FFwD - Should be Dilled Gravlax But Its Make Up Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flan Instead

Gratuitous Mr. B Photo with his Parents:)

Christmas is over and The New Year is almost here (bringing our granddaughter with it). I am a maker of lists, plans, goals and resolutions and have only just started thinking of 2014 and what I want for the year. I can recycle many of my plans from 2013. I fell short in several areas!

Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flan

I knew gravlax, even if dilled, would NOT be eaten at my house so instead I opted for a make up post and made Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flans. This was an early French Friday selection, November 2010. I went back to see what everyone thought of the recipe and it got mostly favorable reviews. Betsy, I didn't add enough salt either. I was surprised by how much it needed! Tammy said it tasted like autumn which is what my mother-in-law thought too. We all enjoyed it!

One of my Christmas presents was a White Balsamic with Pear and Cranberry Vinegar. I used it to make Dorie's Everyday Vinaigrette! Delicious!

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday! 2014 is almost upon us. Its time to take stock and move forward. I plan to begin the new year with a clean refrigerator! How about you?

This is French Friday with Dorie post. Join us as we cook our way through Dorie Greenspan's book Around My French Table.

FFwD - Recipe-Swap Onion "Carbonara"

2 #s of onions ready for the steamer

I seem to be stuck in a pattern of cooking but not blogging! Maybe after the holidays I will get back into the schedule. No, maybe after the arrival of our granddaughter on January 3rd! We are excited to meet her and also to see what kind of a brother Mr. Adorable will be to Miss Adorable! We predict he will be Extraordinary! 

Spaghetti and Onions Carbonara

For this week's French Friday recipe I went the spaghetti route. After a day of baking I wanted a quick and delicious dinner and this was perfect....in my opinion....an opinion not shared by Gary! Gary of 'will eat anything' fame didn't like this! He ate a bit and then went for leftovers! He said he's finally found something that bacon should NOT go on! Unbelievable! His sweet mother is with us and she thought it was good and cleaned her plate. I think she was as surprised by Gary's reaction as I was! Bacon, onions, cream and cheese over pasta? What's not to love?

Merry Christmas to all! Stop by the French Friday page to see everyone else's experience with the recipe!

FFwD - Mme. Maman's Chopped Liver

Mme. Maman's Chopped Liver

This week's French Friday recipe was dreaded by some Doristas. Many of them do not like liver. Others had never purchased and prepared liver at home. I venture they are not from the south. Liver and onions and fried chicken livers were standard fare for most southerners in the 50s and 60s. Then came cholesterol and liver moved to the forbidden list. Kind of like coconut and coconut oil. Ahhh progress.....

At any rate we love liver and we love pates. So this was perfect for us. Pate was on our Thanksgiving menu. I made a recipe from Southern Living's Thanksgiving issue. It was good but not as good as Dorie's recipe. The Southern Living one was served with Cranberry Pecan Chutney. Now that was good! Its become our favorite cranberry recipe.  I've even canned some. I just add the pecans when I open the jar.  You should try this. Its easy and delicious!

Cranberry Chutney

Back to chopped liver. If you like liver you will love this. If you don't like liver this won't change your mind. This is one of my favorite recipes to date. Its easy to make and elegant to serve. Its also good on white bread as a sandwich and so much better than any liver product you buy at the grocery. Loved it!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. So much to do. So little time. I wish you joy. And peace.

Remember, you can find all our thoughts on chopped liver on the French Friday website. Follow us as we cook our way through Dorie Greenspan's marvelous book, Around My French Table.

FFwD - Orange-Almond Tuiles

Orange-Almond Tuiles

These delicate little cookies caused quite a stir on the P&Q page! The dough/batter mixes easily enough but from there its all down hill. I refrigerated over night, two nights actually and measured the little balls with a teaspoon. So far all went well. Things got tricky when it came time to remove the little sh--s from the cookie sheet! Last time I was at Williams Sonoma Outlet (yes Virginia, there is an outlet) in Memphis I bought a sharp edged metal spatula and I was feeling somewhat cocky about it. I thought I had the perfect tool for this job! I did not have the perfect tool. So I let them cool on the sheet a little longer. Then it was back in the oven. Then I scraped/mangled a few off. Draping them over the rolling pin was no easy task as I have a big old fashioned one and I think these need to go over a French style.

All in all these weren't worth the effort for me and I didn't even finish cooking the dough/batter.  My sweet mother in law and I nibbled on them while we worked on her Christmas cards.  We are excited to have her stay with us for a few weeks. This lovely lady has Parkinson's Disease and struggles as the disease robs her of herself but she pushes on with courage and dignity. We feel honored to have her in our home.

The day was not lost thanks to Trevor. He posted on facebook that it was the 80th anniversary of the end of Prohibition! Gary and AJ and I celebrated with a Manhattan:)

AJ wants a Manhattan too!

All the French Friday cooks can be found here. As we cook our way through Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. Stay warm Doristas and thank you for the condolences in the loss of my friend.

Salty-Sweet Potato Far

I don't have much to say about this one. It wasn't a favorite though Gary wanted to like it. He tried really hard but couldn't do it. It needs something, cheese maybe? It was dark so I couldn't even get a good picture. Moving on to next week's recipe and holiday cooking. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Salty-Sweet Potato Far

I can't wait to see what the other French Fridays with Dorie cooks thought. Join us as we cook our way through Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.

FFwD - Chestnut and Pear Soup + Muenster Souffle Make UP

This soup is not pretty! I guess that's why Dorie didn't include a picture and I don't blame her! Actually, I didn't know what to expect from Chestnut and Pear Soup but its good. Kind of earthy and kind of sweet and more depth of flavor than I expected.  Gary didn't share my favorable impression. He is, however, impressed that we continue to try making soups out of things that shouldn't be soup. His words, not mine. I came close to chopping off the tip of my pinky while slicing onions! It is SO hard to keep a bandaid on the end of your finger!!!

The Muenster Souffles became Camembert Souffles and they are delicious! Really good with the soup too. My bechamel was too thick and lumpy the first time. So I remade it. I had to crack 5 eggs to get 3 eggs cleanly separated! It wasn't my best day in the kitchen!

This little bundle of sweetness could care less about my kitchen troubles. Give him a piece of peanut butter toast and an apple and he's happy! He makes me happy too!

All the Doristas trials, tribulations, and successes can be found at French Fridays with Dorie.

FFwD - Compote de Pommes + Hurry-Up-And-Wait Roast Chicken

I've gotten behind on French Friday cooking and posting. Hopefully, I will catch up in the next couple of weeks. I lost my friend almost two weeks ago and I'm struggling to move on with my life. I will get there...I just need a little more time.

Compote de Pommes

This weeks Compote de Pommes (French Applesauce) was simple and delicious. I served it as dessert with whipped cream. I've never served applesauce with whipped cream and it was a revelation! Gary and I each had two servings and on the second one I layered the whipped cream with the applesauce and it was even better! I used an assortment of apples left in the fridge and it came out perfect!

Hurry-Up-And-Wait Roast Chicken

Roast chicken was just what we needed for an easy comfort meal. I liked the technique of turning the chicken (although I admit it wasn't easy and involved props to hold it in place) to ensure even cooking. I through a few potatoes and carrots into the pan and we had an easy and delicious dinner.

This post participates in French Fridays with Dorie. Join us as we cook our way through Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.

FFwD - Caramel-Pecan Custard Tart

Dorie's Caramel-Pecan Custard Tart

I've made this with pecans and I've made this with almonds. It's simply delicious however you chose to make it! My sister was visiting and we had a girls dinner party so she could meet some of my friends.
I think my favorite tart was with almonds but its pretty darn good either way! And its very simple to make and your guests will think you are a culinary diva!

Dorie was at the center of the party (where she belongs).  I made a variation of  Tuna Nicoise Salad and everyone loved it! Instead of tuna I used shrimp and changed the ingredients a bit but kept the potatoes, beans and vinaigrette. It was very good and I meant to get a picture but you know how that goes!

It was a fun evening made even merrier by Cosmopolitans. This recipe makes a pitcher so you can keep the drinks flowing without spending all your time tending bar!  For parties I love a cocktail that is delicious but not so strong that the guests are past appreciating the food when it arrives! Yep, that's the way some of my dinner parties have gone.....and that's not all bad either.

Chirabouga Blue in the front, my new favorite. Its from Bavaria and exquisite!  Tomme Brulee on the right.  Prima Donna is on the left, a gouda type.

I had to show you this beautiful cheese course. My sister arranged the platter and we all thought it was gorgeous.  Almost too pretty too eat. I said almost.

It was a fun evening and now my sister is back at home in California. I wish her home wasn't so far from mine. We are in Memphis at the moment and then in Dallas (and the Fantastic Mr. B, our grandson) next week. Home? one of these days......

My wonderful cook-mates in this project can be found at French Fridays with Dorie as we cook our way through Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.

FFwD - Boeuf á la Mode (aka Great Pot Roast)

French Pot Roast!

This is a great pot roast. I made it for Gary's birthday. He had a long day at the river working the Head of the Oklahoma, our rowing group's biggest event of the year. I had this ready when he came home and he was a very happy and grateful hubby!

It was easy to prepare. Dorie suggests marinading the beef over night in a red wine but I skipped this step. I'm curious to see if others did the marinade and what they thought. I was concerned it would mask the beef taste. Anyway after browning the meat and veg I poured in the liquid and stuck it in the oven for a braise.  Tender and flavorful were the results!


While +IFBC so many people asked me my favorite recipe from our Dorie project and I never had a great answer. As I was plating this meal I realized gremolata is my favorite recipe or technique or whatever you would call it from my French Friday experience. I love the way it turns pot roast into something special. I think it is the technique I use most from Around My French Table and it makes everything taste fresh and elevates a dish to the next level!

The best ingredients make the best cake! Thank you @Scharffen Berger Chocolate and @Lagrima!

The next day we had a family birthday party for Gary. It was good to have everyone together and the cake was wonderful. If I had more time I would write out the recipe but I'll save that for a future post. Dorie has a wonderful recipe for a flourless chocolate cake called Michel Rostang's Double Chocolate Mousse Cake that I should have made. I've just been making the other one for so long I kind of forgot about my new recipe. They are actually pretty similar though. I used my +IFBC goodies for the cake! That's an entire post in itself!

Baby B had too much fun and needed a rest!  He had a small piece of cake and a spoon of ice cream then turned to me and said "I want more cake." Cracked me up!

Visit all the Doristas at French Fridays with Dorie. I'm still working on last week's posts comments but will make it all eventually! Happy cooking!

Too much fun or too much cake?

FFwD - Salad Nicoise

Elk crossing

Life has been hectic since I returned from Seattle and The International Food Bloggers Conference. Our son from Dallas arrived the day after I did, my sister from California later in the week, and our rowing club's biggest regatta is this weekend, along with Gary's birthday! I can hear my mom saying 'you can rest in the grave':) My mom was full of sayings. When I was younger it could be annoying. Now I smile at how often I hear her expressions in my head.

We shared our delicious salad with our good and frequent French Friday friends. The addition of a Whole Foods to our city makes last minute entertaining a breeze. I ran by and picked up a couple of cheeses, good crackers, and a few small cakes to share. This easy salad and a couple of good bottles of wine made for a fun and impromptu dinner party.

Salad Nicoise

This is a French Fridays with Dorie post. Join us as for year four as we cook our way through Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.