Spiced Squash, Fennel and Pear Soup for a Celebration!
October 24, 2010 at 12:14 am | Posted in french fridays w dorie, groups, other stuff, savory things, soups | 20 Comments
Today is a special day for one of my favorite cookbook authors…it’s Dorie Greenspan’s birthday! Happy birthday, Dorie! A few TWDers and FFWDers have put together a sort of virtual progressive dinner party, all made from Dorie’s new book, Around my French Table, to celebrate.
I chose to take on a soup course, and made her Spiced Squash, Fennel and Pear Soup. I’m no stranger to squash soup, and usually I’ll use a butternut, but a crazy lumpy, bumpy golden hubbard caught my eye at the market and wound up coming home with me. I’ve never made squash soup with the additions of pear and fennel before…they brought a delicious sweetness to the pot. Don’t forget to toast up your squash seeds as garnish. This is a great, warming soup that gets even more flavorful the next day.
For the recipe for this delicious soup, see page 80 of Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan. Holly from Phe.MOM.enon worked hard to coordinate this party, and will have the whole round-up on her site!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Caramel Pumpkin Pie
October 19, 2010 at 9:13 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 25 Comments
It wouldn’t normally occur to me to eat pumpkin pie before Thanksgiving, but when I read that Janell of Mortensen Family Memoirs chose Caramel Pumpkin Pie for TWD this week, it sounded like a pretty tasty idea! I wouldn’t say that I have a “favorite” pumpkin pie recipe…I think I just haven’t cooked enough turkey day dinners out on my own yet to have found my idea of squashy perfection (although I’ve rarely met a pumpkin pie I didn’t like!). I am doing dinner here at the house this year, though, so I’m counting this as research.
This twist with this pumpkin pie is that half the sugar is taken to a dark caramel. Between that and the rum that’s added, you get a darker custard and a very different taste than with regular pumpkin pie. I know better than to mess with holiday traditions, so maybe that’s not for everyone, but my husband and I just loved it. Can’t wait to polish it off tonight, chilled, and with a big plop of whipped cream!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Mortensen Family Memoirs. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
French Fridays with Dorie: Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup
October 15, 2010 at 1:48 pm | Posted in french fridays w dorie, groups, savory things, soups | 18 Comments
I may have skipped last week’s French Fridays with Dorie, but there was no way I was going to skip this week’s. I crave soup went the weather gets cool, and this Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup is full of flavors I love– chiles, cilantro and coconut.
There’s a lot of flavor packed into this coconut broth, as it’s infused with ginger, cilantro stems or root, coriander, star anise and peppercorns. I threw in some lime leaves and a bashed lemongrass stalk, too. I went heavy on the lime juice and fish sauce to give it extra twang. This is the kind of soup where, when you’re almost to the bottom, you set down your spoon and pick up the bowl to slurp up the rest of the broth and noodles.
For the recipe, see Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out my fellow francophiles’ posts!
Oh, and by the way, my friend Lauren and I went to one of Dorie’s book events in NYC the other night. She’s so warm and she’s truly happy to meet us. If she’s on the road near you, don’t miss her! And she’s funny, too…if this cookbook thing doesn’t work out for her (ha!), there might be a career in stand-up waiting.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Fold-Over Pear Torte
October 12, 2010 at 11:37 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 21 Comments
Wow…it takes a move to make me realize just how much kitchen crap I have. Seriously, boxes and boxes of stuff I never touch. I have an 11-inch square pan that I used once eight years ago! I have five flats of unopened Ball jars (was I thinking I’d be the next Smucker’s or something??). A lot of it went into storage when we moved to Sydney four years ago, and it didn’t come out when we moved back. Until now. My latest project is sorting though it…what to keep handy, what to put in the basement and what to say goodbye to. Housing Works has already gotten three boxes full!
One thing I’ll never give up is my six-inch springform, which I found just in time to make a half-size of the Fold-Over Pear Torte that Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen chose for TWD this week. This was the first recipe in a long time where I didn’t know what the heck I was making! I couldn’t really tell by reading the recipe how it would turn out, and there isn’t a picture in the book for a visual clue.
After muddling through and crossing my fingers, here it is in a nutshell: fresh pear chunks, nuts and dried fruit are suspended in a rummy custard-like batter, and the whole thing is encased in flaky pie dough. It’s assembled in a springform for high sides to hold all that fruit and custard. It may look like a deep dish pizza, but it tastes like pure autumn. A delicious surprise out of the oven!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Laws of the Kitchen. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Double Apple Bundt Cake
October 5, 2010 at 12:27 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 26 Comments
Lynne of Honey Muffin keeps the autumn recipes coming with her Double Apple Bundt pick for TWD. This is kind of a spicy sister to the Fresh Apple Cake I made a couple of weeks ago…that one was flavored with vanilla, but this one has all the classic fall spices goin’ on.
This cake is “double apple” because in addition to fresh apple, it calls for a heaping helping of apple butter. Since I didn’t have nearly enough on hand, I used unsweetened apple sauce instead. I was a little worried, since they’re not really the same consistency, but as it turned out, all was fine. I also swapped out about a quarter of the AP for whole wheat flour, which these days I find myself doing probably more often than I remember to tell you about.
All in all, a delicious fall cake…and it’s a good keeper, too, as it’s super-moist. For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Honey Muffin. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
French Fridays with Dorie: Gougères
October 1, 2010 at 5:45 pm | Posted in french fridays w dorie, groups, other savory, savory things | 21 Comments
Yeah, that’s right– a new Dorie book means a new group! Laurie started up French Fridays with Dorie (which, for some reason, I keep calling “French Fries with Dorie”), a weekly celebration of the recipes in Dorie Greenspan’s gorgeous new book Around my French Table.
Things have been more than a little disorganized here…boxes are everywhere, butcher paper is tied and stacked like bales of hay, and the kitchen counter is pretty messy. I thought I might miss the first party, and have to skip making these gougères. Then I thought again, and realized I could really use a glass of wine and some snacks!
Gougères are little cheesey puffs made with a pâte à choux base. If you’ve never prepared choux paste before, it’s not hard (I even made this batch by hand), and in my opinion it’s one of the most fun things to make! I used gruyère cheese in mine, but you can use whatever grating cheese flots your boat. Salty and good!
For the recipe, see Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out my fellow francophiles’ posts!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Tarte Fine
September 28, 2010 at 12:37 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 23 Comments
So, our move is done, and we are now residents of Fort Greene, Brooklyn! Thanks for all the good wishes in your comments last time. Apart from a couple chunks taken out of a hall wall by a dresser, all went surprisingly well. We have moved five times in four years, so I’m pretty good at packing up by now, but I’m looking forward to not doing it again for at least another ten years! Now to finish tackling the home improvements…
These Tartes Fines were the last TWD project to come out of my old apartment oven. I had some puff pastry in the freezer already, so they were fast and so simple to crank out, which I really appreciated last week. (Thanks, Leslie!) If you have made other puff and apple desserts, then you will know what a great combo these two things are. Really browned and crisped puff is the way to go. If you have either a little apple butter or almond frangipane hiding in the fridge, then a schmear underneath the apples is a nice extra touch.
For the recipe for this super easy, yet totally elegant dessert, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Lethally Delicious. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Coffee-Break Muffins
September 21, 2010 at 12:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, muffins/quick breads, tuesdays with dorie | 27 Comments
There are some mornings when one cup of coffee just won’t do the trick. That’s what these Coffee-Break Muffins are for. They are chock full o’ brewed coffee (Chock Full o’Nuts, perhaps??) and instant espresso, and give you that double-shot kick in the pants that’s sometimes needed.
I’ve been having a lot of these mornings lately. Remember when I said I was busy? Well, I still am…running around so much during the day, my brain can’t switch off when it’s time to go to bed. The reason I haven’t been working this summer is that my husband and I have finally found our own place! Seriously, House Hunters could have done a freakin’ multi-year series on just us, but now we’ve closed the deal on a cool old house in Brooklyn. “Old” being the key word…there are a zillion things that need fixing up, so I’ve been shuttling back and forth to get estimates from painters, plumbers, contractors, floor refinishers, you name it…reasearching and meeting these guys is a full time-time job itself. The work has hardly begun, but our apartment lease is almost up, so we move this weekend–yikes! Oh yeah, and we have almost no furniture…we’ll be eating dinner in camping chairs in the middle of a construction zone for awhile. Should be an adventure!
It’s a good thing I made a full batch of these muffins. They are great freezer food and can be defrosted in a matter of seconds for a quick caffeine jolt! For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Chocoholic Anonymous, as it was Rhiani’s choice for TWD. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
September 20, 2010 at 12:21 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 19 Comments
OK, I am the first to say that my Fresh Apple Cake cake looks an awful lot like a meatloaf, but it is in fact the perfect sweet way to welcome fall and apple season! I scaled back the recipe to make a standard loaf cake, but to tell the truth, we could have easily polished off a full-sizer. It’s moist texture reminded me of banana bread (and I even swapped a third of the oil for unsweetened applesauce), but the taste here is all about apples, walnuts and vanilla. Yes– vanilla, a welcome change from the usual cinnamon! A brown sugar glaze makes an addictively sticky topping.
This is the last cake the group is baking from Southern Cakes. Not all of the cakes I’ve made from this book have been so successful, so I’m glad to go out on a high note with this one. Speaking of going out on a high note, this is also the last cake I’ll be baking with The Cake Slice group. I’ll certainly still be following the other blogs as they move on to the next book, but I think I need to ease off the baking commitments for a bit. Thanks so much, Katie, for all the hard work in keeping this group going– I’ve had such a great time!
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our apple cakes this month!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Summery Peach Upside-Downer
September 14, 2010 at 12:06 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 30 Comments
Sabrina of Superfluous chose Cranberry Upside-Downer For TWD this week. This cranberry cake sounds sooo good, but it will have to wait for cooler weather (and cranberry season). In the meantime, I made Dorie’s summertime version with peaches and raspberries for Labor Day weekend. I don’t know about you, but I think it looks like sunshine!
The topping isn’t caramelized like it is in a pineapple upside-down cake, but it infuses the fruit with buttery sweetness, all the same. And the cake is soft and full of cinnamon. I made a half recipe, and it was all R & I could do not to eat it all in one go! The cranberry version is definitely making my fall baking list.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Superfluous. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
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