FFwD - Dieter's Tartine

You take one look at the list of ingredients and just know this is good! How could it not be?  Its the middle of summer here so tomatoes are fresh and delicious.  Recently, while visiting our grandson in Dallas, we had Armenian cucumbers. The skin is thin and mild and there are no seeds to speak of.  They are similar to an English or hothouse cucumber but a bit more flavorful.  I was happy to find them at our local Farmer's Market.

Dieter's Tartine

I just toasted baguette slices and spread them with goat cheese.  I had some in the fridge that needed to be used and in the interest of cooking what I have I used goat cheese but I will look for fromage blanc another time.  Very occasionally I see it at the cheese store.

Since my basil plant is going crazy I used basil instead of chives and I couldn't pass on the olive oil.  Everything was fresh and delicious and I can't wait to make it again. These could be a great light lunch but since we ate most of a baguette and a roll of goat cheese I'm not sure it was a diet lunch!

And then......we had pie! I found This great recipe recently at the Taste of Home web site. I used the tart dough recipe to make a pie crust for a cherry, peach and blackberry pie! To. Die. For. This is my new go to recipe for a crust.

I hope all the French Friday cooks had a good week.  Don't forget to head over and check out everyone's blog.

FFwD-Mediterranean Swordfish with Frilly Herb Salad

Several  (10?) years ago celebrity chefs went on talk shows telling us to stop eating swordfish.  They had been over fished and there was a danger of us eating all the swordfish in the sea so we needed to stop eating them and allow their numbers to come back to a sustainable level.  I stopped eating swordfish.

About the time I might have considered eating it again we were warned of high mercury levels in large predatory fish. Swordfish are near the top of their food chain so they are high in mercury, but safe to eat once a week.......unless you are young, or pregnant or nursing and then you should avoid it all together. Something about being told there is poison in my food but I'm the perfect age for my body to handle it that puts my appetite off.

And here we are at French Friday and swordfish. I'll admit to a slight panic. The moral issue has been resolved. Swordfish numbers have rebounded and as long as we are eating harpoon caught from Canada and the North Atlantic or East Pacific we are purchasing fish caught in a manner that causes minimal damage to other types of sea life.  Mercury in swordfish is unavoidable. Just don't eat too much of it.

Mediterranean Swordfish

So for the first time in many years I bought and prepared swordfish. The deliciousness helped me to forget abut the mercury. Swordfish really is a perfect fish...firm, not too fishy, everything we usually want in seafood (except that pesky mercury).

We loved it! The only thing I would do differently is sub some arugula for half of the parsley in the frilly herb salad.  It had a tad too much bite. But all in all it was a big hit at my house!  Usually after cooking fish inside we are spraying lysol for a couple of days trying to get rid of fishy smells.  Not with swordfish!

This posts participates in French Fridays with Dorie. Happy Friday everyone!

FFwD - Whole Cherry Clafoutis

Yippee! I'm on time. I think it's the first time in 3 weeks!  Life has been busy, good busy mostly.

Whole Cherry Clafoutis

I like clafoutis! I've never made one myself but I have a friend who makes them.  Hers are more cakey than this one, though, and a bit less eggy. This was good and easy to prepare. Egg custard with cherries is what Gary said. "What's not to love?" I have to agree. I debated the pit issue, to remove or not remove. I decided to follow the recipe and leave the pits. Next time I think I'll remove them though.

The only issue I had was it wouldn't set!  I had to cook for 18 additional minutes! What's up with that? My oven temp is accurate, or my thermometer and over gauge say the same temp at least. When I googled the issue there are several posts out there about clafoutis not setting.  Hummm......

While searching I came across this wonderful LA Times article about a blind Clafoutis baker in France.  Its worth a click and a read!

I'm caught up on cooking!  I made the socca and while its good right out of the oven I wasn't crazy about it. Now what to do with a bag of garbanzo flour?

Socca from Veaux Nice

The wheat berry and tuna salad was a big hit! I'll make this again as we love tuna and this was a nice change.

Wheat Berry and Tuna Salad

We are deep into summer here in Oklahoma!  I wish a nice rain and a cool breeze for everyone.  Happy French Fridays with Dorie everyone!