It’s our third fishy French Fridays in January, but we’re not talking mussels this week. Spice-crusted Tuna is today’s headliner. The caveat to this delicious recipe, however, is that it’s more about bold and brazen spices than tuna. Poor Charlie, shoved to the back of the boat again.
Spice-crusted Tuna with lemon wedges and Roasted Vegetables
I bought this week’s tuna at my local seafood store but when I was lucky enough to be in Sanary-sur-Mer, it became an off-the-dock purchase. A tiny fishing village founded in the 16th century, Sanary is a dream destination in southeastern France.
Le Thon, fresh off the boat, is for sale in the harbor’s daily market. Sanary-sur-Mer
Spice-crusted Tuna can be midweek fare. It takes only 15 minutes to plate this entrée. First, put cardamon seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds, fresh ginger slices and salt into your mortar and pestle. I also added Dukkah, a nut and spice blend containing almonds, sesame seeds, fennel seeds, (more) coriander seeds and anise seeds. Pound the spices until coarsely broken but not pulverized to a powder.
Fisherman and Fishmonger, rolled into one. Sanary-sur-Mer
Rub the tuna with olive oil and then sprinkle the spice mixture on both sides of your tuna and press slightly to stick. Pour olive oil into your skillet and, when hot, add the tuna. Two minutes on each side. Done. Think pink. I served it rather plainly, a drizzle of olive oil and some lemon wedges. Fruit chutney or salsa would be a tasty addition also.This is tuna with personality, a guaranteed palate pleaser.
With my leftovers, today I am slicing it thinly and making Salade Niçoise, a composed salad of tomatoes, tuna, green beans, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, capers and anchovies, dressed with a vinaigrette and served on a bed of lettuce.
I’ve continued to march onward in my Winter of Wanna Do’s quest. (Need an explanation? Click here.) Most food bloggers admit the easiest part of blogging is making the recipe. What’s most difficult is writing, photographing and posting about it. It’s astounding to me that so many bloggers do this well.
The spices and ginger slices are thrown into the mortar and coarsely crushed with my trusty pestle.
As for me, I love the writing. The posting with its high tech mumbo jumbo drives me bonkers. There are times I curse Steve Jobs (May he rest in peace.) and despise Bill Gates. However, it’s the photography that I wanna do better. This winter I have a plethora of pictorial opportunities so here’s the plan.
Since arriving in California, I’ve taken a photograph each day, representing something, anything or, even, nothing about this area. At the end of the winter, each of the 90 photos will be a fond memory. What I’ve already discovered is becoming more aware of and curious about my surroundings. During the past 12 days I’ve not only captured food and landscape images but also zebras, elephant seals and a turkey vulture eating carrion. (not food blog-appropriate)
Here’s the tuna just after I poured the spice mixture on both sides. After taking this picture, I lightly pressed the spices into the tuna. The olive oil provides the glue.
For example, here’s Day #11 Photo.
Factoid: The eerily beautiful plant hanging from this dead sycamore tree is not, as commonly thought, California Spanish moss or fishnet moss. It’s really Lace Lichen, Ramalina menzieslii, a combination of fungus and algae and not a moss.
Sprinkled throughout this Central California coast area are thousands of these nondescript white boxes which are visible from the highway. They contain honey bees. While not image inspiring, they are a reality so I stopped at several sites for photographs. Through research I found their story to be incredibly inspiring. The bee hive boxes are trucked here to spend a warm winter before almond pollination begins. In total, 1,800,000 hives are estimated to be in California (54 billion bees). Unfortunately, the United States lost over 30% of its honey bee colonies last year. Since our top 100 human food crops, 70 of those crops supplying 90 percent of the world’s nutrition, need bees for pollination, let’s keep these little honeys alive.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international online cooking group making it’s way through Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. To see what my colleagues photographed this week, go here.
This week’s French Friday’s post brings you not only a recipe to curry favor but also is back-loaded with tips, prompts, and fun stuff. This is the Winter of My Wanna Do’s. Admit it, I know you also have your own unwritten want-to-do list. Exercise 3X a week – be healthier. Shoot for the stars – learn constellations. Take more time for friends, a partner or kids. De-clutter – tackle that basement. Read…more. Plan a trip, party or adventure…and do it. You’re shaking your head in agreement, right? Later.
Curried mussels, french fries with a crusty baguette makes for a delicious dinner.
First, let’s talk about Curried Mussels, today’s French Fridays recipe. Yum. Catering to the American palate, this is a lighter knock off of Brittany’s classic Mouclade, mussels in a thick curried egg yolk and cream sauce. I’ve now tasted both, there’s little difference in flavor and goodness. Thanks for cutting the calories, Dorie.
As you’ll notice in the recipe below, curry powder, red pepper flakes and heavy cream define this dish. Onions and shallots, glistening and softened in butter, add the oomph in the mixture. White wine, S/P and fresh herbs help provide a saucy home for the mussels. French fries and a crusty baguette, it’s supper. Your only challenge is to eat, dunk and enjoy this meal without utensils. It’s messy but that’s the rule. (Use one-half of a mussel shell for your spoon.) Let imagination reign. Sandy beach. Côte d’Azur.
Curried Mussels, our French Fridays with Dorie recipe of the week.
One of my Wanna/Gonna Do’s this winter is to deal better with leftover food. I’ve been pulling a low C grade in that department. Not only is food costly but wasting it seems sinful. At least 800 million people in the world go hungry every day. In America, 14.5%, that’s 1 in 6 or 7 Americans, are “food insecure.” As someone whose always had a full belly, I don’t know what “food insecure” feels like. Do you?
Just doesn’t seem right to call this a leftover – Curried Mussels Linguine with red peppers.
Although I’ve learned to halve and even one-third my recipes, I still have leavings (love that word). When I do, I will show you how I incorporated those into future meals. With the leftover Curried Mussels, I made pasta, a no-brainer. While boiling the linguine, sauté red pepper slices and chopped celery in butter until softened. To that add the mussels and remaining curry sauce. Heat gently. (Do not bring the mussels to a boil unless you prefer them rubbery.) Drain the linguine. Mix together and serve.
From Simplest Breton Fish Stew emerged a frittata.
Last week I blogged about Simplest Breton Fish Soup. With its leftovers, I made a frittata for breakfast and for lunch and for snacks! After removing the mussels use a slotted spoon to put the remaining mixture sans its broth into a saucepan to warm. Adding it to eggs seasoned with salt and pepper creates a delicious frittata or omelet. For breakfast, I added salsa. For lunch, I poured the remaining vinaigrette over it.
Yep, zebras.
There’s something about openly declaring intentions that insists on follow through. So, keep me honest, Readers, with this leftovers Wanna-Do pledge. As for others, I’m already good in the exercise department, have wheedled down my belongings to nil, read constantly and get high marks for communicating with friends, colleagues and family. But here are the Wanna-Dos that I’m turning into Am-Doing this month.
I worry. A lot. Which causes stress. A lot. Many of my worries never materialize or happen. So when a worry crops up in my over-imaginative mind, I now park it, write it down and forget it……until Wednesday at 3pm. Then every Wednesday I revisit my worries at 3pm. What I’ve discovered is some were already solved easily, didn’t and won’t happen or are just plain silly. The two or three remaining on my list, I try to solve. Call me crazy, Readers, but it’s working.
These zebras live and lounge on the Hearst Ranch in San Simeon. I’m thinking they have no worries.
Lastly, if you’ve got an hour to spare for fun, start watching episodes of Borgen, a BBC three-seasons series that explores the world of high-stakes Danish politics. Better than West Wing and available on Netflix, at your library or by streaming.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international online group cooking it’s way through Around My French Table. To see what my colleagues, who probably worry too, made this week, go here.
CURRIED MUSSELS by Dorie Greenspan
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 teaspoons curry powder
a pinch of red pepper flakes
salt and ground pepper
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 thyme spring
1 parsley sprig
1 bay leaf
4 pounds mussels,scrubbed (more than ample, Readers)
2/3 cup heavy cream
DIRECTIONS
1. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven at low heat. Toss in the onions and shallots, stirring them to coat with butter until glistening, about 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle curry powder, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper over the mixture. Cook, stirring, for another 3 minutes. Increase the heat to medium and add wine, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf. Simmer for 3 more minutes.
2. Add the mussels to the pot, and stir around in the liquid, coating the mussels. Increase the heat to high, bringing the liquid to a boil. Cover with lid. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, stirring once. Take a peek and see if the mussels have opened. If there are still some to open, remove the pot from heat (keeping lid on), let sit for 1-2 more minutes.
3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the mussels from the broth and place in a bowl. Cover the bowl to keep mussels warm. Bring the sauce back to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Pour in the heavy cream, add a little more salt and pepper, if needed. Cook on high heat for another 3 minutes. Return the mussels to the pot, stirring around to coat them in the wonderful creamy sauce. Serve immediately.
Cotriade, a Breton fish stew, is my French Fridays with Dorie choice this week.
Ciopinno. Bouillabaisse. Cotriade.
Odds are that you recognize two out of three of these fish stews. Cotriade, maybe not. Ciopinno was created by Italian fishermen who had migrated to San Francisco in the mid-1800’s. It’s a tomato broth stew loaded with fish sourced from the Pacific Ocean. When you visit the City by the Bay, it’s a must-try.
But if you’re in Marseille, walk over to the old port where their world-famous Bouillabaisse, a Provençal fish stew, is the speciality. What sets traditional Bouillabaisse apart from others is the Provençal herbs and spices used in its broth with an assortment of bony Mediterranean fish. Cotriade, my French Fridays recipe choice this week, is a traditional, coastal fish soup originating from the French province of Brittany. It’s the staple that Breton fishermen made aboard their boats while at sea for days or, maybe, weeks. The secret (and, filling) ingredient here is potatoes. In Dorie’s Around My French Table cookbook, she entitles this recipe, Simplest Breton Fish Soup.
The mussels are put into the fish mixture at the last 2-4 minutes. Discard any closed mussels before serving.
After a 1,053-mile road trip to California this past week, I arrived safely in Cambria, picked up keys to my rental house and literally dropped my bags in the garage. Then I dashed eastward to Templeton where I found all the necessary Cotriade ingredients at Trader Joe’s and Pier 46 Seafood. (Not mentioning that it was an additional 50-mile roundtrip – food blogger-journalist-deadline – a crazy combo.)
Although their are only two main ingredients added to the broth, fish and potatoes, the onions, shallots, garlic cloves, celery and leeks add flavor and depth. A Bouquet Garni, salt and pepper, are all the spices you need but I also added saffron. Love that aroma and taste. What Dorie suggests also is a red or white wine-based vinaigrette to drizzle over the fish before it’s served. Unique, delicious with the drizzle and a wonderful first-night dinner.
It is traditional with this dish, which Dorie calls Simplest Breton Fish Soup, to bring the kettle to the table and ladle the soup into bowls which have a toasted baguette slice already at the bottom.
Although I’ve been vacationing in Cambria with my family for the past eight years, this is only my second winter here. Cambria is a drowsy, quaint seaside village of 6,000 people, primarily retirees, located on the spectacular central coast and sitting among a native stand of Monterey pines. If you want excitement, stimulation and élan, if you will, Cambria’s probably not for you.
It’s a good choice for me, perhaps, and here’s why. Cambria is everything that Aspen is not. Two years ago when I had the responsibility of recreating my Life, the realization was I better get it right. Me being me, and, that’s not always good, I gave myself a year to do it. That deadline thing, you know. Two years later, I’m still tweaking, the plusses, minuses, the want-to-do’s, forget-that’s and what-was-I-thinking’s?
I love Colorado and the whole crazy, invigorating and challenging Life I lead there. Aspen is home and friends and organizational commitments and social activities. I visualize Cambria, amusing as it may seem to you, as a sabbatical, retreat, time-out and rest. A period to be selfish with my own time and be quiet. Do you get that? It’s almost anti-American to want to be alone, isn’t it? Hopefully you’ll enjoy reading my blog as I take you along on my winter adventure. Solitude does not translate to boring, I promise.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international group cooking it’s way through Around My French Table. To see what my colleagues made this week, go here. If you want a copy of this week’s recipe, Simplest Breton Fish Soup, go here.
Dorie Greenspan once remarked that World Peace Cookies, created by Parisian pastry chef Pierre Herme, were as important a culinary breakthrough as Toll House cookies. Her neighbor, after tasting these dark chocolate marvels, was convinced ‘a daily dose of Pierre’s cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness.’ Thus, the name. Dorie included these ultra-rich cookies in herBaking, From my home to yours cookbook. I thought them totally appropriate for my first 2015 post, a delicious recipe to wish you Happy New Year.
Remembering that miracles can happen, bake some World Peace Cookies, my French Fridays recipe from Dorie Greenspan.
These are shortbread, slice-and-bake cookies, crumbly and rustic in appearance. (If you prefer a perfectly round, smooth result, my Tip is in the recipe below.) WPC’s are special-occasion treats. Served with champagne? Be still my heart. Tea and coffee? Okay. Cold milk? The perfect nonalcoholic alternative. I made these for the New Year’s Eve crew on duty at The Gant. While these cookies couldn’t compare with seeing Huey Lewis & The News at Aspen’s Belly Up nightclub, (where they’d rather have been), they were appreciated.
World Peace Cookies
Appreciation. Let’s talk about that. 2014 was a banner year for me. I appreciate that more than anyone realizes. Thank you for being part of that. However, I recently celebrated my birthday. Readers, it was a big number. Truthfully, as we enter this New Year, I am still struggling with it. Not whining. Not complaining. Not grumbling. Just resolved to make peace and getting my arms around my aging.
New Year’s Eve was a long night. Aspen being Aspen, we not only had fireworks at 8pm, but also at Midnight. Since I live at the base of the mountain where the display is launched, I was in for a loud albeit spectacular evening. After baking and delivering the World Peace Cookies and taking a moment of silence to remember Dick Clark, I decided to spend the evening settling this whole 70’s-problem.
Fireworks in Aspen as seen from the Roaring Fork River, New Years Eve, 2014. Photograph by Jeremy Swanson
I resolved to see my limitations as possibilities. Admittedly, I physically cannot do as much nor mentally learn as quickly nor emotionally be as strong as I have been in the past. While I’ve not adjusted to that reality, I think my family, friends and, even The Gant employees, see it all too clearly. Luckily I am surrounded by people who value and respect me enough to understand, be kind but still nudge, challenge and encourage me to keep trying (as if I wouldn’t) and do better.
A challenge for the upcoming decade —
In thinking about who I Appreciate, the List is long. To my lifelong friends who remembered, welcomed and embraced me when I returned to Aspen, I Appreciate. Here at The Gant, where no one really l-i-v-e-s, I’ve been treated like a Queen. I Appreciate. To my nature study group, the Valley Vixens, who are truly my support system, I Appreciate. To my virtual colleagues, such a lifeline, I Appreciate. To my friends in France, who encourage me to travel again, I hear you. To my friends in Nevada, saviors during a difficult decade, I’ll see you soon. To my childhood friends, for steadfast loyalty always, I Appreciate. And, to my family, who, in every way and with great effort, embrace me. I Appreciate.
I Appreciate that for the past three years Klara, Gretchen, Freya and Imken, who live in Germany, have asked their Mother who blogs at The Kitchen Lioness, to send me their Christmas artwork. If one can have a Virtual Family, they are mine.
Maybe, in this new year, you wish to take a few moments to think about those You Appreciate. As for that age problem of mine, it’s a work-in-progress but I’ve just reminded myself why I need to be more grown-up about it. Happy New Year, Everyone. Enjoy the World Peace Cookies.
WORLD PEACE COOKIES adapted by Dorie Greenspan from Pierre Hermé
Makes 36
INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
5 ounces extra-bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
PREPARATION
1. Sift flour, cocoa, and baking soda into medium bowl.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter on mediukm speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars, vanilla, and sea salt; beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. Add flour mixture and pulse the mixer at slow speed for 5 to 7 times, a second or two each time. Beat just until blended. Mixture may be crumbly. Add chopped chocolate and mix just to distribute.
4. Divide dough in half. Place each half on sheet of plastic wrap. Form each into 1 1/2-inch-diameter log. Wrap each in plastic. Chill until firm, about 3 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled.
5. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using thin sharp knife, cut logs crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Space 1 inch apart on prepared sheets. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies appear dry (cookies will not be firm or golden at edges), 11 to 12 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
TIP: According to Dorie, the easiest way to keep the log of dough round while stowing it in the fridge or freezer is to chill it inside a cardboard tube left from a roll of paper toweling. Slit the tube so it’s easy to wrap it around the dough. When you’re slicing the log, the easiest way to prevent losing that nice roundness is to give the log a quarter turn each time you slice off a circle of dough.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international group of bloggers cooking their way through Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours, by Dorie Greenspan. To see the Simplest Breton Fish Soup which my colleagues made this week while I was baking World Peace Cookies, go here.
“I’m just too busy to read Mary’s blog right now.”
Orange & Olive Salad – an easy alternative for the holidays to your leafy greens.
Admit it, I know that’s what you’re thinking. Resist that thought. First, this post is short, mostly photos, and secondly, you will love, need and make this citrus salad over the holidays. Orange and Olive Salad, this week’s French Friday’s recipe choice, is a no-brainer, a sure-fire alternative to a leafy, green salad.
Donna, our leader, wants to get us on-the-move. Our host, Carol, is on the right. My smile is fake.
Buy some “meaty” navel oranges, grab a red onion from the pantry, get some olives out of your fridge and you’ve almost put together a platter or single-servings of a mouth-watering appetizer or side dish. Do it all ahead so you can put together, adding olive oil and salt/pepper, at the last minute. This recipe along with Dorie’s interesting tips are printed below.
Seriously?
Despite my trepidation about returning home in 2013 to Snow Country, this year’s snowy conditions have proved easier. Last December I took two scary falls and Old Man Winter successfully chased me indoors. No fun. This month, equipped with proper clothing, Icebugs (cleated shoes), cross country skies and snow shoes – purchased, donated and loaned, I’ve made my peace with him. After last week’s activities, maybe the mountain woman I was has reemerged…..kinda.
After reaching the cabin, emptying the two sleds and discarding our packs, we snowshoed up towards the Markley 10th Mountain Division Hut. Why not? (We arrived back at the cabin just before nightfall.)
As you may recall I belong to a nature study group (the Valley Vixens) with four other women. We’re volunteer USFS rangers, belong to the Forest Conservancy and are longtime locals. Despite that tenure, there is still much to learn about flora, fauna and the expansion of the West so we take study/learning seriously. Our leader suggested a two-day retreat before the holidays (Gung-Ho!), held at a colleagues’ cabin (How Fun!), that is inaccessible by vehicle in the winter (Holy Cow!).
Our cocktail hour (or, two) and discussion of Theodore Roosevelt
Translated, that means everything necessary for a two-day retreat – our gear, food, books and libation – must be hauled in (uphill) by sled or backpack. We Valley Vixens, equipped with snowshoes, would be the haulers. (I had not been on snowshoes for ten years.) Our study sessions would entail a discussion of “The River of Doubt, Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey” about his disastrous South American trip, and sourcing the plants used for our retreat menus.
Early morning outside the cabin – the peak to the left is named Yellow Boy named for a Chinese cook who once lived in Ashcroft (now inappropriate, I know) and to the far right is Hayden Peak which is just above American Lake.
The mountain cabin, located above the mining ghost town of Ashcroft and below a spectacular waterfall, was built by our hosts, Carol and Tom Kurt, in 1979. Since they had graciously extended their hospitality to us, rudeness and opting out, albeit a consideration, was really not an option for me. Our leader, Donna, handed out assignments and graciously offered to haul my sleeping bag on her sled. The other Donna loaded up her backpack with “all” the wine. Call me The Little Engine That Could. And, did.
A morning hike, of course, before we head home.
Shortly after our return, with little recovery time, I participated in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Who could have anticipated a full-on blizzard with 6-8 inches of fresh snow when signing-up two months earlier? The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies was charged with counting birds in the 15-mile radius around Aspen. (Aspen’s expert birders spotted 40+ species on a snowy, windy day.) Roaring Fork Audubon handled the down valley habitats. The count must go on. And, did.
Now that the sleds were lighter, I volunteered to drag one down the hill.
On second thought, maybe not. Carole & Donna are experts.
You can understand why making this simple citrus salad was such a welcomed relief this week – nothing involved or complicated about it. That it was so delicious and such a good recipe for the holidays is only a bonus. French Fridays with Dorie is an international on-line group cooking its way through Dorie Greenspan’s, Around My French Table. To see what my colleagues are cooking up for the holidays, go here.
7:30am, at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies – these Birders are ready-to-go for a day-long Christmas Count.
Liz Bokram is my loyal and enthusiastic birding buddy – what can I say.
2 tablespoons olive oil Niçoise or other small black olives, pitted or not
Salt, preferably fleur de sel, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Remove a thin slice from the top and bottom of each orange to give yourself flat surfaces, stand the orange up, and, working your knife around the contours of the orange, cut away the peel, the pith and the tiniest bit of flesh. Once they are peeled, cut the oranges into rounds 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick, and arrange attractively on a large serving platter. If you’d like, you can cover the oranges and chill them before you finish and serve the salad.
Drain the onions and pat them dry. Drizzle the olive oil over the oranges, scatter over the onions, top with the olives and season with salt and pepper.
Notes
You can leave the onion whole or cut it in half. Thinly slice it, and separate the slices into rings or half rings. Rinse the slices and drop them into a bowl of ice water. If you’ve got the time, let them sit in their water bath for about 20 minutes — the rinse will wash away some of their bitterness, and the bath will make them crisp.
You may want to remove the zest and save it before peeling the oranges. You can remove it in wide strips, cut away the white pith on the underside, and freeze the strips; you can sliver or chop the zest or you can grate it. (Slivered or grated zest won’t freeze as well.)
Lamb & Dried Apricot Tagine is this week’s FFWD recipe choice and is made in this beautiful Le Creuset tagine (or, a Dutch oven).
This week’s French Fridays recipe choice is Lamb & Dried Apricot Tagine, an aromatic, historically Berber stew of spiced meat, vegetables and dried fruit. Its preparation, a braise, translates to being slowly cooked in a shallow earthenware dish topped by a tall, conical lid unique to its North African beginnings.
“Like many Moroccan tagines,” Doria explains, “this one is aigre-doux, or sour-sweet, and studded with fruit. After you’ve made it, you’ll be as grateful [to have this recipe] as I am.”
Lamb & Dried Apricot Tagine served with white rice (or, couscous)
That’s why this week’s post is not only about a scrumptiously delicious Moroccan classic but also about Gratefulness. In our family we’ve had a tradition since Emma’s been three years old, that before eating our Thanksgiving dinner, we each talk about those things during the past year for which we are most grateful. Despite the roller-coaster ride through Life that all families experience, it’s a good time to be reminded of our good fortunes. Many of our best Thanksgiving memories the past ten years are these conversations.
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. William Arthur Ward
My family, before Thanksgiving dinner and the gratitude remarks, at Death Valley National Park.
Our cups runneth over with a menagerie of I Am Grateful For…….. Clara, now 11, has often been grateful for Blazer, her fire-bellied toad who dines on crickets. One year she mentioned gratefulness for each of her named stuffed animals and her Dad. (Her mother, sister and I didn’t make the Cut.) Emma, 13, usually produces a beautifully written list and eloquently improvises off those prompts. Included always are teachers, relatives, friends, beloved pets and, of course, loved ones we’ve lost.
Stephen’s is always rather short but, score a gold star for him, he never fails mentioning his mother-in-law. Although my thoughts evolve, this year I was grateful for good health, fine friends and for the many things that make a mother and grandmother’s heart swell. None of us, however, have a handle on this gratitude business like Melissa who always speaks last. Missy’s “presentation” is lengthy and always involves tears.
The onions, garlic, tomatoes, seasonings and flavorings are slowly cooking and softening before the meat, apricots and almonds are added.
When the girls were little, those tears were of concern to them. As they grew older and in the eight years we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving in the lovely Furnace Creek Inn dining room at Death Valley, there was some mortification on their part. However, we’ve all grown quite appreciative of “Mom’s tears” and, admittedly, would be disappointed if she didn’t shed them. This year she didn’t disappoint. In fact, she was gooddddd.
Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy. Jacques Maritain
What has become special about this tradition is the thoughtfulness required of us prior to each kickoff of a frenetic holiday season. And, everyone is expected to do their homework before we sit down to a splendid dinner. Because three generations are sitting at the table – this year we dealt with an 11-year-old up to a 70-year old, it’s enlightening to realize each year what we all value. It’s a wonderful, ever-changing process.
The toasted sliced almonds are added at the very last minute.
During the past week, I am grateful for having made this delicious tagine and hope you will enjoy it also. I am also grateful that when forced to scale back on my kitchen items, I kept my Le Creuset tagine. (Don’t own a tagine? A Dutch oven works.) For my newly-sharpened knives that are just back from an overdue visit to the local man who has those sharpening skills, I’m also grateful.
The list goes on and on. As you know, French Fridays with Dorie is an international on-line group cooking its way through Dorie Greenspan’s, Around My French Table. I am most grateful for my FFWD colleagues and our friend and mentor, Dorie. To all of you who loyally read my blog, I also am exceedingly grateful, as you know.
Francis Coppola’s 2011 Black Label Claret (a Cabernet Sauvignon from his Diamond Collection) was a good pour for this meal.
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. Eric Hoffer
4 garlic cloves, split, germ removed, and finely chopped
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained, or 4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1–2 small dried chili peppers
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, cracked
2 pinches of saffron threads
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
About 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
Couscous or rice, for serving (optional)
Instructions
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
If you're using the bouillon cubes, drop them into a medium bowl and pour over the boiling water; stir to dissolve. If you're using chicken broth, bring it to a boil, then pour it into a bowl. Add the apricots to the bowl and let them soak and plump while you prepare the rest of the tagine.
Put the base of a tagine, a high-sided heavy skillet, or a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and pour in 3 tablespoons of the oil. Pat the pieces of lamb dry between paper towels, then drop them into the hot oil (don't crowd the pan — work in batches if necessary) and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes.
With a slotted spoon, lift the meat out of the pan and onto a plate. Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Pour out the fat in the pan, leaving whatever bits may have stuck.
Return the pan to the stove, reduce the heat to low, and add 2 more tablespoons olive oil. When the oil is warm, stir in the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, just to get them started on the road to softening.
Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes, adding a little more oil if needed.
Drain the apricots and add the chicken bouillon/broth to the pan, along with the chili(es), coriander, saffron — crush it between your fingers as you sprinkle it in — ginger, cumin, cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the cilantro. Stir to mix and dissolve the spices, then season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the meat and any juices on the plate over the vegetables and top with the apricots. Seal the pan with aluminum foil, clap on the lid, and slide it into the oven.
Bake the tagine for 1 hour. Carefully lift the lid and foil and scatter the almonds over the meat. Re-cover the pan and bake the tagine for 15 minutes more.
If you cooked the braise in a tagine, sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons cilantro over the meat, bring the tagine to the table, and serve directly from the pan. If you used a skillet or Dutch oven, transfer the tagine to a warm large serving platter and dust with the cilantro.
