mussels and chorizo

Posted on 17/02/2012 by oneexpatslife

For the longest time I was afraid to make mussels at home. I was scared off by the fact that just one little bad guy in a pot of otherwise fresh and tasty mussels could wreak such havoc, and I therefore considered it the kind of food which is best left to the experts.

I think it was Anthony Bourdain’s cookbook which first convinced me to try my hand at mussels. In his typically sensitive manner he pointed out that it really wasn’t that hard, and that there were just a few very simple steps one needed to follow in order to prevent any mishaps. Since then I have made mussels dozens of times, and each time I am left wondering why I don’t do it more often. Here is what he taught me:

1. Storing:    Once you get the mussels home, if you are not planning to cook them right away, take them out of the plastic bag which they probably came in, rinse them under cold water in a colander, and then place the colander in a bowl and put the mussels in the fridge until you are ready to cook.

2. Prepping:    Directly before cooking the mussels, rinse them off again and carefully check them. Remove the beards (if applicable) and make sure any sand or grit is rinsed away so that it doesn’t end up in your broth. Throw away any which are broken or have cracks in the shells. Throw away any which feel suspiciously light. And then throw away any which are not closed, or which do not close when lightly tapped. This is key, ALL of the mussels should be closed before you cook them.

3. Cooking:    This step is generally very quick, a few minutes in a pot with a bit of wine or broth and other flavors until they open up.

4. Eating:    The only thing to remember here is that you should only eat the mussels which have opened on their own during cooking. Throw away any which are not open, do not try to pry them open. Otherwise, grab yourself some bread to sop up the tasty sauce and enjoy.

See, simple. Still feeling uncertain? This video on epicurious.com does a pretty good job of explaining the process.

Which brings us to this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Mussels & Chorizo. This recipe was different from my standard mussels preparation, which is pretty much a basic Moules Marinieres. Instead, Dorie calls for the mussels to be steamed in a quick tomato & white wine sauce, which is spiced up with the addition of chorizo. We helped ourselves to a big pot, served with nothing more than some crusty bread and a big pile of napkins.

Verdict? Tasty! A nice alternative to my standard recipe and much heartier due to all that sausage. In fact, we bought the usual amount of mussels and for the first time ever ended up with leftovers.

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nutella tartine

Posted on 10/02/2012 by oneexpatslife

Nutella, is as ubiquitous in Germany as peanut butter is in the US. It is considered a staple pantry item and, while both cheap knockoffs and fancy schmancy high-end versions are widely available, most buyers seem to remain loyal to the original. So, as soon as I saw this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Nutella Tartine, I predicted that I would have trouble passing it off as a dessert in my house. Sure enough, the resident german took one look and said, “Schatz, nutella on toast is breakfast, not dessert”.

So be it. When in Rome do as the Romans do right? Which I’m pretty sure means, when in Germany, serve nutella on toast for breakfast.

I should probably point out that Tartine is just a fancy French word for open-faced sandwich. So Nutella Tartine really does mean nutella on toast. But Dorie jazzes her version up a bit with a few unexpected extras.

She starts with brioche (my bakery was out of loafs), thickly sliced and toasted…

then smeared with orange marmalade…     and drizzled with warmed nutella…

and finally sprinkled with toasted chopped hazelnuts & a pinch of sea salt…

Final verdict? Tasty. Surprisingly so considered the odd combination of ingredients. In fact, the german refused to allow any sea salt on his, but I found that it added a nice balance to all the sweet flavors. Another winning recipe from Dorie.

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gougeres

Posted on 06/02/2012 by oneexpatslife

One of the most basic differences between cooking in the US vs cooking in europe is the way that ingredients are measured. To generalize very broadly here, we american like to measure our ingredients by volume (for example with cups & spoons) while the europeans like to measure ingredients by weight. Before moving to Germany I had been warned to pack my measuring cups and spoons so that I could continue to use my american cookbooks. And then, not long after I arrived, I went out to buy a kitchen scale so that I could also make local recipes. It took a bit of getting used to at first, but now I find myself using the scale anytime a recipe provides weight measurements. It’s just so much easier and more exact and it switches easily between metric and imperial. I no longer have to sit and wonder if I should be spooning out my flour or scooping it, I just pour it into a bowl and move on, confident that I have the exact correct amount. I’ll stop rambling now, suffice it to say, I am a convert.

All of which brings us (in a rather round-about way) to the recipe at hand, Gougeres. This was the very first French Fridays with Dorie recipe ever, completed by the rest of the group in October 2010. I have in fact made gougeres a few times before using a different recipe and so I already knew two things: (1) that gougeres are delicious, and (2) that I have absolutely no will power around them. This second point is the reason why it has taken me so long to check this recipe off.

Gougeres, in case you haven’t had the pleasure yet, are little cheese puffs made with light & fluffy pate a choux dough (check the recipe out on epicurious.com). This is the same dough which is used to make eclairs, but with cheese mixed in instead of custard. These are a great snack to nibble on with cocktails. My friend said that they reminded her of a cheesy croissant. I thought that the flavor was a little more reminiscent of a cheese souffle, but either way, we both agreed that they were darn good. Not just that, and this is key, they are not at all difficult! Really!

I ended up using an ice cream scoop for mine which meant that they were a little bigger than Dorie’s and took exactly 25 minutes in the oven. I only made two batches and froze the rest of the dough for later, which is basically the only way I know of to keep myself from eating them all at once. We enjoyed these yesterday with aperitifs and happily munched on the leftovers at breakfast this morning. Now I’m already eyeing the bag in the freezer. See, I told you, no will power.

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gorgonzola-apple quiche

Posted on 03/02/2012 by oneexpatslife

Blue cheese is a classic love it or hate it kind of food, meaning that very few people are indifferent to blue cheese, most either love it or hate it. I love it!

That said, this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Gorgonzola-Apple Quiche, is probably not one that I would have picked on my own. Not sure why, maybe it’s the combination which threw me, but for some reason I was not overly excited to make this one. Boy was I wrong!

This quiche was so much tastier than I had expected. It would also be accurate to say that this quiche was much less weird than I had expected. I’m sure that there is a better way to phrase that… how about, the flavors turned out to be much milder than I had expected. The cheese kind of melts into the custard and becomes a mildly salty counterpoint to the cooked apple. All right, I’m done trying to explain it. I’ll wrap up my quiche commentary by saying that my husband and I were both very surprised by how good this one was.

In other news, I tried a new tart crust recipe this week and was really pleased with how it turned out. Some of you may have already been subjected to my ongoing rant against pie crust, and I apologize for that. But this week, while still a struggle, felt like a small step forward. I pulled out my trusty Joy of Cooking and followed their recipe for a dough which is made with butter, crisco, and water, no egg. Following Joy’s advice I froze my fats before using my food processor to cut them into the flour. Joy also recommends fully, as opposed to partially, baking the crust before filling it, saying that it comes out flakier and strangely unburnt in the end. And one final little tip which I tried, in order to seal the crust I brushed a tiny amount of the beaten eggs over the bottom of the pre-baked crust and baked it for one additional minute before adding the filling. Not sure if any of these really made a big difference or if I am just slowly getting used to working with pie crust, but the whole process seemed to be just a little less daunting this week.

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sweet and spicy cocktail nuts

Posted on 31/01/2012 by oneexpatslife

My Uncle Dave has often said that his strategy when hosting a dinner party is to first starve his guests, so that when dinner is finally served they will be grateful and hopefully happy to overlook any cooking mishaps. This, so he says, is why he never serves heavy appetizers and why he is always late getting dinner on the table. Of course, those of us who have been lucky enough to eat at Uncle Dave’s table know that this is a joke because his food is always delicious, but I do believe that there is something to the idea of not overdoing the appetizers.

To this end, cocktail nuts have long been my pre-dinner nibble of choice. An aperitif and a small bowl of nuts have kicked off many a dinner party in my apartment. To date, I have not had any complaints, but I’ve also never before received the rave reviews elicited by Dorie’s Sweet & Spicy Cocktail Nuts, a previously completed French Fridays with Dorie recipe.

I’ve actually made these nuts twice now. The first time I was not a fan of the recipe and swore never to make them again. Don’t misunderstand, the nuts were delicious, but I’m rather infamous for my lack of patience and wiping egg white off each and every nut by hand put me over the edge.

But then I went and did something which I should have done to begin with, I read through the posts written by my fellow FFwD home cooks and noted their tips for how to make this recipe a little easier. The oh so simple suggestion to double the amount of nuts but leave the rest of the ingredients as written in the recipe proved to be the key. This meant that there was enough egg white and spices to coat the nuts without leaving a lot of excess to be scraped off and made the whole process quick and easy. With this little trick in my back pocket I will be happy to make these addictive nuts again and again. And again!

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broth-braised potatoes and food52

Posted on 27/01/2012 by oneexpatslife

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe was Broth-Braised Potatoes, a simple side dish which would seem to go with pretty much anything else you chose to put on the plate. So, what to serve them with?

This past Christmas my parents sent me a new cookbook called Food52. I had never heard of this book before but it is apparently the result of a year-long project whereby each week home cooks submitted their recipes to be tested and voted on by the community. The winning recipes in each category were included in the book, plus a few tasty extras. Doesn’t this sound like a great idea?

I decided to serve this week’s potatoes with two of the Food52 recipes which I have been eyeing, Chicken with Creamy Dijon Mustard Sauce and Grilled Brussels Sprouts (both recipes available on the Food52.com website). As a typical home cook, I tweaked both recipes just a little. In the chicken recipe I cut the oil and butter in half and for the brussels sprouts I doubled the amount of sprouts but left the rest of the ingredients alone (otherwise I think they would have been over spiced). I also threw them under the broiler instead of breaking out the grill in the middle of winter. Verdict? Both recipes were absolutely delicious and the sauce for the chicken was good enough to eat off a bumper!

And what about Dorie’s potatoes? These are essentially boiled potatoes which (to borrow a phrase from Mr. Lagasse) have been kicked up a notch by boiling them in broth and a fragrant mix of herbs. I found the potatoes to be quite good, more flavorful than your average boiled potatoes, but still not strong enough to stand on their own. My standard treatment for boiled potatoes is to throw a little butter and chopped parsley into the pot and then bash them around a bit and I think that would have worked well with these. But since I already had a sauce from my chicken recipe I ended up throwing that over my potatoes and enjoying every bite. I can definitely see making this exact meal again.

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dorie’s go-to beef daube

Posted on 24/01/2012 by oneexpatslife

I have been putting off this previously completed French Fridays with Dorie recipe for a while now. First off, hearty Beef Daube is something which belongs to a very cold winter night and it just hasn’t been that cold around here. Second, I’ve not historically been a big fan of beef stews. Weird I know. Doesn’t everyone love stew?

But then I made Dorie’s Hachis Parmentier a while back, which is basically a casserole of beef stew and mashed potatoes, and LOVED it. So I figured maybe I needed to give this beef stew a try. I mean, that’s kind of one of the points of this whole cooking the book exercise isn’t it? To venture outside of my comfort zone and try new things. So having talked myself into it, I charged ahead…. ok, I cut the recipe in half so maybe “charged” is the wrong word. But moving on.

Dorie’s Beef Daube (recipe published here on Serious Eats) is a fairly classic preparation with lots of beef, lots of red wine, and some root veggies. I decided to serve it alongside mashed celery root, a vegetable which I have come to appreciate since moving to Germany. If you have never prepared celery root before, let me just warn you now that it is not a veggie which is winning any beauty pageants. Not sure if I just overlooked it when I lived in the US or if it much more popular in europe, but I find myself cooking with it quite regularly now. In the summers I use it in Celery Root Remoulade and in the winter I tend to use it as one would any other root veggie. This past Christmas I received The Food52 Cookbook and have been wanting to try the Autumn Celery Root Puree. This recipe (which can be found here on the food52 website), made with celery root, a potato and an apple, is very tasty and a great alternative to mashed potatoes.

As for Dorie’s daube, my husband enjoyed it and I learned that I am still not a fan of beef stew. Certainly not Dorie’s fault.

But I am a fan of this Food52 book and have already had good results with a few of the recipes, all of which were submitted by home cooks and then tested by other home cooks before being added to the book. I have quite a few of the pages marked and am looking forward to trying more of the recipes.

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quatre-quarts

Posted on 20/01/2012 by oneexpatslife

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Quatre-Quarts is what we americans know as pound cake. Quatre-Quarts actually means four-fourths, because the cake is traditionally made with equal measures of eggs, flour, sugar, and butter.

Dorie of course jazzes her cake up with a few additions, including vanilla extract. Which reminded me that we americans throw vanilla extract into almost every dessert we make, while the europeans use it much more sparingly. Since moving to Germany I have often wondered about this. When I first moved, each trip back to the US was equal parts family visit and supply run. My suitcases on the return trip would be loaded with all the goodies which I can’t buy here. Almost 5 years later I have mostly learned to live without these supplies, but vanilla extract remains one of the few items that I routinely buy when I am in the US. The german supermarkets sometimes carry vanilla extract, but it seems to be more of a seasonal item which pops up around Christmas, and I have yet to see a single german recipe which calls for it. Much more common is vanilla sugar, which comes in little individual paper packets and gets thrown into some cake recipes.

Sorry if I’m boring you here. I just find it fascinating how so many of the basic ingredients which we take for granted are used (or not) in different corners of the world.

But moving on. Dorie’s Quatre-Quarts was easy to throw together, simple, and delicious. This is cake in its most basic form with no frills or thrills, exactly the kind of recipe which is so easy to overlook in favor of the book’s more exotic offerings. Exactly the kind of recipe which finds you wondering as you munch on a slice, “why don’t I make this more often?”

I will offer one quick little warning though. When I first tried this cake, about an hour after it came out of the oven, I found it to be a little too eggy tasting. However, after letting the cake sit and think about itself for a few hours more, the flavors had settled in and my next slice was delicious.

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pumpkin gorgonzola flans

Posted on 16/01/2012 by oneexpatslife

Canned pumpkin is something of a commodity for canadian and american expats living in continental europe. Rumors regarding sightings in local grocery stores abound, but I for one have yet to see it in a single store anywhere in Frankfurt.

Most of the big grocery stores here have a tiny section  dedicated to english speaking expats, meaning that my peanut butter is sold alongside jars of marmite and vegemite. I must admit that this section of the grocery store fascinates and confuses me. The “american” goods one can consistently find include peanut butter, Fluff (in two flavors no less), maple syrup, Pop Tarts, Cheez Whiz, Mac-n-Cheese, and some boxed cake & brownie mixes. Now, while some of these products are useful, others are items which I can’t imagine ever missing. But before anyone accuses me of food snobbery, let me clarify that my biggest problem with this section of the store is not with what they DO stock, but rather with what they DO NOT stock. Things like brown sugar, double-acting baking powder, pecans, chocolate chips, vanilla extract, graham crackers, good cheddar cheese, and yes, canned pumpkin! And yes, I know that there are work-arounds for most of these, but honestly, if we can find room on the shelf for cheez whiz, why not canned pumpkin?

Phew, sorry about that. This is one of those topics which can really get me going. I’ll wrap up by saying that if you ever find yourself living on this side of the pond (excluding the United Kingdom since they seem to use many of the same baking ingredients as the americans) the internet will become your best friend.

So why did I start this post again? Ah yes, Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flan, a previously completed French Fridays with Dorie recipe which I am just now catching up with. I have been looking forward to this recipe since my copy of Dorie’s book arrived in the mail. Pumpkin, blue cheese, and walnuts… yum, I was in love before these tasty little flans even made it out of the oven. The end result was creamy and delicious. I served it with a side salad, but this would have made a great side dish as well.

Now for the all important question, would I make these again? Was it worth using up a can of my hard searched for pumpkin (because I am apparently far too lazy a cook to bother making pureed pumpkin from scratch)?

YES!

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cognac chicken

Posted on 13/01/2012 by oneexpatslife

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, M. Jacques Armagnac Chicken (recipe published here in the New York Times), became Cognac Chicken in my household, simply because that’s what we had in our liquor cabinet. This is my second of Dorie’s roast chicken recipes and I have to say that the lady knows her chicken! This was possibly the juiciest chicken to have ever emerged from my oven.

Both her Lazy Chicken and her Cognac Chicken recipes call for the bird to be roasted with some root veggies in a dutch oven instead of a roasting pan, but this time she also throws in some cognac and covers the pot during roasting. And as unsensational as that may sound, Dorie’s method has been a revelation for me. I have always roasted chicken in a roasting pan, which allowed for much nicer skin, but which did not produce such juicy meat. And the cognac surprised me as well by not overpowering the other flavors. In the end it gave a light aroma to both the chicken and the delicious sauce, but it was not a dominant presence.

My only confusion with this recipe is that Dorie tells us that it should come out nice and brown. But how is that possible? If the top is on and there’s cognac steaming away in the pot, how does the chicken brown? Next time I make this recipe (and there WILL be a next time) I may try to take the top off for the last few minutes of roasting, or maybe even crank up the broiler at the end in order to crisp the skin a bit.

But regardless, this chicken was delicious. I served it with roast veggies and polenta. My husband proclaimed it to be the best chicken I’ve ever made. Thanks for a great recipe Dorie!

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