Shop like a pro - Ebelskivers

For some reasons that I am not culturally awar of, there is some kind of craze about Danish pancakes here. You can find the special pans, and mix to make them at home in every fancy culinary stores. However, I had actually never heard of them before seeing the pans in the store, or even seen anything like them for brunch.
I was even more suprised to find some frozen Danish pancakes at TJoes. I had to give them a try.
These were actually really good, crusty outside, and chewy inside, with notes of lemon zest. We had them with poached pears and chocolate sauce, and then again with Rasberry jam from Ardeche. Perfect happy Saturday morning breakfast.

Pineapple martini

Getting ready for le reveillon du 31. We are making a special martini,
with pineapple infused vodka, inspired by the house martini at Capital
Grill in Chestnut Hill.

Leek and potato soup - FFWDORIE

This is the most basic of French soups. I still don't understand why
leeks are so expensive in the US, they are among the most basic winter
vegetable in Europe. I skipped the chicken stock (not a fan of premade
stuff), and used only leeks, no oignon or garlic since I was all out
on that week. We had the perfect dinner after a cold New England
afternoon. The croutons are the best part!

Speculoos - FFWDORIE

I love speculoos, but I had never thought about making my own...
This was a very easy recipe to follow. I had no problem rolling the
dough, or shaping the cookies. The results was very satisfying. I
think I would twick the spice mix to match the taste I remember, and
probably omit the ground cloves, but the texture was right on. These
cookies made very nice Holiday treats.

Une vraie pizza

Une pizza Marguerite, une pate fraiche maison sauce aux cepes. Le
bonheur.

La Gaudriole
Pizzeria
Place de l'eglise
La Gaude

Shop like a pro: Cardullo's in Cambridge

I walked in this store out of curiosity. I was intrigued by the
English Christmas goodies I saw in the window. What a find!!!
Cardullo's is my new favorite place in New England. This is a real
Caverne d'Ali Baba for me. They have everything European expats may
miss from their country. Or at least, everything I miss: Cote d'or
chocolate, madeleine de Commercy St-Michel, Frenchconfit de canard,
tons of jams, teas, and I didn't even look at the charcuteries and
pastas. Oh, and did I mention they have REAL TimTams...

Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux - FFWDORIE

Roast chicken. I think I was probably eating one roast chicken with potatoes cooked in chicken drippings every week when I grew up. What I liked even better was to dip a piece of fresh baguette in the leftover juice at the end of the meal. Ahhhh, it was so good... I really makes me wonder why I had never made a roast chicken by myself before.

I bought a nice looking fat organic chicken. It was so big, it took all the space of my Le Creuset. I could not even put the lid on. I added the garlic, some rosemary, and herbes de provence, et Voila. Perfect roasted chicken.

It smelled incredible, was really easy to make, and the juice was as good as the chicken from my childhood. I wish I had a bigger pot to add some potatoes in there.

I will definitively make this again.

Potato Gratin - FFWDORIE

All right, gratin dauphinois, another traditionnal French dish that anyone should be able to make. Did I say anyone? Of course, this is without taking into account my inability to cook potatoes properly...
How can I not make this right. You only need to slice up some potatoes, cover them in warm milk/cream, add some salt, pepper, and cook. How hard can that be?

Well. I bought the right kind of potatoes this time, delicious organic idaho potatoes, and sliced them up nicely. I made the cream and milk infused with garlic, and layered the potatoes with the cream mixture, adding salt and pepper. No cheese please (there is a controvesy on whether to add cheese or not, personally, I prefer without).
Et hop, in the oven. So what did I do wrong? I am not sure...

It took forever to cook the potatoes; they were not done (after 1h30mn in the oven). And there was too much liquid left (I should have measured I guess). Overall, the garlic infused cream was a great idea, it adds some extra depth to the potatoes, and my gratin was ok. I will leave it longer in the oven next time.

Marie-Helene apple cake-FFWDORIE

This is my kind of cake! It takes 5mn to make, and it's full of apple goodness, with a little bit of cake in between.

I made mini cakes for my daughter Halloween party. I replaced the rum by cinamon, cut the apples in smaller chunks, et hop, in the oven for 25mn. This recipe made 12 muffin size cakes. Everyone loved them. This recipe is a keeper.

Hachis Parmentier - FFWDORIE

Today's recipe was hachis parmentier. A French classic; I am French, it should be a piece of cake. I forgot that it was also a full moon. I think I should stay away from the kitchen on full moon days.

First, my ground beef and sausages did not break into small bits, as they usually do. Then, I realized I had bought and cooked the wrong kind of potatoes after I started mashing them. My purée was a biphasic matter, half too soft, with pieces of hard potatoes (do not use Trader Joe's golden potatoes for mashed potato). Yuk. How could I fail my mashed potatoes, and my guests who came for the hachis parmentier were already waiting in the living room, arghhhh.

 

The final hachis parmentier looked ok, and tasted ok too. My guests finished it all.

For the record, I also manage to screw up the chocolate sauce for my poached pears. I am sure this had to do with the full moon.

Other bonne idee: you can use duck confit in place of the steak, it's delicious.

Gerard Mustar Tart - FFWDORIE

Better late than never...

Gougeres - FFWDORIE

I had gougeres for the fist time in SF. My friend had made some for our first Dinner Du Monde (DDM). It was instant success and love. I have made gougeres several times since then, mostly using a recipe from epicurious.

Today, I am using the recipe from Dorie Greenspan new book, which was selected as the first entry for the cooking group French Friday with Dorie. I am very excited to be part of this group, as I have been a long time fan of Dorie's blog. These gougeres look gorgeous, and I had a very hard time resisting the delicious smell of warm cheese and pate a choux that lingered all day in the house. As a new improvement, I used a small cookie dough scoop to shape the gougeres. It made the process some much faster, and cleaner, I love it.

My First Post

This is it. After all this time perusing other people's blogs, and dreaming of having my own, one day...
I am hoping that this blog will be like an electronic cookbook, allowing me to share my favorite recipes online.

Bon Appetit,

Agnes