FFwD: Salted Butter Breakups

The recipe for this week's French Fridays with Dorie was for an intriguing cookie that you bake in one big piece then, as the name suggests, break in pieces.  The dough is extremely similar to some of my favorite tart dough recipes - only with a distinctively saltier (in a good way) taste.  In fact, the cookie dough is chilled thoroughly, rolled, glazed with an egg wash and decorated in the cross-hatch pattern with a fork before baking.  

Once cooled and broken, all I could think with every bite was that it was like eating tart dough... only slightly different.  Seriously, what's not to like about tart dough, so we enjoyed making these. 

Though the overall time commitment to make the cookies takes at least a couple of hours, it is all in the chilling and baking. The dough comes together in the food processor and ridiculously quick to make.  Add to that the fact that you don't have to do much to the dough once it's rolled out and these may be one of the least fussy cookies around. 

For more cookies, be sure to visit the French Fridays with Dorie site.

 

FFwD: Michel Rostang's Chocolate Mousse Cake

Aidan was the biggest fan of this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe for Michel Rostang's Chocolate Mousse Cake.  He wanted me to tell you that these were "totally awesome, so yummy, so yummy."  Like cold, brownies that are creamy and light like ice cream.  Direct quote from the boy's mouth.

I loved it also, I mean really, what's not to love. We all know about my deep and abiding love of chocolate so the fact that I loved it too shouldn't come as a surprise.  I wasn't entirely sure that I actually whipped the eggs correctly - in fact I think I over beat them... again... what else is new!  That said, it still turned out great.  

We went for the bake, chill, bake, chill method which Dorie mentions in the book as her favorite way to eat this cake.  I haven't tried the other ways, but I really liked it this way.  

I didn't change the recipe at all, but I didn't have an 8-inch spring form pan either, so I did use a 9-inch instead which is why mine looks a little thinner than the picture in the book.  I think ours is possibly a layered a little differently as well as far as the thickness of the two separately baked layers goes. The top of our cake was fairly thin and very crackly.  I think, no matter what you do to this cake, bottom line, its going to be good.

For more chocolate mousse cake madness, head on over to the French Fridays with Dorie site and see how the others fared this week.

FFwD: Gnocchi a la Parisienne

I wasn't really sure what I would think of this week's recipe for French Fridays with Dorie.  I don't have the book in front of me at the moment, but I remember reading Dorie's introduction/description (incidentally, probably my most favorite part of Dorie's books - always so helpful and fun!) being something along the lines of being choux dough cooked like gnocchi in a pot of salted water, then layered with bechamel sauce and cheese, then baked until bubbly and golden.  I mean really, what's not to like about that? Especially on a snowy day!  I do love me some choux pastry, so it didn't seem like much of a stretch that I would like this.

Since the recipe makes enough to serve 6 as a main course I also knew I was going to end up taking Dorie's suggestion to shape some of the dough onto a baking sheet and freezing them for later use.  I'm glad I did because making a double-layer in my two little ramekins was just the perfect size for me and the boys.  Cups full of doughy, cheesy goodness as Aidan called them.

To make matters easy for shaping the gnocchi I used a really small cookie scoop that I have and just scraped it so it was only half-full to equal the teaspoon amount for each dumpling.  I ended up with a sheet pan full for the freezer, plus about 20 more for my two ramekins.  

I layered the gnocchi in two layers of 5 in the ramekins, with the bechamel sauce in between each layer, and then generously topped them with shredded Gruyere cheese.  I baked them for the same amount of time as the recipe - roughly about 25 minutes in all - and they puffed up beautifully, but did deflate fairly quickly. Now that I know what to expect next time, I'll know better how to layer them, probably packing them in even a little tighter into the ramekins and another layer of Parmesan in the middle.

Anyway, cups full of doughy, cheesy goodness indeed.

For more cheesy goodness, just head on over to the French Fridays with Dorie site and scroll on through the LYL post to see how the other cooks faired this week.  As always, the recipe for the Gnocchi a la Parisienne can be found in Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan.

FFwD: My Go-To Beef Daube

I actually found some time last Sunday to make something other than grilled cheese.  Around our house lately, that is nothing short of a miracle!  I planned ahead.  I shopped.  I prepped.  I cooked.  It was awesome.

As much as I loved eating this recipe for Dorie's 'Go-To Beef Daube,' I think I may have enjoyed getting back to cooking the way I love even more.  I really don't get to do it very often any more.  While this recipe - which is basically like a really good, thoughtful, beef stew, isn't really anything fancy, it is just the kind of dinner I like to make.  Especially in the cold months.

I bought a nice sized (just over 3lb) beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut it into large chunks, just like Dorie suggests, then browned those in my Dutch oven.  I followed all the directions, adding the shallots, onion, carrots, etc.  The only change I made to the recipe was to just substitute good beef broth in place of the wine.  The recipe was definitely more time consuming than when I usually throw a roast into the slow cooker and walk away, but I tend to think that is partly the point of a book like this.  It is thoughtful food - not just food for the sake of eating.  I guess that is when something actually becomes nourishment.

Here's the thing though.  Remember above when I said that the recipe was thoughtful?  I felt like I took the time to slow down, enjoy what I was doing and get in touch with the process.  Choosing the ingredients, prepping them and taking the time to get them ready with some actual thought and care - not just hurry, hurry, hurry.  Now, the fact was that often the hurry, hurry, hurry happens when the hubs isn't here and I feel like I have to run in a million different directions all at once.  Last Sunday, he was home.  He helped with the kids while I made dinner.

I even made some crusty French rolls (recipe at the bottom) to go with the beef daube, as well as some really good mashed potatoes.  I started the roll dough right after I slid the daube into the oven and they all ended up being done around the same time.  I just let the daube rest in the covered Dutch oven on the stove top while the rolls baked.  The rolls were also great for making little sandwiches with leftover beef the next day.

When we finally sat down to eat dinner it was more relaxed and I felt more in touch with what I was eating than I have in a while.

The point of the story.  I need to find a way to slow things down again more often.  I seem to have forgotten that this is my therapy.  Taking time to take a deep breath is good for you.  Turns out breathing onion fumes can be good for you too. Who knew?

For more reviews of this month's recipes from my fellow French Fridays with Dorie participants, head on over to the site and click on the LYL post for today (or any Friday).  As always, this recipe can be found in Around My French Table (which incidentally would be the perfect gift for any food / cooking lover you know - or anyone who wants to learn for that matter).

Crusty French Rolls (aka Pistolets or Split Rolls)
Makes 8 large rolls

2 1/2 teaspoons active-dry yeast
1 1/4 cups water + up to 1/3 cup more, as needed
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Put the 1 1/4 cup water into a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top.  Set aside and let dissolve for 5 minutes, then stir.  Meanwhile, mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, make a well in the center.  Pour in the dissolved yeast, then stir enough of the flour in from the sides to make a thick paste.  Cover the bowl and let it sit for 20 minutes.

Mix the remaining flour into the wet mixture and add a little of the extra water at a time to make a soft, sticky dough.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough until it is soft, smooth and slightly elastic.  Try not to add too much extra flour to the dough while kneading.  This process will take about 10 minutes of kneading.  You can do all this part with a kneading attachment on a mixer, and it will only take about 6 minutes.

Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover it again.  Let the dough rise for 1 hour or until doubled, then deflate the dough (punch down), cover it again and rise for 45 minutes more, then punch the dough down again, cover and rise 45 minutes again.  This process seems drawn out, but it lets the dough develop a really nice flavor and helps get that crust.

Deflate the dough gently one last time and divide the dough into 8 equal pieces (you could do smaller rolls if you want and easily get 12 - these rolls were fairly large, about 1 per person).  Roll the dough pieces into a tight ball and place them on a lined baking sheet, or sprinkle a little cornmeal onto the baking sheet.  The rolls shouldn't be touching, so leave a couple of inches between the dough.

Use the handle of a clean wooden spoon to push a 'split' down the middle of each dough ball, going all the way to the bottom, but not hard enough to cut the dough in half, just to leave a huge indentation - it will spring up some anyway on this last rise.  Sprinkle a little flour over the indented rolls then cover them and let them rise 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F and bake the rolls 20 minutes or until lightly golden.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

FFwD: Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux

Where oh where did I go.  Again.  Sheesh.  I'm not going to lie, I've just been very ambivalent, basically about everything.  We've all been sick, for about a month now, and swamped with life and dealing with a special needs baby.  I have still been baking and cooking, but mainly just to get by and make it through most days.  I did finally cave this week and go in to the doctor to deal with my 'cold'.  Well, let me just tell you, colds and viruses have pretty much just trashed my world since the end of September.  Kayla got her first cold and it has been quite the set back.  The easiest way to illustrate that is the fact that before her cold, she was almost (so close) to finally being off the oxygen after being on it since birth.  Now, she is on a higher prescription than ever, 24/7 and they won't be reviewing taking her off it again till after her birthday in February.  Awesome (yes, you definitely noted a heavy dose of sarcasm there).

So.

As you can tell, I just haven't had much positive to say and haven't had the most wonderful attitude.  I'm trying to pull myself out of it even though I can already tell we are in for another winter of discontent around our house, but I hope you'll bear with me if I need to occasionally whine about life.  I've been so blah lately that I haven't even found the energy to do my much needed venting over on my Sweet & Simple blog.  I'll be trying to force some of my angst out over there very soon in the hopes that it helps lift some of the blahhbiddy-blahs over here.

All that said, let me just tell you, my kids are awesome.  I love them dearly.  They are just complicated and I'm sleep deprived, which isn't the best combination on a good day.  

OK.  Now that I got that out, let's get on to the real reason you're here.  I made this roast chicken for French Fridays with Dorie a couple of weeks ago, with the full intention of trying to keep on schedule and post it, but am just now getting around to writing the post.  

I fiddled with the recipe just a little bit, because the only herbs I had on hand were dried ones.  I also really, really, really love using honey on chicken and root vegetables, so I did add about 1/2 cup of honey and some butter as a glaze on my chicken.  The herbs I used were dried Herbes de Provence.  All things considered, this may have been one of the best chickens I've ever roasted.  I followed all the other directions, and even though the honey made the skin on my bird brown excessively dark, it was still delicious.  The chicken stayed moist and tender, but, oh the vegetables.  They were my favorite part.  They were so good!  I ended making about the double the vegetables, because we love roasted vegetables.  I also used red potatoes because I had them on hand and was feeling lazy - after all, I believe that is allowed in the title of the recipe.

The original recipe can be found in Around My French Table, and version from more members of French Fridays with Dorie can be found on the blog.

FFwD: Marie-Helene's Apple Cake

I don't think it is any big secret here that I just don't enjoy baked fruit all that much.  What I find particularly hilarious about this fact is the flip side of just how silly I am sometimes when it comes to baking vs. what I'll actually eat.

You see, I don't like baked fruit much... but I just adore baking with it.  This puts me in a ridiculous situation at times where I make things that I have absolutely no intention of eating.  This cake falls into that category.

It was so fun to make!  I loved choosing the different kinds of apples and getting them all ready for the cake.  I loved mixing the miniscule amount of batter and seeing how the cake all cake together.  I loved baking it up and watching friends and family enjoy the cake.

I had a bite.  Just so I could say I did.

I'm a total dork.

I really loved making the cake though, so hopefully that counts for something.  I also did really love how the batter baked up and the buttery and sugary flavor of the cake itself - I'm just not into the baked apples.

Again.  I'm a total dork.

For better reviews of this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe for Marie-Helene's Apple Cake, please visit the FFwD site and check out the LYL post with everyone's links.  I promise, they'll make much more sense than I do.

The only change I did make was to bake my cake in an 8-inch square pan.  There was a sad incident in the kitchen which has caused the demise of my smaller springform pan, (let's just say that when the bottom of a 9-inch pan gets firmly lodged inside another 9-inch pan, neither pan is going to come apart or survive.  It is very very sad) much to my dismay, so I had to get a little creative.  I basically just created two slings of parchment in the square pan and followed the rest of the directions as written.  It worked beautifully with no problems at all.  I still miss my springform though.  

In case you missed it, you can also check out many more recipes from Around My French Table that several of us got together and made for Dorie's birthday this last Sunday.  It was a great roundup and I'm so proud of all my fellow cooks and bakers who are so talented and giving to come together and put together such a beautiful spread to celebrate a truly gracious and lovely lady!

French Fridays with Dorie (FFwD): Gougeres

Hooray for Dorie's new book - Around My French Table is here at last!  Which makes today, October 1st the very first day for the new group - French Fridays with Dorie (FFwD)!

Today is the first post for the group and all of October's recipe selections were chosen by Dorie herself, who is currently on tour with her new book (see the schedule here).

The first recipe for the group to make together is appropriately enough the first recipe in the book - gougeres.

These are light little cheese puff rolls made of the same type of dough (pate au choux) like cream puffs.  These really are a lot easier to make than most people tend to think - but the results are so amazing that it's hard to believe.  After all, can anything with a significant amount of gruyere melted in it not be delicious?!

I actually made the recipe twice in the past couple of weeks.  The first time we ate them with soup and the second time we just munched on them before dinner. Both times they were wonderful.  The second time I actually froze half the dough on the baking sheet. It was several days in the freezer before I ended up baking them - they had thawed a little bit before I put them in the oven to bake, but they baked up just as beautifully as the fresh batch did.

My most favorite way that I ate some of these this time was split with a little piece of leftover steak that I had - that was one heck of a little sandwich.

Make sure to visit the new French Fridays with Dorie site and see more gougeres on the Leave Your Link post.

You can also see the gougeres I posted over on Examiner.com last year that we made for a picnic.  They really are a wonderful little finger food and those ones had a little black pepper in them for an extra kick - so good!