French Fridays with Dorie - Cheese-Topped Onion Soup

My family really enjoys french onion soup, so I knew they would the best judges for this recipe. The verdict....excellent!! This is a very simple dish to make and yet the results will truly impress you.

As part of French Fridays with Dorie we are cooking our way through Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.   Join us next week as we continue our journey.

French Fridays with Dorie - Broth-Braised Potatoes

This wonderfully rustic dish can go nicely with any roasted meat or poultry.  Just a few staple ingredients and you're done. I used a variety of fingerling potatoes and just before serving I drizzled them with the concentrated broth. The aroma in your kitchen will bring everyone to the dinner table on time....Bon Appétit!

As part of French Fridays with Dorie we are cooking our way through Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.  Next week we'll be making Gorgonzola-Apple Quiche.... join us.

French Fridays With Dorie - Quatre-Quarts

Dorie's version of Quatre-Quarts (pound cake) is crumbly and delicious.  A very simple and fast recipe.  A few simple ingredients and in 30 minutes I had made a wonderful treat for my family.  For a little kick I added 2 tablespoons of spiced rum...Salut! 

As part of French Fridays with Dorie we are cooking our way through Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.  Next week we'll be making Broth Braised Potatoes.....join us.

FFWD - M. Jacques' Armagnac Chicken

Monsieur Jacques' Armagnac Chicken is simple and delicious. It takes just a few ingredients to make what I believe will become a family favorite: chicken, onions, potatoes, carrots, spices, brandy or cognac.  Saute the vegetables slightly in a dutch oven, add the whole chicken and place in the oven for an hour. Can it get any easier than that?!

Since I joined French Fridays with Dorie I have learned so much; from how to "spatchcock" a cornish hen to how to stuff a pumpkin to make the most delicious appetizer, but this dish has to be not only one of the tastiest but the easiest to make. Next week we'll be making Quatre-Quarts (pound cake) from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.

Matafan - Potato Pancakes

For this French Friday with Dorie we made Matafans. There were several suggestions in Dorie's book, Around My French Table, on how to serve matafans (potato pancakes) as hors d'oeuvres.

However, when I read that her husband likes them with syrup; I was sold on the idea. Breakfast happens to be my favorite meal of the day,  when I actually have time to make it like on the weekends.  I love the combination of salty and sweet: potato pancakes with syrup and bacon!!  Yummy!! The pancakes are time consuming to make because you have to bake the potatoes first then strain them or put them through a food mill but definitely worth the results.  They are light, fluffy, and delicious with what topping you prefer.

Dorie Greenspan's Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good

This was a featured recipe on French Friday's With Dorie a couple of weeks ago.  Due to a really hectic week I was not able to make it.  However, it got such rave reviews from everyone I just had to try it for myself.  I must say that everything you may have heard or read about this recipe is true. It makes a beautiful presentation and it is so savory that everyone that tried it has asked me for the recipe!! You can make exactly the way the recipes says with bacon, gruyere, scallions, etc., or make your own variation, you can't go wrong!

FFWD Spiced Squash, Fennel, and Pear Soup

Delicious! Absolutely delicious!

It really is.... and if none of the other recipes that have been featured in French Fridays with Dorie so far have not enticed you to buy Around My French Table, this one to me is worth the whole book.

I have tried several different butternut squash soup recipes this season including Giada DeLaurentiis's recipe made by my great friend Bob. But this has to be the best one so far!

The ingredients alone intrigued me: butternut squash, fennel, pears, shallots, garlic, and the spices!

FFWD Twenty-minute Honey-glazed Duck (Chicken) Breast

This week for French Fridays with Dorie, the recipe as the name indicates called for duck breast. However, unfortunately my local grocery store does not always have it available so I used chicken instead.  And I'm really glad I did....it was succulent and delicious!  This is really a quick and very simple recipe from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Around My French Table.  Definitely a keeper!! 

This is a must have cookbook.

                                   

FFWD - Pissaladière

Another wonderful recipe from Dorie Greenspan's latest book Around My French Table.

The aroma in my kitchen as I cooked the onions was amazing.  Anchovies...not my favorite but they do actually melt into the onions as the recipe states.  It was so simple to make and the result were truly impressive.  I'll know if it taste as good as it looks tonight.  Our book club is meeting tonight to discuss The Paris Wife....

FFWD Olive-Olive Cornish Hens

There are currently two groups cooking their way through two different Dorie Greenspan cookbooks.  One is Baking: From My Home to Yours and the other is her most recent book Around My French Table.  The first one is more than half way through the book, so it is closed to new members. However, I was able to join French Fridays With Dorie.  Yippee!!

I was so excited as I was reading through the group's blog trying to find out "what are we cooking this week?" Cornish Hens!  Oh, oh, my last experience with them was not a good one and one particular friend will never let me forget that!  As I am reading through the recipe it says something about that in order to cut the cooking time I must prepare it en crapaudine (like a toad!) and that I must  "SPATCHCOCK" the hen!  What??!!

Success....I was so proud of myself! It really was so much easier that I thought and my family loved it.  I'm ready to make it again with some variations.  This recipe calls for tapenade inserted under the skin, rubbing the hen with olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice.  Then you roast it at 500° until the skin is "deeply golden and crisp".  Cooking time was less than 30 minutes.....voilá!