Once upon a time, in the snow-peaked Colorado High County, lived a brilliantly colored, teardrop-shaped squash named Red Kuri. She tipped the scales at three pounds, a bit hippy, you might say. It’s all about her unique essence of squash infused with chestnuts that suggests her possibilities. Her fatal flaw? If she is baked, braised,…
French Fridays Under Stage 3 Drought Restrictions
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe is Two Tartines from La Croix Rouge. According to Ms. Greenspan, our leader extraordinaire, La Croix Rouge is one of Paris’s busiest, most chic cafés. Chic grabs my interest but it’s the roast beef and smoked salmon tartines that whet my appetite. Besides being just darn…
EVERY BITE IS WHITE – LIGHTS ON BRIGHT
This week’s French Fridays recipe choice is Hélène’s All-White Salad, a bunch of crunch created by Dorie’s friend, Hélène Samuel. She has loved this salad since first eating it at Samuel’s cafe, Délicabar Snack Chic, located in Paris’s renown Le Bon Marché department store. Built by Gustave Eiffel in 1852 and now owned by the…
SAVORY SCALLOPS KISSED BY SWEET SAUCE
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is the dessert Paris-Brest, a celebratory creamy puff ring made from light pastry dough called pâte à choux. Already this sounds complicated, doesn’t it? It was created in 1891 to honor the Union Des Audax Français, an amateur bicycle race that is still peddling strong today. Paris-Brest…
GETTIN’ MESSY with MOULES MARINIÈRE
Cambria, California This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is Moules Marinière. It proved to be the perfect anchor to my celebratory feast after settling into my new California digs. Living in the Colorado Rockies is a privilege, my idea of paradise. But it’s that 4-month window of snow, cold temps and icy footpaths…
PAINT FRENCH FRIDAYS RED with BELL PEPPER SOUP
Guilty as charged. So guilty as charged. According to the National Resources Defense Council, an amazing 40% of our country’s food is thrown out every year. Now that you’ve digested that number, here’s another. The cost of that wastage translates to a whopping $165 billion. Seems crazy, doesn’t it, that almost fifty million Americans do not…
FRENCH FRIDAYS with DORIE: POMMES au FOUR
Translation: apples in the oven. This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is Pommes au Four, baked apples filled with fruits and nuts. My first thought? Who can’t bake an apple? In Iowa, when I was a kid, we picked apples at the local orchard, hauled them home and helped Mom turn them into…
GRAVLAX: A How-To in Pictures
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 Mustard Sauce, sugar-and-spice cured-salmon, may be a personal best. Gravlax is…
ARE U A CHOPPED LIVER AFICIONADO? (It’s French Fridays)
In our family we’re a mixed bag as far as religion is concerned. My husband, Michael, was Jewish. I am Episcopalian. My son-in-law’s father was a Lutheran minister. My daughter finds truth and power in Buddhist principals. My granddaughters attend a Seven Day Adventist school. And just recently, I’ve found hope in the writings of…
IT’S FRENCH FRIDAYS: TUILES-LA-LA
This week, I must admit, has been humbling. During the past few days I’ve found myself on-the-hunt for my sense of humor and good will. This is not a week when I’ve felt the love from either our Dorie or Mother Nature. Today the French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is Almond-Orange Tuiles (pronounced tweel),…
PAIN PERDU: SUGAR-CRUSTED FRENCH TOAST
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 the day. 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…
A Surprise: CHESTNUT-PEAR Soup
From the get-go, when Chestnut-Pear Soup was chosen to be the November 15th French Fridays with Dorie recipe, I put myself in the not-going-to-happen column. This soup, to my thinking, was a bubble off. But having taken the pledge to not be a doubting Dorista, I finally sourced a 16-ounce jar of chestnuts ($26.31 at…
