FFwD - Cheekless Beef Daube with Carrots and Macaroni

No beef cheeks.  No Le Creuset.  This week's French Friday was chuck roast in a crock pot!  But oh what Dorie can do with chuck roast.  And now I can do it too!!!

Beef Daube with Macaroni

I would love to try this with beef cheeks sometime but not even our butcher shop can get them.    Chuck roast makes a delicious substitute though and this was probably the best pot roast I've ever made.

Since I'm not feeling well (head cold, ugh!) I decided after browning the meat to use the crock pot and it worked out perfectly.  My husband gave it two thumbs up, then added two toes:)  AJ tried it out and also gave his approval...and wanted more:)

AJ asking for another bite!

The secret ingredient, bittersweet chocolate, added depth and just a touch of sweetness.  Or maybe the sweetness came from the wine.  Or a little of both.  I had a zinfandel and a cabernet on hand and decided the cab might be too heavy.  The zin was a tad sweet which is odd because it was also dry but worked out well and was delicious served with the daube.

This was one of the best French Friday recipes so far and will definitely be made again at my house!

A couple of weeks ago we made Goat Cheese Mini Puffs but I didn't blog them.  I just didn't love them and for me they weren't worth the effort.  Maybe for a party they would be nice just because they are different but I'd rather have the goat cheese spread on a crunchy cracker.

Goat Cheese Mini Puffs 

Oh yeah, I've made my olives from last week but we haven't tried them yet!  I'll let you know.

Herbed Olives

Check out all the French Friday results!  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

FFwD - Top Secret Chocolate Mousse

Some things cause me to pause.  The first leaves falling in an autumn wind.  My grandson making eye contact with me.  Eating raw eggs.  Call me an impaired gourmand if you choose but that's who I am.

Top Secret Chocolate Mousse

I thought about whether to skip this recipe but I wanted to make it.  Thanks to a new Whole Foods I was able to find pasteurized eggs.  End of dilemma right?  Nope.  Pasteurized egg whites will not whip up into a light and airy meringue!  Will not!  The picture below shows egg whites that look more like...I'm not sure what.

Pasteurized egg whites whipped for 3 minutes

So I switched to regular egg whites and voila...after 1 minute look what I had!

Egg whites whipped for 1 minute!


We loved it!  An easy and elegant dessert!  Its great eaten immediately but the next day its kind of like a chocolate truffle.  Nothing wrong with that!  Oh yeah...I would like to report no illness as a result of eating raw eggs.  I didn't expect there would be but we all have our phobias

There has been much cussing and swearing as I write this!  See how I can't get out of the photo box!  I give up!  ANNOYING!

Check out all the French Friday cooks!

FFwD - Mushroom and Shallot Quiche

Many of the blogs I've read over the years talk about Nick Malgieri's pie crust so I decided to try it for this quiche. It worked great but it is quite different from a traditional flaky crust. It's more like a cookie crust which might seem odd with a mushroom quiche but somehow it goes together beautifully.

Mixing the quiche I was thinking it was a bit fussy with the sprinkle the thyme then the mushrooms and top with scallions and cheese so while I'm thinking about it being fussy I forgot to spread the mushrooms! Yes I forgot the mushrooms for the mushroom quiche! Luckily I wondered what was in the bowl on the counter...duh! I sort of dropped them on top and all was well.

I'll definitely make this again. I brought it to my daughter's in law house to share with her and we both enjoyed it. My son, the non mushroom eater wonders why I didn't substitute tomatoes... Maybe next time:)

I've just written my first post on my ipad. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one! Sorry but I don't know how to link back to the French Friday page. If anyone knows how I'd appreciate the info.

Happily so far all our NE Doristas seem to be in good shape. So sorry for all the folks with no power. Hope it will be back soon!