done at least some of my prep early because I got home late. Everyone was still game for dinner though, even if it wasn't going to be too early. So much anticipation later - we started with Dorie's paris mushroom soup.


ingredients for the actual soup - white (!) mushrooms, onions, garlic, butter
parsley, rosemary, wine and chicken stock



after the garlic and mushrooms are sauteed, add the sliced mushrooms



the first part of the cooking is to have the mushrooms lose their liquid
then the heat is turned up to evaporate it
and then... add the wine, and let that evaporate too
after cooking with the stock, it's blended until very smooth



nest step - prep the salad
the description of the recipe talks about sliced mushrooms, the directions don't mention
that - but, seemed like it would be a little awkward to have whole mushrooms...



into each bowl went the sliced mushrooms, scallions and herbs



finished soup, with it's dollop of creme fraiche, how lovely is that?



anxiously awaiting digging in (or maybe not!)

 Everyone enjoyed the soup. We did go on to enjoy the tangerine-glazed chicken, finger potatoes and snap peas too. A great combination.

So - I have to say, I think it almost looks better than it tastes. The presentation was beautiful. But maybe it was the separation between cooking and serving, or maybe I've just eaten too many other mushroom soups, but this wasn't my favorite. Maybe a little cream in the actual soup? I don't know. I'll be interested in hearing what everyone else did/thought.

Happily though, it was tasty, and we had a fun time, and I'm super-excited to be back cooking with the New Year!

ffwd - spiced butter-glazed carrots

I actually like carrots. In fact, they are one of my favorite non-green vegetables. Still, when this was first on the menu for December, I didn't get that excited about them. I ended up leaving this recipe for last - just worked out that way. I'm glad it did though! Because I made these last night when I was already wanting something simple and really yummy - but no more fuss, no more fancy. That was so last week!

 

what a simple list of ingredients: butter, onion, ginger, garlic, cardamom seeds, salt & white pepper,
carrots and chicken broth

 

finally - and opportunity to use my mortar and pestle!



with butter melting, ingredients into the pan for a quick saute



adding the carrots to get their coating of butter



then the chicken broth - this is where I started wondering...
is this going to work????



once they've simmered, though, the heat gets turned up, so the sauce
thickens, and makes a beautiful glaze

I have to say, these are very more-ish. I couldn't stop eating them. Would I have liked a little fresh rosemary or thyme in place of the cardamom? Yes. Would maybe some other herb or spice been nice? Sure. But these were really good carrots. The depth of flavor from the ingredients and the cooking technique made them more than the sum of their parts. This was such an easy, good recipe, that I think I might be hard-pressed to make carrots as a side dish any other way. And I think it could easily become something that I would serve more often. I thought they were great!

ffwd - my go-to beef daube

I made this for my Dad's 80th birthday (eve). My Mom, Dad and I had a nice, cozy evening before the next day's big festivities. Jillian's last Christmas Ballet, and then a Birthday Party with friends and family. So we needed something easy, but delicious and filling. It was a good kind of thing, when you want to be able to start something, and then not really mess with it.

Last year, I made Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon. It has many of the same techniques (though fussier), but here's the one that I tend to think about - dry the meat before you fry it! Which is excellent advice - but my mind wanders to - what did all of those French people do before there were paper towels? If you've ever seen an early video of Julia Child on TV, she'd practically use an entire roll when making a recipe!! So before paper - who did all of that laundry??? Certainly country cooks wouldn't want to do all of that! I will likely probably never know, but it makes me wonder - all of these old French techniques that I wouldn't dream of if I had to wash all of those towels (by hand!).



ingredients... I had never used parsnips before, so that was something fun and new
I also hadn't had brandy or cognac in a stew...



mmmm.... bacon frying

 

the first of about 4 sessions of browning the meat



nicely browned beef, nicely crisped bacon

 

my vegetables with their turn in the oil
I love using the halved heads of garlic - yum!

 

my stew ready for the oven
I started fearing for it, since the pot was so full - but no worries, it wasn't a problem

  

our finished dish
served simply with some crusty French rolls
I think that some mashed potatoes would have been nice, too

 This was a big hit. I have to admit, this kind of thing isn't my favorite, though I know that this was good. My folks actually liked it better than the Boeuf Bourguignon. I wished that I'd kept some of my leftovers (I sent some home with my folks, and over to my brother's since they were having a big weekend, and could use a meal that didn't involve anything other than heating something up) after reading how so many people enjoyed it more the next day. Oh well. Next time!

ffwd - speculoos!

I had a big cooking weekend last week! I made the speculoos, since I wanted some cookies to take to work, plus I had houseguests. So it was fun to try out this recipe, along with others, including another Dorie recipe (for my next post!). We'll stick to cookies for here. I was grateful for some other ffwd posts, so that I got some good ideas for rolling these out and handling the dough. Thanks!!

I'm posting this a little late because today's been a "cookie day" too. My niece Jillian arrived at 8:30 to start (she wanted to come at 7:00, but it's my day off!! nooooo!). We made dozens and dozens of cookies - some she took home as samples, but we've learned over the years that between my brother, sister-in-law and the two girls (and their friends), it's a better bet if I'm the keeper of the cookies!! They'll get more for Christmas Eve, plus I have to take some up north for Grandma & Grandpa (and the rest when they come up). It seems to work out. We tried some new cookies (red velvet shortbread dipped in white chocolate, and some oreo balls in chocolate - a theme going), as well as old favorites. So it was a lot of fun!!

On to Speculoos. I really liked these cookies a lot. A bit easier than I expected, and quite tasty. I do want to try them again and use a filling (I think I read about Nutella and Dulce de Leche... mmm). But here we go!



simple ingredients, including some of my favorite flavors



dry ingredients - look at those spices!

 

I took someone's advice and rolled the dough between sheets of parchment - it allowed it to be super thin
this is after the dough's frozen for a bit



because of the parchment and freezing, the cut-outs were a breeze
as long as I worked quickly
I decided that since everyone said they smelled like Christmas, I thought, why just make circles?
though they looked beautiful, who knows, these might be the only ones I cut out this year!!
I also read where people had difficulty with detailed shapes, but I found that with the frozen dough, they came out ok
I realize that not everyone would think a sheep was a "Christmas" shape, but for me - well, yes!



finished cookies... I think they look pretty cute! oh, see the little Westie in the corner...

 The reason I was baking cookies was that I had a group of co-workers (and friends!) from Puerto Rico coming for the week to my office to do some training - so I wanted to make sure that they were welcomed "properly". Of course, all people that love food and cooking, eventually end up talking about food. After the last time they were all here, they gifted me with a couple of Puerto Rican cookbooks. I've made some recipes already, but thought it would be fun to have some cookies out of one of the books to go along with the Speculoos. So I found a recipe for "Tasty Cookies"  or Mantecaditos. I might translate them as shortbread. Well, they were wonderful!! I kept a plate to share with my family (my Dad's 80th birthday!) on Sunday, and then brought the other plate to work. Needless to say, they were all gone quickly!!! (I see a trend here). Both definitely things I'll make again.

ffwd - leek and potato soup

For those of you who have been wondering... leek & potato, or potato & leek... well, correctly, Dorie's is called leek and potato, because all of us who have made it realize - there are a lot of leeks in there! But leeks are wonderful, so that's all good. I didn't look up Julia Child's recipe from MTOFC until just now, though I've made it before. She also calls it leek and potato - though to be fair, in French, it's Potage Parmentier which (as we learned when we made our hachis) really refers to potatoes. Of course, all of this is purely academic. As I mentioned last week, (almost) every year, my mom & I host a wreath-making party. She typically supplies the brains and creativity, and I supply the sustenance. It seems to work out, since as this year, we even had a friend's friend join us from the UK! It's a wonderful kick-off for the holidays, and is a no-stress, no-pressure day, that results in a lot of laughs, catching up, and something beautiful to take home!!

But I digress. I served the sweet & spicy nuts as a starter (yum!). And since I normally serve soup - I chose our leek & potato soup from our list of December recipes with french fridays with dorie. I decided to make it "hot and smooth" because that makes it easy to serve in mugs - quite handy. As I compare to Julia's recipe: no herbs, both leeks and onions (and many more leeks), no milk or broth (I suspect water is more classic). For those of you who either saw the movie or read the book, it's true that Potage Parmentier is the first recipe in MTOFC, and it was also the first one that I made after picking it up again. Interesting to see how both versions are done - and food for thought... and tinkering!


ingredients ready to go
I was happy that I still had some fresh thyme from the garden and sage
oh, and yes, I made a double-batch



couldn't decide whether to keep this picture or not - it's hard to see, but those are the little "germs:
that Dorie likes to remove from garlic
I suspect I'm more peasantish because I'm not sure I am able to distinguish, but sometimes
I still go ahead with it, since I'm "supposed to"



a lotta leeks!! (these were nice, totally clean, and quite white, so - perfect!)

 

I have to say, that looks really great - all ready for a nice simmer



now for the "smooth" part
I love using a hand-blender, it's so much easier (and let's face it, less dangerous!)
than transfering to a blender
since it could be chunky or smooth, I didn't think it would matter too much
I might try chunky next time



ready to serve
(oh, those are gluten-free cheese "puffs"? - they were a big hit)



yes, lunch break!
a little soup, a little bread, a little wine... what more can you ask for??


This was really good. Nice, simple, comforting. I think I will change it up a bit next time - maybe somewhere in between. But I get the impression that this is one of those recipes that is a great starting point too. So this was fun to make, and a terrific reminder that I should break this out again. Dorie had a couple of great suggestions... and I've seen others as well (croutons, bacon, spinach swirled in at the last...). Now I'm sorry I don't have any leftovers!!

ffwd - sweet and spicy nuts

I've been making different versions of spiced nuts for years - a tradition I picked up from my parents who had been making them starting some 25 years ago. My most recent favorites (though not everyone's - but, hey, I'm the one making them!) are a honey & fresh rosemary combination, that also have that "pinch of cayenne" that most of my favorite mixtures have. This is one of those things that I also love to package up as a little gift, particularly at Christmas - so I was excited when I first saw the recipe, and even more so when I saw the voting totals add up! Plus, it's a pretty do-able kind of recipe for a busy season.

I like to make batches of mixed nuts - it seems everyone has their favorite type, and it all works out in the end. I was originally going to make a single recipe, but one thing led to another...

my ingredients, ready to start
I wanted to use sea salt, and my favorite cinnamon - Penzey's Vietnamese
also used their chili powder, it's pretty good - I usually make my own spice blends, but this one is nice

 

almonds, pecans, walnuts and cashews



sugar, salt and spices ready to blend



after the egg whites cover the nuts, on goes the sugar & spice

 

before baking



and after...
I can't wait for these to cool off so that I can try some
the smell was amazing as they cooked for their half-hour


These turned out great!! I loved the combination of flavors. The spices come through, but also the flavor of the nuts - and I really like the texture! I'm going to be serving these to my friends tomorrow, who are coming over to make wreaths for the holiday, so this should be a nice treat. Since I always serve soup and bread at this party - I'm going to make Dorie's leek and potato soup (probably hot & smooth). Hopefully they'll like the latest Dorie recipes!