Porter House

Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts

I was very excited to see these on the December recipes list for French Fridays with Dorie. I am a huge fan of spiced nuts and I was intrigued by the egg white coating. I keep several nuts on hand at all times: pecans, almonds, walnuts, and brazil nuts. I find that the ones you buy in the produce section in the black trays are much better than the bagged ones in the baking aisle.

The spice mix for the nuts includes sugar, salt, chili powder, cinnamon, and cayenne. I settled on pecans and almonds to try this time. I told myself (and my sister) that I was going to bring them to my niece and nephews party Saturday, but given my husband's reaction, I really don't know if they are going to last that long.

 

Justin was grabbing a handful off the pan to nibble before I could get them to a serving bowl. They are perfect! They are very crunchy, a little sweet, a little spicy, along with just enough salt. I love the fact that they are not bathed in butter like a lot of roasted nuts. I could see this being my house mix of nuts. I wouldn't change a thing.

You can find the recipe in the fabulous: Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan.

Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake

This is the last recipe for French Fridays with Dorie for the month of October. I have actually made it twice in the last couple of weeks.  The first time I used my 9-inch springform pan because I do not have an 8-inch springform, though I do have a 9, 10, 0r 11-inch of course. I also used light rum because I did not have dark rum on hand.

I found the cake a bit sweet. I really appreciate acidity in fruit desserts and this did not have enough for me. I would prefer it with all granny smith apples, but I really wanted to use a mix as recommended. I thought perhaps my rum substitution might have affected the flavor a bit, so I decided to try it again.

This time I decided I would make it in my regular 8-inch cake pan and hope for the best. I lined it with parchment and sprayed it with Baker's Joy. I have never had anything stick when I have used it. I omitted the rum and just used the vanilla. Luckily, the cake turned out of the pan easily. I managed to invert it without any trouble.

I thought the height of the 8-inch cake definitely looked nicer with the way the apples embedded a little deeper. I was surprised to find that the taste was nearly exactly the same. I did not miss the rum. I found the cake soft and delicious, but I do think I would prefer it with all granny smith apples, and perhaps with a little lemon juice or maybe even cinnamon. Of course these changes would drastically change the cake.

I love all the exciting desserts in Around My French Table and intend on trying them all!

Hachis Parmentier

 

I made a double recipe of this meat and potatoes dish a couple of weeks ago. My sister and her family, were coming to dinner, and I knew this would be liked by everyone.

This is France's version of Shepherd's Pie. I have to say I like this version the best! The filling is cube steak simmered to make its own broth. It is chopped and then combined with sausage. The filling is topped with mashed potatoes. I brought out my potato ricer, and my potatoes were silky smooth. You top it with Gruyere and pats of butter, and then bake until bubbly and browned.

There is absolutely nothing to not like in this dish. I find myself wanting it again right now. The doubled recipe left us with just enough for lunch the next day, which made us very happy.

You can, of course, find the recipe for this dish in Dorie Greenspan's book, Around My French Table.

Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

I have a confession to make. I am scared of fish sauce. It's true. I have been wanting to try my hand at Thai food for years, but I was too afraid of fish sauce. It is included in everything it seems. Now I know it is a great source of umami, which I happen to love, but I just couldn't get over the idea of it.

Then comes this soup on French Fridays with Dorie. I probably would have never made it myself. I have always wanted to try pho though and figured this was a good intro into the cuisine.

For this soup you simmer aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro, peppercorns, etc.) in a mixture of chicken broth, coconut milk, and fish sauce. You poach a chicken breast in the broth. Then you shred the chicken into the soup, and add the noodles, lime juice, and cilantro. It all sounded great to me except... well you know.

I got it all ladled out and got the kids to start eating.... while I secretly watched their reaction. They didn't bat an eye. They started slurping up the chicken and noodles and drinking the broth with gusto. They loved it.

This gave me enough courage to try my bowl. Of course, it was delicious. I loved the acidity from the lime juice. I meant to sprinkle on some of the optional chili oil, but I totally forgot. I must say that without it this soup was not spicy at all.

Perhaps next time I see a recipe that calls for fish sauce, I will actually make it instead of turning the page.

Do yourself a favor and purchase Around My French Table. It is fast becoming my favorite cookbook.

Gerard's Mustard Tart

I will start by saying that I love mustard. I have never liked mayo, so mustard is my condiment of choice. I was very intrigued and excited about this beautiful tart when I saw it was the next recipe for French Fridays with Dorie. I started out by making the necessary crème fraiche. I needed to make my own because they do not seem to sell it around here. It is a very easy project, as you can see here. It just takes a day or two. It turned out lovely. It wasn't quite as thick as usual, but it was much thicker than cream.

Dorie wrote in the recipe's introduction that the original version of this tart was made with tomatoes, but her friend Gerard made it with leeks and carrots. I decided that I had to try both. I only have one tart pan, so I used a 9-inch springform for the tomato version. It looked pretty good, a little more rustic than the leek one.

I would like to state once again that the savory tart dough in this book is fantastic. It works perfectly for me, and tastes incredible. I baked off the tart shells early yesterday, and they waited to be filled last night. I used smooth and coarse-ground Dijon mustard in the filling, along with the crème fraiche, eggs, salt and pepper.

The tomato mustard tart had fresh tomatoes settled into the filling.

 

The leek and carrot version used matchsticks of both steamed until tender. It was a little fussy to arrange them in the design, but well worth the effort if you are making it for company.

When they came out out of the oven though, I couldn't believe how lovely they looked. I especially loved the way the custard in the tomato tart peeked up and browned in the areas between tomatoes.

We all dug into the tarts with gusto. The kids both said, "This really tastes like mustard!" They were correct. Luckily it was certainly not overwhelming. We all liked the tomato tart the best. The mustard was just really set off by the sweet  tomatoes. The tomatoes retained their moistness and it was a great contrast to the crispy shell.

The leek and carrot tart was eaten quite easily as well though! We actually only had one piece of each left this morning. I ate the last slice of the leek and carrot  version just now. It was still wonderful warmed for a few seconds in the microwave.

I have never had anything like these tarts before and I am so glad that Around My French Table, brought them onto my plate!

Gougères

One of the reasons I started blogging again is that I wanted to participate in French Fridays with Dorie. I signed up and waited for an email or something about the start date. This morning I went looking around at the website again, and realized that today was the first day!

Luckily Dorie chose gougères as the first recipe from Around My French Table to use in the challenge. I am pretty certain nearly all of you readers have the ingredients for this one in your fridge: milk, flour, butter, eggs, cheese... The fact that I was able to make this recipe on such short notice is a testament to how easy it is!

You bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a boil, stir in the flour, and cook the paste for a minute or two. Then you transfer the mixture to a mixer bowl, beat in the eggs, and beat in the cheese. Then you spoon or pipe out the mixture in tablespoon portions, and bake in a hot oven.

As for the cheese, this time I went went with one part smoked gouda to 2 parts extra-sharp cheddar. The combo is fantastic, and certainly a great variation on the traditional gruyere.

These puff up in the oven. The interior is nearly hollow, and the result is an extremely light cheese puff.

I just wish I had the recommended glass of champagne to go with the them. I do have the makings of a kir though... Hmm.

(No recipes today. I highly recommend the book for purchase!)