Welcome to my first Work-in-Progress Post. This week’s French Friday withDorie recipe is the very appropriate and élégant Coeur à la Crème.
The most difficult part of making this week’s recipe was finding the heart-shaped molds. I finally found two 7-inch molds at Sur La Table. Guess where???? On The Las Vegas Strip. Go figure. FANTES.COM
Explanation, please. According to Barron’s Food Lover’s Companion, KEWR ah la KREHM is French for heart with cream. This classic dessert is made in a special heart-shaped mold with holes and little feet to hold it up. Cream cheese is mixed with sour cream or whipping cream (and, sometimes confectionary sugar) and placed into the cheesecloth-lined mold. The dessert is then refrigerated overnight, during which time the whey (liquid) drains out through the perforated mold. To serve, the dessert is unmolded and garnished with a coulis and fresh fruit.
After beating cream cheese, confectionary sugar, salt and vanilla to a smooth and velvety texture, it was set aside. We whipped heavy cream until it just began to hold firm peaks. (pictured here).
Like many of you, I had seen pictures of this classic dessert in fancy food magazines but had never eaten it nor even considered making it. That’s one of the many reasons I joined FFWD. To belong to this cooking group and remain in good standing, you must cook each week ……a specific recipe for the team.
We folded the cream cheese mixture gently into the whipped cream AFTER FIRST gently stirring about one-quarter of the whipped cfream mixture into the cream cheese to “lighten” it. After fitting a dampened cheesecloth square into each heart, we filled the molds.
Admittedly, I’ve never been considered a team player. At a recent birthday gathering I was described as “tenaciously independent” – by a family member. Although said more in exasperation than jest, it really wasn’t meant to be a compliment.
But, as a Dorista, I’ve been a pussy cat, so onward and upward to making what Dorie describes as “an indulgently luxurious coeur à la crème with a texture so light you could fool yourself into thinking you were eating sweetened air.’”
After filling the molds, we folded and wrapped them in the dampened cheesecloth and put in the refrigerator to chill overnight. This dessert can be made up to three days in advance.
Realizing that I would be in Colorado for this week’s food project, I loaded and lugged my KitchenAid mixer, the non-refrigerated ingredients and two 7-inch heart-shaped molds to Aspen. My friends, Donna and Bernie, are hosting a dinner party for me tonight so I offered to bring dessert. Donna, not only a delightful hostess but also a talented cook, suggested we make this dessert together, a first for both of us.
For the topping (ever so slight), we made a raspberry coulis by pureeing frozen raspberries, staining the seeds, and adding framboise. Incidentally, the raspberries were from Serbia which we found interesting.
Yesterday morning (Thursday), we made this little bit of dessert heaven, needing very few ingredients, with no trouble at all. It was simple. So far. So good. We refrigerated our two molds and filled a strainer with the leftover batter to chill overnight. We cannot wait until tonight to unmold our coeurs, drizzle our homemade raspberry coulis over the top, toss a few raspberries on the plate and present what we hope is party perfection to our eager taste-testing friends. May the hooping and hollering begin. Photos to follow.
Tonight, Donna and I will unveil and serve our FFWD Coeur à la Crème. Feeling a little pressure. Just like in Nevada, my friends here are all extremely fine cooks so I want this to look beautiful and taste wonderfully. These are good friends, after all, all in fun, but this has been a week-long “talk-in-progress” so here’s hoping for another Dorie-success story. Photos to be posted – success or failure – later this evening.
If you want to make this heart dessert , find the recipe here. To see the finished Posts of my colleagues, go here. I would like to urge you readers to buy the cookbook we are using for FFWD, “Around My French Table”, by Dorie Greenspan. Even if you don’t want to make some of the recipes I post every week (and, as you know, I don’t love everything), there isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t learn some terrific technique or clue or idea or variation from this cookbook. Dorie takes complicated recipes down to simple and enables the average cook (which I am) to succeed , flourish and have a great time. My book’s cover is torn, some pages are stained, there are coffee rings on others, and many corners are dog-eared. It’s a cookbook with character, that’s for sure, and I so enjoy using it every week.
My Box of Cookies from my secret FFWD Valentine arrived at The Gant in Aspen before me. Although I had e-mailed, called and texted the kids at the front desk to ‘not even think of eating those cookies’, I paid a ransom when I picked the box up. They received a big red tin of homemade Valentine Cookies from me. There were smiles all around.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY 2013……….
This year many of us who belong to French Fridays with Dorie participated in a Valentine’s Cookie Exchange. Everything about this project was supposed to be top-secret until the “Big Reveal” on February 14th. Yeah, right……..
Our leader for this project was Alice Mizer who blogs at A Cooking Mizer. If you remember, Alice masterminded our Christmas card exchange and managed the project artfully. Admittedly, this Cupid Crowd was a bit unruly and, honestly, who can keep a secret? But along came February 14th, we’ve all sent treats to our secret Valentines, and you can see their sugary results and recipes at our French Fridays with Dorie link.
My secret Dorista Valentine knows how to put the Giant in Ginger Snaps. These cookies were humongous and outrageously delicious.
Nothing about this project was difficult for me. I received the name of my secret Valentine, baked my tasty cookies, packaged them up and went to the post office to mail to Massachusetts on deadline. What totally traumatized me was after paying my proper postage, the postal clerk heaved, and, I mean, heaved my box into the postal bin.
How does your cookie crumble?
So, I immediately blew my cover and e-mailed my secret Valentine, Betsy, telling her that if my cookies arrived in pieces to NOT tell me.
The cookies I received were packaged in 9 feet of bubble wrap. Seriously. Trust me, this lady, who owns a bakery, knows how to send baked goods. Thank you, Susan, this bubble wrap will be recycled for my upcoming move and your cookies arrived in perfect condition.
What a perfect dinner, after a ten-hour drive, to celebrate my safe arrival back in Colorado: a glass of wine (or, 2 or 3) and two of Susan’s Giant Ginger Snap cookies. Lucky me.
My Valentine cookie box was waiting for me last Friday when I arrived in Aspen after a ten-hour road trip. Susan, a talented chef and baker who blogs at The Little French Bakery and runs a cooking school in North Freedom, Wisconsin, had baked Giant Ginger Snaps for me. Be still my heart. I am sharing her recipe with you at the end of my blog. Thank you, Susan, for the absolutely scrumptious cookies.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Grandma” There is nothing about my family that isn’t thoughtful. The first thing to pop up on my computer this morning was this long-distance Valentine, filling our now-widened gap between California and Colorado with Love.
Giant Ginger Snaps
Ingredients:
2 Cups Vegetable Oil
4 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Molasses
4 Eggs, room temperature
8 Cups A-P Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
8 Teaspoon Baking Soda
2 Teaspoon EACH, Cinnamon, Ground Cloves, and Ginger
Granulated Sugar for Rolling
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all the ingredients until a soft dough forms. Roll into balls the size that is slightly larger than a walnut but smaller than a golf ball. Roll in granulated sugar. Set balls on parchment-lined baking sheet. Press slightly. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. The cookies will puff, then flatten out. The crinkles will brown slightly. Bake less for chewy and more for a snap!
Makes 3 to 4 dozen but recipe can be easily cut in half.
This week as I went about my chores, I thought about Kathy, my blogging colleague, fellow Dorista and new friend who blogs at Bakeawaywithme.
In one of her chatty, interesting blogs, Kathy shared with us that she owned 600 cookbooks. Seriously? Yes, 600, she’s counted. Furthermore, she’s still a buyer. I have a few words of advice for you, Kathy. “Don’t Move. Don’t Ever Move. Don’t Even Think About Moving.”
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is Fresh Orange Pork Tenderloin. The thickly-sliced pork medallions played well with sliced beets, Trader Joe’s baked french fries, and a hearty red wine. Yummmm
Our French Fridays with Dorie recipe is a very delightful Fresh Orange Pork Tenderloin. Easy to put together, the two main ingredients are 4 large oranges and a pound-and-one-half pork tenderloin. Duh! The seasoning is simply salt, pepper, chopped onions and bruised cardamon pods. Although a large pork tenderloin serves four dinner portions and I was only cooking for one, I decided to make the big guy. I needed the protein.
A vision of orange: juice, zest and segments.
Unfortunately, pork gets a bad rap. It’s that bacon and cured meat thing. According to Fitday, a wellness link:
Lean pork is a healthy choice of meat. It is a good source of proteins, vitamins and minerals. The low sodium content makes it a good choice of meat if you want to maintain healthy blood pressure.”
These days I need to “do healthy”, find more energy than I probably have stored away, and pretend there is more boom in this early boomer than there actually is. After selling my Nevada house last week, I’m now deciding how to meld the belongings from this 2000-square foot house into my 1000-square foot Colorado condominium that is already beautifully furnished.
Eight pork medallions, browned and gently simmering, donated graciously by a lean, little pig.
Yeah, I’m laughing, too. This is déja vous all over again. Eight years ago when we moved from Colorado to Nevada, we went from 4000-square feet to 2000-square feet. That was painful. Now again, it’s all about sorting and tossing and organizing and donating and selling and giving and begging. I’m a Nester, whatever space I have, I fill it ….and, more. When my friends hear me say, “Would you like………..”, they Just Say No and back away quickly. I cannot shame my children into taking more. The Goodwill Donation Truck man is tired of me and my trash container was overweight last week. That’s trouble.
This past week, as I packed boxes and de-cluttered my Life, I gratefully gobbled up those pork medallions (8). Made exactly to Dorie’s directions, I felt the slices were a tiny bit tough. Next time I will shorten the simmering time. Is there always a reason for chopped onions being included in recipes? I would have preferred a stronger cardamon flavoring. Otherwise, mighty tasty and filling.
While cleaning my linen closet I found these placemats, a souvenir from a trip to Carcassonne. It not only brought back French memories but also helped brighten up the dinner table.
I am writing this Post late Friday night and will barely make the FFWD deadline. I have just driven into Aspen to spend a week here organizing my April 1st move on this end. (And, yes, rent a storage unit.) Although in the past 10 hours I have driven from 70-degree temperature and sunny skies to a 38-degree temperature with a snowstorm on the way, I am happy.
Cold, very cold, but happy.
SATURDAY MORNING, ASPEN, COLORADO:
My Welcome Home Breakfast with friends of 25 years (and still counting), at Poppycocks.
Hanging Out at the Hotel Jerome’s J-Bar. Saturday.
Dorie suggests plating these sealed vegetable packets and letting each guest have the pleasure of savoring the first fragrant puff of steam when the seal is broken. My friend, Ruth, enjoyed the moment.
My! My! My!
Everything about this week’s FFWD recipe was a delicious, winning, you-must-make-this, choice. Let’s just forgeddabout last week’s not-so-good and race quickly on to better and best: Brown-Sugar Squash and Brussels Sprouts** en Papillote.
The cubed squash, apples, halved Brussels sprouts, olive oil, salt and pepper are easily and simply mixed together.
Dorie echoed my original thought when I first read this recipe. “I don’t thinkI’d ever have put the squash and Brussels sprouts together if they weren’t packed into the bin side by side,” she said. “And it was just a stroke of luck that I had both an apple and fresh sage, which is perfect with the vegetables and fruit.”
Divide evenly between four non-stick, 12-inch squares of aluminum foil. Frankly, this was the hardest part and, yes, I counted!!!
To my surprise and Dorie’s, what pleased her most about this serendipitous side was ‘the play between earthy and sweet’.
I sprinkled brown sugar over each bundle and topped with fresh sage. Earthy. Sweet.
Although this is really a recipe for your Fall menus, it is tasty in Winter also. Once again, our Doristas who live in South America and Australia, where it is Summer, are very, very good sports.
I sealed the packets, leaving room so the ingredients can steam, and put them in the refridgerator.
Because I am particularly busy right now, I bought a pound package of pre-cut, cubed squash so it took only 15 minutes to throw this together. I also made the packets in the morning, refrigerated them and added a few minutes to their baking time.
Luckily my veggie-lovin’ Colorado friends, Peter and Ruth Frey, joined me for this week’s successful taste testing. The Freys, enroute to a two-month stay in Cambria, California, stopped to observe my January 31st house-closing (or to “manage” my emotional fall-out if there was a closing glitch).
To accompany this week’s FFWD recipe, I served a green salad and Yotam Ottolenghi’s “Very Full Tart”, a delicious recipe from his cookbook, “Plenty”.
Fortunately we enjoyed two sunny days of exploring Nevada’s outdoors fueled by wonderful food, drink and friendship. Plus, we were able to celebrate yesterday’s successful house closing/sale before their leaving for Callie this morning.
The reason Peter is not smiling is that he had already begun to open his packet before Ruth and I scared the hell out of him by telling (well, yelling at) him to STOP. I needed a photo, of course. A long-time professor at Northwestern University, he understands ‘learning experiences’ and patiently re-sealed his packet for picture-taking. But, he’s all-business so couldn’t smile.
Peter’s silent compliment to the cook.
To see how my FFWD colleagues handled their tinfoil this week, go to our group link. If you want to try this recipe, and I urge you to try it, go here.
I enjoyed introducing my Colorado friends to Nevada’s outdoor hiking opportunities. Nevada is over 80% public land, forty-eight million acres of that land is administered by the Bureau of Land management. Since Ruth and I are both volunteer forest rangers in Colorado’s High Country, she especially enjoyed our hikes at Lake Mead, the Red Rocks National Conservation Area and Black Mountain, a totally different experience from hiking in the Rockies.
** These tiny cabbage-like vegetables are named after the Belgian city of Brussels, which has an “S” on the end. The correct spelling is “Brussels sprouts.”
It seems rather bizarre that my grocery list for this week’s French Friday with Dorie recipe had me scrambling for cellophane noodles, Chinese tree ear mushrooms, Asian toasted sesame oil and Chinese five-spice powder. Ms. Greenspan even urged us to pull out our woks.
Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles is this week’s French Friday with Dorie’s recipe choice.
I wonder if Joel Robuchon, Alain Ducasse or Guy Savoy even own woks? I spent hours in Julia’s kitchen at the American History Museum at the Smithsonian. Cannot remember a wok. That’s why I love Dorie – she crawls out on a limb, never glances back and successfully coaxes us along.
This week, Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles is the FFWD recipe choice. If you’ll remember, early last year I joined Wok Wednesdays, a group that cooks from Grace Young’s cookbook, Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge. Although the food was delicious, I was a Wednesday wonk. To my mind, wok cooking is a mad dash to the finish. I enjoy the prep but having to make it all happen so quickly, for a tasty result, makes me crazy.
A small, finely chopped onion is the first ingredient for the heated wok. Cook for only a minute until it’s translucent.
But, for the sake of Dorie, I made friends with my banished wok, tossed together a batch of Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles and washed it down with a bottle of Tsingtao. Well, maybe two bottles.
Now it’s time for the rehydrated mushrooms and garlic. Cook for another 30 seconds.
Truthfully, perhaps the French should leave these one-dish wok meals to the Asians. The soft, slippery noodles mixed with Asian toasted sesame oil could have stood alone. They were delicious. Who doesn’t love ginger, cloves, cinnamon, pepper and star anise blended together into aromatic Chinese five-spice powder? That spice, along with a few other ingredients, helped the shrimp be mighty tasty.
Turn up the heat and add the shrimp to the pan.
Then along came the two cups of tomato puree. Say, what? Even the second bottle of beer couldn’t make that combination work for me. Je suis désolée, Dorie, but this week’s recipe gets a thumb down from this household. (A first for me.)
While this week’s recipe might not have been successful, the week was. I wasn’t sold on Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles à la français, but I was deliriously happy to hang a SOLD sign on my Nevada house. Yep, this week I signed, sealed and delivered my Henderson house to a happy buyer and will be moving back to Aspen, to live full-time, by early Spring.
After the shrimp is added, quickly add the spice mixture and then season with salt and pepper. Thirty seconds later, dump in 2 cups of tomato puree (purposely not pictured). NOTE: All this is accomplished in 3-4 minutes. Do you see why wokking makes me SO nervous? To move this quickly in the kitchen, I need Xanax.
Aspen has been our home since 1988 and, during this year of healing, adjustment and change as well as those that follow, it’s where I want to be. After being in Henderson eight years, I will be leaving wonderful friends, but there’s not a one of them who isn’t, for my sake, happy to see me Colorado-bound.
I hope my colleagues had a better experience with this recipe than I. Go here to see another point of view. Next week we’re doing a vegetable combo “en papillote”. Sounds good. The French being French.
