IN MEMORIUM: REMEMBERING the TWENTY-SIX
Memory Lane with Chicken, Apples & Cream à la normande
Today’s Post is a stroll down Memory Lane. Join me. I think you’re going to like it.
My mantle is filled with Christmas cards received from my French Friday with Dorie blogging colleagues. Many of the cards have food-related scenes and many are handmade.
This week’s FFWD recipe is Chicken, Apples, and Cream à la normande, a sweet, rich stand-alone main course, honoring its namesake. The French region of Normandy is recognized for its apples, brandy-like Calvados, cream, Camembert and butter. Four of those five ingredients are in this dish. Yes, Dorie does admit it’s ‘decidedly rich’.
This was the first recipe I ever made from Around My French Table. I bought the cookbook when it was first published in September 2010 but didn’t even know about the French Friday group. Always a Dorie disciple, I trusted when she wrote, “This dish is more luxurious, far fancier, and much prettier than either its ingredient list or the brief time it takes you to pull it together would lead you to believe.”
She is as good as her word. Chicken, the Normandy way, was as delicious then as it is this week.
Mise en Place – I always gather all the ingredients I need for the recipe on a tray. For this recipe, I used three chicken breasts instead of four and doubled down on the apples and mushrooms.
Following that meal and about six months later, I read about a FFWD group that, every week, makes a specific recipe from Dorie’s cookbook and then blogs about it. At that time my lifestyle, as you might remember, had changed drastically. Although I had adjusted as best I could, what I missed most about being alone and leaving our Colorado life was cooking, companionship at meals and entertaining family and friends. This group, I thought, might just put me back in the food business.
I joined up.
Naturally as I gathered the ingredients for this week’s recipe and put it together, I thought about my two years with the Doristas. In today’s New York Times (12/13/12), reporter Leslie Kaufman wrote an article about Deb Perelman, discussing the evolution of her popular food blog, Smitten Kitchen, into a best-selling cookbook. Kaufman talks about blogosphere friendships as important, developing “in a 21-st century way.”
I browned organic chicken breasts in oil and butter for 3 minutes on each side. Note the large pan.
Later I pulled up our FFWD Link on Facebook. Adriana Angelet who was born and raised in Puerto Rico and writes her blog, http://greatfood360.com, in Spanish and English, had left a comment and picture. “I am a little emotional today. Thank you for filling my tree with so many wonderful wishes.”
She was referring to our FFWD Christmas card exchange. Alice Bush, A Mama, Baby, & Sharpei in the Kitchen, who lives in England, suggested it and many of us signed on. She organized us and gathered addresses. Might I suggest that if Alice were in charge of America’s budget negotiations, that pesky fiscal cliff problem would be solved. We not only received our list but also our marching orders: mailing directions, deadlines and international postage costs – to Europe, Australia, Brunei, and the like. I love this woman.
Our virtual friendships which developed “in a 21-st century way” have turned snail mail and personal notes.
Alice Angelet, who lives in Puerto Rico and blogs on GreatFood360.com shows us her tree filled with Christmas cards from her FFWD friends.
For the past two years (and, more for those who joined on 10/01/10) our FFWD group has cooked and baked and blogged, sharing both our successes and failures, every single week. Surprisingly, and, I think I can speak for everyone, we began as colleagues with a common interest and have evolved into supportive, good friends.
So much has happened to us in the past year. We’ve welcomed a new baby (Emily) and calmed the jitters of a nervous but beautiful bride (Jessica). Ei moved to Naples but figured out how to keep cooking. Paula closed her Buenos Aires cafe and continues to be a good sport with recipe choices despite seasonal differences. When we’re making soups and daubes, it’s her summer.
Liz, Cher and Tricia sent their high school graduates off to college – always a lump-in-the-throat, heart dropping moment. Hey, Moms, send food. Kathy and Diane live in East Coast areas where Sandy was especially vengeful. Betsy went into the “bee business”. (You don’t want to know.) Mardi spent the summer in France and took us along virtually. I lost my husband and many others, including Andrea, lost loved ones.
Add apple, onion and mushrooms to the pan with the browned chicken breasts. Add more olive oil and butter, if needed, to be sure the added ingredients are well mixed and glossy. Then add chicken broth and simmer for ten minutes. Salt and pepper generously throughout the cooking process.
We cherish our pets, losing them is hard. We’re all pulling for Braveheart. Krissy dropped out to care for her family but, after a long absence, just returned. We’re glad. Trevor got his computer stolen, Rose, her camera. Pretty traumatic if you’re a food blogger. Many of us have changed jobs, moving on up!!! Congratulations. And, our fearless leader, Dorie Greenspan, has opened a wildly successful new baking enterprise in New York City called Beurre & Sel.
Dorie at the counter, Beurre & Sel, her unique cookie shop in New York City
Photo: Travel & Leisure Magazine
We’ve never lost a beat, knocking off 52 recipes each year. (This is a 5-and-then-some-year project.)
These friends that I’ve met “in a 21-st century way” welcomed me with kindness and generosity and did put me back in the food business. Sometimes virtual becomes the real deal.
To see if my collegues liked the Normandy dish as well as I did, go here. If you would like to make this tasty entree, go here.
MONDAY with FRANÇOIS PAYARD
Chef François Payard’s wildly popular, kinda healthy, amazingly delicious Flourless Chocolate Cookies. An extra bonus? They’re Kosher. Photo by www.domiciliate.net
He has been named the Pastry Chef of the Year by both the James Beard Foundation and Bon Appétit. He’s all about butter, eggs and cream, owning patisseries/chocolate shops in Manhattan, Japan, South Korea and Las Vegas. His Brazilian wife, Fernanda Capobianco, is a vegetarian who also owns a bakery in Manhattan. Called Vegan Divas, it is located on the Upper East Side. She’s all about coconut oil, egg substitutes and tofu. Her chocolate mousse, made with tofu and world-class Carbonet chocolate, has 42 calories. His chocolate mousse, made with that same chocolate (plus eggs, cream and sugar) isn’t.
Regarding his cookbook, Simply Sensational Desserts, our revered leader, Dorie Greenspan, wrote, “With this wide-ranging collection, Francois shares his extraordinary talent and surprises us with his knack for simplifying even the most sophisticated sweets. There isn’t a single recipe for one of his astonishing desserts that can’t be made – perfectly – by anyone with an oven, a mixer, and a sweet tooth.”
Simply Sensational Desserts by Chef François Payard Photo by amazon.com
His name is François Payard. In 2009 he opened Payard Patisserie & Bistro at Caesars Palace here in Las Vegas. On Monday, to commemerate that fifth anniversary as well as National Pastry Day, Chef Payard taught a two-hour cooking class at his patisserie.
Time is my friend these days. My daily routine, no longer closely structured. My schedule, flexible. If Dorie’s ‘wizard with a whisk’ was going to celebrate National Pastry Day, this Dorista was going to celebrate with him. Hanging around, watching a master at his craft, is always inspiring. I signed on.
Time-out for a photo opportunity with the Chef.
My afternoon with Payard was just like his cookbook, simply sensational. Remember, we’re at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas, so please know this was not your average cooking class. The chef was affable, the entire patisserie kitchen was ours and the staff to participant ratio was 1:3.
We began with food – choosing scrumptious treats from a buffet table that groaned with canapes, sweets, sandwiches and three different Bûche de Noels (Yule Logs): chestnut, chocolate and raspberry. After making three desserts: Flourless Chocolate Cookies (his most popular product, selling about 1,000 a day), Chocolate Pudding Cake topped with raspberries and Hazelnut Tart with chantilly cream, we also devoured those results.
Here a macaroon. There a macaroon. Everywhere a macaroon.
Sweet Relief, a creamy little concoction of heaven
Throughout the demos, Payard was constantly teaching, asking us questions, having us taste, smell and feel the food. We learned he thinks television food shows should be more about cooking and less about competition. “More like Julia,” he says.
He bakes his tarts in rings with no bottoms. To test caramel, he drizzles some on white paper. “It’s not done until the color is right,” he cautions.
The Chef, removing his Flourless Chocolate Cookies from the oven.
Eggs, especially whites, are the home baker’s nemesis, he says. “In America, you have all different sizes. In France we have one egg and we know the exact weight of the shell, yolk and white.”
Again and again, he reinforced many of the things I already knew, using the best ingredients and equipment, for example, always telling us his favorites. It was two hours pastry-packed with baking nuggets of wisdom.
An assistant, finishing up the Chocolate Pudding Cake, so we could move on to the Hazelnut Tart.
Chocolate Pudding Cake topped with juicy raspberries.
An extra bonus? You gotta love his accent.
Gift bags. When we left, Payard’s very-French manager thanked us for coming, handing us gussied-up, yellow-tissued Payard sacks bursting with goodies which included his autographed cookbook and macaroons in every color. The venue dictated limited space, the cost, $85. To my thinking, a sweet bargain.
Hazelnut Tart with Chantilly Cream.
I want to share the recipe for his wildly acclaimed heart-healthy Flourless Chocolate Cookie (55 calories per cookie according to Self magazine) which can be found here. How popular are they? Do a Pinterest search for that answer. While simple to make, the caveat is the egg whites.
Alessandra, the Payard baker who tested this recipe for home baking and publication purposes, says, “This recipe completely depends on your egg whites. If you’re using large eggs, medium eggs, etc., it will make a huge difference. Start by using 2 egg whites, and then slowly add the rest. The mix should look like thick brownie mix that can be scooped. Depending on the day…hot, cold, humid, not humid, your product will change a lot, as do all pastry recipes. Don’t add all your whites at once, and check for the consistency first. If you don’t use all the whites, it is OKAY.” www.domiciliate.net
The Chef and his wife, Fernanda Capobianco, a vegetarian who owns a vegan bakery in New York City. Photo by Elizabeth Lippman
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas but Payard’s cooking class (and, his cookie recipe) is a secret worth sharing. Enjoy.
A DATE with CREAMY CAULIFLOWER SOUP sans CREAM
For the past several weeks, since returning to Henderson for the Winter, my nightime social life has skyrocketed from zero to seven (on a scale of 1 to 10). While that’s a good thing, it’s played havoc with my usual 8:30 pm bedtime but I’m not complaining.
This week’s FFWD recipe, Creamy Cauliflower Soup sans Cream, is smooth, silky and beautifully white in color. (I mention the color because this picture implies that the soup is a light pink. My bad. Annie Leibovitz was unavailable.
This past month, many friends who could not attend Michael’s service in Aspen, have found their way to Las Vegas to see me and have dinner. Next week my brother and his cronies, Denver businessmen turned wannabee cowboys, are here for their annual junket to the 10-day Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Since I’ve never attended next week’s event, I’m joining them (and, 175,275 other fans).
Lastly and even better, last night was Date Night.
My Date (l), always a good sport, and my long-suffering Trainer ( r).
Every year the physical trainers in Anthem Country Club’s Athletic Department have a very, very nice holiday party for all their clients. I have never attended and, because my trainer is the head honcho, I know it has hurt his feelings. This year, realizing it would be my last opportunity before moving back to Colorado, one of my early morning workout colleagues told me I was to be his date for this year’s party. He’d be by at 6:30pm to pick me up and, he added, “look nice”. I didn’t even hesitate – Ray is 49 years old, good-looking and very buff. Way to go, Mary.
You might be asking what all this has to do with this week’s FFWD recipe, Creamy Cauliflower Soup sans Cream. Here’s the segue…..
A mixture of onions, garlic, celery and fresh thyme are cooked slowly in a soup pot after first warming the pot with olive oil and melted butter.
Although Ray is sweet in temperament, he is not sweet in taste. He doesn’t do sugar. To thank him for the anticipated evening as well as acknowledging his being a good sport, my baking some Christmas goodies was a non-starter. However, when he asked what I was cooking for Dorie this week, I answered, “Cauliflower soup.” His response, “I would really like some of that.”
Done.
I like cauliflower so this soup was on my radar and I was anxious to share it. Surprisingly, it emerged to be full-bodied and robust. No cream nor potatoes for thickening usually translates to watery, thin soups but not in this case. Just less calories. Expecting the soup to possess the pungent earthy flavor of the vegetable itself, I was surprised by its mildness. I would have enjoyed more of a kick.
After buying a large head of cauliflower, remove the leaves and break into florets. Be sure to discard the tough core.
This is a relatively simple soup to make. Just add chopped onions, garlic, celery and thyme to a soup pot containing warmed olive oil and butter. Season with salt and pepper (I always use more seasoning than Dorie suggests.) After simmering that mixture for 20 minutes, pour in chicken or vegetable broth and toss in the cauliflower florets. Bring to a boil and simmer another 20 minutes.
I allowed my soup to cool a bit before using my immersion blender to puree it to a very smooth liquid, leaving no chunks. Reheat and then season to taste. Be creative with a topping of your choice – shaved truffles, crème fraîche topped with caviar, or grated Parmesan or Comté. I drizzled a little walnut oil on top of the soup and then tossed some chopped, toasted walnuts onto that, adding some crunch.
I toasted some walnuts and then coarsely chopped them. After drizzling some walnut oil on the soup I then threw some chopped walnuts on top.
A perfect lunch or light dinner. Add a salad of fresh greens and crusty bread and you’ve got a memorable meal.
If this is a soup for you and your friends, go here to find the recipe. See how other Doristas coped with cauliflower this week by linking to French Fridays with Dorie.
The drizzle of walnut oil topped with toasted chopped walnuts added a nice texture to the smooth and silky soup.
Not a Man nor a House, JUST GINGERBREAD
Gingerbread Baby Cakes, a festive holiday dessert and this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia recipe.
Do you love gingerbread? I mean, really, really love gingerbread. The kind that is spicy and pungent but still maintains its softness and moisture? With a darkness in color that Dorie calls “mysterious”? Gingerbread at its most robust? If you’re starting to drool, just a smidge, you are going to love this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia recipe, Gingerbread Baby Cakes.
Despite using 1 tablespoon of ground ginger in this gingerbread mixture, the recipe also calls for 2 1/2 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger.
The ingredients in this batter offer the clues to guide us to that delicious end result. Besides flour and dark brown sugar, the dry mixture also includes instant espresso powder, unsweetened cocoa powder, ground ginger, baking powder, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Yes, that’s right, black pepper. (Note: Do not substitute instant coffee for espresso powder.)
A whole lotta finely chopped ginger – that’s why it’s called GINGERbread!
The wet ingredients include eggs and butter, of course, but also 2 1/2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger and 2 cups of unsulphured molasses.
I haven’t added the 2 cups of unsulphured molasses yet. Hence, the light-colored batter.
Four eggs. Last summer I mixed up a rather complicated bread recipe. Complicated, meaning lots of ingredients. After putting the loaf pan in my oven, I found the three required eggs still nestled safely and unused in a bowl, hidden behind the flour canister on my Mise en Place tray. Since then, the egg shells always sit alone, the last to be tossed, as cracked proof that they’ve completed their job.
Although this makes a stiff batter when mixed together, it pours easily into the small baby cake pans, one 10-inch round pan, or the mini-bundts that I used. I was careful to brush each inside with melted butter and then lightly dust with flour and had no problem with unmolding. However, I added an extra five minutes to the suggested 25 minutes at 350F cooking time.
These little darlings, sprinkled lightly with a dusting of confectionary sugar, are delicious for breakfast or a late afternoon snack. Note the crusty bottom of my mini-bundt gingerbread in the foreground. I filled my molds too high and didn’t leave enough room for the rise.
Although Dorie suggests dressing the gingerbread cake with whipped cream and candied lemon peel, I chose to sprinkle peppermint candy pieces over the lightly whipped cream. A festive touch for the holidays.
Thanks to Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories for hosting this week. If you’d like to try making this gingerbread yourself, link to her Blog for the recipe. To see what others did this week, go to Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia.
A plate filled with holiday goodness (if you love gingerbread).
HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Take three deep breaths. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Sit down, take a cup of tea-break. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Call a friend. Take a minute to catch up. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Yes, you have time to watch Jeopardy. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. You’ll never have a replay of December 2012. So, enjoy. HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
BIRTHDAYS AND BEEF CHEEKS: French Fridays with Dorie
My neighborhood friends, Adriana and Michelle, both share late-Fall birthdays with me. Each year we celebrate this with a girls-night-out together. Being that the three of us are at our local gym by 5 am each week-day morning before starting our busy work day, our girls-night-out is not the norm. It’s 5:30pm pizza at our favorite local joint. Pitiful, huh?
Since I will be moving back to Aspen soon, this year’s celebration will probably be our last together. Because my FFWD recipe this week was to be Beef Cheek Daube with Carrots and Elbow Macaroni, we decided to push the dining hour forward by an hour or two (7pm) and enjoy a girls-night-in (at Chez Hirsch).
Although decorating the Christmas tree is #@%!!& times two, the end result makes me happy. Each decoration is a joyful memory, I believe, of a past well-lived. We all thought the tree contributed greatly to the evening’s festive spirit.
If you recall, Michelle, a lawyer and judge, also graduated from culinary school. She’s a pro. Sicilian-born Adriana, who learned at the elbow of her talented mother, Pina, is a wizard with fruits and vegetables. We all contributed to the success of our deliciously flavorful dinner where, in this case, pictures are more tasty than words.
We began with french champagne, Bollinger, served with Dorie’s Herbed Olives (which just taste better and better). And, birthdays = presents. Michelle always keeps Adriana and me up-to-date with kitchenware and, this year, she didn’t disappoint. (More in later Blogs.) Adriana, ever the foodie was generous with wine and chocolates and real Italian pannettone “from the old country”. I brought them momentos from my South American trip, handmade Chilean scarves.
This daube was to be anchored by Beef Cheeks — yeah, Moo! Moo!. Although I’m an Iowa girl, this ingredient had me stymied. My tried-and-true Whole Foods could not get me beef cheeks nor could my two local butchers. I used, per Dorie’s suggestion, boneless beef chuck roast. (I now know that Beef Cheeks can be found at Latino/HIspanic/Mexican grocery stores.) Lesson learned.
Although I made the daube the day before, adding carrots, onions, bacon, wine and beef broth, I didn’t add the macaroni nor finely chopped bittersweet chocolate (the secret ingredient) until the last moment. Love the steam.
Adriana’s glorious salad, something we request over and over again. For our birthday celebration, she didn’t disappoint.
In May 2011, Michelle spent a culinary week in Italy, learning, cooking and writing about Italian cuisine. She carried this bottle of Brunello Di Montalcino 2003 back as a gift for me. I had saved it for the perfect evening………this was it. Like Adriana’s salad, this wine did not disappoint either. Fabulous.
Michelle spent an entire Saturday (serious, not kidding) making croissants. Might I just mention that she is a perfectionist? She then froze them individually (as dough).
She brought a cookie sheet of croissants, already proofed, to my house and we baked them off just before dinner. They were as good as they look.
A bowlful of beef daube with carrots and macaroni, something that I will make often this winter. No complaints from my guests, either.
There were a number of champagne and wine toasts during our evening together. I think this toast with Michelle was suggesting she return to Italy for more wine!
And was there any doubt about dessert nor that we would lick the plates clean? Michelle made a heavenly and creamy yogurt-honey-vanilla bean panna cotta drizzled with apricot honey brought back from her summer place in Bainbridge Island, Washington. The panna cotta was enhanced by Moravian spice cookies and the last of the red wine. Good night…….
Once again, Dorie came through with a hearty, rich and rustic main course for an evening meal. I cannot praise her cookbook, Around my French Table, enough. It would be a wonderful Christmas gift. I would also like to extend my gratitude to two wonderful friends who have been unbelievable neighbors the past eight years. For this meal they both contributed the best they can make and bake and shared an evening of happiness in my home, around my table. As you all know, evenings like this, shared with friends and family, are what I love best. And, what I need.
Happy Holidays, Everyone.