one expat's life

After 4 plus years of cooking along with the French Friday’s with Dorie crew, we have come to the end and are now reminiscing about all the wonderful food we have cooked together. This week’s challenge is to write about the recipes which we made once from Around my French Table, and then just kept on making again and again.

As with the other challenges, I started by making a list. It was a very long list and in the end I couldn’t pick just one, so decided to do my top 5 again. Am I the only one who thinks about the movie High Fidelity every time we talk about top 5 lists?

Anyway, the ones I’ve made so often that I’ve lost count are:

1. Apple Cake – I actually made this recipe for the first time before I even joined FFwD and it was likely a contributing factor to my decision to join the group in the first place. At some point along the line it replaced apple pie on my Thanksgiving table. If you asked any of my German friends, they would probably confidently tell you that Apple Cake is a traditional Thanksgiving dessert in America:-)

2. Lazy Chicken – Oh that Lazy Chicken. I make this dish at least once a month during the cooler months. I love it because it’s easy to make and only uses one pot. I love it because it’s a great way to use up whatever’s kicking around in my crisper. I love it because the chicken comes out so juicy and delicious. I love it because it makes leftovers for the next day. And I love it because it also lands on my husband’s Top 5 list. This recipe alone is worth the price of the book.

3. Warm Weather Pot-au-Feu – This is the dish I make at least once a month during the warmer months. I never would have made this dish if it were not for this group, not because it sounds bad, but because it sounds boring (which means that it also could have easily landed on my Never Doubt Dorie list). I was stunned by the flavors packed into this recipe the first time we made it and have since made it again and again and again, to absolutely rave reviews. It’s also a guilt-free meal because it’s low in fat and high in veggies:-)

4. Quinoa Fruit & Nut salad – Here’s another guilt-free recipe which has become a week-night standard in my house. I had long liked the flavor of quinoa, but what I like about this recipe is its fresh taste and the fact that it holds up so well as leftovers.

5. Coconut Friands – This one’s a little different. I really enjoyed these little cakes, but the flavor alone is not what keeps me coming back to this recipe, it’s the fact that it’s also a great way to use up extra egg whites whenever you have leftovers from another recipe.

There are more… so many more. I often wonder if I would have enjoyed this adventure as much with another book. Dorie’s recipes were diverse enough to keep me interested and well-tested enough to keep my confidence high. I know the lady’s a baker, but I for one hope that she does another book with savories too. I’m sure we could get the French Fridays with Dorie gang back together for another grand adventure:-)

After 4 plus years of cooking along with the French Friday’s with Dorie crew, we have come to the end and are now reminiscing about all the wonderful food we have cooked together. This week’s challenge is to write about a moment when we may have doubted Dorie.

Moi? Doubt Dorie? Surely not.

I would love to be able to say that I never doubted Dorie for a second, but if I’m being completely honest, I went into more than a few of these recipes with a healthy amount of skepticism. In fact, typing the word “skeptical” into my blog’s Search field hits a total of 12 FFwD posts. For most it was for one of two reasons: either it (1) sounded too difficult or used a unfamilar technique or (2) something about the ingredients sounded weird to me. I picked one of each for this week’s post.

First, I was VERY skeptical the week we made Ricotta-Filled Zucchini Blossoms because the recipe sounded fiddley and difficult and like it was never going to hold together and it was going to look like a mess and I was going to have spent all that effort for nothing! Phew, okay, maybe I was a little stressed that week in general, but in all honesty, this is exactly the kind of recipe which I would have normally skipped right over because it just sounded too complicated for my limited kitchen skill set. But Dorie talked me through it and the resulting meal was not only a huge ego boost, but also a reminder that sometimes it’s a good idea to challenge myself in the kitchen. Other contenders here would have been the Blueberry-Mascarpone Roulade, Tuna Confit, and Gnocchi a la Parisienne.

Second up, Beggar’s Linguine was actually one of the easier recipes we ever made, but pasta with dried fruit and nuts sounded… well… nuts! Seriously! As I’ve probably said many times over the course of this journey, there is no way I would have made this recipe if it wasn’t for this group. And as I’ve also said many times by now, I’m so glad that I did! As improbable as it sounds, this combination is delicious and I’ve repeated it a few times since. Other contenders in this category include Sardine Rillettes, Salmon in a Jar, and Gorgonzola-Apple Quiche… yum!

I love this week’s assignment because it reminds me of all the amazing recipes which I would have missed if it was not for this group. These recipes are the hidden treasures which are discovered when one really cooks the entire book.

Picking a favorite anything always seems an impossible task, there are simply too many variables in life. Trying to pick a favorite recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table is equally impossible. My answer would depend on the season, on the weather, on the occasion, on my mood…

Yesterday was my 4 year anniversary, both as a blogger and as a member of French Fridays with Dorie. I joined the group a little late and my very first post was for Cardamom Rice Pilaf on May 28th, 2011. During the past 4 years I mostly caught up with the recipes which I missed before joining and am finishing up this little adventure with all but 2 checked off. Which two? Olive Fougasse (because I still do not own a standing mixer and am too lazy to do it by hand) and Almond-Orange Tuiles (because I attempted tuiles once in my life using Martha Stewart’s recipe, and once was enough).

That still leaves 234 recipes from which to pick a favorite. An impossible task really, but I can say that reading back through my old posts to try to pick a favorite has been a fun trip down memory lane. So here they are, in no particular order, my top 5 recipes from French Fridays with Dorie:

1. Gerard’s Mustard Tart – because it reminds me of time spent studying in France, because Dorie has taught me not fear pastry dough like I used to, because I love mustard, because it is elegant simplicity on a plate

2. Curried Mussels – because it has the perfect balance of creamy, spicy goodness, because I still can’t stop raving about how good these were, because I never would have discovered this recipe if it wasn’t for this group

3. Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good – because it looks harder to make than it is, because it’s served during my favorite season, because it tastes like comfort food

4. Coeur a la Creme – because anyone whose favorite part of the carrot cake is the cream cheese frosting will not need another reason:-)

5. and finally, Cola and Jam Spareribs – because my husband has been an awfully good sport over the past 4 years, who has (mostly) learned to wait patiently while his food is having its close up, and so one of his favorites should make the list too