brown-sugar squash and brussels sprouts en papillote

Posted on 01/02/2013 by oneexpatslife

The whole en papillote thing has never really worked for me. Which is not to say that I don’t like foods cooked with this method, but that foods which I try to cook using this method, never actually seem to cook. I can’t tell you how many times I have removed half raw foods from my oven and just wanted to give up. But after much trial and more error, I have determined that it is not en papillote which is my problem, but rather, en aluminum foil. Some combination of an oven which is too weak and foil which is too strong has caused me much anguish.

But not this time! No, I’ve learned my lesson. So even though this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Brown-Sugar Squash & Brussels Sprouts en Papillote called for the use of aluminum foil, I used parchment paper. And not to get all pedantic but, isn’t that what en papillote means to begin with?

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Anywho, setting that little rant aside for now, this week Dorie has us chopping up brussels sprouts & squash, wrapping them up in neat little packages, and roasting them in the oven. I’ll admit that I was mighty tempted to leave the papillote out all together and just roast those darn veggies. But then, it wouldn’t have really been a new recipe, because roasted squash or brussels sprouts (though admittedly not usually together) is one of our pretty standard sides.

So en parchment paper it was and both my husband and I agreed that it was pretty darn tasty. Better than simple oven roasted? No. But a nice alternative which I can see us using again.

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herb-speckled spätzle

Posted on 31/01/2013 by oneexpatslife

It’s rather ridiculous really. I have been living in Germany for almost 6 years, and the first time I am making spätzle is from a french cookbook written by an american author. To say that my german husband was skeptical would have been the understatement of the year.

Yep, a few weeks ago my fellow French Fridays with Dorie cooks went into their kitchens to whip up up a batch of Herb-Speckled Spätzle. I was still in my post holiday stupor and/or traveling for work, I can’t really remember why I missed that particular week. But as one of only two Doristas in Germany, it didn’t feel right to skip this one completely.

So there I was this past week, trying to figure out how to make spätzle without a spätzle maker. After assessing all of the available kitchen implements at my disposal, I settled on the steamer basket. We put some of the dough into the basket, then set it over the boiling water and used a flexible spatula to press the dough through into the boiling water. I can’t say that it was the perfect method, but it seemed to get the job done without too much difficulty.

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Now, the typical preparation that one finds in Frankfurt is covered in onions, bacon, and cheese. It’s a kind of german mac-n-cheese and it requires a very hearty appetite. Dorie took a different route and has us sauteing the fresh noodles with onions, lots of mushrooms, and some chicken broth. A magical combination which came together into an absolutely delicious side. Yes, even the german was impressed! So impressed that I recently caught him checking the price of spätzle presses online. And Dorie, with a kitchen as small as ours, that’s mighty high praise!

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shrimp and cellophane noodles

Posted on 25/01/2013 by oneexpatslife

Do you ever find yourself in the middle of cooking a recipe, and you just can’t shake that nagging feeling that you’re doing it wrong? I had that feeling while making this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles. The feeling hit as soon as I added the 2 cups of tomato puree. Somehow it just wasn’t jelling with my idea of Asian noodles, and I couldn’t shake the feeling even as I was eating the dish. At one point I even wondered if the 2 cups was a typo, because really, that’s much easier to swallow than the thought that I made a mistake 🙂

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celery root puree

Posted on 19/01/2013 by oneexpatslife

It’s been a busy few weeks and I am only now getting around to posting one of the December French Fridays with Dorie recipes, Go-With-Everything Celery Root Puree. I did actually make this one on schedule, but just couldn’t seem to get the darn thing posted while I was home for the holidays.

I’ve only discovered celery root in the last few years and I was a quick convert. I love potatoes, probably always will, but sometimes it’s nice to shake things up a bit and throw something different on the plate. Celery root is just so versatile and it plays nicely with so many mains. I paired it with some roast chicken and baby carrots and Dorie’s preparation was delicious.

It was also a recipe which proved that, even with the most simple and basic recipes, Dorie can still teach me something new. This is basically mashed celery root, which is based on the basic mashed potatoes recipe, which I have made millions of times before in my life. But I never once threw an onion into the boiling water to cook with the veggies and then mashed it all up together. Simple yet brilliant. One of those, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that moments.

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chicken liver gateaux with pickled onions

Posted on 17/01/2013 by oneexpatslife

I have a complicated relationship with business travel. On the one hand, I hate it; the time spent away from my family, charmless hotel rooms, and long work days leave me tired and grouchy. On the other hand, how can I hate something which has given me wild opportunities to see far flung corners of the world, live like a semi-local in some truly stunning cities, and introduced me to my husband. But on the other hand… I still hate it.

Let’s take last week as an example. I spent the week in Paris, one of the most interesting cities in the world, and ended up sitting in the office every night until midnight. Which is kind of like going to a 3 star Michelin restaurant and only ordering the bread basket. Le sigh. But moving on. One very positive thing which has come of years of business travel is a certain forced open mindedness to new foods. If there is a polite way to tell a colleague or client that, no, you do not want to try the local delicacy which they are so proudly presenting to you, I have yet to figure it out. I’ve had coworkers plead made-up dietary restrictions or upset stomachs. Me? I generally just give whatever it is a try. Which means that I’ve eaten some pretty interesting foods and none of them has killed me yet. Even the supposedly poisonous Japanese blow fish. So what harm could a little Chicken Liver Gateaux with Pickled Onions possibly do?

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Yes, it has been a very, very busy few weeks. But I also knew that if I didn’t join in for this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, I would probably be kicked out of the group for having nominated (and campaigned for) this recipe in the first place. I know that quite a few of my fellow Doristas were less than excited about this week’s assignment, and may I just say that I am incredibly proud of all those who bravely gave it a go.

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So now a confession, I actually like liver. No idea why, maybe because I never had it as a child and thus don’t have any psychological liver scars. But even so, this recipe sounded weird. I will not go into details, but I’m sure some of the others will so you can check their blogs if you want to hear the gory details. But I made it through and it actually turned out to be an incredibly easy and tasty recipe. I served it up with a side salad and for dinner and then had the leftovers on toast the next day. My husband like it too so two thumbs up in my household.

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cheez-it-ish crackers

Posted on 21/12/2012 by oneexpatslife

My husband has a sweet tooth, I have a salt tooth. He’ll take sweets in pretty much any form. I’m a little pickier about my sweets, but put a bag of chips and salsa in front of me and I lose all self-control. My husband, on the other hand, has absolutely no interest in chips, but has yet to meet a piece of chocolate that he doesn’t like.

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So I was pretty sure that this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Cheez-it-ish Crackers, would be one that I would end up eating alone. And sure enough, he politely ate one from the first batch and said that they were “uh, fine”. Not a promising start.

FFwD010 005But then I remembered that these little “crackers” reminded me an awful lot of one of my aunt’s standard cocktail nibbles, cheese cookies. Ok, I know, sounds weird. But honestly, the base recipe is pretty much the same as Dorie’s, and then she goes and throws pecans on them. Yes, I know, still sounds weird, you’ll just have to trust me, they are quite addictive.

So with my second batch I topped some with pecans and some with walnuts, just to see how they would taste. And do you know what, they were delicious. Even my husband agreed! Pecans were definitely the better pairing, but the walnut ones were pretty tasty too. And best of all, I don’t have to worry about  eating them all.

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I’m back with a quick note to say that I am having technical difficulties today. I can’t seem to leave my link on the FFwD page and I can’t seem to leave comments on any of the WordPress blogs. So annoying. So let me say here, all of your cheesy crackers look delicious and I am really enjoying your posts. I would also like to wish everyone a festive and joyful holiday season. We will be spending the holidays in the US, so I may not be able to participate the next few weeks. But if not, I look forward to getting back into the kitchen with all of you in the new year.

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chicken, apples, and cream a la normande

Posted on 14/12/2012 by oneexpatslife

Ah the metric system, it still occasionally trips me up. According to the geniuses at Wikipedia, “The United States is the only industrialized country that does not use the metric system as its official system of measurement.” Which makes it oh so much fun when one of us americans moves overseas and tries to remember all those conversions learned (and long since forgotten) in 5th grade.

I spent my first few months in Germany just trying to figure out how to buy food. A Saturday morning trip to my local market was quite an adventure. I would point to some cheese and hold my fingers close together to indicate that I only wanted a little piece. I would try to buy sliced ham and find myself speechless when asked how much I wanted. Uh, no idea. Enough for two. 100 grams? How much is that?

5+ years later I’ve mostly got it figured out, but then I still find myself tripping up at the most random times. For example, when I sent my husband to the store to buy 2 kilograms of potatoes for thanksgiving instead of 2 pounds. If your own conversions are a little rusty, that’s 4 pounds of potatoes… for a dinner party of 8!

All of which explains why we finally managed to use up the last of those potatoes this week. They turned out be a great side for this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Chicken, Apples, and Cream a la Normande. This is a delicious dish made with, well, chicken, apples, and cream as the title so clearly suggests. I wasn’t really convinced by the addition of mushrooms, or maybe I just added too many. But otherwise this was a great dish which earned two thumbs up in my household.

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creamy cauliflower soup, sans cream

Posted on 07/12/2012 by oneexpatslife

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe was an easy one, Creamy Cauliflower Soup, Sans Cream. Saute some onions, boil some cauliflower, give it a whir in the blender, apply topping of choice, dinner is served.

I topped mine with a few drops of truffle oil and paired it with cheese toast and tomatoes (because this dish was screaming out for a little color!). It was the perfect interlude to the holiday feasting season.

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beef cheek daube

Posted on 29/11/2012 by oneexpatslife

The butcher shops here in Germany, actually, from what I have seen, in Europe in general, are not for the faint of heart. There are animal parts in the display case at my local butcher which I have yet to identify and am too afraid to ask about. It appears that nothing goes to waste. For this reason, I felt fairly confident when I set out to shop for this week’s French Friday’s with Dorie recipe, Beef Cheek Daube, that I would be able to find the title ingredient.

Luckily though, I also took Dorie’s advice and asked my butcher about beef cheeks early in the month. I was told that they do have beef cheeks, but that you have to arrive very early in the morning because they tend to sell out quickly. Well, those who know me well know that I don’t do anything early in the morning unless I absolutely have to. So instead I ordered my beef cheeks in advance (had to pay for them in advance too!) and happily slept in. For anyone who wasn’t able to track down beef cheeks, this is what they looked like.

Maybe now is the time to mention that I don’t even like beef stew. Never have. It’s weird, I know, but I guess we all have our issues. I basically made this for my husband. You’re welcome schatz.

In fact though, this beef stew wasn’t all bad, I actually liked the sauce, and the pasta, and the carrots. I loved the wine I served it with. Pretty much everything except for the meat. Yes, it’s official, I’m weird. I can live with that. And apparently so can my husband because it meant more stew for him.

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herbed olives

Posted on 23/11/2012 by oneexpatslife

Good grief, is it really Friday already? I honestly forgot until I logged onto Facebook today and saw that my fellow Doristas were starting to post this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Herbed Olives, and thought, crap!, better get posting.

My excuse is that I am still focused on Thanksgiving. Since it is not a holiday here, we usually celebrate on Saturday by hosting the feast for friends. This means that I took off work today to start cleaning and prepping. It’s been a busy day but I now have cranberry sauce in the fridge, the pumpkin pie is made, and my turkey is happily brining. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

But until then, let’s talk about these olives. Dorie recommends that instead of buying pre-seasoned olives, buy plain ones and season them yourself. I’ll be honest, my first thought was, why? Seriously, varieties of seasoned and stuffed olives are available at every weekly market and self-respecting grocery store here in Frankfurt, so why would I make the effort to season them myself?

But being the good little Dorista that I am, I went out and picked up plain olives. Everything else I already had in my fridge. So I mixed everything together and threw it into a jar. The next day I tried one and was not overly impressed. And then I left on a business trip.

One week later I returned home, opened the fridge, and there were my olives, still marinating away. I opened up the jar and tried one, and oh my! They were really good. Really good! Suddenly I knew why one would bother to make their own seasoned olives. They are delicious and take almost no effort. I will be making these again.

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