FFWD: Savory Cheese and Chive Bread

I have been horrible at keeping up with French Fridays with Dorie (FFWD). I love the book, I love Dorie but my problem is that I don't love cooking. My passion lies with baking and sweets, so I have truthfully not had much inclination to make a lot of the recipes that this group has made.

That being said, here is my (late) savory cheese bread, found on pages 34-36 of Around my French Table. I didn't have chives so I omitted them, but it was still delicious! I'm going to try my hardest to keep up with the group, even if I only opt to do the sweet, baking recipes. I am going to try and make the Salted Butter Break-Ups this weekend and hopefully post that soon.

Wish me luck getting back on the FFWD Bandwagon! Be sure to check out FFWD Blogroll to see how the other group members made out this week.

FFWD: Gratin Dauphinois

These are the best scallopped potatoes I have ever had. I could have eaten the whole thing myself! The dish smelled fantastic in the oven. I used both rosemary and thyme and the smell reminded me of roasting a turkey. I think this will be making an appearance at Christmas Dinner instead of the usual mashed potatoes. They scream "comfort food"! The garlic-cream marries so well with the potatoes for a dish that is as beautiful as it is delicious. The tender potatoes are so smooth and so much easier on the arms than mashing!

All you do is simmer the cream and the garlic, slice your potatoes, arrange in your baking dish, sprinkle with S & P & herbs, pour the garlic cream over the potatoes, cover with shredded cheese and bake to bubbly perfection. I used Mozzarella cheese. The dark-golden-brown topping was crisp and flavorful, providing just the right amount of textural contrast to the white, creamy potato slices.

The best part is that I got a chance to use my "new" Swissmar Borner V-Slicer Mandoline that I got suckered into buying at the PNE (yearly expo in Vancouver) in the summer. It's taken me 3 months to finally use it. I bought it in August but have been a little scared to use it based on horror stories involving sliced fingertips. After making this gratin, I am no longer afraid. Now I want to find every excuse to use this V-Slicer.

FFWD: Marie-Hélène's Apple Muffins

This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe is for an apple cake. I decided to go with apple muffins instead, since we are a muffin-loving household. I don't think this recipe was supposed to be made into muffin form. The batter was packed with apples which made it a little too moist and delicate so I had to tweak the batter as I went to make it sturdy enough for the muffin tins.

Although they don't have a high-domed top, they rose nicely and baked up with a flat-ish, wide, slightly crispy top, just the way I like them. I used a little whole wheat flour and crushed up cereal (from the bottom of the box) but you could hardly notice it. I like throwing in a handful of All Bran cereal to most of the muffins I make - for a little added more fibre. Overall, they were pretty good, but next time I will stick to the cake version.

FFWD: Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

This soup reminded me a lot of the "Pho Ga" at the Vietnamese restaurant in our neighborhood. Our family loves Pho. We love it so much that we usually just order the noodles and soup, no meat. In the non-meat version, tthey usually add broccoli florets and carrots to the broth and cook until crisp tender. I'm not sure if that's authentic Vietnamese, but I love how the veggies soak up all the yummy soup flavors and yet retain their crispness and brightness. I meant to add some to this soup but alas, I forgot at the last minute. I did however intentionally leave out the spicy stuff because I'm a wimp. This tasted excellent with a few squirts of Hoisin sauce and some extra soy sauce.

The recipe can be found in Dorie Greenspan's new book: Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. Once you have this book, be sure to join in the cookalong at French Fridays with Dorie.

Also please check out my new group - The Copycat Club - and send me links to your copycat posts for a monthly round-up. The first round-up was on October 7th HERE. We're going to make restaurant faves in our own kitchens and share our adventures and successes. Contact me at starrysugar@hotmail.com or leave me a comment on the Copycat Club page to grab the badge and be added to the blogroll.

FFWD: Gérard's Mustard Tart

This is my first French Fridays (FF) post! We are starting in on Dorie Greenspan's new book - Around My French Table (AMFT).



I'm especially excited because Dorie selected the October 2010 recipes herself! It's so cool to have the author interacting with our blogalong group. To be honest, I would have never bought this book if not for this group.
1) I prefer baking over cooking
2) I'm not a huge fan of French food

But I *AM* a huge fan of Dorie's, so here I am. Challenging myself and widening my palate's horizons. This tart was a nice ease-into the group. It was something I'm used to; Something a lot like a quiche. I used 1/2 the amount of mustard called for in the recipe because I served it to my 3 year old and didn't want to overwhelm his tastebuds. It was fragrant and delicious in its balance of smooth, eggy filling and al dente crunch of the carrots and leeks.

Now that I've got my feet wet I'm looking forward to the other recipes this book has to offer. The beautiful food photos alone are worth the $25 in my opinion.