double chocolate and banana tart - French Fridays w/ Dorie

Interesting that this week's choice just happens to be the same flavor combinations I'm using for cupcakes I'm bringing to Cupcake Camp Boston this coming week. Maybe not so interesting - because I keep wondering if I read the recipe first, then got the brilliant idea for the chocolate nutella cupcakes w/ banana buttercream or if the nutella tartine was the inspiration. Either way, the tart -

I made a chocolate crust and put it in a springform pan, since I didn't have a tart pan. The rest of the recipe seemed like it was going to be very complex but I was happily surprised that it was pretty simple. As usual, I didn't want to use heavy cream so went in search of a new substitute. This time I tried Almond Milk. It turned out to be a wonderful compromise. It added no sweetness and it was thicker than regular milk. As for the taste, I have to confess I forgot to try some, but my daughter did and she remarked it was like ice cream. Hmm, I'll have to give it a try soon. I also used up some semisweet chocolate chips I had around along with the 60% cocoa chips. Again, it was not very sweet at all, which is good when adding in the caramelized bananas. I was hoping the bananas would stay crispy, but they didn't. Maybe I didn't put in enough sugar? I'll have to see what happened with other FFWD people.

In the morning I finished the tart with the sliced bananas and apricot jam. I didn't bother straining the jam because it looked so nice and I love the taste of apricot, so more for me is better. I also didn't use lemon juice for the bananas. I found that a sprinkle of citric acid (sour salt) works just great and doesn't add any moisture. The nutella flavor didn't hold up though. I experienced this last weekend with my experimental cupcakes - I had added about 3/4 cup of nutella to the chocolate batter and the flavor disappeared. I thought this would be more pronounced since it was sitting right there, but it didn't. I'll have to try it again. What a hardship!

provencal olive fougasse - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I love olives and oranges. I used to make a swordfish in a tomato, Kalamata olive and orange sauce that I loved. Needless to say, we chose oranges over lemons. Shara and I set out to make the dough early Monday morning. I had a conference and wouldn't be home Wednesday or Thursday, so had to plan this one out. Again I'm reminded how important it is to read the whole recipe!

I set Shara up with the big chef's knife and the olives. We first had to figure out which had she held the knife in because she goes back and forth still. She seemed more comfortable holding it right handed but it worked out best for us to do it together. Later she commented that if you're just starting out learning to use a knife, it would be easier if the things you're cutting aren't round. Agreed. But they got chopped just fine. Next was zesting the orange. She did a great job but zesting isn't the easiest job either and everything takes practice so she did about 1/2 and I finished up.

The next big decision was whether to use white, whole wheat, or white wheat flour. I went with all white. I had a feeling this bread would not be best with even more flavors added to it and didn't want to take away or change the flavors created with the combination of the olives, orange, olive oil, and rosemary.

Making the dough was fairly straightforward. It needed to be kneaded (ha ha) for 10 minutes, even using the Kitchen Aid. The dough was soft and silky and very similar to a pizza dough. In fact, other than the flavors, I'm not sure of the real difference. I have to look at my pizza dough recipe and really compare. We were supposed to let the dough rise at room temperature for at least two hours. I was on my way to the bus stop, so I put it in the refrigerator and did the rising backward. First you should rise at room temp, then put it in the refrigerator for at least 6-8 hours and even up to three days. I did the cold rest first, then had it out at room temp for about an hour or so. When I got home from work, I took 1/2 the dough and shaped it, let it rise for about 15 min. then baked it in a high oven. It smelled and tasted wonderful. It was like a flat bread - crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. It wasn't very thick, much more like a pizza or flat bread.

The next evening I shaped and baked the 2nd half. This one was much thicker, though I tried to stretch it out to be just as flat as the night before. The difference is that this time it rose much higher. The flavor was slightly more developed, but not very noticeable. I like to find a way to have the dough available for using multiple days, but still keep that original texture.

I can't wait to see what other French Fridays people have done with their versions. I can imagine a lot of playing with flavors, just as one would other types of bread. Come summer, adding in fresh roasted peppers may be nice. The flavors that come to mind are Mediterranean, so maybe a little saffron too? I'm not sure, but again, it's a great building block!

almond flounder meuniere - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I actually made this last Monday because I'm at a conference and knew I wouldn't get to post it on time. What I didn't realize was I wouldn't be able to get it posted even with making it early! So better late than never!

This was wonderful and we each (even my almost eight year old) had a huge fillet of Tilapia encrusted with the lovely ground almond crust, sauteed in lots (it seemed to me) butter. I had made a hollandaise earlier in the week and thought it would be interesting to use that as the "glue" for the crumbs, rather than the egg yolk. I think this worked fine, but didn't try it so have nothing to compare it with. The fish was rather thick and we needed to put it back in the pan to cook more thoroughly - covered worked well. I think the fish was so thick it didn't lend itself well to sauteing. The flavor was so good though and was even better with some sliced almonds sauteed in the pan with the leftover butter. I don't know if anyone else had this happen, but when I squeezed on some lemon juice, it made a great sizzle. It was quite exciting. I may excite easily though!

happy fillets, slathered with hollandaise

sizzling away!

coconut friands - French Fridays w/ Dorie

Awesome, but when I ate the one little scrap that broke off of a "cakelette", the first thing I thought was, "coconut macaroon!". That's just what these are like. The only difference between these Friands and a traditional Macaroon is the flour and butter, which does affect the density/texture.

Dorie's recipe says to whisk in each ingredient, one at a time. I whisked the egg whites, no problem. I then tried to whisk in the coconut and immediately realized I'd have to change to another "whisking" implement.

coconut in the egg whites

finished "batter"

This was much too thick to mix in with anything but a spoon or spatula, so I switched to a spatula and had a much more pleasant time of things. Then in went the sugar, flour, vanilla, salt, and then the whole stick of melted butter. I did put the whole thing in and will probably put in less next time. I haven't eaten one yet, so maybe it is necessary, but there was so much butter oozing out of the cakes when I pulled them from the oven, I can't imagine it is. Will be interested to hear what other FFWD members say about it.

I topped each with a thin slice of strawberry before baking. I was planning on using fresh blackberries and raspberries but didn't buy them in time.

I have a feeling this is another recipe that I'll be making again. They were so easy and look so beautiful and elegant. I've seen other people's friands around the web and want to use different shapes for the molds next time. They'd make a lovely platter on a buffet.

asparagus & bits of bacon - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I'm hoping not to eat too much asparagus because I don't want to get sick of it as I normally do this time of year, but boy, this is a great way to eat it. Alan, who really doesn't care for asparagus unless it's roasted to a crisp thought this didn't even taste like asparagus. I used white asparagus since it was on sale and looked very pretty. I needed to peel them because the skin was very tough. However it peeled very easily with a vegetable peeler. I then cut them in pieces about an inch or so and steamed them in my Pampered Chef microwave steamer. While they were steaming I sauteed some chopped onion in a little bacon fat. I had cooked bacon earlier in the week to use in a broccoli salad and then on pizza. Really gearing up for Passover with all of it! Which is what I was thinking as I sauteed the onion and added in the crumbled bacon - at least I didn't make it right on Passover. I had some lemon cut open already from the broccoli salad and added the juice right to the onions along with a bit of walnut oil. There were so many seeds in the lemon, that made it into the pan, fishing them out was the part of this recipe that took the longest time. It was really a quick dish to throw together and the flavors all worked perfectly. Maybe next time I'll add some toasted walnuts. Another keeper!

Keeping with thinking of Passover, I found Smitten Kitchen's Raspberry Coconut Macaroons last weekend and knew i had to make them. I loved that she doesn't like really sugary macaroons and mixing in the raspberry is genius. I didn't get raspberries but blackberries instead. I used unsweetened coconut, about 3 cups, and maybe 1 1/2 cups of regular flake coconut. I stuck with her recommendation for 2/3 cup sugar and then mixed in the 1/2 pint blackberries, almond extract, and 3 egg whites. I played around with the size of the cookie and think the larger ones give more texture variation. The little ones look so cute though! My mother didn't want me to bring any to her house for the holiday because she is already planning on several desserts, but I have to share these with the family. I'll also be bringing a bunch to church for Easter Sunday. No one signed up to bring goodies, so we're all going to chip in.

sort of icky looking, but berries were very juicy

Forgot to mention the ice cream concoction Shara and I thought up together. After hearing about Ben & Jerry's Banana Peanut Butter Greek Yogurt flavor, I thought we could do the same at home. I suggested taking vanilla frozen yogurt and mashing in bananas and swirling in peanut butter. Shara did one better and suggested Nutella. Yeah, Baby! We'll make that again. And maybe play around with other mix-ins too.

toasty, crispy, berry goodness!

crab & grapefruit salad - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I had been collecting ingredients for this over the week and today I finally picked up a can of crab meat at the market. The weather in the North East was practically hot last week. Perfect for a summery salad. This week it's been rainy and cold. I had a tough time getting excited for this dish but persevered to the delight of my family.

 The recipe couldn't be simpler, but the extended drying time for the grapefruit sounded a bit tedious. Of course, being me, I skipped that step and can't imagine it made a difference.  I thought it would be easiest to cut up the grapefruit by splitting it in 1/2 and running a knife around the inside, then in-between the segments. That's how my mom taught me to serve it (with a little sugar on top for me of course). I took out the pieces with a spoon and laid them in a paper towel lined strainer. We were supposed to dry these for at least two hours, but I couldn't understand the logic behind that when lemon juice is tossed into the salad. It's not supposed to be wet, but some moisture is nice and after adding a few spoonfuls of grapefruit juice as well, it was still a little dry. The color of the grapefruit was a bit pale, so I added in a blood orange. Next time I'd mix the juices, mint, salt & pepper, and Tabasco separately so it would incorporate better and not mush up the crab. I would also like to try it with avocado. After chopping and segmenting, we ended up with a tasty and refreshing dinner salad.

To go along with the salad I tried another recipe from the book I've been wanting to try. It's called Socca and is apparently pretty popular, as I just found out from doing a quick web search. David Lebovitz had a post with the recipe on his site. That part we didn't like so much. Dorie recommends stirring in chopped, fresh rosemary and David says to use Cumin instead. Since I have a couple cups of chickpea flour left, I'm willing to try this again. I didn't get the blackened blisters that are hallmarks of the crepe and I expect that will change the taste considerably.

Socca broiling

cocoa sablés - part deux

Made the second batch on Saturday. They came out lovely. I decided to slice all of these much thinner and like the results. The first batch was too thick, even for ice cream sandwiches.

saint-germain-des-pres onion biscuits - French Fridays w/ Dorie

What a quick recipe. Last night I got home from work, thinking Alan had to leave for a meeting at 6 pm. Shara had to do a homework project that gave examples of measuring devices. I thought I'd kill three birds with one stone and make the FFWD recipe, show how I use measuring tools in my hobby, and get dinner on the table in less than an hour. Since the meeting didn't actually start until 7:30, I didn't have to rush as much as I thought but still got it done in relatively little time.

I used my 1/2 cup measuring cup to get the correct amount of chopped onions. Showed how I measured out the butter using the markings on the side of the wrapper and started in with the measuring spoons when it was clear that Shara wasn't interested. Oh well, I tried. What I did manage to do successfully was make some mighty tasty biscuits! I'd put in more onion next time and maybe even add some garlic. The rest of it was great though. I only had skim milk and used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat. The color was off from the wheat, but the taste was fine. I was actually surprised they rose as much as they did. I thought I may have over-mixed the dough, but apparently not.

Really in a rush - didn't even flour the board

I did use the more efficient cutting method - a knife instead of a biscuit cutter, but cut them in triangles to give some visual appeal. They made the perfect side for our quick scrambled eggs w/ spinach, onions and cheddar dinner.

Roasted Salmon w/ Lentils - French Fridays w/ Dorie

Last week we were on vacation and didn't even attempt to complete the FFWD dish, yet I will because it was French Onion Soup, one of my favorites. You can read all about the trip at my more personal blog. This week I'm way behind on everything, having come home Sunday night and working all week. As of this minute, I'm actually out of milk, have no idea if there are eggs, and have been going through the freezer for dinners. Alan even chipped in and made a wonderful tuna noodle casserole that we've been enjoying most of the week as well, and just finished last night.

The issue with the Roasted Salmon is a timing thing. I think fish has to be fresh, if you can get it that way. Since I can, and often do get very fresh salmon around here, I'm going to make this tonight and will be late in posting. Roast salmon happens to be one of my go-to meals, and Dorie's lentils are my new recipe of choice for prepping these interesting little legumes. I've tried other recipes where they taste too healthy and turn out mushy and rather unappealing, but her recipe is great. They're almost al dente and have great flavor, I think due to the one little clove added to the pot. More details will follow tomorrow.

Tomorrow, actually now. Last night we made the Salmon and all of us loved it. As I mentioned above, Dorie's lentil recipe is the one I've been making for some time now, but I never thought to puree it and make it into a sauce. The texture was great and Alan commented that he really liked the flavor of the lentils with the salmon. I agreed and Shara ate hers up too! It was hearty and didn't need the roasted broccoli and bread that I served on the side, but I was starving so it was fine with me. The bread was also good for getting the last bit of lentils off the plate!

Since these were recipes I've made before, I made a couple of small changes. I needed to buy more lentils and the only ones I could find were the standard brown or red. I got the red and added them to the 3/4 cup of green I still had. In the end, the green ate up the red so there was no color difference in the finished product. The other change was to add some seasoning to the salmon. My sister gave me a great sesame seed seasoning mix for fish that I put on the salmon. I wasn't sure how it would work out, but it was perfect. I think she got it at Marshal's. It's called "Victoria Taylor's Seasonings" - toasted sesame ginger seasoning: sesame seeds, ginger, black sesame seeds, garlic, sea salt, red pepper, toasted sesame oil.

Shortcut: rather than take out some of the lentils and broth to puree, I just took out the clove and carrots and cut them up. Then I took my immersion blender and pureed the onions and some of the lentils. I added back in the carrots and boiled down the lentils a bit. I don't know the texture was supposed to be, but we really thought this was fine.

The next day I took the leftover lentils and put them on top of baby spinach, popped them in the microwave for a couple of minutes and had a great lunch.

salmon and chorizo without pasta - french fridays w/ dorie

Mussels are in the recipe from the cookbook but when they didn't have them at the fish truck I go to, I tried to come up with a bon ideal and, since my daughter's favorite fish is salmon, though, salmon should work. The recipe isn't anything too crazy. It's a tomato based fish dish with added chorizo for the main flavoring, other than the seafood. I've actually made similar before with swordfish, olives and orange for flavors. I had ground chorizo in the freezer that I love to add to sauces like this, so threw in some of that and only used 1/2 the red pepper called for in the recipe. I also had some fennel stems & fronds in the freezer and something told me to use that too, so I did. I've been very aware of listening and following my gut instincts when cooking and making other decisions in life. It's really paid off.

This was our Valentines Day Dinner. What I hadn't counted on was that my daughter would be so sick with a cold that she wouldn't be at all interested in the meal and leave to go and find something else to eat. I also didn't count on not even tasting the chorizo or the red pepper. However, the salmon tasted wonderful. It was still a little soft, not at all over-cooked. I served this with the no-knead bread that I've fallen in love with, but cut off the "dark brown (burnt)" crust. I had also bought a very white Italian type bread for said daughter. Good thing too, because that's the only part of the meal she really liked! Poor kid - I don't think she understands that food tastes bad when you have a cold and it's not so much the food as not being able to smell it. Though she adamantly said she can smell everything! A glass of wine was also consumed. Not sure it enhanced the flavor of the meal, but it did help me enjoy my evening a little more.

French Fridays w/Dorie - nutella tartine

Nutella - yum! I love it but it's such a decadent treat I buy it very infrequently. I also noticed that it's not an all natural product, which does put me off. However, I did buy a small jar and assumed, teach me, that I'd be able to find challah. I knew Brioche would be difficult, and I wasn't up for making it homemade, so I was going to settle for challah, not that we don't love challah, mind you.

Last night I stopped by the market near where I had a meeting scheduled. They had a nice bakery, but the only breads were more of the Italian type. Looking in the bread aisle wasn't much more of a variety. I even looked in the frozen section, hoping for inspiration - a frozen challah? Natural white bread? Anything? Nothing! So I ended up getting some multi-grain English muffins and rethought the whole thing and came up with a delicious breakfast. Toasted English muffin w/ apricot fruit spread, swirled with Nutella. Gobbled up happily by my daughter and not quite the nutritionally absent dish of the original.

I had already bought the Nutella but in my bread hunt, I found a different hazelnut spread, Guianduia, that I'd really like to check out. If anyone has any experience with this one, let me know what you thought. It is all natural, but now I'm wondering if it had chocolate or not. David Lebovitz has a nice post about hazelnut spreads..

gorgonzola-apple quiche - french fridays w/ Dorie

Part 1 - since I haven't tasted it yet.
Yesterday morning I made the dough and started rolling out the crust this morning. I used white wheat flour and a stick of butter. This was from the Pie & Pastry Bible and she calls for 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar. That's the biggest difference between a basic tart dough. I rolled the dough out to a round, but had to go to the bus stop before I could get it as thin as I would have liked. I had it wrapped in plastic, since that's how I rolled it, and then just popped it into the pie plate, all wrapped, until this evening. If became a dome and I was able to pull off the plastic and press it into the plate.

You can sort of see from the picture that it wasn't big enough and after I baked it, it did shrink up quite a bit. But the smell was wonderful! I didn't put the foil & beans (blind baking) in it before baking, so it did puff up even though it was very cold when it went into the oven.

I'm sure making this as written would be wonderful, but this recipe didn't do much for me so I decided to experiment. I'm not sure if that's the best way to go. If I'm looking forward to a recipe, I want it to taste as delicious as possible so am careful about changing things. I was going to get Gorgonzola, but got cheap and went for the reduced fat bleu cheese. I get it often and really can't taste much of a difference between that and full fat. On the other hand, there's nothing like the wonderful Great Hill Blue Cheese. It's one of my favorites. Now I'm second guessing my decision and wish I'd gotten a good quality Gorgonzola! The other major change I made was to switch the heavy cream for Silk Soy Creamer. Now I have no idea how that's going to turn out. When I mixed it with the beaten eggs, it became sort of gelatinous and it didn't look close to being enough filling. I remember other quiche I've made, using the same size crust, and the recipe called for 4 eggs and 2 cups of cream. I'll be curious to hear what other's experience was with this.

I baked it for 1/2 hour and it looks and smells just fabulous. I took Dorie's suggestion and added a handful of walnuts. I'm not sure how much of this cheese 2 oz. would be. I had a 5 oz. container of crumbles and can't imagine using half of it. 2 oz. of a cheddar is a 2" cube. I think this would be about 1/3 a cup, which seems way too much. Maybe Gorgonzola is a bit more mild.

broth-braised potatoes - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I wanted to make this week's FFWD recipe early because last week at this time I was nice and relaxed. I made the quarter-quarts the Monday before and had several days to put up the post. Too many times Friday comes about and I'm trying to figure out the logistics of making the assigned recipe and getting the pictures and summary posted, not to mention figure out what to serve with it and when.

Now you may be reading this and thinking, "why is she so stressed out over a club that's supposed to be fun?" The answer is, I really don't know. It's ridiculous, however the real issue is that I do enjoy it because it's a creative challenge, in the kitchen, yes, but also the blog component. How can I make a lump of dough look interesting? And sometimes more difficult, what interesting point can I make about a lump of dough? Being challenged is important to me and maybe I'm a masochist, but I'm never bored! In fact, I'm trying to figure out a way to not need sleep. Imagine what could be done if we didn't need downtime? Can you tell I'm suffering a severe deficit right now?

Anyway, with eyes burning, and close to a years worth of FFWD recipes completed, I give you, Broth-Braised Potatoes. I actually made these once before and I highly recommend them. I love little boiled potatoes and often in the summer we'll make a meal of sliced tomatoes, corn and steamed & salted potatoes. Add good rye bread and it's heaven. On a rainy winter evening these were a welcome accompaniment to our super-quick after dance night dinner. I was given another challenge of making egg sandwiches too. My daughter was given a choice between pancakes or fish and she went for secret option number three; egg sandwiches. Timing the eggs to be done but not overdone was tricky, but I managed to pull it off. I put the eggs down just as I heard the garage door open and then by the time they were ready to sit down, the eggs were done.

So the eggs & potatoes were joined with turkey bacon - Applegate Farms and I swear I thought I was going to have a mutiny on my hands but we all really liked it, though I thought it looked terrible - and that's pretty much it. No other vegetable or fruit. Just lots of starchy goodness! Boiling the potatoes in a broth well seasoned with garlic, herbs, and lemon is a fabulous way to flavor what could be bland potatoes. The ones I got weren't organic, very unusual for me, but they were nice little fingerling potatoes. Perfect for this preparation.

garlic & herbs, awaiting the broth

egg & potato face

quarter-quarts - French Fridays w/ Dorie

This recipe is a basic pound cake, but lighted up by whipping the whites and folding them in at the end. It's a small recipe, so you can make it for a family dessert and not have to wait for a crowd. There is a good sweetness to it, but not overwhelmingly so. I made this last Monday on our day off for Martin Luther King Jr. day and we're still enjoying it. Actually the last piece is slated for me tonight (shh).

I thought a pound cake sounded good, but wanted to jazz it up. I thinly sliced a few apples and sprinkled the with lemon juice. I then made a little bit of caramel - just sugar and more lemon juice. I heated it until it colored and poured it in 1/2 of the bottom of a springform bundt pan.

Caramel in the pan

Topped the caramel with the apples and then tried to gently top the apples with the batter. I only had enough caramel to do the one half of the pan, but it didn't change my baking time. I baked at 350 for 28 minutes.

I read in one of my classic, go-to cookbooks how to make pineapple upside down cake, thinking the concept was similar. It sounded pretty close, so I followed the instructions on how to unmold.

I think the caramel solidified too much and stuck to the bottom along with some of the cake, of course, but I was able to piece it together. The taste was great even if it wasn't as picturesque as I'd have liked. I liked the apple side best, but the plain side had a very lovely and rich taste as well. It may have been because of the vanilla I used. My father sent me a Mexican vanilla which is amazing. It has a sweet and almost coconutty flavor. Not much like vanilla and really stands out almost every time I use it. The other flavor that added to this was the lemon juice. I think it cut down on what may have turned out to be too sweet.

I'd love to serve this cake with berries and whipped cream. It will make a lovely spring dessert. But this time it made an unintended birthday cake for Dr. King. Yes, we did sing.

m. jacques armagnac chicken - French Fridays w/ Dorie

Another recipe where I can understand why they didn't put a picture in the book, however after you taste it you won't wonder why it's in there to begin with. I had gotten a chicken from my sister, who raises them, several months ago and didn't have a chance to roast it yet. I took it out of the freezer a few days before I was going to cook this, to give it time to thaw, and put it in out downstairs refrigerator. I always thought the refrigerator didn't feel cold enough, and was a bit nervous that I'd be ruining this, but apparently it's fine. After two full days the chicken was still frozen on the inside. So the rest of this story is not a good representation of the recipe, since I didn't want to wait to cook this. It was actually Sunday, so I did have quite a long time before the "deadline", but that wasn't the point. The point was I wanted to make the chicken on Sunday. So I did.

I cooked onions, carrots, and parsnip in a little oil, just until they were heated through a bit. I really didn't believe I would be able to fit a chicken in the pot too, but managed. Originally I was going to use my Le Creuset pot and then realized the handle wouldn't heat to 450 and I didn't feel like taking it off for this project so switched to my stainless one. I didn't think there would be a need for the iron because nothing would be caramelizing.

The carrots and parsnip are from my winter CSA. I have been saving these for special dishes and thought a Dorie one would be worthy. After these cooked a bit, I got the chicken and did not do any washing of the bird. None was needed, especially since half of it was frozen anyway. I know, I could have done a water bath and had this bird thawed in an hour or so, but I didn't want to. I actually thought that we would eat it on Monday and I'd just cook it longer. I was simply being lazy. After I put the chicken in I got out the only brandy in the house that I would use for this. My mother has always put apricot brandy on her roast turkeys and baked stuffed chicken breasts (with the skin on so they'd get nice and crispy - oh these were sooo goood!) and I always have a bottle around for similar situations, this being one of them. I didn't think the raspberry brandy would fit this dish. I also realized that baking this at 450 wouldn't be too cook for a 1/2 frozen chicken so I lowered it to 400. After 5 hours (just kidding, it was about two) I took out the chicken and it looked fine. There was a good amount of juice and fat, so I was actually happy to be waiting until the next day so I could take off most of the fat. The smell was incredible. I think this would be on my list of favorite food smells and it's all about the brandy. I will try it with  Armagnac because I love prunes with roast chicken. My mom used to make Chicken Marbella as well! After the chicken cooled I put it in the refrigerator and realized with all the vegetables it would be difficult to get the fat off. To make it easier, I rested the pot half-way on a lid so it would tilt the juice to one side. I am a genius (at the time sure I felt like it (- : 


The next evening I had by husband take out the chicken and put it in a 350 oven when he got home. I then turned it up to 400, took the lid off and got it heated up more, removed the chicken and cooked down the juice on the stove a bit. There was so much juice I didn't add the water. I served it with leftover mashed potatoes, thanks to my mother-in-law, and that was pretty much it! It tasted wonderful and I'm sure it was due to the quality of the ingredients over the cooking method. 

bubble-top brioche rolls - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I don't want to fill the post with yum, so I'll try not to say it too often. This was a great recipe; easy, tasted great, and could be prepared in stages without a ton of attention. Still, the long weekend was a perfect time to take on this task. I've also learned to read the recipes far in advance so I'm not rushing around on Thursday, making sure I have the ingredients, let alone the time in-between steps.

Monday, a holiday for all of us here, I started the dough. I used regular Cabot unsalted butter, not a European kind with a higher fat content. I'll have to try it some time with a European butter but I have so much left over from holiday baking I can't justify purchasing more right now.

The whole process was very simple. I made sure I followed the directions and didn't cut corners, as usual. The only thing I changed, and it didn't seem like much of a change, was to use all skim milk rather than 1/2 whole and 1/2 water. I used all the butter and white (!) flour, though there was some white whole wheat in the top of the flour container that got in it. I was hoping it was all the white wheat, but it wasn't. I'm also planning on making more of these to bring to a dinner party this weekend and will use all white flour for that too, but when I make these for just us, I'll experiment a little.

Here are the photos of the process.

yeast, proofing

very shaggy - before the eggs & butter were added

after the eggs, before the butter

finished dough, waiting to rise

portioned out rolls, waiting to rise

after the rise - not very high, but needed to get them in the
oven, so took a chance. Put some cinnamon-sugar on a few.

wow - they rose nicely in the oven!

Perfect!

This step I did a little differently. I had to work on Tuesday, so after going in the refrigerator overnight, I shaped the dough into the tins, covered with plastic, and left in the refrigerator for the day. My husband took them out when he got home, to give them the 1-2 hours to rise. We only were able to give them about 40 minutes. I thought I'd be clever and put them on the stove, with the oven on, to speed things up, but read Rosie Birnenbaum's advice to not get them anywhere too warm - all the butter, so took them off pretty quickly. They ended up being fine.

These were a huge hit and we're still eating them. To freshen them up, I put them in the oven for a few minutes and they're almost like the first night. The texture is like Challah, but the taste is much butterier. Fantastic!

I looked on the web to see what others had done and in another cookbook, Dorie has a plum tart with brioche base. I'll have to try something like that next time. Or chocolate rolls, or sticky buns, or....