For the past three years, if it’s Friday, I’ve been posting a recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook, Around my French Table. Cooking-the-book with colleagues from around the world, I’ve had hits, fails, wows and never agains. This week’s effort, Dilled Gravlax with MustardSauce, sugar-and-spice cured-salmon, may be a personal best.
Crush toasted peppercorns, white and black, and coriander seeds with a mortar & pestle
Add sea salt and sugar to the crushed seeds and mix. Poke holes in the skin side of the salmon, rub the mixture into it and top generously with fresh dill.
Gravlax is the traditional party food but it’s just as delicious a breakfast-morning-after. Reluctant to hit the highway after Christmas dinner down valley, I bartered salmon for a sleep-over with my friends, Donna and Bernie. Donna phoned Zabar’s to send some bagels. Ho! Ho! Ho!
Flip the salmon and rub mixture into the flesh (no holes).
Cover with dill.
This was a three-day process. Words cannot describe how luscious and buttery this gravlax tasted. Richness personified. Let’s have pictures tell the story………
Cover tightly with plastic wrap, weight evenly, and refridgerate for 48-72 hours. I found the combo of 3 cans of pumpkin puree, a jar of pickled okra and a pineapple, just perfect.
After 2 to 3 days, scrape the dill and mixture off the salmon, rinse quickly with cold water, dry thoroughly, and refrigerate until ready to slice.
Bernie thinly slices the salmon, cutting on the diagonal, leaving the skin behind. (Please know that Donna and I are standing closely behind giving Bernie directions!)
Bring on the bagels.
A post-Christmas feast, Gravlax with cream cheese, capers, onions and Zabar’s toasted bagels.
The Christmas Dinner table at Chez Chase
A woman’s work is never done.
Ever.
The men enjoy the cocktail hour, of course.
While the women are in the kitchen, the men relax. Ahhhhh
If you’d like to make your own Gravlax, here’s Dorie’s recipe. Interested in seeing the results of other Doristas‘ efforts this week? Go, here.
It’s early Thanksgiving morning. I suspect many respectable cooks are already in the kitchen pouring over the plan, adding to the list and organizing theday. The result, of course, will be the tasty holiday meal expected by all the lucky guests at your table.
I am enjoying a quiet moment and my first cup of coffee. It’s a perfect time to share this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice,Sugar-crusted French Toast. Readers, give thanks.
Pain Perdu means lost bread in French. In America where we call a spade, a spade, this translates to stale. Today we’re using our stale bread for stuffing but we most often toss those crumbs away. Not the thrifty French. They turn stale into heavenly sugar-crusted french toast.
Use brioche or challah. Although I used brioche this time, I often have challah on hand. Soak either of these breads in a mixture of eggs, whole milk, heavy cream, vanilla and salt. Cook the moist bread until golden and crusty in a pan of melted butter with a generous sprinkling of sugar.
Need I say more?
Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers. Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends and colleagues. Although Thanksgiving has always been our family’s favorite holiday, today seems especially joyous.
I’m happily resettled in Colorado and have resumed a life, albeit different but a perfect now. The past few days, on my way to California, I stopped in Henderson/Las Vegas to visit old haunts and enjoy those amazing friends who befriended Michael and me for the nine years we lived in Nevada. We’ve kept in touch, as I knew we would, and I still feel an integral part of their neighborhood.
Now I am with my family in Death Valley National Park where we have spent our last five Thanksgivings. After our fancy-schmanzy holiday meal at the Furnace Creek Inn – my son-in-law wears a tie – we go casual and it’s all fun. I no longer see my kids as often (they are thriving in spite of that – who knew???) so we are making every minute count.
And, as always and everyday, I am thankful for my growing virtual community of friends. You are a gift that unexpectedly dropped into my lap three years ago. Merci beaucoup.
Life is neither simple nor easy but I’ve always believed my motor chugs along more happily if I concentrate on the glass-half-full, lemonade-out-of-lemon theory. Toss in a serving of Sugar-crusted French Toast and it’s even better.
If you’re a devotée of French toast baked from a rich buttery bread soaked in a batter with just enough sugar to caramelize both sides and thick, creamy vanilla custard, this week’s recipe, Coupétade, will be a palate-pleaser.
Disclaimer: What works on the palate may not be so pleasing on the hips. Served warm, for breakfast or brunch and covered with a dash of syrup, or cold, as a dessert topped with crème fraîche, this is opulence on a plate. Since I spent last weekend hiking in picturesque Moab, Utah, on an Audubon-sponsored field trip, I sampled this week’s fare free of calorie guilt-angst. More about that later.
First, make the French toast. After cutting each bread slice in half, arrange them in a cooking pan. Then, and this is the fun part, nestle-and-tuck pieces of dried fruit over, under and in-between the cooked bread. (Kids would love this job.) I used halved dates and raisins.
Next, make the vanilla custard. Pour the custard into the pan. Allow it to set ten minutes before placing into a water bath, sliding it carefully into a 325 degree oven. Bake for 90 minutes or until the custard is set.
Personally I loved this right from the oven, topped with g-e-n-u-i-n-e maple syrup. After chilling it overnight and topping it with crème fraîche, I served it as a dessert. Did I like it cold? Not so much. But, warm with syrup, right from the oven? Yum.
Last weekend I joined our local Roaring Fork Audubon Society club on a riparian and upland birding field trip in Moab, a rugged little community located about 250 miles from Aspen in the Utah desert. Although the trip was billed as a “moderately strenuous to strenuous” outingI have participated in many birding junkets. They all have been gentle in elevation and slowly paced. Regarding strenuous??? Not even close. Obviously, Roaring Fork Audubon never received that memo.
I maintain a somewhat rigorous exercise schedule, priding myself on being fit and able. Although I realized, when returning to Colorado, I would be humbled by the athletic prowess of my friends and colleagues, I couldn’t imagine it being in Moab while birding.
To be clear, the trip, led by a biologist and geologist who both birded by ear, was fantastic. A birding short course with geology, biology and ecology added as extra credit. The desert was in bloom, the birds, in love, and the petroglyphs, waiting to be discovered.
Add to that, “moderately strenuous to strenuous”.
Claret-cup Hedgehog Cactus. This cactus is pollinated by hummingbirds.
Twelve of us gathered, early Saturday morning, in a Moab parking lot. Although a friend, another volunteer Forest Ranger, and I had each booked rooms at the Ramada Inn for the weekend, most of the others were camping in the local campgrounds. So, already we felt like wusses.
The short version to my tale is the trail was steep, the rocks, crumbly and the pace, brisk. We climbed up to Hidden Valley, birding and learning as we hiked. Then we climbed further to have lunch by the petroglyphs, a surreal dining experience. The hike down to the trailhead, in mid-afternoon, seemed just as rigorous, after a long, sunny six hours of hiking.
After the initial climb up to Hidden Valley. Headed towards the peak ahead for lunch.
At the base of the trail, one of our leaders had a brilliant suggestion. “Let’s all go to Milt’s,” she said, “and have a milkshake.”
Now that sounded to me like a Plan.
“Then,” she added, “we’ll gather at 3:00pm for our afternoon hike at Mill Creek.”
Seriously? More?
Readers, I bailed. Yep, slunk off, even foregoing the milkshake. My Ramada Inn partner-in-crime continued and later reported to walking through 12” of water during the late-afternoon. Holy Smokes.
To be truthful, six hours of hiking is a long day for me and, albeit disappointed with my stamina, I was pleased with my performance. Since I have no shame, I quickly located Moab’s local’s bar, Woody’s, took a seat at the counter and ordered a cold beer. (Free pretzels.) Yep, I was the oldest female in the establishment and the only patron without a tattoo. Fun. I’ve got a month before the snow clears on Aspen’s trails when I need to be Ranger-ready. Memo to Me: Pick up your game.
And, that’s why I didn’t worry about the calories in my Coupétade.
To see how my colleagues coped with their calories this week, go here and to try this marvelous recipe, go here. A Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mothers, Grandmothers, generous, loving Aunts (that’s you, MIchelle) and kind, doting friends ( Adriana, you’re the one). It takes us all to get these kids raised, doesn’t it. I’m in California with my family this week. Today Melissa and I are going on a Mother-Daughter hike. Hopefully, she’ll be kind!!!
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Creamy Mushrooms and Eggs, is egg-cellent, very tasty. It’s egg-actly right for a lingering week-end breakfast, even for a brunch with friends. Or you may go frenchy and make this your dinner appetizer, as Dorie does. I found it egg-tremely filling so I will always serve this as the main event of a meal.
I may live in Colorado but these are not Magic Mushrooms. Promise.
First, I purchased a loaf of challah at my local bakery. Although Dorie suggests baking your own brioche or challah, there is no way, living at 8200 feet, that I’m willing to risk a bread-fail right now. (I’m still swimming upstream after my Cod-and-Spinach Roulade debacle of two weeks ago.) The bread is lightly toasted and serves as the base for this dish.
After putting together a mixture of wild and cultivated mushrooms at Whole Foods, it was quite simple to make the creamy mushroom sauce. Butter. Olive Oil. Shallots. Heavy Cream. Spices. If I’d had my druthers, I would have enjoyed my sauce a bit more runny and will add more cream next time.
Creamy Mushrooms and Eggs
For me, however, this week was all about the poached egg. Not only does Dorie suggest two methods for doing this, Madame Ruffly Poached Egg or the plainer Monsieur Poached Egg, she also explains how to store them for two days in the fridge. Since this dish is à la minute, that’s nice to know. I will admit to leaving the egg in the water for an additional 60 seconds, as she suggested, if we wished the yolk slightly more cooked. Yes, Julia would be horrified.
Today – Thursday, May 2 – would have been Michael’s and my 27th wedding anniversary so it was a good day to lie low, hang out in the kitchen pondering over Greenspan’s poaching methods, and write this Post. I realized it would be twicky, (thank you, Clara) to get through this first year of holidays, birthdays and celebrations without him and this is the last one, thank God.
Although Julia and Dorie love their eggs a tad more runny, Mary does not.
When we celebrated his life last year, at a service here in Aspen, I finally admitted to our friends and family that Michael and I sometimes asked ourselves, “What were we thinking?”
He was a nice Jewish boy, concluding a successful professional career, edging toward retirement. I was a nice Christian girl, editor of the local newspaper, with fire still in my belly and professional mountains to climb. But we worked like crazy and muddled through for almost 27 years. Hooray for us.
When we moved from Aspen to Henderson, Nevada, nine years ago, only Michael realized we were leaving our Colorado home to fight a medical battle we could not hope to win. Sometimes my naivety is a blessing. That’s why returning to Colorado has also been a blessing. I’ve been here only a month but already I’m successfully erasing those tough recollections of our last few years together, exchanging them with happy ones made here. Every Aspen corner and mountain trail holds a hilarious Michael moment. He was that kind of guy. Since one’s Memory Bank can only contain so much, why not load it up with the good times?
Although I suspect Sadness and Grief will always be my Wingmen, I know the only way to honor Michael is to relish and enjoy this Life we made together. When I married him long ago, he opened up doors to Life’s experiences and opportunities that my girls and I could never have known or enjoyed were it not for him. The past 9 1/2 months have been hectic, overloaded with changes. I’m not sure, but I think he would be proud of me. What I am sure about is that he sure as hell wouldn’t have stood for Creamy Mushrooms and Eggs as his anniversary meal.
To see what my colleagues poached up this week, go here. Want to try this delicious recipe. Go here. If only to learn her culinary techniques, I recommend your buying Dorie’s cookbook, Around My French Table.
Rumor has it this week the Norse God, Ullr, and Mother Nature got together over a simple supper of salad, farçous and grog to decide if it was finally time to usher Springtime into the Rockies. In Norse mythology Ullr (pronounced ooul-er), the handsome stepson of Thor of thunder fame, was the god of snowshoes, hunting, the bow and the shield. Swift on his skis, it was his mission each winter to cover the earth’s landscape to protect it from harm. Americans being Americans, we have enthusiastically adopted Ullr as our personal Snow God…… not such a stretch. Plus, it’s fun.
ULLR, a mythical Norse god drawing by npaganism.org
Last Monday, Winter’s last gasp brought heavy snows, continuing avalanche danger and record cold temperatures to the West. While this round after round of late-season snow has been frustrating, it’s tamped down the wild fire danger considerably. We need the moisture.
But the buds of spring are peeking through the soil, the ski mountains are weary from their winters work and the bears have had enough of this hibernating mumbo-jumbo. Yesterday, I shared Independence Pass road with a humongous (but harmless) black bear. If the bears are back, it’s a sign that Ullr and Mother Nature came to terms. Whoopee and Hooray.
Big-leafed Red Swiss Chard
It’s ironic, isn’t it, that this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe of choice also is farçous, the same dinner dish chosen by MN and Ullr. (To answer your question, neither had I.) Dorie explains that this is a staple throughout Southwest France, their version of a crepe or galette. What makes this unique is that it’s made from a batter loaded with greens, in particular, swiss chard. (Keep reading, it’s delicious.) In her Around My French TableCookbook she calls them Swiss Chard Pancakes.
You will find the recipe here. Since I made pancakes of the silver dollar size, it was prudent to halve the ingredients. Although these freeze well, there are just so many pancakes one can eat, whether large or small.
The batter is made entirely in the food processor with the swiss chard being added last, bit by bit. If you are making the full recipe you might need to do this process twice. Pour your batter into a hot skillet of grapeseed oil. About 1/3 cup of batter for the silver-dollar size and 3/4 cup batter for a full-sized pancake. I cooked my little guys for 4 minutes before flipping them over for another 3 minutes. After transferring them to a paper-lined plate and patting-off the excess oil, I placed them on a foil-lined cookie sheet in the oven. In my opinion, they are only delicious when served warm.
You can embellish these pancakes with a topping of your choice and then garnish that topping for a pretty finish. I chose sour cream because that’s what I had on hand but crème fraîche would have been better. Notice that I didn’t garnish my topping with minced chives or another herb because the flavors in my accompanying salad were major.
Baby Spinach Salad with Dates & Almonds from Ottolenghi & Tamini’s cookbook “Jerusalem”
I paired these pancakes with a Baby Spinach Salad with Dates & Almonds, a recipe from Ottolenghi and Tamimi’s brilliant new cookbook, Jerusalem. Eileen, whose blog is cookbookimmmersionproject, raved about it in a recent post. It is absolutely delicious albeit totally different from any salad I’ve made. When serving it to dinner guests this week-end I plan to reduce the two teaspoons of the spice, sumac, to just one. Middle Eastern spices seem to “bite back” and I need to develop my taste buds a bit more (as will my guests.)
Again this week, the pancakes are more delicious than photogenic.
To see how my other FFWD colleagues flipped their yummy pancakes this week, go to our link. And, please, Think Spring.
Saturday I received an e-mail from a friend who lost her mother in September. Although her e-mail was upbeat, she did say this about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, “It will be a tough holiday for us with Mom gone. I’m already sad and have my moments but know we’ll get through it-the first of many firsts!!”
It’s understandable for her to be sad and, with bombs bursting in international air, East Coast Americans still reeling from hurricane Sandy, and many of our citizens, out-of-work, unable to pay their bills, this will be a rocky holiday season for many.
Sunday morning breakfast with freshly-squeezed orange juice, sliced bananas, a Gingerbread Spice Dutch Baby pancake and the New York Times – how civilized!
I’m mindful this will be a first holiday season for me also. Luckily this Fall has been joyful – my cup overflowing with good fortune, good health, good people and the kindness of strangers. I am grateful. Since there aren’t “Holiday 2012 Do-Over’s,” I’m determined to do my part to make these next six weeks merrily memorable.
Today would have been Michael’s 84th birthday, a joyous celebratory day which always kicked off the holidays for our family. I wanted this day to remain important and be happy so, of course, food needed to be involved.
Over the past few weeks I’ve received five new cookbooks. Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! Wouldn’t this be a perfect day to try a new recipe? How about something from Deb Perelman’s “the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, recipes and wisdom from an obsessive home cook.” ( I’ve been called obsessive a few times myself. Deb and I will get along fine.)
This morning I picked up her book and on page 11, I spied a picture of a Gingerbread Spice Dutch Baby pancake. It’s a golden concoction of rumpled goodness, flavored with winter spices, and simplistic in its ingredients. That picture spoke to me. A delicious breakfast to begin a dicey day. Why not? A perfect choice – magical to make, festive to see, and very tasty.
Process everything but the butter and toppings in your blender before pouring into a butter-coated ovenproof skillet. I used my cast iron skillet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
This bright start to my day was followed by unpacking ornaments (drudgery), a lengthy hike (sunny and warm), and then running to my local theatre to see “Lincoln” (not particularly uplifting but a must-see). To continue my theme of “not particularly uplifting”, I’m now watching Ken Burns‘ documentary, “The Dust Bowl” on PBS. Probably not a great idea but, hey, it’s Ken Burns.
Still,I count this day as very successful, crediting a well-regarded cookbook and its delightfully flavorful rumply, bumpy pancake for providing the jumpstart. Thanks, Deb.
A nutritious but filling breakfast. As Deb says, “The batter is practically austere in its brief ingredient list and in that it contains only a modicum of sugar.”
GINGERBREAD SPICE DUTCH BABY
(slight flavoring and spice adaptions)
Yield: One 9-inch pancake
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoon unsulfured molasses*
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves*
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Powdered sugar, for dusting. Serve also with maple syrup or crème fraîche, if desired.
Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the eggs in a blender and blend until smooth and pale in color. Add the brown sugar, molasses, flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt, and milk and blend until smooth.
2.Melt the butter in a 9-inch ovenproof skillet over high heat, swirling it up the sides to evenly coat the pan. Pour the batter into the skillet and transfer to the oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pancake is puffed up. Remove from the oven, dust with powdered sugar. Serve with maple syrup or crème fraîche, if desired.
(Note: I doubled the amount of molasses and cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, for additional flavor.)
