Let’s talk FRIENDSHIP. Yours. Theirs. Mine. Ours. It’s September. Time to do that.
THE ONLY STOP DURING THE TRIP BACK TO ASPEN WAS FOR FRANNIE TO PERUSE THE MOOSE RACK SELECTION FOR OUR NATURALIST EXHIBITS.
Last week-end my nature-loving colleagues and I spent three days in Rocky Mountain National Park taking field workshops. For me, it was a rigorous three days. By 5:30pm on Friday night, when we were ready to make the 185-mile trip back to Aspen, I was pooped. There was no drive left in me, either for up another mountain or behind the wheel. Having anticipated this, Francine and Carol climbed in the front seat of my car while I folded my wings, crawling in the back.
Four hours later as we crossed the line into Pitkin County, Francine said, “You know, Mary, we love you. We all love you.”
Not to be outdone, Carol chimed in, “You have a great support system here, Mary. Everyone loves you. They do.”
CORNBREAD WITH CARAMELIZED APPLES, ONIONS & THYME
There was more of this chatter, I responded with gratefulness, dropped my friends off and finally drove into The Gant around 10pm. After unpacking, bathing and checking for ticks (a hazard in the High Country), I fell into bed at Midnight, four hours past my norm. But not before thinking about those remarks. What brought that on, I’ll never know. I was weary, yes, but euphoric about a perfect trip. I wasn’t feeling needy, lonely, or abandoned. No propping up necessary. Shall we simply chalk it up to Friendship?
SINCE RETURNING TO ASPEN OUR SILVERKING DRIVE NEIGHBOR, BLANCA O’LEARY (middle), HAS ALWAYS INCLUDED ME IN NEIGHBORHOOD FUNCTIONS & HOLIDAYS. SHE NEVER FORGETS ME. HERE WE’RE CELEBRATING VAIL’S LITERACY PROJECT’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY AT A LOVELY LUNCHEON HOSTED BY OUR VAIL FRIEND, JANE LOWERY.
As we all celebrate the long Labor Day week-end why not open the window wider to this opportunity to value our friends more. Let’s be better, try harder and remind them they’re appreciated. Although Frannie and Carol have now probably forgotten those remarks, I have not. Besides wishing you Happy Labor Day Week-end with the following cast iron menu, I’m sharing snapshots of my local supporters who have enriched my 2015 summer. Hopefully these photos will encourage you to acknowledge your own.
CAULIFLOWER PARMESAN, OVEN READY
Some women in the following photo have been friends since 1988. This is the only time I was with this gang all summer!?! And, that took 40 e-mails, determination and a surprise 60th birthday party to make happen. Some gals work and many, like me, are dedicated volunteers for this and that. The activities we did together ten years ago, Saturday biking adventures and Sunday hikes up Aspen Mountain, I’m no longer strong enough to do. However, after obviously too much vino, I agreed to a winter bike training program put together by Californian Terry Durham, far right, to bring me up to speed by Summer 2016. I’ll gear up if they’ll slow down.
LONGTIME ASPEN FRIENDS. LET S NOT COUNT THE YEARS.
Since It only takes one small spark, there’s no balcony grilling allowed at The Gant. For whatever reason, cast iron cooking makes me feel all outdoorsy. What I know for sure is my three cast iron skillets conduct heat superbly, can travel from stovetop to oven without talking back and will last my lifetime. I’ve linked to recipes and include John’s at the end of this post.
DAY-IN AND DAY-OUT MY FOREST CONSERVANCY FRIENDS (AND, SMOKEY) PROVIDE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT.
SOMETIMES WE VOLUNTEER RANGERS EVEN GO ALL-FANCY!
MY MEAL:
1. Cornbread with caramelized apples, onions and thyme,Bon Appétit magazine. I’ve made this cornbread before but never posted the menu.
2.Cherry-Almond Clafoutisby David Tanis, A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes. Although I chose David’s, your favorite clafoutis recipe works also. Or, click on links of Dorie’s or Julia’s for their delicious recipes.
3.Cauliflower Parmesan by Melissa Clark, The New York Times. Three words: To Die For.
4.Filet Mignon by John Lester. John, who blogs with his wife, Susan, on Create Amazing Meals, grills this amazing, no-fail filet mignon INDOORS. The recipe is at the end of my Post.
GOD BLESS CAROL KURT? MY IOWA FRIEND, MARY BERGLUND, SENT ME INFO ON SNORKELING GEAR. I ORDERED IT AND IT ARRIVED LAST WEEK. AS PROMISED CAROL STARTED MY LESSONS AT THE GANT POOL. I NOW CAN PUT MY HEAD IN THE WATER AND BREATHE CORRECTLY. NOT TOO WILLING TO VENTURE INTO THE DEEP END YET ( 6 FEET). SOON. GALAPAGOS, HERE I COME. AND, YES, THE KIDS HERE AT THE GANT ARE LOVING THIS. MY OWN CHEERLEADING SECTION.
I would be remiss if I didn’t honor the friendship of you supporters of my blog. Whether you visit my posts for recipes, stories or just to see the photos, I’m just thrilled you’re here. Thank you.
Cherry-Almond Clafoutis
I hope you are relentless in your enjoyment of this weekend. It’s a good one and we’re lucky to be breathing in it. Joy the Baker adaption
HERE’S THE BEEF.
FILET MIGNON by John Lester, Create Amazing Meals, Susan & John Lester
INGREDIENTS:
• 2 8-ounce Filets
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• Vegetable Oil
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Remove steaks from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking and sprinkle with salt & pepper on both sides.
2. Coat the inside of a cast iron skillet with vegetable oil.
3. Place pan on the stove over medium-high heat.
4. When oil begins to smoke, sear steaks on both sides, about 3 minutes a side.
5. Place a baking rack over a sheet of foil and place steaks on the rack.
6. Allow to rest at room temperature for ½ hour.
7. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
8. Place steaks back in cast iron skillet.
9. Place skillet in oven for 5 – 12 minutes, depending upon the thickness of the steak and the way you like them.
10. Remove pan from oven and allow steaks to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
When I issued my dinner invitation, I said, “Wear Your Lipstick,” and they did. L to R, Steve Chase, Donna Grauer, Donna Chase and the birthday boy, Bernie Grauer.
Since October, 2010, when French Fridays was launched, we Doristas have danced around Dorie Greenspan’s French table. While our jigs were virtual, the 300 recipes she created and we made were delightfully genuine. Now, after 4 1/2 years, it’s kinda shocking to realize I’ve successfully muddled through Around My French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yourscookbook.
Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake by Dorie Greenspan was chosen to be included in Food52’s Genius Recipes cookbook.
To mark this journey’s end, we are all choosing our most treasured recipe. For me, that’s easy. I salute Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake. Admittedly, when I bring this dessert to the table, no one is impressed. This rather plain Jane, single-layer cake has no WOW factor…until you take the first bite. As one dinner guest exclaimed recently, “This is the real deal.”
The apple cake batter, in its springform pan, home before it visits the oven.
It gets better. Last April, FOOD52, an award-winning community-based cooking site, published a cookbook, Genius Recipes, 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook. That’s a heavyweight moniker for any cookbook but it’s become a New York Times bestseller. Here’s the kicker. Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake by Ms. Greenspan is one of the 17 chosen desserts. I rest my case.
THE BOOK
The completion of this 4 1/2-year effort called for a celebratory dinner. Since friend Bernie Grauer’s birthday dovetailed with this completion, I planned a small party. “It’s a Genius Dinner,” I told my friends. “Wear your lipstick,” I requested.
Here’s the menu with links to the recipes, all taken from FOOD52’s Genius Recipes, 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook:
The beef brisket is ready for the oven, to cook, and cook, and cook some more.
What I can say about this evening is it was bittersweet and delicious and hilarious. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Grauers and Chases, for making it so.
Doesn’t every milestone beg to be remembered? My artist friend, Ellie Gould, who was just elected president of the Arizona Watercolor Society, did just that. This week I received two gorgeous watercolors of the AMFT cookbook cover and yours truly in a chef’s coat. Already at the framer. Merci mille fois, Ellie.
Chicken In A Pot is the cookbook cover of Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. Watercolor by Ellie Gould.
It is with a heavy but grateful heart that I wrap up this French Fridays experience. Dorie and my Dorista colleagues unwittingly helped me rebuild my life. At a time when my only goal was to survive each day, this blog thing and French Fridays came along. Writing and cooking, what could be better? Crazy as it may seem, having to create a post every week insisted upon organization and structure. Michael and I were in a decade-long battle without an end game, no light at the end of any tunnel. For me, completing a post each week was a goal, an accomplishment and fun.
Some of the French Fridays gals who attended the 2013 International Food Bloggers Conference in Seattle.
As I’ve said often, during the past four years this French Fridays gang has become more than a virtual community for me. Whether it was rallying around Dorie, the perfect mix of cooks with a common interest, a fortunate accident of serendipity or just my perception, I cannot say. The French Fridays group has been magic. What lies ahead in each of our virtual worlds, no one knows. In the real world, however, I’ve made wonderful friends and those relationships will continue.
We all love Dorie and I think that she loves us back. International Food Bloggers Conference 2013
Let me end with an appreciative nod to an unheralded group of supporters who always “wear their lipstick.” All my French Fridays colleagues have spouses, partners, kids or extended families living nearby who need to be fed and nourished every day. Since I am single, my reality is whether I put a meal on the table or not makes no difference. Wanting to join French Fridays but not wanting to waste the food I make every week, I’ve relied on others.
It was great fortune that my Henderson, Nevada neighbors were foodies. Lawyer Michele Morgando, also a judge, also a graduate of the Culinary School at The Art Institute of Las Vegas, was (and, still is) my tutor. Ray Dillon and Dominick Prudenti, such great friends to the Hirschs, once owned a successful deli in New York. Adriana Scrima, Sicilian by birth, cooks with an Old World flair. Fresh. Local. Homemade. Many Nevada friends jumped in to help when I began my blog. Failure was not an option. I miss you all.
It all began in Henderson, Nevada with L to R: Adriana, Dominick, Ray, Bobby (Adriana’s husband) and Michele.
In closing, it’s no coincidence that the three ladies pictured below were featured in my last posts. When I moved back to Aspen, Coeur à la Crème was the first French Fridays recipe choice. Holy Moley. Donna Grauer offered, as she has many times, to help. A dinner gathering, with contributions by Charlotte McLain and Donna Chase, followed. This sparked a realization that maybe food blogging could create the social life I desired here. “Wear your Lipstick,” became my watchword. Thanks, friends.
Charlotte and the Donna Deux, February 2013
Coeur à la Crème, my first French Fridays with Dorie post from Aspen. February 2013
“People who love to eat are always the best people.” Julia Childs
Celebrating French Fridays with Dorie, a watercolor by Ellie Gould
This is a toque-worthy day in our French Fridays with Dorie world. With this week’s mouthwatering recipe, our group will have literally cooked-the-book. The cookbook is “Around My French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours” by the incomparable Dorie Greenspan. What began in October 2010 with Gougères, those exquisite pâte à choux pastry puffs flavored with Gruyère cheese, is ending with Chicken in a Pot, the Garlic and Lemon version. So happens, it’s featured on AMFT’s cover.
Chicken in a Pot – the veggies are prepared and then tossed in a large skillet for a sauté.
To observe this remarkable milestone I planned an intimate dinner to acknowledge another remarkable milestone, a very special birthday. However, there were some caveats:
1. Since Chicken in a Pot is not a particularly simple recipe, I would need sous chef assistance.
2. Once fully cooked, the seal on the Chicken in a Pot needs to be broken with a screwdriver!
3. Like many occasions at my table, this would be a Lights on Bright blog post. Wear lipstick.
4. Having never made this recipe before, it might be a disaster. My back-up choice, frozen pizza.
After the chicken is browned on all sides, it joins its veggie friends for a roast in the oven.
I called my friend, Charlotte McLain, and asked if she and the birthday boy, her husband, Michael, were free for dinner. I explained we would be cooking the cover recipe of my AMFT cookbook. Besides being a professional musician, Charlotte is an extraordinary chef. She happily accepted my invite. We made a plan.
The homemade dough is rolled out, stretched into a long rope and secured around the pot. To save time, I used fresh pizza dough from Whole Foods.
Charlotte mixed together a red cabbage, kale, broccoli, raisins and nuts slaw.
Eventually I explained the screwdriver thing to her, suggesting that I hoped the pot wouldn’t blow when the seal was broken. She chuckled, kinda. We decided, at tool time, Michael would be in charge. Her husband, a Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Rhodes College in Memphis, is a fun guy and a very good sport.
READY!
Michael Hirsch’s old, old screwdriver, sterilzed and embellished.
Our unforgettable evening, one for the memory book, can best be told through photos. Michael insisted on choosing a superb wine and brought his last bottle of 2005 Willenborg Pinot Noir. The birthday dessert was Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake, my favorite Dorie/AMFT sweet treat. The recipe for the chicken is below. I’ve linked to the apple cake recipe.
To be truthful, Michael and Charlotte are a little apprehensive.
Not knowing what was going to happen, do you notice something missing. Glasses, perhaps?
Michael is rethinking being a good sport. Charlotte just steps back.
C’est Manifique.
Chicken in a Pot, the Garlic and Lemon version.
CHICKEN IN A POT, THE GARLIC AND LEMON VERSION by Dorie Greenspan,
Serves 6 – 8
INGREDIENTS:
½ preserved lemon, rinsed well
1 cup water
¼ cup sugar
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and each cut into 8 same-sized pieces (you can use white potatoes, if you prefer)
16 small white onions, yellow onions, or shallots
8 carrots, trimmed, peeled, and quartered
4 celery stalks, trimmed, peeled, and quartered
4 garlic heads, cloves separated but not peeled
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 thyme sprigs
3 parsley sprigs
2 rosemary sprigs
1 chicken, about 4 pounds, preferably organic, whole or cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
1 cup chicken broth
½ cup dry white wine
For the Dough:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup hot water
(To save myself some time, I used fresh store-bought pizza dough from Whole Foods to seal the pot.)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
2. Using a paring knife, slice the peel from the preserved lemon and cut it into small squares. Discard the pulp.
3. Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan, drop in the peel, and cook for 1 minute. Drain and set aside.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the vegetables and garlic, season with salt and pepper and sauté until vegetables are brown on all sides. (If necessary, do this in 2 batches.) Spoon vegetables into a 4½- to 5-quart Dutch oven or other pot with a lid and stir in the herbs and the preserved lemon.
5. Return the skillet to the heat and add another tablespoon of olive oil. Brown the chicken on all sides, seasoning it with salt and pepper as it cooks.
6. Tuck chicken into the casserole, surrounding it with the vegetables.
7. Mix together the broth, wine, and the remaining olive oil and pour over the chicken and vegetables.
8. For the Dough, put 1½ cups flour in a medium bowl and add enough hot water to make a malleable dough. Dust a work surface with a little flour, turn out the dough, and, working with your hands, roll the dough into a sausage.
Place the dough on the rim of the pot — if it breaks, just piece it back together — and press the lid onto the dough to seal the pot.
10. Slide the pot into the oven and bake for 55 minutes.
11. Now you have a choice — you can break the seal in the kitchen or do it at the table, where it’s bound to make a mess, but where everyone will have the pleasure of sharing that first fragrant whiff as you lift the lid with a flourish. Whether at the table or in the kitchen, the best tool to break the seal is the least attractive: a screwdriver. Sterilize the screwdriver. Use the point of the screwdriver as a lever to separate the lid from the dough.
12. Depending on whether your chicken was whole or cut up, you might have to do some in-the-kitchen carving, but in the end, you want to make sure that the vegetables and the delicious broth are on the table with the chicken.
SERVING:
If the chicken is cut up, you can just serve it and the vegetables from the pot. If the chicken is whole, you can quarter it and return the pieces to the pot or arrange the chicken and vegetables on a serving platter. Either way, you don’t need to serve anything else but some country bread, which is good for spreading with the sweet garlic popped from the skins and dunking into the cooking broth. A pot at the table is because it makes for easy dipping.
FRENCH FRIDAYS with DORIE is a wonderful virtual group of food bloggers who have cooked their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table Cookbook. To see the other Dorista’s efforts this week, go to our FFWD link.
My Work. My Office. My Friends, Marcia (l) and Donna (r). It’s all good.
Relevance, today’s post and my French Friday’s recipe,Chicken B’stilla, is all about that word.
What I knew for sure, after Michael’s death, was I wanted to find myself. In those ten years, I’d lost Me. I also realized that everything about that experience must be treasured and mined. I needed to do better. Be a better person. I needed to make those years count, not only for my sake but to acknowledge a spouse who had gone through hell. That’s exactly, as some of you realize, what these past three years have been about.
Chicken B’Stilla, a sweet/savory Moroccan Classic and my recipe choice for this week’s French Fridays with Dorie.
We all have needs. That’s especially true as we age. Hey, Baby Boomers, do you hear me? I’ve never been important in that important, important manner. Never had much of an ego or yearned for power. My competitive gene got lost about five years ago. I do cling fiercely to my desire for independence and self control. If someone’s going to mind my business, it’s going to be Me. But most importantly, if only for myself, I need to remain Relevant. Be purposeful. If you’re truthful, so do most of you.
Baby Spinach salad with Dates & Almonds by Ottolenghi & Tamimi, Jerusalem cookbook, is the perfect greens side dish for Chicken B’stilla.
This blog and my returning to Aspen to be a volunteer forest ranger again is what’s floating my boat, pushing all my buttons. Lights on Bright allows me to be expressive, tell my story and keeps me cooking. Rangering covers everything else from keeping fit to constantly educating myself to social engagement with the vacationing public. Most importantly, the short-staffed, underfunded USFS is adamant about the value of our boots on the ground. Smokey Bear needs Me.
The delicious cinnamon/sugar topping provides the sweetness for this sweet and savory pie.
If only I had a video of the first time I stopped by The Gant’s front office before leaving on a patrol. For safety’s sake volunteers must tell someone daily where they’ll be working. I was all decked out in my ill-fitting, unfashionable uniform and sporting every badge and medal the USFS will legally allow. I’m wearing my Smokey cap, have binoculars around my neck, my backpack in place and am carrying my hiking poles. It’s a Look. Keep in mind, I also am old enough to be each employees’ grandmother.
My friend, Deb, also a volunteer ranger and I are trying to get in shape for the season!!!
I am not exaggerating. Those 5 kids staffing the front desk were shocked. Amazed. And, after a few seconds, laughing. I handed them an index card filled with information. “Here’s the deal,” I said, while leaning over the desk. “I am going to work and I need to check out and in with someone. You’re it. I’m hiking Midway today. If I’m not back by 6pm, call the USFS. I am serious.”
You can make the chicken and sauce a day ahead. The first step is to marinate the chicken pieces in onion, garlic and spices.
Suddenly, they all regained their be serious-composure. “We got it, Mrs. Hirsch,” Zach promises me and, for the past two seasons, they always have. Usually when I check back in with them, I am totally spent, exhausted. They are enthusiastic cheerleaders and make me feel proud of myself. We all need that.
The first four buttered filo sheets make the shell of the pie.
This week’s recipe, Chicken B’stilla, puts Relevance in a different spotlight. More than 35 years ago I took a cooking class with the renown food writer and Mediterranean food expert Paula Wolfert. On that extraordinary day, one of the dishes she made was the classic Moroccan delicacy, B’steeya. It is a sweet/savory chicken pie made with phyllo dough and eaten with two fingers. Although I easily mastered the two-finger approach, the recipe itself is involved and complicated. I never made it.
Crunchy, spicy pita croutons are a tasty addition to this salad. These are also delicious as a topping for soups or as munchies.
Today, Ms. Wolfert, 77 years old and living in Sonoma, suffers from Benson’s syndrome, a variant of Alzheimer’s. She doesn’t cook and fights her personal memory battle everyday. However, Paula Wolfert, an icon in the culinary arena, will always be relevant. Her nine pioneering cookbooks on Mediterranean cuisine and the learning experiences she’s provided for others are a lasting legacy.
Toasted almonds are layered on the bottom.
There is a Chicken B’stilla recipe in Around my French Table. My colleagues made it in January 2011 before I joined French Fridays. To honor Paula and knowing Dorie would carefully walk me through this recipe, I decided to conquer this classic. Surprisingly, 35 years later, it was not involved nor complicated. However, it was delicious and definitely party fare. For greens, I made Ottolenghi’s Baby Spinach Salad with Dates & Almonds from his Jerusalem cookbook. Perfect.
After the chicken and sauce is poured into the shell, I added another layer of almonds and then 4 sheets of filo for the top.
I linked to the salad recipe. The Chicken B’stilla information is below. Much of this dish can be made ahead. This is too unique and delicious to be put aside another 35 years. Try it.
CHICKEN B’STILLA by Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table
Six Main Course Servings
INGREDIENTS:
8 chicken thighs, skinned
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Big pinch of saffron threads
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
salt
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 large eggs
2 Tablespoons honey
freshly ground pepper
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
8 sheets filo (each 9 x 14″)
About 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 ounces sliced almonds, toasted and chopped
Cinnamon sugar, for dusting
DIRECTIONS:
1.Put the chicken pieces, onions, garlic and spices into a Dutch oven or other large casserole and give everything a good stir. Cover and let the chicken marinate for 1 hour at room temperature. (The chicken can be marinated in the refrigerator for as long as 1 day.)
2. Add the chicken broth and 1 teaspoon salt to the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat so that the liquid simmers, cover the pot, and cook for 1 hour, at which point the chicken should be falling-off-the-bone tender.
3. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a bowl. strain the broth, saving both the liquid and the onions. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and cut it into small cubes or shred it.
Clean the Dutch oven and pour the broth back into it, or pour the broth into a medium saucepan. Whisk in the lemon juice, bring to a boil and cook until you have about 1 cup liquid. Reduce the heat to low.
4. Beat the eggs with the honey and whisking all the while, pour into the broth. Heat, whisking constantly until the sauce thickens enough that your whisk leaves tracks in it, about 5 minutes. Pull the pan from the heat and season the sauce with salt and pepper.
5. Stir the chicken and reserved onions into the sauce, along with the cilantro and parley. (You can make the chicken and sauce up to 1 day ahead and keep it covered and refrigerated.)
6.Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
7. Place the filo sheets between sheets of wax paper and cover with a kitchen towel. Brush a 9″ round cake pan, one that’s 2 ” tall, with melted butter. Brush 1 sheet filo with butter and center it in the pan, so that the excess hangs over the edges. Brush another sheet and press it into the pan so that it’s perpendicular to the first sheet and forms a plus sign. Place a third and then a fourth buttered sheet into the pan so that they form and X; the overhang from all of the sheets should cover the edges of the pan.
Sprinkle half of the almonds over the filo. spoon in the saucy chicken, spreading it evenly across the pan, and top with the rest of the almonds. Fold the overhanging filo over the chicken.
8. Butter the remaining 4 sheets of filo, stacking them one on top of the other on the work surface. Using a pot lid or the bottom of a tart pan as a guide, cut our a 10 to 11″ circle. Center the circle over the cake pan and gently tuck the edges of the dough into the pan, working your way around it as though you were making a bed. Brush the top of the b’stilla with a little butter and sprinkle with some cinnamon sugar. Place the pan on the baking sheet.
Bake the b’stilla for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350°F and bake for 20 minutes more. If the top seems to be getting too brown at any point, cover it loosely with foil. Transfer the b’stilla to a cooling rack and let rest for about 5 minutes.
9. Lay a piece of parchment over a cutting board, and have a serving platter at hand. Turn the b’stilla out onto the parchment lined board and then invert it onto the serving platter, so that it is right side up. Serve the b’stilla now, cutting it into wedges, or serve it warm or at room temperature.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international online cooking group making its way through Around My French Tablecookbook. To link to our site, go here. Thanks to Teresa who blogs at One Wet Foot for reminding me of this recipe. Please note the various spellings of B’stilla and B’steeya. Filo or phyllo? Fe Fi Fo Fum.
Slices of Pork Roast with Mangoes & Preserved Lemons
We’re talking pigs again. Last week I alerted you to the possibility that Wilbur, Babe and the Three Little Pigs can fly. Now it gets better. Did you know Piglet of Winnie the Pooh-fame sponsors an annual cookbook contest? I mean, how many Piglets do you know? It just may be that Piglet chooses the 16 most notable cookbooks of the year to face off competitively. This week I’m all about that idea and those 16 books.
Piglet, Winnie-the-Pooh’s best friend, is a fictional character from A. A. Milne’s books. Reprinted with permission of The Walt Disney Company
After better comes best. Here it is. This week’s French Friday’s with Dorie recipe choice is a delicious Pork Roast with Mangoes & Lychees. About those lychees. Not to be found in Aspen. I substituted with preserved lemons which may be tastier. This roast is a crowd pleaser, simply made and easily served.
The pork and added ingredients are ready to go into the oven for its final braise.
For my roast I bought a Hormel® Always Tender® Lemon Garlic Pork Tenderloin. Never fails me. I made this dish with no changes except the preserved lemons, thinly sliced. Use your meat thermometer because 140 degrees is the max for a moist, flavorful result. For dinner I added a baked sweet potato and Red Cabbage, Parsnip, Orange, Date Salad (later post). See the pork recipe below.
This week’s French Frieay’s recipe is ready to be served.
Most of you don’t realize on Friday, May 22, we Doristas (the affectionate name for our gang), will be cooking our last recipe from “Around My French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours.” We began in October 2010 with Gougères. I was late to the party, joining in February 2011.
My “Around My French Table” cookbook.
I won’t belabor our French Fridays journey now. But before we begin discussing 16 new cookbooks I want you to see a veteran. My AMFT cookbook has lived in California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. If I’m traveling for more than one Friday, it’s joined me. If pages are torn from the book, it’s a good bet I traveled by air. The binding and contents parted company 37 recipes ago. Call it taped, stained, greasy, ripped and all mine.
In February of every year Food52, an online food blog ‘committed to helping people become better, smarter, happier cooks,’ sponsors The Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks. During a three week period the year’s 16 most notable cookbooks (in the opinion of Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet OR the Food52 staff) face off. No categories. No classifications. No groupings. Toss them together and, like cream, see what rises to the top.
The sixteen cookbooks chosen to compete in The 2015 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks. Food52 Photo.
The competition is bracketed. Each face-off is individually evaluated by a judge, primarily food professionals. To my mind NPR’s host of All Things Considered, Melissa Block, and food writers Kate Christensen and Rosie Schaap were the crème-de-la-crème in this arena. The judges are apparently restricted by no criteria so creativity and sometimes, craziness reigns. Food blogger Adam Roberts’ critique (my personal opinion and, others, incidentally) was in poor taste and not amusing. Belittling someone? Uh, no. Take a look.
Of the 16 chosen 2015 cookbooks, I had recently purchased 4 but was not even aware of the others. That’s why I love this competition.
Of the 16 nominated cookbooks, I already owned four but was clueless about the others. The beauty of this quirky February Madness was meeting 12 other well-regarded cookbooks (an Amazon moment, perhaps). The judge’s evaluations, whether thumbs up or down, are a feast in words.
In the finals, it was David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen versus Brooks Headley’s Fancy Dessert. If you recall, I just cooked David’s cover recipe, Poulet À La Moutarde, and have already bookmarked 15 more recipes. It lost. Hey, David, in the words of Joe Jacobs, We wuz robbed.
Poulet À La Moutarde, a delicious mustard chicken from David Lebovitz’s “My Paris Kitchen” cookbook.
Check out Food52, an indisputable winner in the blogging world. Don’t miss next year’s Piglet Tournament. The competing 2015 cookbooks and Link are: Brooks Headley’s Fancy Desserts; A Kitchen in France; Flavor Flours; Baking Chez Moi (our own Dorie’s latest); Heritage; Prune; Huckleberry; Lunch at the Shop; Buvette: The Pleasure of Good Food; A Boat, A Whale & A Walrus; Smashing Plates; A Change of Appetite; Bar Tartine: Techniques & Recipes; My Paris Kitchen; Green Kitchen Travels; Olive, Lemons, and Za’atar.
PORK TOAST WITH MANGOES & LYCHEES by Dorie Greenspan
INGREDIENTS:
1 2- to 2½-pound pork loin roast, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large onion, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, split, germ removed, and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
½ cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons honey
½–1 teaspoon piment d’Espelette or chili powder
1 bay leaf
2 thyme sprigs
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into thin strips
10 lychees, peeled and pitted if fresh, drained if canned ( To substitute preserved lemons, go here.)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Pat the roast dry with paper towels. Place a Dutch oven or other heavy oven-going casserole over medium-high heat and pour in 1 tablespoon of the oil. When it’s hot, put the pork fat side down in the pot and cook for a couple of minutes, until the fat is browned, then turn it over and brown the other side. Transfer the roast to a plate, season with salt and pepper, and discard the oil.
3. Return the pot to the stove, this time over low heat, and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. When it’s warm, toss in the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Turn up the heat and pour in the vinegar — stand back, the scent of hot vinegar is very strong. When the vinegar has almost evaporated, a matter of a minute or two, pour in the wine. Let the wine bubble for 30 seconds or so, then add the soy, lime juice, and honey. Bring to a boil, stir in the piment d’Espelette or chili powder, add the bay leaf, thyme, mango, and lychees, and give the pot another minute at the boil.
4. Add the roast fat side up, baste with the sauce, cover the casserole, and slide it into the oven. Allow the roast to braise gently for 30 minutes, then check its temperature: you’re looking for it to measure 140 degrees F at its center on an instant-read thermometer. The roast is likely to need a total of 40 to 50 minutes in the oven, but it’s important to check early, since pork varies.
5. Pull the pot from the oven, transfer the roast to a cutting board, cover it lightly with a foil tent, and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes, during which time it will continue to cook (its temperature will probably rise another 5 degrees or so).
6. While the roast is resting, taste the sauce. If you’d like to concentrate the flavors even more, boil it for a couple of minutes. Don’t forget to check for salt and pepper.
7. Slice the roast, which makes 6 to 8 ample servings, and add the sauce.
French Fridays is an international group of bloggers cooking their way throughAround my French Table. Thanks, Cher, The not so exciting adventures of a dabbler…, for introducing me to The Piglet three years ago.
In the spirit of full disclosure I’m admitting to List Addiction. My favorites are Self-improvement Lists like How To Strengthen Your Core: 8 Steps; Ten Tricks to Look 7 Years Younger or 9 Ways to Improve Your Chances of Retiring by 55. There are even audiobooks of Lists, 100 Ways to Simplify Your Life. I usually keep all that great advice to myself but this week I discovered a List that must be shared: Six Mini-habits That Can Drastically Change Your Life by blogger Rizwan Aseem.
I used beef instead of veal for this week’s French Friday’s recipe, Beef Marengo.
Before I drastically change lives, however, I am going to feed you. This week’s French Fridays recipe is Veal Marengo, a dish created in 1800 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s chef to honor his boss’ success at the Battle of Marengo. For those of you unfamiliar with that battle, the French beat the Austrians on Italian soil. That was a very big deal, deserving of a celebratory entrée and commemorated by Puccini’s three-act opera, Tosca
Unlike Napoleon, I don’t like veal. I substituted beef. If you prefer chicken, that works wonderfully also. Supposedly, Marengo, an upscaled version of stew, was created with food supplies available on the battlefield… meat, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and white wine. Someone found a few potatoes and a French classic which has endured for over 200 years was born.
The top-of-the-stove duties are completed and the stew is ready for the oven.
Veal (Beef, Chicken) Marengo, with a salad and crusty bread, is an ample and adaptable meal. I had freshly harvested leeks in my fridge so substituted them for onions. After refreshing a package of exotic mushrooms, I used them instead of ordinary ones. What makes this recipe so useful is its adaptability. Any vegetable you have in the fridge will work with your choice of meat, onions, tomatoes and wine. You will find the recipe, have fun with it, here.
Dorie suggests putting parchment paper between the pan and the lid to keep the liquids from evaporating. A new technique that worked.
Now back to drastically changing your life. The best thing about this List is you’re probably doing half of them already. To my thinking, that’s instant success. Your self-esteem is rising rapidly. You’re halfway home.
Habit #1:Make your bed shortly after you wake up in the morning.
You’ve finished a daily task immediately, leaving a neat, tidy bed to return to at night. When you return home in the evening, you’re weary. Maybe some efforts haven’t gone your way. The end of the day not only brings relief but also an inviting, comfortable bed.
Habit #2:Put things back where you’ve found them.
When you return things to their proper places you drastically clear clutter in your life. What is more important, when you need them again, they will be there.
Habit #3:Pick up clutter before you go to sleep at night.
Practice #2 so this habit will not swallow up your time. If you wake up to messy and cluttered, you wake up grumpy. You just do.
Last week-end was cold and blustery. It was perfect for my Beef Marengo menu but not so nice for the Great Egret.
Habit #4:Dress slightly better than the occasion calls for.
My daughter, Melissa, was once asked for the best advice her mother ever gave her. She had two answers. “The advice I now most appreciate from my mother,” Melissa said, “I hated while growing up. My mother insisted upon handwritten, timely thank-you notes. Her philosophy was: if someone did something nice for you, they needed to be thanked in writing, appreciating not only the gift, but the giver, and helping me realize how lucky I was to have both.”
The second piece of advice I gave her was when she left the house, wherever she was going, to look nice, to be presentable, showing respect. “My mother’s reasoning,” she said, “was if you’re dressed for the part, whatever it may be, you walk out the front door, confident, not having to think or worry about it.”
Habit #5: Be consistently enthusiastic and optimistic.
“You won’t even notice this,” Aseem writes, “but you’ll wake up happier, and with more energy and a skip in your step.”
Habit #6:Plan your day on a post-it note.
This is my favorite, unchartered territory for me. I’m giving it a month
Here’s how the post-it technique works. Whatever projects you have to do tomorrow, choose only the five that will make the most impact on your professional and personal life. Everything else goes on the back burner, in the drawer, forgotten for another day. Write them on a post-it. Then, post it. Check them off as you knock them off. At the end of the day, mission accomplished. Your mind, on most days, will no longer need to focus on the things you didn’t get done.
These shorebirds are hunkering down on a dark and gloomy Sunday.
My report card is #1, #4, #5, A-Plus. #2 and #3, C to C-. I’m not a slob but I plead guilty to messy. If I followed #2, I would not need 10 pair of glasses scattered around my house. If I followed #3, I would not need to devote three hours tomorrow morning to picking up my house. Right now, as I’m heating up Beef Marengo for tonight’s dinner, I’m thinking about tomorrow’s first post-it. And also wanting to remind you that French Fridays with Dorie is an international group of food bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table cookbook. You can visit the FFWD site here.
