French Fridays (on Saturday): My Go to Beef Daube

Posted by marocmama on Dec 18, 2010 in International Food | 4 comments

Beef stew is one of my very favorite foods and when I saw this recipe on the docket for December I was so excited to try another type of stew.  Stew also is very similar to Moroccan tajine (albeit with different spices) and I generally face little resistance from my husband!  I made this dish Monday night when we were having company over for dinner.  I sadly completely underestimated the amount of time this needed to cook.  I worked late and ran home to quickly get it started.  

This is a hard dish for someone who doesn’t eat pork or drink alcohol.  I even considered completely bypassing it for that reason.  Reading posts from others who have made this already I was nervous about how mine would turn out.

I didn’t follow the recipe to a ‘T’.  For the meat I used a package of Country Style Beef Ribs, trimming the fat.  This was a good choice- the meat became very tender even with a shorter cooking time than recommended.  I also didn’t have cheese cloth so had to settle for a bouquet garni tied up in the pot..oh and garlic yea…only had pre-chopped.  The biggest hurdle to overcome was the pork and alcohol.  I simply omitted the bacon that is called for (though can imagine how it would taste!).  To substitute the wine, I used apple cherry juice from the fridge and some apple cider vinegar for a little acid.  I also added some beef broth.  For vegetables I used carrots and potatoes, if I would have had parsnips I would have thrown them in.

I made some French bread crutons to scoop up the stew and they were a big hit.  Overall everyone really enjoyed this.  I wish that there would have been more because it would have made a great leftover! I’ll make this again for sure!

If you’re looking to pick up this book for the holidays it’s a fabulous gift!  Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours Anyone who loves cooking will love this book.  Check out some of the other great posts this week from French Fridays with Dorie.

I’d love it if you stopped by yesterday’s post and shared your favorite Mediterranean holiday/winter dessert.  There will be a different theme weekly and it’s a great way to find new recipes and blogs!   

French Fridays: Spiced Butter Glazed Carrots

Posted by marocmama on Dec 10, 2010 in All other posts | 6 comments

I missed posting a recipe last week because I’ve been down and out with pnuemonia for the last two weeks.  I most likely won’t make the leek and potato soup that’s on tap this month in my weeks absence.  Today was the first day I have been feeling much like being up and around in the kitchen.  I think that a little sickness was good for my creativity in the kitchen though!  I have been able to develop a handful of new recipes and test them with great results!

This recipe however is not my own.  Today like every Friday, the recipe comes from Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.  I was really excited to try this dish but a little apprehensive too.  I’m not big on cooked carrots.  The recipe was really easy and it made a great side dish to a chicken meal that I had made for lunch.

Participants in this cooking club do not publish the complete recipes but I would encourage you to pick up a copy of the cookbook.  I have 1/2 the cookbook dog-eared to try! Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours

French Fridays with Dorie: Semolina Caramel Cake

Posted by marocmama on Nov 26, 2010 in All other posts | 5 comments

The original recipe from Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours calls for Cream of Wheat but all I had was fine grain semolina. In hindsight I should have added a little bit less semolina or more milk because it sucked the milk right up.
 

Creamy with the vanilla getting swirled in..

 
I also should have made sure to whisk it more then I did because I ended up with a few clumps.  I enjoyed that part but I don’t think that everyone would.  The final tribulation I had was in making the caramel.  I should have added a little more sugar.  The recipe says to wait until the sugar/water mix turns amber.  I waited almost 10 minutes and it never got amber, only a slight brown tint.  I gave up at that point and poured it into the baking dish.
 

Ooops …not enough stirring
 
Overall I was happy with how it turned out.  It was tasty and an interesting different dessert.  It’s also pretty impressive and doesn’t require a whole lot of work.  Raisins are not my favorite fruit but I’m imagining this cake with chopped up dates and maybe even some chopped almonds mixed in with it.
 

                                           This is just begging to be eaten
 

 
It took me a little while to figure out a strategy for cooking and posting a new recipe from this cookbook once a week, but now I really look forward to it.  I’m very excited to see what the new recipes are for next month.  Part of participating in this cooking club is that none of the complete recipes are posted, but if you would like them, a great cookbook to pick up is this one!  Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours from Dorie Greenspan.  I know Border’s had a great coupon this weekend and you can pick it up for $25.64 at Amazon (just follow the link!).  That’s a fantastic price and well worth it for this hefty cookbook full of great French recipes.  Check out some of the other great food bloggers who are participating here

French Fridays with Dorie: Potato Gratin

Posted by marocmama on Nov 12, 2010 in All other posts | 4 comments

I have been dying to share this all week.  I was on top of my game this week and made Dorie’s Potato Gratin on Monday night and it was ahhhmazing!  Even my kids were gobbling it up, gruyere cheese and all!  I also may have cheated and made next week’s recipe (a delicious roast chicken) the same night.  This recipe was incredibly simple.  

My first problem was how many potatoes to use.  I went with these 5.  The next problem was that I don’t have a mandolin so I had to cut these very thin by hand.  I used a softer yellow potato that would cook relatively fast.  Problem three, I was out of cooking butter so I had to use my butter spread.  The good news – everything turned out!  

After warming up the heavy cream mixture and layering it with the potatoes, I realized I forgot another step – to add salt and pepper between the layers!  Too late for that now, so I sprinkled some on top.



The final step is to top with gruyere.  So I live in Wisconsin, the dairy capital of the country.   We have a lot of cheese.  Gruyere happens to be one that we don’t have a lot of.  So I found some…and it cost me well..about $10 for a 1/2 pound.  On this shopping trip – there was a huge assortment of cheeses….

Gruyere wasn’t there.   It was hidden away with the other imported snotty cheeses.  We Wisconsinites like our local stuff.  Guess what…I really like gruyere!    So Wisconsin cheese artisans here’s a little plea from me…please make me some gruyere!  Or make me something like gruyere!  

The best part of this recipe is how simple it is, really only a handful of ingredients.  I made mine in a springform pan.  This wasn’t the best idea because it doesn’t have a tight seal but it did allow me to make sure all the liquid was cooked off.  Doesn’t that cheesy goodness look delicious??


This was easy to cut into wedges and serve. It was a little bit rich but there is a lot of cream in it.  I know that adding more salt and pepper and probably some herbs would have made a big flavor difference.  I’ll be making this again with those additions.  


I’m really enjoying these weekly cooking challenges and this cookbook.  If you are looking for a great cookbook for a foodie friend pick up Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.  If you’re interested in participating in the Friday challenges head over to French Friday’s with Dorie and join us!

French Fridays with Dorie: Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flan

Posted by marocmama on Nov 5, 2010 in All other posts | 2 comments

                 


I only caught one of the cooking weeks in October.  Last month each week had a specific recipe that everyone would make.  However, November there are four recipes and we each are left to pick which recipe we would like to make each week.  My first choice this week was Potato Gratin but I didn’t have the cream and cheese needed on hand.  So my second choice was the Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flan.  I’m posting extremely late today because well I just made these tonight!  


I’m not going to say the recipe was a fail because I made several alterations based on what I hand.  I did discover that I don’t really love pumpkin.  I mean I do love pumpkin, I just love it when it’s jacked up with sugar.  The real taste of pumpkin..not so much.  


I should have guessed this wasn’t go so well off the bat.  I didn’t have the heavy cream needed so I used my standard organic skim.  No gorgonzola because cheeses that are blue scare me, so I used crumbled goat cheese.  No walnuts, we’ll swap in some almonds there.  So already things are not the same.  I dutifully whisked the required ingredients together for a custard.  I prepared the boiling water for the water bath that these had to cook in.  Ramekins lined with butter- check.  Custard filled – check.  Cheese and nuts added – check.  Slide into oven – check.  

25 minutes later I was back to check.  I opened the oven to a wonderful smell but the flans looked well they looked the same way they did when I put them in.  I glanced up…I had turned the temperature dial on the oven but never switched it to bake.  #fail.  I did turn it on and came back 25 more minutes later and ta da they were done!!  


They had to cool a little bit but I was excited to check them out.  



I added a dallop of whole Greek yogurt and grabbed a little spoon to dig in.  They weren’t bad.  But, I didn’t love them.  It was the pumpkin for me that just didn’t taste well. it didn’t taste good.  I did like the addition of almonds but I only ate one and I don’t really want to eat anymore.   





So the record stands at 1 to 1 for French Fridays.  Let’s hope next week is a victory.


Stop by and check out some of the other link-ups for French Fridays with Dorie.  


If you would like to cook along make sure you pick up Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours and join the group!  

French Fridays with Dorie: Marie Helene’s Apple Cake

Posted by marocmama on Oct 29, 2010 in All other posts | 2 comments

I’ve always wanted a really good cookbook with easy French recipes.  I’ve tried a few recipes here and there, but most of them were time consuming and honestly a little intimidating.  I stumbled across this cooking club and thought well that looks like something I could do.  I am so glad that I did.  Honestly this cookbook is fantastic.  It has beautiful pictures and a really wide range of recipes that are easy.  I’ve got mine bookmarked to the hilt!  The recipe for this week was Marie Helene’s Apple Cake.  When I first looked through the cookbook this recipe immediately caught my eye, and it was a great recipe to start with.  I won’t be sharing the whole recipe here, but giving some highlights.  I highly recommend getting the book;  Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.  





It’s the tail-end of the apple season here in the Midwest but that means I scored some great deals on apples.  The recipe cites a mixture of apples as being the best and so that’s what I did.  


All it takes are a few simple ingredients, eggs, butter, sugar, and the like.  The original recipe also called for rum, but as we are halal household I omitted it and increased the amount of vanilla.  I finally had a good reason to use the Mexican pure vanilla extract my mom bestowed on me!  





Everything gets mixed up and placed into a spring form pan.  I topped mine with crushed almond powder. 
Bake for about an hour and….





Ta daaa! Mine is a little more brown because of the almonds but the flavor it gave was really a warm, toasty, nutty flavor.  



I whipped this up last night and couldn’t wait to dig in but…I got sick.  This morning I knew I couldn’t post my pictures and story without tasting it so guess what I had for breakfast….apple cake!  I warmed it up a little bit and mixed some Greek yogurt with powdered sugar on the side.  It was fantastic.  I don’t even like apple pie but this was out of this world, and the yogurt made me feel like it wasn’t so bad to have it for breakfast.  


I can’t wait for next week!  If you want to find more pictures of this week’s recipe or to join in on the fun come visit!