At the end of my post each week, I always add these words: “French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table cookbook.”
Dorie Greenspan’s version of Coddled Eggs and Foie Gras. Notice that she likes her eggs less poached than I do. Photo/ Bon Appetit
Our cooking circle was born in October, 2010. The first recipe was Gougères, cheese puffs made with a dough called pâte à choux. Since then we’ve knocked off more than 260 recipes and plan to cross the goal line in April 2015. Until then, cooking-the-book means just that – we’re committed to trying every recipe. Although I may not like every French Fridays dish, I always learn something new from making it. Sometimes it’s an ingenuous technique of Dorie’s. Often it’s a tip or suggestion from a FFWD colleague. Sometimes I surprise myself with a lightbulb moment of my own.
One of my four Coddled Egg with Foie Gras ramekins which is ready for the steamer.
This week’s recipe is Coddled Eggs with Foie Gras. I associate egg coddling, a steaming method resulting in a gentle poach, with Caesar Salad. As “the Martha” reminds us, “A coddled egg is used to help emulsify the dressing and kill any bacteria.”
More simply stated, why run the risk of giving your dinner guests a Salmonella infection? Coddle, instead.
Our B&B in Santa Fe, Adobe Abode, is located one block from George O’Keeffe’s museum. Nelly Joy Irakoze, originally from Burundi in East Africa, is the proprietor and an amazing cook.
While I’ll not make this recipe again, it was a delightful, simple, and decadently delicious lunch yesterday. After buttering 4 ramekins and dropping 4 tiny slivers of Foie Gras in each mold, crack an egg into it. (If you break the yolk, start over.) Season with salt/pepper and spoon heavy cream over the mixture, letting the yolk peek out. Sprinkle with parsley and tarragon and settle the ramekins snugly into your steamer. Steam until comfortably poached (5 minutes for Dorie, 10 minutes for me) and serve immediately.
“The Journey’s End”, a sculpture by Reynaldo Rivera from Albuquerque, greets visitors to Museum Hill where the International Folk Art Museum is located and where the Market was held.
Luckily, this week’s recipe needed few ingredients and could be thrown together with little effort. I just returned from Santa Fe where I joined friends (and, 25,000 other tourists) for the 11th International Folk Art Market. IFAM is the world’s largest crafts exhibition and sale of works by master folk artists. In the past ten years 690 artists from over 80 countries have participated, generating more than $18 million in sales. Even better, 90% of that money is returned to the artist. Many of those artists represent developing countries where making $3 a day is the norm.
Use your imagination – 25,000 people – and, it’s hot. I must say that this huge event was organized, well-run and manned by a friendly, informative volunteer crew.
Attending this market was like making the Coddled Eggs with Foie Gras. I enjoyed it immensely but once is enough. IFAM is an Event and, hopefully, my photos tell and explain that story. Six days in Santa Fe (and, Taos, where we also visited), however, with their historical significance and museums and cuisine and cultural opportunities, are never enough.
Nelly-Joy helped her friend, Ceci, originally from Cameroon, at her food booth at the IFAM. I had lunch there. I don’t know what I ate but it was delicious.
Taureg artist, Haoua Albaka, from Niger
An artist from Equador
The Taos Pueblo, the oldest continuously inhabited community in America, is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Water is carried from nearby Red Willow Creek. There is no electricity. Population: 1,135.
If you would like this week’s recipe, go here. If you wish to see how my colleagues coddled their eggs this week, go here. If you would like more information on Santa Fe or Taos, I will be happy to help you.
One-half pound of halved cherry tomatoes are headed for roasting.
It’s month two of our online cooking group, Cottage Cooking Club. Created by my friend, Andrea, The Kitchen Lioness, we are slicing, dicing and chopping our way through Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s “River Cottage Veg“ cookbook. I’m slinking quietly onto this page today because I’m late and missed last month’s posting deadline. Can we all just pretend it’s still June? Please?
Stuff on Toast
Lateness. Being tardy. Running in, harried and breathless, is something I’ve always tried to avoid. It seems to me that being constantly late – in thought, word and deed – translates into thinking your time is more valuable than those who are left waiting. I’ve apologized to our leader, who is attempting to manage our unruly gang of bloggers. Luckily for me, Andrea, who is German, is distracted these days by her nation’s soccer team face-offs. (Her team is hanging tough. Today Germany meets Brazil in the semifinals.)
In June I made two “keepers” from this very user-friendly book: Honey-roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Frittata with Summer Veg and Goat Cheese.
Let’s first talk tomatoes. I cut 1/2 pound of the little darlin’s in half and laid them, face down, on a lightly oiled roasting pan. Then I crushed two garlic cloves, added a pinch of salt, and stirred this mixture into a bowl with one tablespoon of Manuka honey and three tablespoons of Pasolivo Olive Oil. After seasoning with freshly-ground pepper and Pensey’s Sunny Paris seasoning, I spooned the sticky goo over the tomatoes. Roast this in a 375-degree oven for thirty minutes or until the tomatoes are shriveled, juicy and bubbly.
Frittata with Summer Veg and Goat Cheese
Truth in Cooking: After rereading the recipe and before placing the pan into my oven, I realized the tiny tomatoes should be placed cut side up rather than face down. Logical, right? So, one by one, I flipped those babies, putting them to right. To be truthful, the picture of the face down tomatoes was so beautiful, I had to post it. Readers, look at it but don’t do it tomato-face down.
My Calphalon Fritatta pans
Serve these Honey-roasted Cherry Tomatoes over pasta, risotto or scrambled eggs. Like Tomatoes Provençal, they are a delicious side dish for meat, fish, or a compliment to other roasted or grilled vegetables. My favorite lunch idea is the bruschetta, served with whatever else is on hand.
A frittata mixture of new potatoes, asparagus, peas, broccoli and green onions.
For Christmas, one year, my neighbors, Dominick and Ray, gave me a frittata pan. From that day forward, I became a frittata freak. A June recipe choice – Frittata with Summer Veg and Goat Cheese – caught my eye. Bring it on…asparagus, broccoli, peas, green onions and potatoes. After bringing the potatoes to a boil, throw in the rest of the green veggies and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Sweat the green onions in olive oil until soft, about five minutes, and add to the drained veg mixture. Using fresh eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper, gently make the frittata, your way, adding goat cheese for the last 5 minutes. I topped my frittata slices with my homemade guacamole.
Guacamole was a delicious topping for the sliced frittata servings.
For copyright reasons and because we encourage you to purchase River Cottage Veg, we do not publish the recipes. However, if you’d like to try my three recipes and need more instructions/ingredient specifications, just email me. The Kitchen Lioness, our amazing Andrea, made seven of our June recipe choices. To see her fabulous Post on June’s choices, go here. To see what my colleagues cooked in June, go here.
This week’s FFWD recipe choice, Skate with Capers, Cornichons, and Brown Butter Sauce, was another Are you kidding me? moment in my French Fridays career. First, I was not that familiar with skate. Okay, to be truthful, I probably didn’t even remember it was a fish and member of the stingray family. Skate is another French favorite. In America, not so much.
In the late 90’s, skate wings, the edible part of this fish, flew over the pond, landing on plates in Manhattan’s fancier restaurants. Although still not a popular entrée throughout this country, you will find it on menus in tonier restaurants. If I ever see it on the menu, I will order it.
Sauteed spinach and tomatoes made a perfect pillow for my fish.
But for now, let’s turn to wild Alaskan Pacific cod, the mild-tasting whitefish I substituted in this week’s recipe. Unlike it’s maligned, overfished Atlantic cousin, this cod is an ocean-friendly seafood choice. According to Fishwatch, “Alaska fisheries for Pacific cod account for more than two-thirds of the world’s Pacific cod supply, and are considered among the best managed fisheries in the world.”
The result was cod-licious, thanks to the killer sauce Dorie suggested for this dish. After dredging four 6-ounce cod filets in flour, salt and pepper, drop them in a heavy skillet coated with 2 ounces of melted butter. I cooked the cod four minutes on each side until it was lightly browned and flaked easily. After transferring the fish to a heatproof platter and tenting with foil, I put it in the oven to remain warm while I made the (killer) sauce (recipe below).
Wild Alaskan Pacific cod on a bed of Sauteed Spinach and tomatoes……totally, totally.
Although Dorie suggests serving this entrée on a pillow of mashed potatoes or Celery Root Purée, I detoured down the veggie highway and mixed together Sautéed Spinach with Cherry Tomatoes. Since this (killer) sauce has so much going on – grainy mustard, brown butter, cornichons and capers -, I didn’t want “my pillow” to muscle into the spotlight.
Not only was this a satisfying dinner but also a lovely breakfast and afternoon snack. The following morning I flaked a fillet, added it to the vegetables and made a frittata. Pretty darn delicious.
Cod, Spinach, Cheese & Tomato Frittata (a great use of leftovers)
The 2014 Food & Wine Classic begins in Aspen today, continuing through Sunday, June 22nd. It’s the 32nd year for this festival, bringing together celebrity chefs, corporates (food purveyors, wine professionals and spirit reps) and folks who like to eat and drink and can cough up $1250 for the weekend pass. There will be nearly 100 official events including cooking demonstrations, food, wine and cheese seminars, tastings, conversations and book signings.
Tents like these two have been put up all over Aspen for activities for the 5,000 participants in the 2014 Food & Wine Classic.
Our local community has a long history of volunteering in exchange for a Pass to the Classic. In the past I helped set up tables and chairs and poured wine during seminar tastings. For more years than probably necessary, I sliced baguettes, filling hundreds of bread baskets for the two daily Grand Tastings. Obviously that’s where my talent lies but this year I joined the Green Team. My job, as I understand it, is to help the attendees remember the meaning of recyclable, compostable and trash.
I’m hoping to see Marcus Samuelsson’s demo in the Cooking Tent and Laura Werlin’s seminar, “Mountain Wines, MountainCheeses” and more. Giada DeLaurentiis is here as well as José Andrés, Michael Chiarello and Tyler Florence, to name a few. I promise to share more about the F&W Classic next week. French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table. To see how my colleagues skated through this week’s recipe choice, go here.
Technique:
Put 6 tablespoons of butter into a skillet on medium heat. Cook the butter, swirling the pan, until it starts to turn a light brown. Add the vinegar and swirl again. Stir in the mustard, sliced cornichons and capers. Mix together.
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe is Quiche Maraîchère. What an appropriate choice for my last FFWD posting from Cambria. A loose translation of the french word, maraîchère, is truck farming. “When you see the word,” Dorie says, “you know market-fresh produce is in the mix.”
My quiche is ready for the 400-degree oven. Bake for 20 minutes before adding grated cheese.
Cambria’s Friday afternoon farmer’s market has been a constant delight. ( In Aspen our market begins in late-June.) This quiche, filled with celery, leeks, carrots, and red pepper, was a nourishing market bonanza for me. In the spirit of full disclosure, I purchased my tart shell. The flavorful filling, however, of fresh-grown veggies mixed with heavy cream and eggs masked the humiliation of store-bought. The grated cheese on top provided a needed punch.
I added extra cheese to give the quiche an added level of flavor.
I head back to Snow Country this weekend. You’ve already read about my central coast explorations and wine shenanigans. Now let me stroll down Cambria’s lane to show what’s made this winter so special. To my thinking every long-term living situation needs structure, routine and a support system. (Well, mine does.) This sleepy, generous community has provided that to me.
Although I had visited here before, I arrived in January knowing only Heidi and Janet Huff, the mother/daughter duo who owns Cambria Vacation Rentals and rented me my house. I’d often climb the 50-some steps to their office just for free red licorice and chit-chat, Cambria-style. Juanita Poff and Suzie Hiatt, who own Cambria Business Center, took care of my mail and business needs. A daily and friendly stop.
Janet Huff, who with her daughter, Heidi, owns Cambria Vacation Rentals.
It was also Suzie who helped me find my Gym. I wanted to continue Zumba this winter so she suggested the Dance Fitness class at Gym One. Why I thought Dance Fitness translated into Zumba, I will never know. I showed up for my first class with my Zumba shoes on! There were about 20 very fit women in the gym, ranging from annoyingly-young to 75 years old. They were barefoot. The instructor, Calico, who was also barefoot, explained that this was a sensory-based movement class called Nia and since the first class was free, why didn’t I just try it. I agreed to try it but I kept my shoes on.
Suzie Hiatt (l) and Juanita Poff (r) own Cambria Business Center
Calico is my Nia Instructor.
I may have walked into this class as a hotsy-totsy Zumba student from Aspen but I crawled out humbled. And, sweating. And, my knee hurt. But I decided I had 14 weeks, 3 lessons a week, to look like Calico so I joined up. Nia is not easy, my friends. There are 16 different hour-long routines, your hands are supposed to coordinate with your feet and you make guttural sounds. I never was very good but by class #3, I was barefoot. The best part – my fellow Nia-ers. I will miss them.
I tip my toque to the women in the Gym One Nia Class.
For the 6 years I previously visited Cambria, the town was always fund-raising for a new library. Every year I’d return to stop by the same cramped and small library. This year, Holy Andrew Carnegie, they’d raised the money, had just moved in and were soon to host a grand opening. I picked up my library card and planned to join the celebration, a 5pm-7pm Open House a week later. When I arrived the entire town was already jammed into the library for the reception. I’ve never seen a community so pleased and proud of an accomplishment.
The grand opening celebration at the new Cambria Library.
Although I usually prepared my own meals, when I’d run out to lunch, my favorite spots were the uniquely appealing Ruddell’s Smokehouse in nearby Cayugos or Boni’s Tacos, Cambria’s only food wagon, where their authentic tacos are $2. My scandalous snack of choice this winter has been the Caramel Glazed Kettle Corn. Every Friday I would buy a $6 sack at our farmer’s market and throughout the week, eat the whole thing. Yep, I did.
My souvenir t-shirt should read: I SPENT THE WINTER IN CAMBRIA AND SURVIVED THE DROUGHT RESTRICTIONS. It’s been a new experience to share my shower with a big black bucket but we’ve bonded and become friends.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours. The recipe for Quiche Maraîchère is here. To see if real Doristas eat quiche, check out our FFWD site. Next week I’ll be home, posting from Aspen, Colorado — where, since it is still snowing, I will not be going barefoot.
“If my friend Claudine Martina, a teacher from Angers, had given me this recipe years ago, my baking career would have ended — I would simply have found a way to use this recipe for just about everything.” Dorie Greenspan
Two wedges of Visitandine (a French cake) make the perfect base for strawberry shortcake (an all-American dessert).
This week’s French Friday’s with Dorie recipe choice is the heavenly dessert, Visitandine, named for the Order of Visitation, a French religious order founded in 1610. Like the cloistered, contemplative nuns it was named after, this spongy one-layer cake is plain, simple and sits quietly. Competing against a rich German-Chocolate Torte or a splashy Almond Sponge Roulade, it would probably lose. But if you are wise enough to return and taste again, you’ve won a friend forever.
I used an 8-inch springform pan to bake one thin Visitandine.
Although Dorie suggests doubling this recipe for more layers and versatility, I baked one thin cake in my 8” springform pan. Since I’m trying to be more creative with leftovers, wasting less food, this recipe leant itself perfectly to that challenge. (Thank you, thrifty Sisters.) I followed the recipe as written but did, at Dorie’s suggestion, brown the butter, turning it into beurre noisette. I definitely could taste the hints of caramel and hazelnut that beurre noisette represents. Here, in pictures, is my week of Visitandine, all different but delicious versions of one small white cake. Then, read on, there’s more leftover about leftovers.
Although Dorie instructed us to let it cool to room temperature, I could not wait. A warm piece of Visitandine is perfected goodness.
When my blogging colleagues Susan and John Lester were here recently, we maintained an on-going, onesubjectrunningintoanothersubject, conversation. About food and wine. About books and films. About careers. And, about my nemesis, leftovers and waste. Admittedly, I am a by-the-book, non-imaginative cook. I try hard but it’s very seldom that I crawl out on a foodie limb. Sprinkling Sriracha Sea Salt (Gracias, Ms. Puerto Rico) on french fries or Sale Ae Tartufo Estivo (Grazie, Grauers) on scrambled eggs are my go-wild moments.
Remember last week’s Blueberry & Cinnamon Swirl Sheep Milk Ice Cream? I piled two wedges together, than scooped the ice cream on top and finished up my box of blueberries.
To help my cause I coerced the Lesters into playing a game. I went to my fridge and took an inventory of leftovers – scallops, puff pastry and Petrale sole, left from our visit to my neighborhood Sea Chest restaurant. Susan also glanced at my fruit bowl (full) and vegetable bin (a good inventory). With those ingredients in mind they bounced menu ideas back and forth, one suggestion bringing on another. I laughed and listened. Just for this conversation alone, they’ve earned another invitation for next year. “Susan and John, come early, stay longer and, if the drought restrictions are lifted, I will even let you shower.”
By Day 5, the Visitandine was a little stale but still perfect for breakfast. After 20 seconds in the microwave, I split the last wedge in two and smothered it in Durkee’s Orange Marmalade topping it with Fage’s Greek Yogurt.
The true test in how I fared with Leftovers 101 is the result. I made a frittata with the Petrale Sole which I ate for breakfast and two lunches. Since they also left their fish leftovers from the Sea Chest with me, I made a Smoky Fish Chowder from a recent Melissa Clark “What’s for Dinner” column in The New York Times. (Not Pictured)
With the extra scallops from my FFWD Scallop and Onion Tartes Fines, I made scallops, bacon and asparagus spaghetti. I wish there had been more leftovers in this leftover.
How’d I do? A passing grade, maybe? Is it just me or will any of you confess to a leftover, waste or spoilage issue? I grew up in the era of the starving children in China. If there was food left on our plates, my brother and I were reminded of those poor kids. I still feel guilty, guilty, guilty about a wilted, spoiled or discarded anything. French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours. The recipe for Visitandine is here. To see how many layers my colleagues baked this week, check out our FFWD site.
Today’s French Fridays Post is a double-header featuring Butter & Rum Crepes, Fancy & Plain and Garbure from the Supermarket. The savory garbure is this week’s recipe choice. I’m tardy with the crepes. My crepe pan stayed behind in Colorado. Since my daughter, Melissa, visited me this week, she brought hers.
Missy last spent a week with me in June 2012, after Michael died. Our time together then was bittersweet as we closed a 26-year chapter of our lives. Since then she’s opened her own business, juggling her family’s lifestyle to accommodate this new schedule. In the past 20 months I’ve packed up, moved to Colorado and done some juggling of my own.
I can only imagine the hoops she jumped through to leave her girls, husband and work place to make that six-hour drive from Bishop to Cambria. But, she needed a break and I raised my hand. Last Saturday afternoon she happily arrived at my doorstep.
Butter & Rum Crepes, Fancy & Plain
Melissa’s Arrival last Saturday. Note that her outfit matches her car.
During her earlier visit she’d put together two French Fridays posts for me, over-baking the Hazelnut Biscotti but preparing darn good Crunchy Ginger-Pickled Cucumbers. She had resigned herself to more mother-Dorie-daughter kitchen time so we got busy with the crepes soon after she arrived. I mixed together the batter, which included grated orange and lemon zest, dark rum and Grand Marnier, for an overnight in the fridge. Early the next morning Missy oiled her pan and made the first here’s-how-you-do-it-Mom crepe before handing the pan off to me. I batted .666. Pas mal.
Missy, making the first crepe. Because I was not going to include her in the photo, crediting her with this crepe, she inserted herself into the picture, singeing her hair tips.
For breakfast we just sprinkled powdered sugar on our crepes but Dorie suggests making a yummy honey-orange sauce (recipe here) for a pour-over or a lemon curd filling. Any topping/filling will do but with this batter sweet works over savory.
A Daily Early A.M. Jaunt on the Moonstone Beach Boardwalk
Now, the garbure. “Essentially this is a hearty vegetable soup made heartier with the addition of meat (pork, duck and beef sausage),” Dorie explains.
Hiking the Point Buchon Trail located near Montana de Oro State Park. When the tide is out (and, it was) you can explore the underwater caves.
We like the local mom/pop restaurants. Sunday breakfast at Cambria’s Creekside Gardens
Soups and stews, I love, and this garbure is no exception. Simmering, at least three hours, is the key to unlocking its flavors. The result is memorable. Here’s the recipe. Don’t be dismayed by the ingredient list. (A tip: if you don’t have Piment d’Espelette, use cayenne pepper.) With a baguette to sop up the broth, it’s a meal.
We ate the best Thai lunch at Noi’s, a tiny spot located on a side street in Los Osos
These women turn out delicious food in their little kitchen. I will never complain about my space again. Promise.
Choosing veggies for the garbure at the Los Osos farmer’s market
As many of you know, Mother-Daughter relationships are twicky. I didn’t raise a shrinking violet and I’m no soft touch so there are always detours to navigate around, through, up and over. Love is the easy part. What Life throws in our paths, not so easy. We’ve found what works for us, as you can see in these photos, is to always find the Laughter.
We ate our lunch, sitting inside on two of the three available stools, and watched the women navigate the kitchen. I loved my Red Curry.
Our favorite place for coffee, Top Dog in Morro Bay. Some java is especially necessary before walking into the book store located next door. (Please note that you can also get married at the bookstore. I did not do that.)
At the new&used bookstore, I gave Melissa an unlimited budget and she exceeded it.
We spent our last night having a few beers at Cambria’s Ale House, the locals’ pub (seven stools). Last week Lady Gaga spent a “pleasurable”, sake-filled evening there. She was here while filming a video at Hearst Castle.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s “Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours.” If you would like to look at our group link, go here. If you wish to know more about Lady Gaga’s visit to the Ale House, go here.
A gift from Missy. TO MOM: BECAUSE WHAT WE DO BEST IS LAUGH
