A 5A.M. Snack and Taste Test, Coconut Friands, at the local athletic club.
It’s probably true that you either like coconut, yum-yum, or dislike it intensely, yuck. If you’re in the black camp, just close this Post and take a peek next week.
Egg Whites, Coconut, Sugar, Flour, Vanilla, Salt and Melted Butter – Whisk Together.
I added the blackberries before baking the mini-cakes.
Coconut friands are light, moist teacakes, very close cousins to the financier, a small, rectangular French almond pastry. The financier, baked in a shaped mold, is somewhat more complicated to make. Friands, very popular in Australia and New Zealand now, are simpler to make and usually have additional flavorings. Chocolate. Fruit. Nuts. For this week’s FFWD recipe choice, we are making Coconut Friands.
Although the blackberry was rather large for the dainty mini-cake, it tasted delicious as a breakfast treat.
With the added cupcake liners, the friands unmold from the pan easily.
The ingredients all go together quite easily. The batter turns out thick and shiny. The most difficult part is spooning it into mini-muffin tins. I suggest using paper cupcake liners. Because I wanted to share these with my early morning exercise class, I plopped a big, fat blackberry on the batter before baking. A mini-breakfast. Enjoyed by All. Simple.
Adriana, enjoying a mini-cake before our 5:30 A.M. Spinning Class.
Dominick, our spinning instructor, to taste or not to taste. “It’s Early.”
With thanks to the athletes at the Anthem Country Club Athletic Club, Henderson, Nevada. To be asked to taste test a tea cake as well as have a camera flash go off in your face at 5A.M. in the morning qualifies as being not only sports-minded but a good sport.
Rillettes de Thom, tuna paté, an elegant spread that can be served for any special occasion.
“At the avant-garde Parisian bistro Itinéraires,” Dorie Greenspan writes in her recent cookbook, “ sardine rillettes is served in a martini glass topped with a baby scoop of cornichon sorbet.”
Pronounced ree-ett (the ‘s’ is not pronounced), and called the poor man’s paté, Sardine Rillettesis our FFWD recipe choice for the week. Unfortunately, this Iowa farm girl, admittedly unsophisticated, cannot sit at that bistro table.
Not that I didn’t try to find some willing “tasters”. In desperation, my last stop was at our housing community’s security gate to see if any guards liked sardines. They weren’t pleasant in their replies. I didn’t even mention the cornichon sorbet. Admittedly, the last goody I dropped off at the gate was a sheet of warm cinnamon rolls. They’re spoiled rotten.
Instead, I turned to Dorie’s other two rillettes recipes, salmon and tuna, and decided to go with the tuna. Clearly, this is one delicious ree-ett: soft, spreadable, a tad rich and quickly made.
All the ingredients, dumped into my mini-chopper.
Here a pulse, there a pulse, everywhere a pulse, pulse. Voilà. Rillet
I threw two cans of chunk light tuna, a shallot, curry powder, crème fraîche, salt and pepper, into my Ninja Food Chopper and pulsed the ingredients together. After adding a squeeze of lemon joined by one last pulse, the paté needed to be refrigerated. After its flavors intensify (chill at least an hour), Rillettes de Thon is a delightful spread with crackers, bread or toast.
I will use the leftover rillettes, if there is any, as the centerpiece of the Salade Niçoise I plan to make for lunch tomorrow.
Cover the mixture and refrigerate it for at least an hour. For me, overnight.
Salade Niçoise with Tuna Rillettes Tastespotting.com
It’s important to remember that albacore tuna is too firm and dry for this recipe. Otherwise, there’s not much to dislike about this tasty treat.
And, you thought Vegas only grew long-legged, well-endowed Show Girls.
Mark Ruben, director of the Gilcrease Orchard, packing up my asparagus purchase.
Not so. This year, for the first time, Gilcrease Orchard, located in North Las Vegas, is harvesting Spring’s harbinger, asparagus. Let me just say, these well-endowed spears have legs!
The FFWD recipe of choice this week is Asparagus and Bits of Bacon, an especially great idea for the Easter and Passover week’s menus. While “sourcing” fresh asparagus, I found that the orchard, only open now on Saturdays, is selling asparagus and garlic scapes, those curly tops of the garlic plants which are as edible and flavorful as the garlic bulbs themselves.
Gilcrease Orchard is located in north Las Vegas.
The fruit trees at Gilcrease Orchard.
In an e-mail to Mark Ruben, Gilcrease’s director, I explained that I needed the asparagus before Saturday, relayed my FFWD participation and dropped Dorie Greenspan’s name, well, two or three times. Shortly thereafter, Mark responded, “Mary, Come on out. I’m here,” giving me his cell phone number.
When I arrived, Mark had a dozen bunches of asparagus, standing tall and proudly, in a sink of cold water. “I’ll take them all,” I said. Although, surprised, he happily boxed them up. We toured and talked. I questioned, he answered. The orchard produces a myriad of fruits and vegetables, some, pick-your-own, and, in May, will be wide open for business.
Iowa girl meets Nevada boy. Buddies. Mark is as serious about growing good produce as I am about finding, buying and cooking with it.
Asparagus & Bits of Bacon, this week’s French Friday with Dorie’s recipe choice.
On to this week’s asparagus and bacon bits. I cannot explain it better than Dorie. “Toss boiled asparagus with nut oil and lemon juice,” she says, “then top the spears with onion and bacon, and you get sophisticated flavor, texture, and looks, all in about ten minutes.”
Bring home the bacon and throw it the pan!
Bacon bits and fresh diced onions. Warm in a dash of bacon fat, being careful not to color or cook the onion.
I used walnut oil. Perhaps you’d prefer hazelnut oil. While the recipe is simple, the key points here are peel the asparagus, no matter how young or thin the stalks, drain the bacon well, pat the asparagus dry after boiling in water, and, season (salt and pepper) generously.
As a dry run before Easter and Passover, (our family celebrates both), I made this for my dinner last night. I halved the recipe and managed to consume it all in one sitting. Delicious.
For my Easter gift sacks: California Olive Oil, California Shelled Walnuts & Locally-Grown Asparagus.
As for the other eleven bunches of asparagus. Luckily, my neighbors here are all about food. This year, in their Easter gift sack, I am including a bottle of Olea Farm Olive Oil, a California product grown and produced in Templeton. http://www.oleafarm.com/ Owned and operated by Yves and Clotilde Julien (Oui, ils sont français.), this Winter I toured, tasted and loved their products. My grandchildren are selling beautiful bags of shelled California walnuts as a fundraising project. I was all over that – a bag for everyone. The pièce de résistance? Fresh locally-grown asparagus for everyone’s holiday dinner. http://www.thegilcreaseorchard.org/
Whether honoring Easter, Passover or just the holiday week-end, may it include a celebration of family, friendship and, in my case, wonderful neighbors.
Spring had sprung but the picnic’s indoors. Crab & Grapefruit Salad with mini-muffins.
Quick, no thinking, come up with five different food pairings:
fried chicken and mashed potatoes&gravy;
hamburger and french fries;
apple pie and vanilla ice cream;
corned beef and cabbage;
pork chops and applesauce.
Now, try to throw grapefruit and lump crabmeat into the mix. Yes, that would be a stretch.
Stretching is what Dorie Greenspan and these French Fridays cooking adventures are about. This week she raised the bar again and asked us to prepare a Crab & Grapefruit Salad (p.134). She even provided a full-page photograph (p.135). Love it when she does that. Whether it was her creative recipe combo, the inspiration of the picture or my being back in the familiar surroundings of my own kitchen, this was one delicious salad.
Shortly after returning from California this week, Colorado friends called to say they were in town, suggesting a Thursday lunch date. I explained I was on Dorie duty that day and invited them here without elaborating on the menu. Early Thursday morning, I got to work.
Red Bell Peppers, Cucumbers & Scallions, Lump Crabmeat, and Grapefruit, ready to be tossed together.
Early springtime mint, fresh from my herb garden, provides the top hats for my salad servings.
With Dorie, it’s always imperative to read through the entire recipe well in advance before beginning the preparation. Case in point. After the grapefruit is sectioned and removed to a paper towel, the fruit must be dried. For hours. Six, for me.
Other ingredients including a seedless cucumber, red bell pepper and scallions, simply need a dice or slice. Use your fingers to toss everything together with the crab before adding small amounts of olive oil and grapefruit juice. Salt and pepper, to taste. Lemon juice and minced fresh mint give this salad extra punch.
The fun of this salad is in its presentation. I tried four different glasses (clockwise: Martini Glass; Parfait Dish; Antique Etched Water Glass; and Brandy Snifter) each with its own “look”. I still don’t have a favorite.
Each glass container shows off beautifully.
To complement the salad, I passed mini-bran muffins. Another strange food pairing, perhaps, but it worked well against the richness of the main dish. My guests enjoyed the lunch. I enjoyed my guests. This story, therefore, has a happy ending.
To see what other French Fridays’ cooks did with this salad, go to http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/. Although Dorie’s recipe for this salad is available on line, we suggest you buy her book, Around My French Table. The cost of her book is less than the cost of the pound of lump crabmeat I used in this salad.
Lumière, the character who adds a spark to “Beauty & The Beast”, disney-clipart.com
Preparing a Feast for Belle and the Beast, Lumière and his Cup Chorus, infamouskidd.com
Be our guest! Be our guest! Put our service to the test. Tie your apron ‘round your neck, cherie, and we’ll provide the rest. Don’t believe me? Ask the dishes. They can sing, they can dance. After all, Miss, this is France. Beef ragout, cheese soufflé, pie and pudding “en flambe”. We’ll prepare and serve with flair, a culinary cabaret!” Lumière & Chorus, Beauty & the Beast.
Who doesn’t remember Belle’s first dinner in the Beast’s castle? Lumière’s menu was on target. A soufflé announces itself. Élégance at its most high-brow.
When I think of myself, élégance and high-brow don’t come to mind. I met this week’s recipe choice, however, with a feeling of determination and a “What the hell?” attitude, more my style. With Dorie’s pushing, prodding and reminder, “There’s nothing complicated about the dish, although there are three things you should know,” ringing in my ears, I triumphed.
Dorie’s recipe, to my mind, is a classic, using techniques most of us already have in our culinary skill set. Although mine are a bit rusty, it wasn’t hard to put the soufflé together. Nerve-racking, yes. Difficult, no.
A savory souffle usually begins with a béchamel sauce, enriched with egg yolks. The egg whites are later whipped and folded in, to lighten the mixture. For the cheese, I chose a 8-ounce chunk of well-aged gruyère and grated it, easily and to perfection, in my food processor.
Béchamel Sauce
Béchamel Sauce, enriched with egg yolks and grated cheese
I initially introduced one-third of the whipped whites into the béchamel sauce, and then delicately folded in the rest. That step is difficult for those of us who tend to be heavy-handed. I was careful, also, to delicately turn the batter into a soufflé dish coated with butter and bread crumbs.
Ready to fold the last of the whipped egg whites into the batter.
The soufflé dish, coated in butter and lightly dusted with breadcrumbs
Since a soufflé is baked at high heat and must be “left alone” to rise, I waited 25 minutes before opening the oven, sliding a piece of aluminum foil over the top to prevent further browning. (If you recall, I am currently in a rental home with a temperamental oven.) After a total of 40 minutes, it was well-risen, firm to the touch and jiggly at the center. Although it had browned more than I would have liked, it did not affect the taste. In fact, I loved the crusty topping.
Table-ready. Move quickly and carefully.
Life is Good………….
All we really needed to make this dinner complete was two spoons! Knowing Dorie would probably disapprove, I added roasted asparagus, the first picking purchased at the local farmer’s market, threw a warmed baguette on the table, and poured Harmonie, a Paso Robles white table wine. This is a lovely, light blend of Chardonnary, White Reisling and Muscat Canelli produced by Harmony Cellars, a small winery on California’s central coast. Perfect We even enjoyed it for breakfast the next morning with croissants and raspberry jam. Warmed leftovers, even better!
Once again, Dorie was right in saying, “Really, the soufflé should be ashamed of itself, scaring off cooks for no good reason! There’s nothing complicated about the dish.” To see how other Doristas fared with their own soufflé drama, go to http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/ Oh, about Dorie’s three secrets to souffle perfection? Buy her book: “Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours”. (Page 150.) It costs about the same price as a pound of the cave-aged gruyére I used in this recipe.
The cheese soufflé, safely to the table without deflating
My On-the-Road Rolling Pin – Note that, appropriately, the Vodka is French
“Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage?” General Charles DeGaulle
Every week, in my French Friday with Dorie Post, I join more than 100 cooks to bake a specific recipe from Around My French Table, Dorie Greenspan’s latest cookbook. It’s reasonable, even appropriate, to expect Dorie to favor and choose ingredients français.
Not this week.
France is all about producing fine cheeses, but, for this week’s quiche, Dorie has risked the wrath of DeGaulle and crossed borders to choose Gorgonzola dolce, the soft, mild blue cheese from Italy. Her reasoning? Gorgonzola has a milder, sweeter, less salty flavor with a softer, creamier consistency than its French cousin, Roquefort.
Albeit equipment-challenged and despite my improvisation, this quiche turned out well.
What man wouldn’t like this? Get real………..
Dorie also turns left from traditional, Quiche Lorraine, and suggests a tart loaded with apples, onion, toasted hazelnuts (or, walnuts) and Gorgonzola. Scrumptious. And, the comment from my supper guest/guinea pig, who shared this with me? “This is delicious. It tastes ‘so French’ !!!
My only challenge with this simply-put-together Quiche is that I am living in a rental house this Winter. This kitchen is not my kitchen. Since Michael Ruhlman just posted the article I wish he’d written earlier but didn’t, I’ve had to improvise. http://ruhlman.com/2012/01/cooking-on-the-road-tools-i-traveled-with/
1.My rolling pin. A Vodka bottle. Yes, the Vodka was French. (For the Record: I don’t drink Vodka but found this bottle in the freezer!)
2.The tart pan. An over-sized Pyrex pie plate.
3.I pre-baked the tart shell and used a metal cake pan to keep the dough flat.
4.I added an extra egg and more heavy cream to fill the larger vessel (plate).
The buttered foil and metal cake pan kept the chilled tart dough flat while pre-baking.
Oven-ready, hoping for “puffy”. I may not drink Vodka but wine, yeah.
The result was just fine, not perfect, but good e’nuf. I have awarded myself a “Best in Show” Blue Ribbon for improvisation.
Although I urge you to buy Dorie’s excellent book, Around my FrenchTable, if you covet this recipe, just e-mail me personally and I’ll send it your way. To see the quiche versions of the extraordinary and more-talented Doristas, visit: http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/
Yummy enough to eat
(NOTE: Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia premieres next week, February 7th, with two recipes per month. To date there are over 300 blogs represented! Ten bakers are named Jennifer. Four of our bakers are men. California is the most represented state with 53 bakers. Although I will be baking with Dorie, next week’s recipe is bread, something I cannot make without my heavy-duty mixer. Please see what others have baked at http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/. I will post my first Tuesday’s recipe on February 21st, Chocolate Truffle Tartlets, which I am baking in anticipation of my daughter’s birthday week-end celebration.)
