Before I begin to talk about Food Revolution Day 2013 and Dorie’s delicious Salted ButterBreak-Ups, you must understand that when my friend, Donna, and I geared up for this Revolution, we built in some primping-for-photos time to our schedule. That was forgotten as we took this year’s theme, “Cook it. Share it.” to the max, creating four new recipes for our French Friday with Dorie dinner this week. My hair might have lost its curl and Donna forgot to lose her apron but our dinner was spectacular. Priorities, you know.
Enjoying Dorie’s Salted Butter Break-Ups with the last of the Matchbook Syrah.
Food Revolution Day onMay 17th, is an opportunity for people all over the world to come together and stand up for good food and essential cooking skills. We are congregating in homes, schools, workplaces and communities to cook and share kitchen skills, food knowledge and resources. FRD is a global day of action to raise awareness about the importance of good food and better food education for everyone. All of us here at FFWD are already passionate about these issues so this week we stand tall in revolt, honoring this effort.
BEFORE.
AFTER.
For this special May 17th Post, Donna, her husband, Bernie, and I decided to spend an evening cooking together, celebrating our many years of friendship with good food and wine. Bernie wanted to grill spatchcock chicken, Donna had bookmarked two recipes from Ottolenghi & Tamimi’s Jerusalem cookbook and I planned to bake Dorie’s Salted Butter Break-Ups, a cookie to bring to the table whole. A Cook it, Share it, revolutionary evening.
Prepping the onions for the Mejadra.
Crisping the onions for the Mejadra.
Nothing I could write would convey this night of joyful celebration as we worked our way through Ottolenghi’s complex recipes and oo’d and ah’d when Bernie’s chicken laid flat on the grill – a perfect spatchcock. We also put Bernie, a wine connoisseur, in charge of lubrication. He overachieved.
Taking the Salted Butter Break-Ups out of the oven.
The entire menu, starting with Pierre Herme’s Olive Sablés and Ottolenghi’s Baby spinach with dates and almonds salad; then, Bernie’s spatchcock chicken (the rub was citrus/savory) paired with Mejadra, another Jerusalem recipe, and ending with Dorie’s crisp, crunchy cookie monster, was wonderfully flavorful, delicious and worthy of any Revolution.
Saluting Food Revolution Day 2013
Thank you, Donna and Bernie, for sharing this very special evening with me. If you want to see how my other FFWD colleagues honored this revolt, go here.
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.
When I was growing up, every time I would go to my mother with a problem or angst, she would always say, after hearing my complaint, “If that’s the worst thing that ever happens to you, you’ll be lucky.”
Undoubtedly she was correct but since the difficulty at hand was rocking my world, it’s not what I needed to hear. However, her words recently landed squarely in my sink full of dirty bowls, pots and utensils, the tangible results of my failed attempt at this week’s FFWD recipe.
Cod and Spinach Roulades. Dorie describes this dish as ‘a light, elegant fish mousse filled with lemony spinach, rolled into a chubby sausage shape and steamed.‘
My effort? Not even close.
Photo, www.bbc.co.uk
To be honest, at first I was terribly disappointed, stressed and, yes, even embarrassed. That’s when I thought of my dear mother. In a week of untold tragedy coupled with the inability to pass watered-down gun safety legislation, this failure wasn’t worth a whine or a wallow.
It was, I decided, an opportune time for me to pull Mark Kurlansky’s award-winning book, “Cod: The Fish that Changed the World” off my shelf. If I couldn’t cook cod properly, I could at least learn more about it. Having won a 1999 James Beard Book Award as well as a glowing recommendation by book reviewer Molly Benjamin**, this fish tale deserved my attention.
The Library Journal writes, “In this engaging history of a “1000-year fishing spree”, Kurlansky traces the relationship of cod fishery to such historical eras and events as medieval Christianity and Christian observances; international conflicts between England and Germany over Icelandic cod; slavery, the molasses trade, and the dismantling of the British Empire; and, the evolution of a sophisticated fishing industry in New England.”
Admittedly I am just beginning this 306-page book but I gotta tell you, it’s a gee-whiz-I-didn’t-know-that page turner. That the Atlantic cod has been fished almost to extinction is alarming. But already there are two things I know for sure:
1) In its 1,000 years of history as related in this book, Cod has never won. I’m no longer upset that this humble little creature laid me low.
2) I’ll never eat fish-and-chips again. Just wouldn’t seem right.
With apologies. Not the Cod and Spinach Roulades that Dorie envisioned.
To see the roulade results of my FFWD colleagues who are more skillful than I, please go here. If your brave enough to sink or swim with this recipe, here’s a recipe link.
** “This eminently readable book is a new tool for scanning world history. It leads to a vastly different perception of why folks did what they did…. Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World is history filtered through the gills of the fish trade.” The New York Times Book Review, Molly Benjamin
If I had tried to orchestrate this week’s French Friday with Dorie recipe scenario, I could not have done better. From beginning to end, it was the perfect storm.
Literally.
Springtime in Colorado
Today’s recipe is Financiers(fee-nahn-see-AY), tiny rich buttery cakes. created a century ago at a patisserie near the Bourse (the French Wall Street). These treats were popular with stockbrokers as pick-me-up, finger food.
What makes these exceptionally delicious is beurre noisette, (brown butter). Financiers require oodles of butter. When cooked to a golden brown coloring, it acquires a nutty flavor. NOTE: Go the extra mile and brown your butter.
Beurre Noisette, in the making…
One cup of sugar and almond flour, 2/3 cup A-P flour and 6 egg whites later, you’ve got batter ready to chill for an hour or two. Overnight is better.
Although the Financiers can be any petite shape, I only could find a mini-muffin tin in my moving boxes. I found gorgeous raspberries at the store. Thus, fruit Financiers. To celebrate my first week in Aspen, I decided to share the spoils with the young people manning our front office.
To those of you who have asked, The Gant, my new home, is an 143-condominium complex located in the heart of downtown Aspen. Built in 1975, each condo is individually owned. It is basically a resort rental complex with all the amenities and staff (100) that go along with that moniker. Most homeowners come for the summer, holidays and a week or two during the ski season. Only 8 other owners live here full-time.
Nine years ago, because of my husband’s health, we needed to escape the altitude, find a kinder climate and be nearer our kids. After selling our house and thinking we could at least enjoy the Aspen summers, I bought a condo here at The Gant. When it became apparent we couldn’t return, Donnie Lee, the general manager, promised me, since my hands were full, that they would take care of our condo. Whenever they needed to buy, build, install, improve, or change something in my place, someone would call to get my approval. They did the rest. Every year I’d return for 3 or 4 days to check in. That’s why I’m lucky enough to know all the staff and consider them family.
Mr. Lee, the Boss
Now back to the Financiers. After whipping up the batter Monday evening, I woke up early Tuesday to a raging spring snowstorm. Really? Wouldn’t warm little raspberry mini-muffins (the staff’s eventual name for my Financiers) be a tasty treat for the front desk staff who often work outside as well as in?
I filled the buttered molds with batter and raspberries and baked them 18 minutes until golden and springy to the touch. They popped out easily and, while still warm, I covered them carefully and pulled on my boots and heavy jacket to scurry over to the office.
Here’s what I can say about the Financiers. There is no photo because I didn’t have the heart to freeze-frame the staff’s enthusiasm, insisting they pose for this Post. However, with apologies to Roger Ebert, the bellmen each gave them a Ten-Fingers Up.
To see the absolutely gorgeous, fancier Financiers that my colleagues made this week, go here.
