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!