This says it all. Gâteau Basque, this week’s FFWD recipe choice, is almost too good to be true.
Odds are you have the ingredients for Gâteau Basque in your kitchen. No need for a grocery run nor special equipment. It’s an effortless preparation. The frosting on this cake (whoops, there is no frosting on this cake) is that in France, there’s even a museum dedicated to it. Hoity-toity. Something to work into the conversation as dessert is served.
This week’s French Friday’s recipe is Gâteau Basque, the traditional dessert of the French Basque region. Although it might look like a torte, galette or monster cookie, the people of this region call it cake. It’s exactly what I needed yesterday to regain my status as super-duper resident of The Gant, the 144-condo complex where I live.
Gâteau Basque, fresh from the oven. Smokey Bear shared his birthday candles with me.
Wednesday, our local Whole Foods Market in El Jebel joined with the Forest Conservancy to celebrate Smokey Bear’s 70th Birthday. Everyone would have the opportunity to see Smokey, take photos and share his birthday cake. Five percent of the WF’s proceeds that day would go to the Conservancy. Our organization hums along on a lean budget so we were psyched. So was Smokey.
When I left The Gant early Wednesday morning I promised everyone at the front office to bring back some of Smokey’s birthday cake. What was I thinking? I returned home Wednesday night only with Smokey’s birthday candles. Not good.
Choose any filling you wish for the Gâteau Basque, even vanilla pastry cream. I used wild Swedish Lingonberries.
Gâteau Basque to the rescue. I poured myself an extra-tall Gin & Tonic (it had been a verrry long day) and put together the batter: flour, baking powder, salt, butter, sugar, brown and white, eggs and vanilla extract. After dividing the dough in half, I rolled out two 8-inch disks. Since the dough is sticky, Dorie suggests placing each disk between wax paper before the roll. Refrigerate, wax paper included, for at least 3 hours. I went to bed so it was an overnight.
The next day I laid one disk in a buttered 8-inch cake pan and dressed it with wild Swedish Lingonberries, leaving 1” inch of dough bare around the border. After moistening the bare ring with water, I put the second disk on top, sealed them together and brushed with an egg glaze before making the crosshatch pattern. Forty-five minutes in a 350 degrees oven-later, you’ve got a museum-quality cake.
Dorie Greenspan’s Gâteau Basque (photo by Dorie Greenspan)
After placing Smokey’s birthday candles on the Gâteau Basque and slicing a teeny-weeny piece for myself, I carried it to the front office. I handed it off to Lucas and heard a muffled whooping and hollering as he carried it to the back room. I understand it was ‘devoured’. Mark, who returned my plate, said, “It’s something you’d expect from a fancy bakery. And you can quote me on that.”
So, I did.
Smokey Bear’s 70th birthday cake made by Whole Foods in their bakery. Note the candles.
I not only maintained my stature at The Gant but can also report on Smokey’s successful celebration. We fattened our depleted coffers by $3,984. What made the day especially great was watching the public respond to the Big Guy. The kids were excited and had a ball but the adults went all silly in the greatest of ways.
According to the Ad Council, 96 percent of the U.S. adult population recognize Smokey Bear and 70 percent are able to recall his tagline without any prompting. Our Smokey posed for hundreds of pictures, had gestures-only conversations, held babies and strolled through WF’s so each employee shift could have photo-ops. It was a Mom-and-Apple Pie day as you can see from these photos.
Donna Chase and I helped Smokey organize this event. Bright-eyed and furry-tailed in the AM. By 6pm, we all had flagged a bit.
What’s more fun than adults being silly. This was Smokey’s first photo op. Note the kids waiting patiently in the back.
The local fire guys are helping Smokey Bear remind everyone, “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires.”
It’s late. We’re a bit silly ourselves but Donna Grauer never loses her joie de vivre. . Betsy Dunbar not only shopped but also brought us snacks. We all forgot lunch!
French Fridays with Dorie is an international group cooking its way through Dorie Greenspan’s, Around My French Table. If you want to try today’s recipe, go here. To see what my colleagues baked this week, go here.
In the spirit of full disclosure, this month’s Cottage Cooking Club post will make you weep. In fact, it’s a two-weeper. Since I’m not the sort to hold back, suffer in silence, I feel inclined to share the pain.
PANZANELLA, recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Veg
Cottage Cooking Club is a group devoted to eating our vegetables. With able assistance from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg cookbook, we are discovering unique and more creative ways to put nutrition on our tables. Every month our leader, Andrea, an award-winning blogger atThe Kitchen Lioness, sends ten recipes for our consideration. We then make our choices.
Knowing July would be a busy month, I picked two classics: Panzanella (recipe here) and Eggplant Parmigiana (recipe here). Panzanella, a Tuscan bread salad, is considered an Italian national treasure. The late, Italian cooking legend Marcella Hazan described it best. “Throughout Central Italy, from Florence to Rome, the most satisfying of salads is based on that old standby of the ingenious poor, bread and water. Given the right bread – a gutsy, country bread such as that of Tuscany or Abruzzi -,” Hazan continued, “ there is no change that one can bring to the traditional version that can improve it.”
Unfortunately, like most classic dishes, every cook has a tweak or two. Link to the Pinterest site, type in Panzanella and, mamma mia, you’ll find 60 different bread salads. Gingerbread? Brussels Sprouts? Amaranth? Seriously? While Whittingstall’s version doesn’t venture too far off the rails, I was intrigued by his tomatoey dressing followed by his technique to moisten the bread. No water for this guy.
My friend, Donna Grauer, asked me to Theatre Aspen’s Little Women production (husband, Bernie, was a no-go for LW). Wouldn’t a light supper, a little wine, be a gracious before-the-theatre touch? The Grauers are card-carrying Italianophiles so Donna, unlike me, knew her Panzanellas. We found this bread salad flavorful and refreshingly light. If needing to satisfy bigger appetites, we agreed that protein, an entrée, is needed.
This is what a Before-the-Theatre soirée looks like in the mountains.
We all are familiar with Louisa Mae Alcott’s Little Women. Right? The theatre production, a musical, Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy, was wonderful. At Intermission, Donna handed me a wad of Kleenex, “Here, you’ll need this,” she said.
And, we did. I’ve read this novel many times. It’s a story. I know Beth dies. I’ve known that for more than 55 years. And, yet, when Beth died in the play, we could hear the sniffles, see the tears, throughout the theatre. My first weep.
EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA, coming out of the oven
If you return to Pinterest and do a Eggplant Parmigiana-search, you will again find 60 different recipes but very few variables. Eggplants. Tomatoes. Cheese. Quell è tutto. The techniques are similar. No one crawls too far out on that limb. Whittingstall’s recipe is easily put together and very, very good … I think.
This is where the second weep begins. I made this dish late Wednesday afternoon in anticipation of my daughter’s visit. It’s a 14-hour drive from California and Melissa would arrive Thursday evening, weary and hungry. My welcome-to-Aspen dinner would be the requested greens salad, Filet Mignon, (cooked John Lester-style) and fresh green beans. The Eggplant Parmigiana would be a Mom-addition to dazzle and impress.
That’s three small bites for me………
This is what went down. I pulled the EP out of the oven, took two or three bites, pleased with the result. After taking photos, I set the dish on the counter to cool and cleaned up the kitchen. The evening passed quickly with last-minute chores. Then, to bed. The next morning I discovered the EP sitting on the counter, cooling! Since I had already once poisoned my son-in-law with an unrefrigerated leftover corn dog, I decided against going 2-for-2. I’m still hearing “Do you remember when Gramma poisoned Dad?” at family gatherings. With a very heavy heart, I tossed it. Second weep.
Melissa and I walked through the breathtakingly beautiful John Denver Sanctuary. She will only know about the Eggplant Parmigiana if she reads this post. I do have my pride.
You can find this post’s recipes here and here. I suspect my colleagues chose to make other great recipes this month. Visit them at our CCC site.
Glancing through cookbooks penned by some favorite chefs, Ina, Julia, Martha and Jacques, I found recipes for Tomatoes Provençal. While admittedly it’s a French classic, have you ever visited a 4th of July buffet table that didn’t include this tomato dish? Think of it as our appreciative tip of Uncle Sam’s hat to the Marquis de Lafayette and French support during the Revolutionary War.
Fifteen minutes to throw together and less than an hour in the oven. How good does that sound?
This week’s French Fridays recipe, an appropriate flag-waving choice, is Dorie Greenspan’s take on Tomatoes Provençal. In her own words, “Every French cook who makes oven-roasted herb-topped tomatoes has his or her own recipe, but the fact is it needs no recipe at all.
A weekend adventure to Rocky Mountain National Park and the Continental Divide.
There are a few givens,” Dorie explains. “The tomatoes, to be sure, olive oil to moisten them and make a little basting sauce; herbs to top them, and garlic to set your culinary compass to the South of France – but which herbs you use, how you cut your tomatoes, whether you roast them until they’re almost melted or leave them a little firmer are all up to you.”
DonnaC and Francine are unable to explain why an overnight trip with four women requires all this luggage.(So, they smiled instead.)
What’s intriguing about Dorie’s is what she doesn’t do. She doesn’t remove the seeds after halving the tomatoes. And, she doesn’t include breadcrumbs in her topping. It’s all about the tomatoes (juicy), herbs and garlic (fresh) and olive oil (top-quality). Think simple, rustic and toothsome. (If the juices run down your chin, grab a napkin or use your sleeve.)
Forget anything? DonnaC, our in-house dental professional, gifted us with a dental kit.
TP can stand alone or be an accompaniment to any dish, eggs, salads, fish or meats. It’s delicious hot, cold or presented at room temp. It was my lunch (with a salad), then, breakfast, with eggs, and, finally, dinner, with lamb chops.
DonnaG (r), is having a “geologic moment” to explain 300 million years of recent geologic history. (Well done, friend).
In the spirit of the 4th of July, to honor our country’s Independence, I am sharing through pictures one of America’s great treasures and strengths – our National Park system. As a kid growing up in Iowa, my parents took my brother and me on many vacations. Etched forever in my memory bank, however, are our trips to Yosemite and The Great Smokey Mountains National Parks. With my own family, I visited many more, also introducing my Iowa girls to skiing, hiking and the grandeur of the American West.
The well-earned 6p.m. cocktail hour after a full day in the Park.
After moving to the Colorado mountains in 1988, it’s no surprise that I morphed into a total tree-hugger, would rather be outside than in and since becoming a volunteer forest ranger, strut around in my uniform as if I’m John Muir incarnate! My Melissa married an outdoor-sorta-guy and is raising my two granddaughters in a small town in the Sierra Nevada’s. It’s a good life with weekends of hiking or skiing, camping and exploring. Our family Thanksgiving’s are always spent in Death Valley, my favorite Park.
The evening’s entertainment, Bird Bingo, complete with prizes. Light’s out at 9p.m. (We never claimed to be hell-raisers.)
These federally protected outdoor spaces have helped mold me, delight me, and sustain me. That’s why I joined my like-minded friends, all volunteer rangers and belonging to our nature study group, for last weekend’s trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. Located 200 miles northeast of Aspen, RMNP is 265,873 acres of magnificence. We all registered for a one-day field seminar entitled “Wildflowers of the High Country: Tundra in Bloom”, an outdoor class taught above 11,000 feet. The question: Would our brains even work above 11,000 feet?
Our Sunday day-long Alpine Wildflower class, above 11,000′ complete with 30 MPH winds. Not kidding. Our instructor found a small hideaway where we could eat lunch and review our morning’s work.
To give ourselves every opportunity to succeed, we booked condos, planned a menu of home-cooked nutritious meals, chose appropriate brain-stimulating wines and put together our itinerary. Using each of our strengths: DonnaC and Francine, wildflowers; DonnaG, geology; and, me, birds, we parceled out our own teaching assignments. One day to see the park. One day of class. A perfect weekend of friendship, scholarship and beauty. More memories for my bank.
This is the highest we climbed. Think Base Camp at Mt. Everest. Long’s Peak, 14,259′ (4,346M) is in the background. We’re with our instructor who thinks this is fun!
Inspired to visit a park? To see where America’s 58 national parks are located, go here. To see today’s recipe, go here. Note that the only difference to Dorie’s original recipe is the cooking time. I baked mine 30 minutes and then another 20, as Dorie originally suggests.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 enjoyed TP, go here.
Meet Mr. Yellow-bellied Marmot who enjoys the tundra more than I do.
This handsome bull elk likes his own space. We saw hundreds of elk – Moms, Dads and babies as well as two beautiful moose.
Today’s French Fridays recipe is Guacamole with Tomatoes and Bell Peppers. Is there any avid home cook who does not have a favorite guac recipe? Mine was created by Josefina Howard for her Rosa Mexicano restaurants in New York City. However, my loyalty to Dorie Greenspan is unwavering. Tucking skepticism in my back pocket, I forged ahead.
At the Food & Wine Classic, my friend, Michelle Morris, and I hop into Hendrick’s hot air balloon. Michelle, who is a chef, teacher and author just won a Colorado Book Award for her first cookbook, Tasting Colorado: Recipes from the Centennial State.
After pulling out my mortar and pestle, I made a mixture of lime zest, cilantro leaves, red onion, jalapeño and salt, lightly pounding it into a mush. To that I added chucks of avocados, pepper, grape tomatoes, lime juice and red bell pepper, gently stirring until I achieved a chunky texture.
Would its flavor rise to Rosa’s standards? Absolutely. With chips and a glass of rosé, Dorie’s guacamole was almost a meal. (Eaten in moderation, this mixture has nutritional value. Okay, okay, the chips and rosé, not so much.) I also used it as a delectable garnish for Potato, Asparagus, Broccoli and Goat Cheese Frittata to be featured in an upcoming post.
The weather Gods were kind for the 2014 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
Sticking with the green theme, Sunday I debuted on the Green Team at Aspen’s Food & Wine Classic. During the daily two Grand Tastings, the Greens are the trash team. In 2013 F&W recycled a phenomenal 92% of its Grand Tastings trash/garbage. This year more than 1,000 people filled out volunteer applications for 620 coveted spots on various committees. As a newbie, I was surprised to be chosen and placed with the Greens. Obviously they realized I knew a thing or two about trash.
When I reported for duty at the Green Team station Sunday, I was assigned, as my partner, a handsome gentleman, about my age, I’d say. His name was Bob and he was none too happy to be separated from his wife, also a volunteer. Apparently she was okay with it. “Good luck with him,” she laughed, walking off with her assigned partner.
Although we’d already passed an on-line training session, we received additional instruction before being sent to our stations inside the huge Grand Tasting tents. Our job was to be sure trash ended up in one of three holes. And, it better be the right hole. Our Team Leader, Doug, escorted us to our three-holer, located at the tent’s north end.
This is the Grand Tasting tent where Bob and I worked for a day. Food & Wine vendors are lined up in three long rows. It’s a big tent. Think Denver International Airport.
Bob and I pulled on our plastic gloves, glancing at each other warily. We had 15 minutes before hundreds of people would be pouring into the tent for the 90-minute Grand Tasting session. I decided to utilize those 15 minutes wisely. Within ten minutes I knew snippets of Bob’s story. We discovered friends in common. Even more surprising, he and his wife live next to The Gant where I now live. By the time the tent flaps opened, Bob and I were practically family.
Readers, Green Teaming for 90 minutes, no bathroom break, is challenging. If a straw is paper, it’s compost. If it’s not, trash. If various vessels are numbered from 1-7, compost. All Hagen-Daz packaging, trash. (Shame on you, H-D.) If a plastic glass is easy to break, recycle. If it’s bendy, compost. On and on and on. Admittedly, Bob was better than I. He often had to reach down to remove something I tossed and put it elsewhere. We laughed. A lot. When friends stopped by, we talked trash. After an hour, we noticed the attendees became happier, friendlier and very appreciative of our labor.
My favorite cooking demonstration was given by Chef Marcus Samuelsson
When the gong rang to end the last Tasting, they cranked up the music so the vendors could celebrate. We did a modified-jig with the Kitchen Aid gals whose booth was next door. But, we’re committed. Next year, it’s the Green Team, Bob and me, partners-in-trash.
The gong rang signalling the end of the 2014 F&W Classic. They cranked the music up and the vendors celebrated.
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 fared this week, 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.
