FFwD - Corn Pancakes

Corn pancakes

We have a special occasion recipe in our family fondly called Funeral Corn.  Its the dish my aunt always takes to the bereaved for a funeral supper and over the years we adopted funeral corn as the name instead of corn casserole like she calls it.  

When Gary tasted these corn pancakes he said, "MmmHmmm!  Tastes like funeral corn!".  I didn't expect to like these, thought they'd be bland.  Instead they're delicate.

I added the kernels from an ear of fresh corn for the texture and freshness.  We topped the pancakes with a dollop of sour cream and a salsa made of avocado, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime.  We loved these and will have them again and again. 

I'm kind of obsessed with ice cream lately so for dessert I made strawberry frozen yogurt from 

David Lebovitz.  Perfect ending!

Don't forget to check out all the 

French Friday cooks!  This is another wonderful recipe from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan!

FFwD - David's Seaweed Sablés

David's Seaweed Sables

What is there to say about seaweed in a sweet cookie?  When biting into it the first taste is the sweet butter cookie flavor, then the saltiness kicks in.  After that its kind of a 'what was that?'   My husband says some ingredients should NOT be mixed.  My friend and frequent French Friday taste tester said they were interesting, she kind of liked them.


Toasted nori is hard to chop by the way!  I ended up using scissors and didn't get the pieces as small as I would have liked.  After slicing the cookies pink Himalayan salt was sprinkled on top for color and crunch.

 I don't think I'll be making them again.  They might be trés chic in Paris but just don't play with the Oklahoma cocktail party crowd!


See what the other French Friday cooks have to say!

TwD - French Strawberry Cake

French Strawberry Cake

This recipe was a lesson in fear.....coping with it.....avoiding it.  I swear, I think I need to stop reading the P&Q section of our TwD website.  I'll admit it.  After reading some of the P&Qs I was nervous.  I feared the genoise!

...and with good reason!  Genoise batter is a bit of a diva.  She has a list of demands that must be met!  We didn't use the traditional bain marie to heat the eggs so when I took the eggs out of the fridge I left them in a bowl of warm water a bit longer than usual so they were nice and comfy warm.  I double sifted the flour, sugar, salt combo then sifted it into the egg and sugar.

My biggest concern was when I opened a new bag of grocery store brand sugar the crystals were large.  I mean they were huge.  I mean they didn't go through the sieve I was using as a sifter.  Since I had no other sugar I pressed on and I think it did have an impact on the cake texture.

The beat eggs tripled, the flour folding was accomplished and I considered leaving out the melted butter.  After researching the web I learned that's an American addition and the rest of the world doesn't usually use it.  Then I decided I'm American, the recipe calls for it, fold IT in!  I did and all still went well.

I was gratified when the batter filled the pan almost to the top!  Maybe I would have a tall lovely cake.  Maybe the cake goddess was toying with me.  The cake fell!  But it left a nice rim that I filled with strawberries and topped with whipped cream.

It was a hectic evening and the kids came for dinner (red beans and rice) and I didn't get a good picture.  The cake was so much sturdier than I expected.  Not delicate at all once baked.  We liked it and I'll make it again but this time without the butter!

Thank you Dorie and Julia for pushing me out of my comfort zone!  Our lovely hosts for this recipe are
Sophia and Allison.  You can find the recipe on their blogs.  All the other Tuesday bakers can be found at the TwD website!

FFwD - Honey Lime Beet Salad

I love beets!  I didn't know that I love beets until Dorie showed me how good they are when we made the Icy Beet and Onion Salad last year.  Until then all I'd had was the canned stuff, and they're not very good.  Nothing like a fresh beet cooked at home.  I guess you could say that about most foods though.

Honey Lime Beet Salad

The Pioneer Woman's grilled flank steak accompanied the salad.  The marinade was a bit too salty and next time I'll use low sodium soy sauce.  All in all it was a delicious meal topped off with Toasted Coconut Ice Cream from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop.  Wonderful!

The Perfect Scoop - Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

You'll want to check out what all the French Friday cooks thought of this week's recipe!

FFwD - Olive Oil Ice Cream + Catch Up Recipes

Olive Oil Ice Cream!

My husband is a bit obsessed with ice cream.  Vanilla is his preference.  He thinks it lets the simple basic ingredients and the very concept of ice cream combine into perfect deliciousness.  He's tolerated my monkeying around with ingredients, coconut milk ice cream, almond milk ice cream until he finally asked why can't we have just regular ice cream.  When I told him I was making ice cream I didn't mention the olive oil.

"Yummmm!"  those were his exact words when he tasted it!  When I told him about the olive oil he liked it.  I'm taking it to a dinner party and I bet everyone agrees!

All has turned out well but there were a few bumps along the way.  The burner was too high and I turned my back to check on the baked chicken.  When I went back to the ice cream to give it a quick stir it looked kind of like oatmeal.  It was curdled to a point I've never seen before!  I tried straining but it was entirely curdled so there was only about 1/4 cup of liquid.  I was upset over the wasted ingredients and was about to throw it all away but thought I'd google curdled ice cream saves first.  Blending was recommended.  I blended and the texture was smooth and silky immediately!  Seriously it went from cottage cheese to ice cream in a few seconds!

We taste tested the ice cream topped with toasted pecans and coconut.  Perfect!  I bet the other French Friday cooks did some interesting things with this.

Faux Lentil, Lemon, and Tuna Salad

You might notice those are black eyed peas instead of lentils.  Instead of preserved lemons I used jarred jalapenos.  That's why I call this 'faux lentil, lemon and tuna salad'.

Since I had my doubts about liking this dish I didn't want to run all over town looking for ingredients.  I decided the French home cook and I hope Dorie, would approve of using what I have in my pantry.

The results were surprising and I actually think we will have this again!  See what the other cooks did with this recipe.  FFwD - Around My French Table

lyonnaise garlic and herb cheese

I didn't get a picture of this one.  We didn't like it.  We didn't eat it.  It was a waste of ingredients.  I'm thinking how could Dorie think this is good?  Then it occurred to me it was the quality of the ricotta.   Typical grocery store ricotta just doesn't work here.  It is simply too bland.  I've made something similar using bits of leftover cheeses grated and blended with cream cheese and herbs.  Its not boursin but pretty good.  Several of the French Friday cooks liked this recipe.  Check them out!

I'm almost caught up now!  Sardine rillettes are calling my name!