Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake - AMFT

I've gotta say - this recipe just makes me laugh! Who thought of taking a bowl of Cream of Wheat, adding eggs and raisins, baking it, and calling it cake?! LOL! Don't get me wrong... it's GOOD! Just hits my funny bone. :) This is one of the reasons I love this group, French Fridays with Dorie, because it has repeatedly pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me try things I'd never think up myself.

The caramel topping is interesting. As I poured it from the saucepan into the baking pan, I thought I may have let it go too long. There was a brittleness to it that had me thinking I might have made a giant caramel lollipop in that baking pan... and the saucepan cleanup seemed to validate the thought that I had a big disk of hard candy under that batter. Should there have been some heavy cream added? Hmm. Then, when the cake was done and I tried to invert it... LOL! Wasn't happening! Turned it back upright, ran a knife around the edge...... it was stuck like all get-out. The knife did the trick - I re-inverted it, and bloop! The cake is quite flat, but the caramel color is so gorgeous...

It tastes ....... quite good. The texture is....... odd. Not at all "cake-y". Even having said that, by it's mouth feel and flavor, I would never guess it started as a bowl of Cream of Wheat! Kinda egg-custard-y, in an unusual way. I had soaked the raisins in some gorgeous Pyrat rum, which I gently heated to plump the fruit, then drained off. The rummy raisins added a nice complexity - I would definitely do that again. And the caramel seems to have sorta been absorbed to some degree, but what's still there is not the "pull your crowns out" sticky caramel I'd feared. It's quite good.

Thanks for broadening my palate, FFWD!

Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux - AMFT

Roast chicken... yummmm! I have been looking forward to making this because... well, I really enjoy roast chicken. I was a little apprehensive - the recipe calls for the chicken to be roasted for 90 minutes at 475 degrees, which seemed awfully hot... but - as AMFT's recipes have demonstrated over and over again - faith in Dorie's expertise pays off! :) This was the MOST moist, delicious, succulent roast chicken I have ever served! I wish I better understood the science (is it all about the temperature? the high-sided dutch oven?), but regardless - this bird was delectable, moist, beautiful to look at, incredibly aromatic, and will definitely be repeated over and over and over again in this kitchen!


A couple of notes:
The baguette trick seemed to work well in keeping the chicken lifted up out of the drippings; however, it didn't turn out to be the chef's treat I was hoping for. The chicken rested on 2 thick slices of baguette placed in the bottom of the dutch oven. When the bird was done, I removed the chicken then used a spatula to lift out the 2 beautifully crusty, mahogany discs. I scooped the chicken liver from the cavity, where it had gently cooked and was beautifully tender and perfectly cooked, and tried smearing some of the liver onto the gorgeously browned crust... but the bread was incredibly greasy. I mean *incredibly* greasy. Bleh. I gleefully ate the liver with sprinkle of fleur de sel and a fork. :)

My carrots and potatoes could have stood another 10-15 minutes of cooking time. Duly noted.

The shallots were my favorite part of the veggies. :) Will add more of them next time.

We thoroughly enjoyed this meal... this is an EXCELLENT recipe, destined to be repeated a LOT! Thanks again, Dorie!

Marie-Helene’s Apple Cake - AMFT

Dorie, Dorie, Dorie... again, your recipe is not only absolutely delicious, but you've managed to fill my house with a most amazing apple-y, homey, comforting aroma!!! This smells SO GOOD while it's baking!

As others have mentioned, assembling the ingredients in the baking pan struck fear in my heart that I had managed to somehow screw it up. The proportion of batter to chunky apples seemed wrong... and I read the recipe, re-read it, and re-read it again before I convinced myself I hadn't made a measuring mistake. Into the oven it went, all bumpy and knobby with apple.

This isn't like any other apple cake I've made. It's chockablock with big, chunky apples - more like a traditional apple pie - but enough tender, soft cake to hold them together, with a browned crusty edge that's just to die for. :) It was apparent in the eating that these were apples "divers" - 4 different (diverse) varieties of apple, as the recipe indicates, clearly makes a difference.

This will definitely be a part of this family's Thanksgiving meal this year! Thanks again, Dorie!

Hachis Parmentier - AMFT

True confessions: I grew up on "Shepherd's pie" made with browned hamburger, a package of frozen green beans, and a can of tomato soup thinned with some water, dumped into a casserole dish and topped with mashed potatoes sprinkled with paprika. In true family tradition, I've probably made it 100 times for my children as they grew up. So as I read Dorie's recipe for this version of "Shepherd's pie", I was intrigued... homemade beef bouillon... *sausage*?!... and *CHEESE*?! And then, bake until "... the potatoes have developed a golden brown crust (the best part)." GET ME TO THE STORE!

And off I went...

One of the things I adore about Dorie's recipes is that, so far, there isn't a thing I've tried that doesn't infuse the whole house with aroma. Sometimes it's sweet, sometimes savory, sometimes sexy, and sometimes it's all about the perfume of butter... but this was all about comfort. Soft, beefy, cheesy comfort.

I loved this. It was nothing like Grandmom's/Mom's shepherd's pie - there's a refined complexity to this dish that my shepherd's-pie-sheltered palate never thought was possible to associate with "shepherd's pie". And Dorie is absolutely right about "the best part". Delicious.

For next time, I won't use the casserole dish pictured... it was just a touch too shallow and big, which I think spread the meat filling a shade too thin, and allowed the potatoes to absorb too much of that brothy goodness below.

I need to get my kids to come home so I can make this for them and fix their shepherd's-pie-sheltered palates!!! Ali? Sarah? :)

Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup - AMFT

Wow, wow, wow! This was really fabulous! Really quite easy to put together, and an interesting combination of flavors I've never experimented with in my own kitchen (star anise has never before had a spot on my spice shelf!). The coconut-y chicken broth base was heavenly - both in aroma and flavor... and a few drops of asian chili oil added a beautiful warmth. Absolutely wonderful! (Side note: we loved the gougeres so much, I made them as an accompaniment to the soup. A little non-traditional, maybe, but YUMMY! :-) ) This one's destined to be repeated over and over again in this kitchen!

Gerard's Mustard Tart - Around my French Table

Wellllll... John & I made it. And we had fun doing it. And it was gorgeous. :) I have to admit, it doesn't rank in my top ten favorite Dorie recipes, but John ate two portions and all the leftovers... with gusto! If it were me, I could think of a lot of other tart fillings .....

Yeah, yeah, whatever. John here, having wrestled the keyboard away from Lisa. 8-)

I'm a mustard person. Lisa is not.
I could eat mustard with a spoon (and have). Lisa sometimes applies delicate mustard whiffs after thinking long and hard about it.

And that's the thing. If you love mustard, you will love this tart. If you keep mustard at arm's length, this probably isn't the one for you. Here's a litmus test: If you like mustard on your fried egg sandwich, absolutely give this a try.

Making this dish is so straightforward that we really can't think of much to mention concerning construction. A few observations however: Next time we might add just a tiny amount of fresh rosemary to the egg mixture. We really didn't get any rosemary flavor in the finished product, and were expecting it. Maybe also reserve a bit of the egg mixture, add the carrots and leeks to the top, and then drizzle with the reserved egg. In the oven, some of our carrots and leeks became a little dried out.

Finally, oddly, we'd never steamed leeks before and they turned out amazing. Cool technique, and can think of several omelets that would be awesome with those leeks!

Coconut Lime Chicken with Slaw

It's Labor Day! For me, this sparks a new energy as we anticipate the return to sub-100 degree temperatures here in Arizona. Still... it's hot on Labor Day - 7pm now and 102 degrees. So today I was again on the lookout for a refreshing, cool, not-boring meal for that meal we typically eat during the hottest part of the day. I turned to the Cook's Illustrated "30 Minute Meals" and settled on this one. JACKPOT! Spicy enough (with an admittedly slightly heavy hand on the Asian chili garlic sauce) to excite the palate, but balanced by the cooling elements of the cilantro, mango and slaw. The crunch from the cabbage and cashews contrasted well with the scrumptious soft, moist poached chicken... this was absolutely delicious and is a keeper!