Chunky Beets and Icy Cold Onions

 Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table Recipe 17

This is not a beet salad.  This is potato salad with beets in place of potatoes and it does not work and it does not taste good and you should just not waste your time with this recipe.  Parsely, by the way, should not have been an option if you don't have oregano.  It did not work in the least. What a waste of beets.

Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table Recipe 16

The first red flag went up pretty early- why is Dorie having me put onions, garlic, and spices in the pot with chicken broth and coconut milk?  Why are we not cooking the onion and garlic and blooming the spices first to add more depth and flavor?  I read the instruction 3 times before moving on to make sure I was reading it correctly.  I was, and went ahead with Dorie against my better judgement.  Maybe it's a cultural difference in cooking, what do I know?  This recipe was annoying right from the get-go.  The prep work took an absurd amount of time (or, rather, more than i anticipated) even though it looks on paper like it's not going to be that much.  Dorie's game plan here was bascially throw everything in a pot until all is cooked and it is hot.  Ok, the noodles were cooked seperately and added in at the end.  There was no building of flavor here, just adding of flavor, which irked. If there is one thing i've learned about soups it's to build flavor.  When it comes down to it, you are eating chicken and rice noodles in a boring broth.  Yes, onions are there, but with so little flavor that they're worthless.  Does this sound like something you want to eat?  I bet Dorie doesn't make this for herself.  I'd be shocked if she did.  What's more is that Dorie lists additions to the soup, toppings, under the "optional" heading.  This includes things like thai basil and bean sprouts.  The additions, to me, are not optional.  This soup needs serious help and at least some of the optional additions should have been mandatory. Does this soup get better on day two?  No, in fact, eating the leftovers was culinary torture.

Creamy Mushrooms and Eggs

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table Recipe 15

Even though I didn't want yet another recipe with heavy cream in it, I decided to go ahead because I'd like to try more egg recipes and i had mushrooms leftover from my quiche that i had to get through.  Actually, it was Paul who chose this recipe and I am glad he did.  The mushrooms are cooked with thyme and heavy cream, salt and pepper, and they were the highlight of the recipe.  The mushrooms sit on a lightly toasted slice of brioche or challah (challah, in my case), which could have been toasted just a little bit more, an easy adjustment.  On top of the mushrooms you have a poached egg.  I imagine a fried egg would work just as well. The recipe was simple, the flavors came together well, it was quick, it was easy, it was satisfying, and relatively light.

Speculoos

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table Recipe 14

I chose to make these cookies because they seemed a to me a signature dessert of Dorie's.  Plus, I was interested to find out what a cinnamon sugar cookie tasted like in comparison to other spice cookies, like gingersnaps.  With the addition of a room temperature egg, which was left out of the book at printing time, the dough was easy to make.  I rolled it out to 1/4-inch thickness as instructed, and used a 1 1/4-inch cookie cutter and got about 36 cookies.  Somehow, with the same dough thickness and same sized cookie cutter, Dorie gets 70 cookies.  No matter.  I actually have fancy hand-carved speculaas molds, but it takes me a very long time to bake a batch of cookies when I have to mold each cookie with no errors, one by one- so I stuck with what Dorie was using.  The cookies baked up quickly and cooled fairly quickly, which meant we could eat them sooner.  We ate them at a fairly rapid pace over three days, and at least for me the quality/flavor deteriorated as time went on- though only slightly.  I was still perfectly content eating these on day three.  Paul thought they tasted like a cinnamon version of Social Tea (Nabisco) cookies, and noted that they would go well with tea.  We did have them with tea and they do function as more of a tea cookie than as a snacking cookie.  There was something addictive about them- i wanted to keep eating them (maybe because they are thin?) even though I didn't think they were particularly special.  No doubt, these cookies are good, and I might even make them again, but I would definitely increase the spice level.  I like my spice cookies to have more kick (I am a huge fan of ginger cookies, snap or no snap), and with a little tweaking, these could be real winners.

Chicken, Apples, and Cream à la Normande with Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes with Garlic

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table Recipes 12 & 13

The chicken smelled great when I was cooking it in the sauce, which consisted primarily of apples, heavy cream, shallots, and brandy.  The sauce was very good, and i'd be pleased to make this again, it just needed a slight flavor boost to take it from good to very good.  The chicken poached in the sauce and was in danger of overcooking before the sauce was finished and I had to pull it off the heat and onto a plate with tented foil.  I did end up slightly overcooking the chicken, but not too badly.  As for the Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes, I had never cooked with these vegetables before which are not at all like artichokes but more so like potatoes.  The recipe was easy to put together and I kept the chokes in the oven longer than suggested by Dorie, but they still could have used more time.  Despite the fact that when I was peeling the chokes they didn't seem so hard (in fact, a few broke in half while doing so), it turns out they need a lot of time in the oven.  Mine were slightly harder than desired.  The taste however, was good.  In addition to garlic, they were tossed in olive oil and seasoned with rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper.  I'd try this recipe again.

Mushroom and Shallot Quiche

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table recipes 10 & 11

This quiche came out well and there were no issues with the recipe- it worked. The tart dough, however, did not lend well to the quiche- it didn't add good flavor or texture, though I assure, I made it correctly.  This just might have been better with a different crust or perhaps as a frittata.  This recipe calls for scallions, but I didn't have any on hand so I skipped them- I think now that they are not optional but instead necessary.  The taste of the quiche was good, but for all the butter, heavy cream, and gruyere cheese, you want it to be delicious.  You want all those calories to count.  Instead the quiche was somewhat lackluster.  Mushroom and shallot is a good combination for a quiche, but i'd try another recipe before I returned to this one.

Long and Slow Apples

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table: Recipe 9

This recipe is called Long and Slow Apples because  the apples cook in the oven, in ramekins, for two hours.  It's a shortening of another recipe called twenty-four hour apples.  You slice apples thin, stack them in layers in the ramekins coating them with melted butter and a sugar mixture which has ginger and coriander added in.  Orange zest is optional, and I chose to use it.  I filled the ramekins to the top but after two hours in the oven they had shrunk so that the ramekins were only one-third full.  The apples can be eaten hot, cold, or room temperature.  Not a fan of warm fruit generally, we opted for room temperature.  A whipped cream was added to the top right before we were ready to eat.  The whipped cream was good but the apples failed to impress.  They were tasty before they went in the oven, Fuji's from the Farmer's Market, but they were lackluster when they came out.  I confess I did not use the entire sugar mixture, and I also did not use all the melted butter.  And for that I am glad because the apples tasted way too buttery, and in a bad way.  I'm usually quite fond of the taste of a lot of butter, but in this case it tasted not only unnecessary, but unwelcome.  I didn't finish my dessert because of this.  This recipe was a disappointment and I do not recommend it.

Mussels and Chorizo With or Without Pasta

Around My French Table Recipe 8

 This meal was made truly in the French spirit since we bought nearly all the ingredients today at the Farmer's Market: mussels, chorizo, red pepper, onion, garlic, thyme and the accompanying bread (we chose "without pasta").  This recipe was a cinch to make.  The broth was surprisingly flavorful and contained white wine and canned tomatoes (my non-farmers market items).  What really brought a lot of the flavor was the chorizo and it was an essential component of the dish. We found the the best way to enjoy this meal was to remove the mussels from their shells and add the meat to our bowls of broth, making it like a soup or stew, at which point it became easier to eat with a spoon.  Because it was so flavorful and filling I would not recommend having this with pasta- besides, you're dealing with a broth more than a sauce.  Bread was a nice side for this dish and allowed you to sop up the extra broth.  Easily our best Dorie recipe so far, and we look forward to making this again. A real winner.

Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table: Recipe 7

New rule: no more cooking steak at home.  We are not good at cooking steak, don't especially care for it (we could take it or leave it), and it's not inexpensive.  We are not boycotting steak altogether and will gladly eat it if it is given to us as part of a tasting menu at a restaurant but it is not something we'd order of our own will.  We trust it in other's hands, just not our own.  Which is to say our steak did not come out especially well.  The sauce, however, came out fine.  I can't rightly judge this recipe because it was I who failed, presumably not the recipe.  If you are someone who is skilled at pan-cooking steak, by all means, give it a go.  It seems easy enough.  Please excuse the awful photo.

Creamy, Cheesy, Garlicky Rice with Spinach

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table: Recipe 6

Dorie introduces this recipe talking about risotto and warns not to order risotto in France because it will not really be risotto, but rather some approximation of it.  I have a pretty high success rate with making risottos and have never been of the mind that the continual stirring was a drawback. Plus, spinach is available at the farmers market so I thought I’d give this recipe a try.  Dorie suggests it serves 4 as a side or 2 as a main.  I made it for two as a main, but I wouldn’t do that again- this is more of a side.  You don’t want to eat a whole bowl of this. It gets monotonous and is not warm and comforting like risotto.  That said the recipe works in that the taste is good and the flavor combinations are a success.  The spinach is the standout flavor and the cheese, which seemed like much too much, is not overpowering, but complimentary.  A Swiss was called for and I used Emmentaler. The rice, onions, garlic, spinach and cheese were thinned out (if you can say that) with heavy cream.  One problem with the recipe was that Dorie has you cooking 1 cup of the rice in 3 ¼ cups chicken broth.  My rice was overcooked before it came close to absorbing all that liquid.  The rice was still salvageable and I had to strain the remaining broth out.  If I were to make this again, I’d start with 2 cups broth and keep a close eye on the absorption.  But I probably won’t be making this again.  Why?  Risotto tastes better, is cheaper, more comforting, and seemingly healthier. 

Vegetable Barley Soup with a Taste of Little India

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table: Recipe 5

While this soup did have good taste, it did not have good variety.  It relied heavily on the quality of the carrots, and the only other vegetables were parsnips, onion, and garlic.  Add in the barley, broth, and spices, and that is your soup.  It tastes fine, but not better than a regular vegetable barley soup (with more vegetables perhaps), and it gets somewhat monotonous.  What it needs is some chicken or shrimp- make it more like a meal and give it some more flair.  Because even though the flavor is good, the soup comes off as being somewhat boring.  It’s too bad.  

Provençal Olive Fougasse

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table: Recipe 4

The dough was easy to make and the instructions given were clear.  The dough was enough to make two breads, but they should be eaten the same day you bake them.  Luckily, you can leave half the dough in the fridge for up to three days so that you do not have to make two breads on the same day.  Olives, lemon zest and rosemary get mixed in with the dough all add good flavor to the bread with the exception of the rosemary.  There either wasn’t enough to make an impact or perhaps I minced it too fine.  I used coarse grey sea salt as my finishing salt of choice.  The dough was easy to handle and shape- didn’t give me any trouble at all.  The finished bread only needs about 20 minutes to cool after it comes out the oven before you can eat it.  I shared my first loaf with a number of people, all of whom really liked it.   Most surprising perhaps was that I like it, and I am not a big fan of olives, though I keep trying.  It was easy to just keep eating this bread and it didn’t need any accompaniments like butter or more olive oil.  This would be a nice appetizer for a get together or just a nice treat to snack on.  I will be making this again.  Hurrah! 

Skate with capers, cornichons, and brown butter sauce with Go-with-everything celery root puree

Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table Recipes 2 & 3

This is a good recipe, and also a quick and easy one.  The Skate cooks quickly, as it is a thin wing, and the sauce comes together quickly and easily as well.  I couldn’t find a skate wing anywhere near the 6 ounces that Dorie calls for and so compensated by getting the correct number of ounces, amounting to 4 skate wings.  The recipe is tasty for two reasons.  One, skate just has good flavor naturally, and two, the sauce was good.  The sauce consisted of all the things in the title- cornichons, brown butter, capers, and also sherry and grainy French mustard.  I’d certainly make this recipe again, but not anytime soon.  Currently, fishing for skate is not ecologically sound, but luckily, as far as I am concerned, the sauce can probably be paired with another white fish, and so this recipe, and wild skate, can live on.  Dorie suggested putting the finished skate on a bed of Go-with-everything celery root puree, so that is what I did. 

I liked using celery root- it was novel and I was glad to be able to get a new vegetable into my diet. Also, it tasted good.  This recipe involved boiling in a mixture of milk and water celery root, one russet potato, and one onion.  When tender, liquid is drained and vegetables are pureed in a food processor with salt, pepper, and butter.  That’s it.  While we did think this tasted good, neither of us thought it was special enough to make another time.  I bet this is even better if you are a farmer and do not have to buy celery root- more of a reason to make it again.  But if you are like me and have to go out of the way to get celery root, you may agree that is not special enough to warrant many remakes.