Check out those Chunks of “divers” Apples – Honey Crisp, Pink Lady, Fugi, Granny Smith & Braeburn
It may have been Marie-Antoinette who said ‘Let them eat cake,” but it was Marie-hélène Brunet-Lhoste, a friend of Dorie’s, who first made this scrumptiously delicious Apple Cake. If Marie-Antoinette had suggested this particular cake, she’d still have her head!
Although this week’s FFWD recipe was Chard-stuffed Pork Roast (yum), my Wednesday evening Supper crowd included a guest who does not eat food produced from animals with four feet. Yeah, right!
The Apple of my Eye, just out of the oven. Link to Recipe below.
Marie-hélène’s Apple Cake has already been featured on FFWD (before I joined), receiving rave reviews. For sure, my fellow Dorista’s know a good cake when they bake it. As the younger generation says, “It’s the bomb.”
You just must bake this cake. http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/marie-helenes-apple-cake/ Its simple presentation is only surpassed by its taste. Moist. More apples, than batter. I chose five different kinds of apples, as Dorie suggested, and left them in 2-inch chunks. Don’t dismiss the 3 tablespoons of dark rum or 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. Dorie gives you options but I urge you to include these ingredients. Thank goodness, dark rum doesn’t have four feet.
BUSTED. A dessert sliced before its time.
Serve this warm, with crème fraîche, (my choice), or vanilla bean ice cream. During the sugar-laden holidays, filled with fancy desserts, this cake is a “relief” treat, for friends, relatives and family. And, if leftovers are a possibility and, that is laughable, this apple cake is delicious for breakfast, an afternoon pick-me-up or Santa snack. Merci Beaucoup and Happy Holidays, Dorie.
A Complimentary Finale to a Corn Bread, Green Salad and Black-Bean Soup Supper.
Joyeux Thanksgiving from the French Friday with Dorie gang.
CROQUANTS, VERY POPULAR IN FRANCE, DELICIOUS WITH TEA OR ESPRESSO
Yes, Thanksgiving is a North American celebration but what’s unique about families and friends gathering to enjoy traditional foods and the company of others? The first Thanksgiving meal probably occurred in 1621 between the colonists and the Wampanoag, the Plymouth colony Indian tribe. Sans dishwashers, Cuisinarts, Convection ovens and TV Football, I might add. It became a national American holiday in 1941 and is arguably our favorite holiday. If the scales be damned, Thanksgiving could even become a two-fer. In Canada it is celebrated in October, coinciding with the Fall harvest. (I just received greetings from my Canadian friends and will return the favor, if not the meal, in October.)
To celebrate this holiday of largesse this week, we created a potluck of recipes at FFWD. Cook’s Choice. See what others picked at http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/
Such a simple-to-bake, simply delicious French cookie, a platter of Croquants
For Le Jour de Merci Donnant, I decided to bake Croquants, a popular French cookie. Easy to make. Sublime to eat. A crunchy combination, really, of sugar (white) and nuts (I used the traditional salted hazelnuts/almonds combo.). I first tasted a Croquant at Berthillon, Paris’s most famous glacier, when it was served with my Chocolate Noir ice cream. Discovering that Dorie could help me duplicate this tasty treat is a real bonus! At Christmas I’m even going to add tiny slices of dried cherries to make them look more festive for my holiday cookie platter. This cookie begs for variations, I think.
A Midwestern Tradition – Chex Mix – There Are Not Words to Describe How Addictive This Is.
Since, after all, Thanksgiving is a North American holiday and reeks of tradition, I also made gallons, yes, gallons, of Chex Mix yesterday. I know! I know! There is nothing nutritious nor healthy about Chex Mix. That pound of butter I used in the Mix shouts heart-unfriendly. It’s during these times that I bless Julia Childs. She loved butter. Then there’s Paula Deen. You gotta love Paula.
I cannot remember a holiday season in my Manchester, Iowa, home without Chex Mix. God Bless my Mom, a lady who never let butter-anxiety get in the way of delicious baked goods. My defense to this treat is that I only make it at Thanksgiving and, most importantly, my son-in-law and I bonded over my Chex Mix. Now is not the time to test loyalties.
Chex Mix and the Holidays – my Iowa family’s tradition for more than 60 years.
Hopefully, you, like me, have much to be thankful for this year. This is a day devoted to just that – giving thanks for family, friends, and loved ones. Happy Thanksgiving.
Queue français in a Sanary-sur-Mer boulangerie to purchase, perhaps, a baguette, Pan Bagnat or Slice of Pissaladière. September 2011
My first taste of Pissaladière, a carmelized onion and anchovy tart, was 15 years ago at the Aspen home of my friend, Sistie. Sistie’s dinner invitations are treasured because she is a terrific chef, a made-from-scratch cook. Her appetizer that Winter evening was this tart, a concoction that requires time, patience and effort (a yeast dough and long caramelizing process).
When she lifted the baking sheet to place the tart on a platter, the sheet tipped and the tart hit the floor. Besides being a talented chef, Sistie is a fastidious housekeeper. So, another guest, Renée, just scooped up the now-disheveled Pissaladière and plopped it on the platter. It was delicious. We enjoyed it all-the-more because of its circuitous “oven-floor-table-mouth” journey.
The Real Deal – a classic Pissaladière. Photo by Georges Vernon and Margaret Skinner
Pissaladière is a treasured Provençal staple and is sold, by the slice, in every boulangerie in the South of France. Because of it’s name, I think of it as the “Frenchman’s Pizza”. However, its’ name actually derives from the anchovy paste, pissala, that is mixed into the sweet-tasting onion mixture to take it’s flavor ‘up a notch’.
My Version, without the decorative crosshatched-patterned anchovies
This is not a recipe for the faint-of-heart. As I said, making Pissaladière is an involved challenge but can be made-ahead, in parts, and thrown together later. Do not substitute puff pastry for the dough.
This week, I made this classic French tart, along with a salad and glass of wine, as a light dinner, and served it to my friend (and, good sport), Bill. Although I put anchovies into the onion mixture, I didn’t add the anchovy decorative crosshatch topping, suspecting it might be anchovy-overload for him. Trying to be positive, he remarked five times throughout the dinner how “delicious” the crust was, “just perfect”, he said.
Pissaladière is an “acquired” taste, I believe. Although he is French, he clearly, at this point-in-time, hasn’t reached the “acquired” stage! This is a classic French recipe that every wannabe amateur baker should try and Dorie simplifies this recipe better than any other I’ve seen.
Bonne Chance
Along with a green salad, a lovely light dinner
To finish the meal, a perfect autumn dessert, rustic apple tart.
Roasted Rhubarb with Homemade Black Walnut & Vanilla Ice Cream
I’m an Iowa farm girl so I know a thing or two about rhubarb. The French have not cornered the market on this fruit. In the Midwest we called it Pie Plant. It often grew in residential alleys. When I moved to Colorado in 1988, I took some rhubarb roots with me and loved watching the stalks pop-up, after the last snow, in the late-Spring.
My Mother made the most sublime Rhubarb Meringue Pie. Her sauce was to-die-for and we loved it on, over and under everything! I miss you, Mom.
But, roasted rhubarb. I was a skeptic. Why do I doubt Dorie? The result was delicious. We ate it for breakfast, lunch, and finalized our Roasted Rhubarb Experience by pouring it over our homemade black walnut vanilla ice cream.
