This week it was really all about Sandy. Again, those of us who belong to this French Friday with Dorie gang were reminded of our being about much more than cooking. Soon after this hurricane had rock-and-rolled its malice and destruction up North America’s eastern coast, those of us left unscathed were checking on our colleagues.
News from them started to dribble in late Tuesday via Twitter, E-mail and Cell Phone. We all posted those updates on our FFWD Facebook page until we knew everyone was safe and accounted for albeit without power, conveniences and gasoline. Mother Nature’s power is humbling and I know we all hold the victims of this disaster in our hearts.
Mushroom and Shallot Quiche
This weeks FFWD recipe is a Mushroom and Shallot Quiche. Not too much different or unique about this quiche but it’s no-fail and absolutely delicious. “Mushrooms and shallots are a classic combination and the base of the traditional finely chopped filling called duxelles,” Dorie reminds us. “The result is a deep, earthy flavor.”
Spread 1 TBS of fresh minced thyme on the half-baked tart shell before adding the filling.
To that I would add a bold, even strong, taste. Besides salt and pepper, fresh thyme is the only herb used in this dish. Thyme bows to no one, edging out both the shallots and scallions to bring an edge to this quiche.
The classic combination of mushrooms and shallots, finely chopped, which is the basis of the filling called duxelles.
Dorie provides the recipe to this excellent quiche here. It’s fast, easy (serve warm or at room temperature) and goes well with soup, salad or on its own.
Oven-ready
This was not a sharing week at the Hirsch household, shameful as that may sound. This quiche was so tasty, I decided to eat the entire dish by myself………….yep, you got it, real women do eat quiche. To see if other Doristas were better at sharing this week, go here.
Gone. No sharing this week.
I also want to echo Diane Balch’s column this week about Voting in the upcoming American election. A democracy only works if every citizen is engaged, participating in the process. In the 2008 presidential election a disappointing 43.2% of eligible Americans did not vote.
The past few weeks I have been working for my candidates. Both parties are all about Getting-out-the-Vote. To that end, I commited to helping my Party’s choices by standing at Aspen’s HIghway 82 S-Curve at 7:30 a.m., waving signs promoting early voting and candidates while a constant ribbon of cars and trucks come into town. We’re talkin’ hundreds. Might I mention that it’s Colorado cold here – 40 degrees? God bless America.
Getting Out the Vote, 7:30am, Aspen, Colorado, 40 degrees
To be honest, it’s been crazy fun. One of my first thoughts was “Here I go, embarrassing my children again.” But, when the Thursday edition of the Aspen Times carried a picture of us in our early-morning “Get-Out-The-Vote Poster Wave”, Melissa plastered it on her Facebook Page. “That’s my mom in the middle! I don’t care what side you are on, this is a GREAT country!
This morning at 7:30A.M., the last day of Early Voting, there were eight of us, bundled up and ready to wave. We’ve always received honks, thumbs up, thumbs down, and the #$@%#@!% shout-outs. This morning, our last, and, it being Friday after all, we decided to throw in a little choreography. Yes, sign-routines. The car, truck, and bus crowd loved it, parties be hanged.
Why do I do this? America has a population of 157 million women. Only 46.2% of females 18 and older voted in our last national election (2010). As far as I’m concerned that’s just not good enough. If I lived in Brunei or Saudi Arabia, for example, I wouldn’t even be able to vote. If I had lived in the United States before 1920, I couldn’t have voted either. My standing on a Colorado street corner in freezing temperatures urging people to vote pales in comparison to the efforts of our Sisters who won the vote for us:
“The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving the right to vote to women (1920) took 72 years:
and, required 56 referendum campaigns, 47 campaigns to get state constitutional conventions to write women’s suffrage into state constitutions, 480 drives to get state legislatures to hold those referendums (5 referendum campaigns in South Dakota alone), 277 campaigns to get state party conventions to include women’s suffrage planks, 30 campaigns to get presidential party campaigns to include women’s suffrage planks in their platforms and, 19 campaigns with 19 successive Congresses.” ***
“J’aime la galette, savez-vous comment? Quand elle est bien faite, avec du beurre dedans.”
The Berry Galette, up close and personal. The Tuesday with Dorie Baking with Julia recipe choice for this week.
French school children sing a silly, nonsensical tune about this week’s TWD/BWJ recipe choice, Berry Galette. Translated, the lyrics are,“I like galette, do you know how? When it is made well, with butter inside.”
This afternoon, as I was putting together what I considered a simple recipe, “est bien faite” , the “made well “ part, became a problem. My dough wasn’t coming together for me. Not at all. Frustrated, I combined the two small disks into one and tossed them back in the refrigerator.
What started as two, wrapped tightly and chilled for two hours, failed to live up to their task. Two became one and were returned to the fridge to “chill out”.
Next, I’ll even admit pulling out my “if all else fails” emergency back-up, hidden in my freezer: Trader Joe’s Pie Crust. Just couldn’t do it. Instead, I walked around our community’s Loop ( it was 106 degrees), huffed and puffed and returned to try again.
Thought about it. Seriously. Considered it. Seriously. Couldn’t do it.
My second attempt was successful and I managed to roll out one 11” circle that was about 1/8” thick, discarding the rest of the dough. After transferring it to a parchment-lined jelly roll pan, I spread blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, within two inches of the border. Then I sprinkled sugar, poured honey, and sliced butter over the fruit. I wrapped and pleated the dough to seal in the fruit (hopefully).
In the oven, pleated and wrapped.
Although my galette sprung a leak, my sleuthing suggests it’s quite difficult to not have seepage. Even master baker and cookbook author Flo Braker, who shared this recipe with Julia, believes a juicy galette is a well-baked galette as shown in her photo on pages 344-345 of our cookbook, Baking with Julia.
Whoops.
The only change I made to this recipe was substituting one-half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. To add more flavor, a small amount of Licor 43 could be poured on the fruit mix but I choose not to add more liquid this time. To see the full recipe go to the websites of our hosts this week: Lisa, http://tomatothymes.blogspot.com, who is from Ohio and Andrea, http://kitchenlioness.blogspot.com , who now lives in Germany. Andrea is also my colleague as a member of French Fridays with Dorie. To see if others huffed or puffed this week, go to http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com
Served warm, with a scoop of ice cream, Berry Galette is very tasty.
A lovely lunch or light dinner: Tomato-Cheese Tartlet with steamed, chilled lentils and baby beets lying on an arugula bed. In the spirit of full disclosure, while the adults enjoyed their lunch, Clara opted for macaroni-and-cheese.
French Friday turned into an oops! moment last week as the day swept by without our even realizing my Dorista duties were beckoning. Let’s put the blame directly where it belongs…..at the feet of the nine-year-old cutie pie who was visiting me.
Since her Dad and 11-year-old sister, were hiking/camping the Pacific Crest Trail last week, she and her Mom decided to jump in the car and dash over to Grandma’s house. Never mind Nevada’s 111-degree heat. Our days were jam-packed with back-to-school shopping, craftwork (beading), jig saws (three 500-piece puzzles), swimming, nutritious meals tilted by tasty, sugary treats, all interspersed with cheering on the Americans (and, the Brits) at the Olympics and playing Jeopardy! (It was Kids Week and Clara held her own against the eleven-year-olds and, unfortunately, also her Mom and Grandmother.)
Needing to roll out the thawed puff pastry to a 13″ square, Clara grabbed the tape measure to be precise. A grandchild after her grandmother’s heart.
But Saturday morning, we got busy, pulled the puff pastry out of the freezer, waved our wand and created Tomato-Cheese Tartlets, an easy but showy pastry concoction that highlights the seasonal tomato harvest.
The technique to be learned this week, to my mind, is in the puff magic. ( I would sooooo like to finesse some dragon allusions into this week’s Post but am refraining from the obvious.) “These tartlets,” Dorie explains, “are built on a base of puff pastry that’s been weighted down so that it bakes to a flat crisp. These flat, rather sturdy discs can be grown into whatever you have on hand or want to pile on top of them.
Using a bowl with a diameter of 6″ as a guide, Clara used the point of a paring knife to score and then cut out 4 rounds of dough.
For this week’s recipe, spread the baked, browned pastry base with tapenade or pesto. Then overlap circles of heirloom tomatoes with mozzarella dressed in olive oil or aged, drippy and languid balsamic vinegar. I preferred to let my cheese melt just a smidgen so I placed it in the oven for a few minutes before dressing it.
Lay the rounds on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Prick each disc carefully with a fork so the puff pastry won’t even think about puffing.
Place the cookie sheet with pricked rounds in the oven, cover the top with parchment paper before placing another cookie sheet on top to weigh the pastry down.
Pop a bit of basil on top. It’s lunch or a light dinner. It’s lovely.
By far the most difficult part of this recipe is deciding what to do with the puff pastry scraps. Wouldn’t it be a shame to toss those morsels in the trash? Clara and her mom decided to rescue the leftovers from such a fate. Using a crystal Lalique wine glass as her cookie cutter (Yes, I blanched at that but said not-a-word.), Clara made twelve pastry rounds, brushed each one lightly with melted butter, sprinkled them heavily with Grandma’s ample stash mixture of cinnamon-sugar-and-chopped walnuts and baked until brown and puffy.
One of life’s selfish pleasures, for me at least, is rescuing that last lonely piece of pie, (a leftover from the night before), grabbing a fork and with a fresh cup of coffee, calling it Breakfast.
BLUEBERRY – NECTARINE PIE
This week’s TWD/BWJ recipe choice was Blueberry-Nectarine Pie, a big-buxom double-crusted dessert brimming with seasonal fruits. As for the morning-after pastry? Never happened. Gone. Nada.
One-half the fruit filling with sugar, flour and lemon zest added is brought to a soft boil over medium heat on your stove top.
This recipe, which Julia baked at the elbow of Leslie Mackie, a California Culinary Academy-trained baker of some repute, is all about the fruit. Because the filling is cooked briefly on the stove top, you can adjust the fruits’ flavor combinations before the pie goes into the oven.
As Dorie explains it, that’s “a good idea and guarantee of success from pie to pie, no matter the sweetness, or lack thereof, of a particular bunch of fruit.”
Time to chill-out and take a nap in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Hilary and Liz hosted this week’s Tuesday with Dorie/Baking with Julia so check their amazing blogs for the complete recipe. Then I suggest you make these changes:
1. After combining the softly cooked fruit mixture with the uncooked half and cooling it to room temperature, strain the released juices/liquid into a small bowl.
2. If this is an “adult-only” pie, add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of Licor 43 (Cuarenta Y Tres) to the liquid. I met this light-bodied, sweet liqueur through food blogger Susan Lester who suggests it as a subtle punch to baked goods. Made from citrus and fruit juices, it’s flavored with vanilla and other aromatic herbs and spices, in total 43 different ingredients.
3. Return half to three-quarters of the liquid (with or without alcohol addition) to the fruit mixture. Save the remaining liquid for a smoothie (I could become addicted to Licor 43 Smoothies but that’s another Blog Post story.)
In the oven, lookin’ happy.
I used my tried-and-true crust recipe from my food processor pamphlet and baked this pie for 50 minutes until the crust was golden and fruit bubbling. Let the pie sit for an hour or two before cutting so both crusts have a chance to set.
Hold your breath. Cut the first slice. Smile broadly.
If you have a slice or two left, be sure to cover it tightly and stick it in the refrigerator. Fat chance of that happening…………….
Although there was juice seepage, my crusts never were soggy and each slice was intact for presentation. I think reducing the liquid by one-half was key to my pie’s success. This will depend upon the fruit used, however.
BLUEBERRY-MASCARPONE ROULADE, this week’s French Friday with Dorie recipe
When I spotted this week’s FFWD recipe choice, Blueberry-Mascarpone Roulade, I immediately thought of the Tour de France 2012. Stick with me here. Having begun Saturday, June 30th and continuing through Sunday, July 22, the world’s most famous bicycle race covers an astounding distance of 3,497 challenging kilometres (2173 miles). The term roulade originated from the French verb rouler which means to roll. Since I’m a bicycle fanatic, every morning, before going to work, I flip on my television and follow those two-hundred competitive riders as they roll through the French countryside. Go Bradley Wiggins!
This is the batter for the sponge cake, turned out on a jelly roll pan covered with parchment paper.
The batter is spread over the parchment paper. Next time I will be sure to blend the top more evenly.
Understandably, if you’re American, your first thought may be “jelly roll” because a dessert roulade is a sponge cake rolled around a sweet tasting filling. Although we’re most familiar with the Bûche de Noël, this week’s recipe would be a perfect dessert finale for your upcoming Bastille Day party on July 14th.
A traditional Bûche de Noël, made with a Génoise cake and chocolate buttercream, and garnished with powdered sugar, raspberries, and spruce sprigs. Photo by Wikipedia
Et, merci à Dorie, c’est facile.
We’re on a roll —– after cooling, the baked sponge cake is laid on a towel, coated with confectionary sugar, and spread with the prepared filling. Then the cake is rolled about one and a half times, finishing with the seam at the bottom. Refrigerate the wrapped cake.
The roulade is now ready to return to its “towel home” and return to the refrigerator for at least two hours.
Although a roulade can be filled with anything, this one is filled with ‘a mixture of blueberry-speckled sweetened mascarpone and whipped cream’. Because I’d never made a roulade before, I admit to approaching this week’s choice with trepidation. However, my worries were unfounded.
Dorie makes this easy for a first-timer like me. 1) Make the berries. 2) Bake the roulade. 3) Make the filling. 4) Assemble the cake. 5) Refrigerate. She also suggests making a berry coulis to serve with the roulade and this is a great idea. Next time.
If you’re game for making this roulade, stop here for a close version. To see what my colleagues baked this week, roll on over to this finish line.
There have been many challenges this past week or so since my stepfather died, but honestly, the one I feared the most was melding my baking style with my mother’s.
Let me explain.
My mother belongs to an online cooking group called Tuesdays with Dorie. Twice a month, she and approximately 500 other dedicated bakers from around the globe try their hand at creating an assigned recipe. The group is currently working their way through the book Baking with Julia, which was compiled and written by Dorie Greenspan. My mother was a recipe behind, so she suggested that we bake together to help her catch up.
Baking with Julia
Herein lies the challenge:
I am a by-the-seat-of-my-pants baker. I read a few recipes and then make it up as I go. I skip steps, omit or add ingredients, and rarely measure. Much of the time, my end results are good if not great, but occasionally there are some big flops.
My mother, on the other hand, is a by-the-book kind of gal. If she doesn’t have the precise ingredients on hand (may God strike you down if you substitute regular vanilla when it calls for Tahitian Vanilla), she will either run to the store or not make the recipe. She checks accuracy of liquid measurements by squatting to eye level, and she times everything to the second. As she says, “I don’t waver from the exact.”
I knew we were especially doomed when she opened the weighty Baking with Julia to page 315, and announced we were making Hazelnut Biscotti. “My biscotti always turn out awful,” I confessed.
“Mine too,” my mother countered.
Hazelnut Biscotti made by Katrina of BakingwithBoys.com
I would have considered throwing in the dishtowel right there, but I didn’t want to leave my mom in the lurch and I figured that during this biscotti round Julia Childs AND Dorie Greenspan had our backs. With uncharacteristic politeness and restraint, we began to bake. She got out the ingredients while I scanned the recipe.
We decided to make pistachio biscotti as those were the nuts we had on hand. (Thank goodness Greenspan offered them as an alternative in the preface of the recipe or we would have been in the car on our way to the store.)
Our first disagreement was over the merits of splat mats versus parchment paper. My mother had misplaced her silicone splat mats and felt they were too expensive to replace at $7.00 apiece. I couldn’t live without my splat mats and felt they were a more environmentally-friendly alternative to parchment.
“Well,” said my mother as she ripped a length of parchment paper from the roll to prepare the the biscotti baking pan. “Dorie advises the use of parchment.”
“Heaven forbid we should use something else,” I thought but smartly did not verbalize. I was on my best behavior.
Pistachios
My mother measured the 2/3 cup of pistachios on a cookie sheet (no parchment needed for this step) and put them in the oven to toast. We set the timer for ten minutes, and then got into a minor squabble about the necessity of mise en place. I preferred the grab-it-from-the-cabinet-as-you-need-it-and-then-put-it-back method, while my mom quoted Mary Sue Salmon, her first French cooking teacher, who said you always prepare a mise en place before you start cooking. Midway through our discussion and with four minutes to go on the timer, I smelled something burning.
“The nuts!” I yelled as I lunged for the oven. I pulled out the pan only to discovered that the nuts were already overdone. I examined one closely and then retrieved the bag of already shelled pistachios from the pantry.
“Mom,” I said carefully, we were both just barely hanging on this week and I didn’t want this to totally push her over the edge, “Um, these were already toasted.”
We looked at each other and started to laugh.
When we finally pulled it together several minutes later, we got serious about our biscotti. This wasn’t about baking styles anymore, this was about getting something posted. We both realized that we needed to join forces to make this work.
Chopping pistachios
We cleared the counter and started again. I chopped the nuts and my mom finished getting out the ingredients. I even measured the dry ingredients into a separate bowl rather than throwing everything together willy-nilly as usual.
“Where’s the baking soda?” I asked. According to Greenspan, “It’s the baking soda in the dough that gives the biscotti their wonderful open, crunchy texture.”
“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” said my mom, in a near panic. Before I could respond, she had grabbed her keys and flown out the door. “I’m just running over to a neighbor’s,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
While she was gone, I mixed up the rest of the batter. Earlier that week I’d read a baking hint that suggested always doubling the amount of vanilla you add to a recipe. So I did, hoping that Childs and Greenspan would approve. I couldn’t find the brandy, so I made a mental note to ask my mom when she returned.
Once I added the baking soda to the dry ingredients, I mixed everything together. I was just about to shape the dough onto the cookie sheet when I remembered the brandy.
“Oh man, I forgot the brandy and I’ve already mixed the wet with the dry,” I told my mom.
She retrieved the cognac from the pantry and handed it to me. Forgetting myself for a moment, I failed to measure, and simply chugged some into the batter, probably about three times the suggested two teaspoons. The room filled with the smell of alcohol.
“I hope these turn out,” said my mother as she retreated to the kitchen table where she’d set up camp since her baking soda run. She poured herself some more Fritos, her comfort food of the week. “I don’t want to get kicked out.”
No pressure there.
Batter complete, I began to shape the dough. Greenspan suggests making two chubby logs 12 to 13 inches long. “Chubby logs” was a vague description, so my mom got out a measuring tape and pulled up the food site Vintage Kitchen Notes. Paula, from Argentina, had kindly posted a photo of her biscotti logs before they hit the oven.
Chubby biscotti logs
After much shaping and reshaping, we put the biscotti in the oven for the first and then the second baking. As my previous biscotti attempts had been undercooked, I left the crescent cookies in the full fifteen minutes for the second go-around. For good measure, when the timer dinged, I turned off the oven and left them in another three minutes.
As you might imagine, with all that baking time, the biscotti were a little overdone. “Hard as a rock,” according to my mother. Nonetheless, we filled a special tenth anniversary bowl of my mom and Michael’s with our baking feat and headed over to a friend’s house. Adriana and her parents are originally from Sicily, and we knew they would be hard, yet fair critics.
Anniversary Bowl
I explained to our tasters that the cookies were a little firm. “Be careful not to break a tooth,” my mother helpfully interjected. I suggested they not only dunk them in a drink, but maybe soak them a while.
The verdict: Overcooked by several minutes, but great flavor.
Pistachio Biscotti
I guess my mom and I learned a little something from each other during our baking challenge: Exact is good as long as you are willing to throw in something extra now and then.
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