This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe is Two Tartines from La Croix Rouge. According to Ms. Greenspan, our leader extraordinaire, La Croix Rouge is one of Paris’s busiest, most chic cafés. Chic grabs my interest but it’s the roast beef and smoked salmon tartines that whet my appetite.
Two paper-thin slices of the rarest-possible roast beef are needed for this week’s Tartine Saint-Germain.
Besides being just darn delish, these tartines are easily thrown together and require little equipment, dishes and utensils. Last Saturday the water guru in Cambria, where I am living this winter, invoked Mandatory Stage 3 Drought Restrictions. The crucial word here is mandatory. Everyone has to play or fine$ are imposed. Despite our recent rains, more than 22% of California still remains in the worst category: Exceptional Drought. Unfortunately, we on the Central Coast are part of that number.
Let’s leave water issues for later and get to the tastier part of my post. Tartines are simply fancy French toasted, open-faced sandwiches topped with any spreadable ingredient that one would eat. The combinations are endless. We Americans being Americans prefer to just slap another piece of bread on top, toasting is optional, and enjoy a sandwich. A Brit, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, claims credit for that.
A light dinner, Tartine Saint-Germain with roasted brussel sprouts (Fresh. Spotted at the farmer’s market. Sold.)
The French love their tartines and there are five of them in Greenspan’s Around my French Table cookbook. We’ve made them all. You may remember the Nutella, Dieter’s and Goat Cheese and Strawberry Tartines. Of those three, I remain nuts about Nutella.
At La Croix Rouge the two most popular tartines are Tartine Saint-Germain andTartine Norvégienne. For the Tartine Saint-Germain, start with a 2-inch thick slice of rustic bread. Grill or toast it on one side only. Then, slather the toasted bread with mayonnaise (I suggest using Aïoli, a garlicky mayonnaise and très français.) Although Dorie says to thinly slice a cornichon or gherkin to lay on top of the mayonnaise before covering the tartine with rare roast beef, I suggest not. Save the pickles for the surface along with salt and pepper. Cut the bread crosswise into one-inch wide strips. The wine is red.
For the Tartine Saint-Germain, I chose a Zinfandel from Peachy Canyon, another Central Coast wine.
Will it surprise you that the Tartine Norvegiénne includes smoked salmon? First, repeat the bread drill. Once toasted, spread butter (I used homemade dill sauce) on the bread and smother it in smoked salmon. Don’t forget those one-inch crosswise cuts. Top it off with pepper, capers and sliced lemons. The wine is white.
These were tasty, light dinners for me. Two tartines. Two nights.
While I’m not ready to put aside my lox and bagel with creme cheese, this Tartine Novegiénne is tasty.
Even better, these were no fuss, no mess, little clean-up, which helps as I try to restrict my water use here. Cambrians are restricted to using no more than two units of water, 1,500 gallons per resident per month. When I think of all the people in the world who have little access to water, I’m not feeling abused.
What I am feeling, however, is naive. Last Saturday I stopped by the local hardware store to purchase a bucket (for the shower, in case you were wondering). While paying, I said to the clerk, “I am a winter resident here and haven’t experienced water restrictions before. Could you give me some tips.”
For the smoked salmon tartine, I chose a chardonnay from Terra Robles, another local winery committed to sustainability.
The moral of this story is whenever you have a question, stop by your local hardware store. Business screeched to a halt. Customers gathered around the counter and my water-saving seminar began. Within 15 minutes I knew more than I wanted to know. No dishwasher. (Okay.) Launder colors and whites together. (Maybe.) Buy bottled water for cooking and drinking and brushing your teeth. (Aren’t all those plastic bottles bad for theenvironment?) Your car remains dirty. ( Or, grab a sponge and that bucket of shower water.) The other tips? (You don’t want to know.)
French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table,more than 300 recipes from my home to yours. Please visit the blogs of my other colleagues who do bathe frequently by clicking here.
Paris-Brest, a delicate pastry dessert that was a splashy finish to my Chinese New Year celebratory dinner.
For anyone believing this holiday has come, gone and you missed it, I’m about to make your day. For more than five-thousand years the Chinese people have observed New Years their way. In the simplest of terms, it’s about the moon and our earth’s creatures. Once upon a time Buddha invited all the animals to join him for New Years. Twelve came to his party, resulting in a year being named to honor each one. This year, we’re observing the Horse.
Astrology doesn’t interest me. “What’s your sign?” is a question I can’t answer. I never read horoscopes. Every year a friend buys the current Chinese horoscope book and insists I read the chapter pertaining to me. I am a Monkey. For each of the last three years, the prognosis has been lousy. This year I flat-out refused to read it. “No, no, Mary, it’s good,” she promised. “You’re going to have a great year.”
I read. I saw. I’ll believe it after I live it.
Mussels and Chorizo with Pasta is a delicious and filling main course for any festive celebration.
Admittedly, Mary the Monkey is looking good for the next twelve months. On a scale of 1 to 12, I’d give myself a 9.3. Since Chinese New Year is a two-week affair, I still could honor that Horse, who is hopefully filled with good fortune, with a celebratory meal. I decided to make two recipes my French Friday colleagues had already made. I also baked blueberry-corn muffins and visited the winery-of-the-horse for vino. If the year ahead is as scrumptious as the dinner honoring it, I will be one merry monkey.
Blueberry-Corn Muffins added a touch of sweetness to the spicy seafood.
My entrée was Mussels and Chorizo with Pasta. You may think this dish was created by committee but it’s a Basquaise. With a nod to the simplicity of French Basque cuisine, these recipes often include tomatoes and sweet or hot red peppers. This dish includes both.
I bought my mussels at Piers 46 Seafood and already had a spicy pork link in the fridge. Since there’s a limit to the nod I want to give a Basquaise, I cut the diced fire-roasted tomatoes with green chiles by half. Fettuccine, with its slithery journey among the mussels, is the perfect pasta option. The sweetness of the blueberry-corn muffins provided just that tinge of sugar so needed with this spicy seafood dish.
It’s all about the horse, of course. I visited the Wild Horse Winery and picked a Pinot Noir.
If you’ll recall, last week’s FFWD recipe choice was a delicacy of caramelized almonds, pâte à choux and vanilla pastry cream. Knowing I didn’t have the proper equipment and pastry tips in my rental kitchen, I opted to save it until spring. Over the weekend, however, I experienced baker’s remorse. Each of my colleagues’ Paris-Brest write-ups were taste taunts to my stomach.
I used the heart pan to more easily pipe the Pâte à Choux into a shape.
Wasn’t the Year of the Horse worthy of a splashy dessert? Couldn’t this Monkey go the extra mile to cobble together the right stuff? Don’t Doristas always find a path? It took some scrambling but this week I put together my first Paris-Brest. Aside from its heart rather than round shape, I’m guessing it looked and tasted much like a novice’s Paris-Brest should.
Yum.
Here’s the recipe for the Mussels and Chorizo with Pasta. If you’re interested in the Paris-Brest recipe, here it is. If you’d like to see what my colleagues are making this week, go here. For the past three weeks I’ve been focused on Dorie’s recipes that this FFWD group made before I joined. I’ve completed my seafood and fish catch-up and next Friday I’ll be following our regular FFWD recipe schedule.
Happy New Year, readers. Horse or no horse, may we all find goodness and joy in the months ahead.
Scallops with Caramel-Orange Sauce and Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is the dessert Paris-Brest, a celebratory creamy puff ring made from light pastry dough called pâte à choux. Already this sounds complicated, doesn’t it? It was created in 1891 to honor the Union Des Audax Français, an amateur bicycle race that is still peddling strong today.
Paris-Brest is a crowd-pleaser, promising to produce ou’s and ah’s from anyone who worships at the altar of caramelized almonds, vanilla pastry cream and Crème Anglaise. That’s why I decided to save this masterpiece to bake for my spandex-clad biking buddies when I return to Colorado this spring.
INSTEAD, TRY THIS MENU
Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots. The carrots are dirty-fresh from Cambria’s Friday Farmers Market.
Instead I took advantage of the Central Coast’s largesse and made Savory Scallops with Caramel-Orange Sauce and Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots. For me, it’s make-cup week. The recipes were made in 2011 before I joined FFWD. Dorie always delivers delicious. These two sweet/savory combos were a perfect light dinner to enjoy while watching the Grammy’s.
These little guys are fresh and tasty sea scallops.
The Caramel-Orange Sauce is a sweetheart of a compliment to the scallops.
When I visited Pier 46 Seafood to buy scallops, my fishmongerette, Amber, suggested small scallops rather than the large called for in this recipe. The prep and cooking time are the same. Here’s a tip. Dorie’s simplistic technique for the caramel sauce is one to commit to your memory bank. About those carrots? When you start with carrots just pulled from the earth, adding just a spice or two and chicken broth, there’s very little to say but thank you, Mother Nature.
I stopped by the Hearst Ranch Winery in nearby San Simeon to pick up wine for this menu. Ryan, who was working at the tasting bar, urged me to try their award-winning Three Sisters Cuvée red wine, a mixture of Grenache and Syrah grapes. It slide down easily.
ADAPTING TO ANY KITCHEN, STEP-by-STEP
If there is one question nagging at you after reading my three recent posts from Cambria, I suspect it would be, “How does that woman turn out this amazing food while working out of a rental kitchen?”
Here’s the answer, a how-to on cooking in strange spaces. My only criteria when renting a winter house in Cambria was that it be by the ocean and have a gas range. Because of a calendar snafu, my Realtors found me two houses by the ocean with gas ranges. One house for 5 weeks and the house I wanted for 8. If nothing else, I’m all about flexibility.
Traveling Tools: mandoline, electric grill, dutch oven, frittata pan, scales, Valentine molds, knives, juicer and. springform pan. Food Processor hidden from view..
While on-the-road most cooks know what equipment they must own, what they can live with and what, if necessary, can be purchased. This is what I packed: 1) ten cookbooks including Ottolenghi’s Plenty and Jerusalem, Madison’s Vegetable Literacy, Pereman’s Smitten Kitchen and CanalHouse Cooks Every Day; 2) Pensey’s spices; 3) my chef’s and paring knives; 4) equipment ranging from my food processor to a Wagner Magnalite cast aluminum pot; and 5) a 4-quart crockpot, acquired here.
Just as important as what I lugged from Colorado is what happened after my arrival. The house is lovely but the kitchen wasn’t feeling that love. Disarray is the word. First I scrubbed and scoured. Then I organized. I don’t mind grease and spills but I insist they be my grease and spills. After this thorough once-over and a trip to Trader Joe’s, my rental kitchen was ready-to-roll.
Having found ten cutting boards in my rental kitchen, I’m thinking of holding a garage sale.
What is insane about this particular kitchen is what’s here and what isn’t. There are 10 cutting boards. (I plead guilty to sometimes exaggerating so I snapped a photo. Count ’em.) It’s taken me three weeks to find potholders but during that hunt I counted 36 dishtowels. Although this is wine country, I only have two red wine glasses and six white, all with various logos. There is no paring knife but several huge plastic bowls (I’m thinking pretzels). Several pieces of the Crate & Barrel dinnerware are chipped or cracked. I’ve relegated them to the garage. I couldn’t set a table for six but since I’m not here to party, I don’t care.
As for the by the ocean requirement, I have no complaint!
These gorgeous strawberries are finally showing up at our local farmers markets.
If you would like to see the spectacular Paris-Brest created by my colleagues, go here. To find the recipes for scallops, Dorie’s caramel sauce and carrots, go here and here. French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s “Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours.”
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is Moules Marinière. It proved to be the perfect anchor to my celebratory feast after settling into my new California digs.
Moules Marinière
Living in the Colorado Rockies is a privilege, my idea of paradise. But it’s that 4-month window of snow, cold temps and icy footpaths that, well, leaves me cold. I learned to ski at Snowmass Mountain in the late ‘70s and buckled up my last boot in the late ‘90s when my knees began sassing back at me. This month, after two loopy falls on the ice, I escaped in search of a winter paradise. My first stop was Cambria, a drowsy, seaside village of 6,000 people located on the spectacular central coast and plopped among a native stand of Monterey pines.
It’s a good choice and here’s why. To my thinking, winter shows off Cambria at its finest. It’s off-season, that fleeting moment when locals reclaim their community. Think quiet, quaint and a well-kept secret. But here’s the thing, what surrounds this tiny town is just flat-out noisy in the friendliest of ways. Besides a number of migrating species, elephant seals, whales, birds and butterflies, there’s a castle to visit and an ocean to enjoy.
The end of the trail at Harmony Headlands and my favorite spot for a picnic lunch
Added perks are the vineyards, olive tree farms, goats (think chèvre) and farmers markets. These aren’t the vineyards of boxed wine and Two-Buck Chuck. In fact Wine Enthusiast magazine just named the surrounding Paso Robles area as the 2013 Wine Region of the Year. In all the World! More than 200 wineries here plant and pick over 40 wine grape varieties. It’s also reasonable to assume that marching in lock step with these wine producers is a food culture of innovative chefs offering seasonal, farm and ocean-to-table cuisine. For a food writer like me, I’ve landed in an edible feast of experiences.
This olive oil ranch is located in Paso Robles.
In a salute to where I landed, I made this week’s FFWD menu a true farm & ocean – to table meal. My two-pounds of mussels came from Pier 46 Seafood, my favorite fishmonger located in nearby Templeton. To make the mussels, I used Pasolivo Olive Oil made with olives grown on their Paso Robles ranch’s 45 acres of trees.
Emptying Sarah’s baguette basket at Hoppe’s Bakery. (Sarah has applied to Colorado University’s doctoral program in political science and is nervously waiting to hear from Boulder.) Note the time. It is 8:20 a.m.
The best baguettes on the central coast are made at Hoppe’s Bakery in picturesque Cayugos, a 15-mile trip and soooooo worth the 20-minute drive. If you stop by at 8am, the baguettes will be warm, the coffee, piping hot, and the almond croissants……… well, you know. I bought out Sarah’s basket and delivered two of those beauties, wonderfully warm, to my Realtors, Heidi and Janet. Since those two ladies were already having a prickly morning, the baguettes were welcomed.
Pour moi. An almond croissant. And, yes, I hung out at Hoppe’s, chatted with Sarah and ate the whole thing.
For wine, I turned to my favorite vineyard at historic Halter Ranch, and chose, at their suggestion, a fruity-tasting Sauvignon Blanc. Besides pouring superb wine, I am partial to Halter Ranch wines because of its owner, Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss-born, billionaire businessman who donates generously to various conservation efforts in the Rockies. He also walks the walk at the 960-acre Ranch with its state-of-the art and environmentally-sensitive winery.
Halter Ranch’s state-of-the-art winery. Photo by Halter Ranch
There is no downside to this meal. Chop an onion, 2 shallots and 4 garlic cloves and throw into a Dutch oven filled with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Toss some salt and pepper into the pot and soften the mixture for 3-5 minutes until it glistens. Pour in a cup of dry white wine with a chicken bouillon cube, springs of thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and lemon zest strips. In another 3 minutes add 2 pounds of mussels. After bringing this to a boil, cover the pot and steam for another 3 minutes or so, until the mussels are opened. Serve immediately with a hot baguette and toasty french fries (mine are from the local Trader Joe’s.)
Two pounds of mussels, scrubbed, debearded and ready to steam.
A tip or two. I cranked up the broth’s flavoring by doubling Dorie’s suggested ingredients portions. What I used for my 2 pounds of mussels, she used for 4 pounds. Also, try this when eating Moules Marinère. Break the shell at its hinge and use one half as a scoop to detach the mussel and spoon it in your mouth. Really, no utensils are needed. As Dorie mentions, “You’re talking about an elbows-on-the-table meal and messy fingers.”
To see how these mussels opened for my colleagues, go to our group link here. For this week’s recipe, go here. French Friday’s with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s “Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours.”
New Year’s Eve Fireworks in Aspen, 8:00p.m. photo:Aspen Daily News
Last week-end Trevor Kensey who posts at Sis.Boom.Blog. and I were exchanging holiday e-mails. He asked what I was doing on New Year’s Eve. I didn’t respond. While I’m the first to celebrate holidays and special occasions with gusto, Auld Lang Syne at midnight, not so much.
After 9:00pm the world turns without me. If that means turning the page of another year, so be it. My plan, as always, was to have a nice, rather late dinner (that’s 7:00pm) and crawl into bed with my favorite book. Presently it’s Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson. But that rascal, Father Time, is full of surprises. Trevor, my evening was a blast. So, listen up, my friend, this Post’s for you.
This week’s FFWD recipe choice is Dressy Pasta Risotto. In America we call this Macaroni & Cheese.
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is Dressy Pasta “Risotto”. As Dorie admits, there is nothing risotto-ish about this dish. It’s a fancy French version of the American classic, mac & cheese. Now, in truth, creamy pasta dishes originated in northern Europe and caught the palate of Thomas Jefferson when he made his Grand Tour (1784-1789). In 1802, as president, he served mac & cheese at a state dinner. In 1937 Kraft introduced it in a box. At our house my mother made the most fabulous m&c with Velveeta. Ohhhh, that yummy toasty crust on top.
Dorie’s version adds chicken broth, heavy cream, mascarpone, and freshly grated Parmesan (ya gotta love the French) to the traditional chopped onions and elbow macaroni. It’s easily tossed together and made in a skillet over medium heat on the stove top in 30 minutes. Delicious. I paired it with my favorite Old-fashioned Meat Loaf, a recipe from the April 1994 Gourmet, and homemade corn bread. Be still my heart.
Just as I finished dinner at 8 pm, the traditional NYE fireworks over Aspen Mountain began. Since I live directly east, under the mountain, my balcony was prime real estate for viewing. The display was spectacular and very, very loud. But The Gant’s balconies were jammed, the children, squealing, the adults, whooping and hollering. It was a celebration.
I went to bed, thanked God for a great 2013, asked that 2014 be more of the same, and soon fell asleep. Suddenly……… all hell breaks loose. That bombs-blasting-in-air thing. By the time I got fully awake, pulled my heart back into my chest, I realized it was Midnight. In Aspen, where EXCESS is spelled in capital letters, we now do fireworks twice. Since I’d been gone a decade, I was unprepared for “twice”. But, once again, the balconies were full, the kids, some, frightened, squealing, the adults, whooping and hollering and tooting their horns. And, Trevor, since sleep did not come easily after that, it was one heck of a New Year’s Eve for me. Thanks for asking.
CALIFORNIA-BOUND
This coming week I am going to California to spend the winter. The only negative about moving home to Aspen? My family lives in Calli. I dearly miss the monthly visits, being present for all the girls’ performances and activities that I enjoyed while living in Nevada. The solution, we decided, was to rent a family hang-out on the central coast of California.
On our last visit to Cambria, Stephen considers the possibilities. Our rental house is located nearby.
We picked Cambria, a picturesque little village located on Highway 1 near the spectacular Hearst Castle in San Simeon. If the area is good enough for William Randolph, it’s good enough for me. I first visited Cambria in 2007 when I attended a week-long seminar on the Four Migrations (whales, birds, butterflies and elephant seals). My kids soon joined me and we’ve been enjoying annual visits ever since.
Melissa: “This works.”
They will come to Cambria. I will go to Bishop. Next week, I’ll be posting from California. If you’d like to track where my colleagues are posting from this week, go here.
Our last family visit to Cambria………anticipating many more.
Spaghetti Carbonara, a classic Italian recipe, was created in the middle of the 20th century. Although it’s origins are unknown, it first appeared in cookbooks after WW II when many Italians were dependent on foods supplied to them by American troops. But eggs and bacon were plentiful and a constant ration. The thrifty Italian housewives soon realized all that was necessary to create a spectacular sauce for a hearty bowl of pasta were small amounts of cream, butter and Parmesan.
Spaghetti & Onion Carbonara
Dorie’s riff on Spaghetti Carbonara is this week’s FFWD choice, Recipe-swap Onion “Carbonara” and we do know it’s origins. This distinctive dish was first created by legendary French chef Michel Richard, with later variations made by American cookbook author Patricia Wells who graciously shared it with her colleague and friend, Dorie.
I used a mandolin to get thinly sliced onions.
If you’re watching your carbs, here’s an Italian dish with none. Zero. While the sauce is the sauce is the sauce, the pasta is replaced by thinly sliced onions, steamed to al dente. This makes an interesting starter or a veggie side to a main course. Steaming the onions is the trick to this dish. Simple. Quick. Tasty.
Steaming the onions is the secret to this delicious recipe. I placed my steaming basket inside a big pot.
Since I’ve never met a carb I didn’t love, I tried Dorie’s Bonne Idee, adding Spaghetti to the Onions Carbonara. (The first picture shows the onion carbonara as a topping for the spaghetti.) Man, it was delicious.
Our Camp Hale & Hearty Tour
A Tenth Mountain Division soldier featured on the cover of POST Magazine. Photo by 14ers.com
Dorie doesn’t often “do” Italian but her timing was perfect this week. Early last Saturday, my friend, Donna Grauer, and I headed 120 miles east to chase history and pay homage at Colorado’s Camp Hale, the training site of the 10th Mountain Division. Located at 9,300 feet, surrounded by the historic mining towns of Leadville, Red Cliff and Minturn, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The 10th, created during WW II with 15,000 men in residence, was transformed into an elite high alpine corp – perfecting skiing skills and learning cold weather survival techniques under harsh mountain terrain and conditions. The training was brutal. Imagine climbing to 14,000’ feet on skis or snowshoes while carrying a weapon and 90-pound rucksack on your back.
Soldiers training in the Rockies in 1943. Photo by Denver Public Library Tenth Mountain Resource Center
In January 1945 they were shipped over to Italy to accomplish what other army divisions had failed to do for the previous 6 years – breach the heavily-fortified German Gothic Line located high in the Apennine Mountains. The force successfully scaled a 1,500‘ vertical assent at night while under intense German fire, prevailing in the legendary battles of Riva Ridge, Mount Belvedere, and Mont Gorgolesco. Their ability to take the Po River Valley played a vital role in the liberation of northern Italy. Success came at a terrible loss, however with over 4,000 men being wounded and 1,000 killed during the campaign.
Camp Hale
Camp Hale
Donna and her husband, Bernie, were in Italy this fall and followed the 10th Mountain Division route, climbing both Mt Belevedere and Riva Ridge. While the trip to Camp Hale was moving and thoughtful for me, it was Donna who felt she had come full-circle.
Bernie, standing in a German Bunker on Riva Ridge
Donna, standing at the 10th Mountain Division Memorial on Mt. Belvedere
Wherever you live, there is something special to discover, visit, see and learn. It isn’t much of a stretch to believe that the 10th Mountain Division helped play a role not only in the liberation of Italy but, as a result of that victory, in the Italians’ creation of Spaghetti Carbonara.
The memorial to the 10th Mountain Division in Aspen’s Gondola Plaza. Several 10th Mountain Division veterans returned to Aspen to create, bolster and support the area’s ski industry.
