Cold Melon-Berry Soup

If you're like me, you simply cannot get enough of all those sweet juicy melons that are in season right now.  I have no problems eating melon as is, but this cold melon-berry soup is certainly a beautiful alternative.  Sweet, colorful, and inviting this soup would be wonderful served as part of a breakfast or brunch menu.  We absolutely loved it!

Cold Melon-Berry Soup

Adapted from Around My French Table

Serves 4

1 dead-ripe cantaloupe (about 2-1/2 pounds)

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1-1/2 - 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Pinch of sea salt

1/4 cup sweetish white wine, such as Muscat de Beaumes de Venise (optional)

About 20 small strawberries

4 mint sprigs

Cut the cantaloupe in half and scoop out the seeds.  Using a melon baller or a small spoon, cut balls from one of the melon halves.  Put them in a bowl, cover, and chill for at least 2 hours, or for up to 6 hours.

Meanwhile, peel the other half of the melon, cut it into chunks, and toss the chunks into a blender or food processor.  Process, scraping down the container often, until the melon is reduced to a juice.  Add the ginger, 1-1/2 tablespoons lime juice, and the salt.  Taste and, if you think it needs it, add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of lime juice.  Pour the soup into a pitcher and chill for at least 2 hours, or for up to 6 hours.

At serving time, divide the soup among four widemouthed glasses (or four small bowls) and top each portion with a tablespoon of wine, if you're using it.  Spoon in the melon balls (depending on the size of your glass and the size of the melon balls, you may have some left over; you want the fruit to come about halfway up the sides of the glass, so you have room to spoon out the fruit and the soup), top with the berries, and finish each with a spring of mint.

July's Recipes

I'm also linking this to Deb @ Kahakai Kitchen for her Souper Sundays roundup.

June French Fridays with Dorie Roundup

I dove into June's French Fridays with Dorie recipes with wild abandon.  Every single one of the recipes sounded wonderful to me: Warm Weather Vegetable Pot Au Feu, Roasted Rhubarb, Jam and Cola Ribs and the one that I wanted to make most of all....Mozzarella, Tomato, and Strawberry Salad.  Funny how things work out because I never got around to the Mozzarella, Tomato, and Strawberry Salad.  I meant to make the salad and I darn sure bought tons of strawberries, but the kids gobbled them up faster than I could put the salad together.  Seeing the kids eating piles of fresh strawberries makes me happy so I just let it be.

Dorie's Warm Weather Vegetable Pot Au Feu was absolutely amazing.  I was lucky enough to get all the vegetables fresh from the farmer's market: baby potatoes, asparagus, carrots, and spinach. On top of all the veggies and the light broth sat a perfectly poached egg.  I was truly in love with this soup.  I found it refreshing and extremely pleasant, light and yet hearty, and I really looked forward to having a bowl for lunch throughout the week. 

The minute I gazed upon this Roasted Rhubarb I was in love.  Just look at all that gorgeous pink syrup! I can't help it.  This definitely appeals to the girl in me. When I took my first bite it was like a heavenly explosion of tart juicy love.  I wanted to run to the computer and post this roasted rhubarb right away.  Who knew roasted rhubarb was such a terrific treat begging to be shared?  My original plan was to serve the roasted rhubarb on top of plain vanilla ice cream later in the evening for dessert. That never happened.  I pretty much ate it straight from the pan.  Myself.  Later that night I served my family plain vanilla ice cream.  Shhh!! 

Last up are Dorie's Cola and Jam Ribs.  I have a rib recipe that I love and I don't usually tinker around with rib recipes for that reason.  However, the ingredients in Dorie's recipe had me curious and I've read a lot of success stories regarding cola and barbecue so I thought I give it a go.  Dorie's ribs are rubbed with salt, pepper, ground ginger and Chinese five spice and then marinated in apricot jam, orange juice, and lemon juice.   They bake in the oven for around 2 hours and towards the final baking time they are basted with Coca Cola.  Very different from my standard recipe.

Let's just say that Dorie's ribs rival mine.  I loved these just as much, possibly even more, than my standard recipe.  They were fall off the bone tender with a nice bright citrusy flavor.  We really licked those bones clean.

Each of this month's recipes was a home run.  I usually select a favorite recipe for the month, but in this case I think all of them are winners and each recipe is one that I will enjoy again.  Can't wait for next month!

April & May French Fridays with Dorie Roundup

The months of April and May are extremely busy for me and I didn't manage to make all of the FFwD recipes, but I did manage to squeeze in 5 of the 8 or 9 recipes planned.  Lately I have been finding it increasingly harder to fit in the FFwD recipes, but I really don't want to give up on the project because I've been so pleased with the recipes and I've learned quite a bit along the way.  The following recipes are no exception.

 Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak

Okay, first up is this gorgeous Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak and let me tell you, I made this over a month ago and I can still remember taking every luscious bite of it.  I didn't even know that a supermarket fillet could be this good.  Wow!  Dorie's recipe uses a fillet cut which is pressed into cracked pepper, pan-seared, and covered in a sauce of Cognac and cream.  Worth every calorie.....

Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli

On the side I served this wonderful side dish, which I could totally make into a meal by the way, Dorie's Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli.  Holy cow...I think I inhaled this.  I really did!  I absolutely adore broccoli and Dorie's recipe left the broccoli perfectly cooked with a good bite to it.  Of course, it was those amazing garlicky breadcrumbs that had me going back for more and more.  The recipe indicated that this dish didn't keep, or reheat well, and I needn't have worried about that.  We devoured it!  This recipe was probably my favorite of all the recipes I tried in April and May and I will definitely make broccoli this way from now on.

Quinoa, Fruit, and Nut Salad

I keep trying and trying to like quinoa.  Really I do.  This is the third time I've tried quinoa and I was really hoping that Dorie's recipe for Quinoa, Fruit and Nut Salad would make me a believer.  It didn't.  The recipe came together well and I really loved the idea of adding all the dried fruit and nuts,  but I guess I don't like quinoa and most likely never will.  I should point out that plenty of others tried this recipe and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

I love my greens, so there was no way I was skipping Dorie's Spinach and Bacon Quiche.  Didn't matter to me if no one else in house was interested in eating this or not, I was definitely making it and I'm so thrilled I did.  Dorie's tart dough comes together so easily and bakes up so buttery and flaky.  A beautiful filling of sauteed spinach, crisp bacon, onions, garlic, egg, and cream is topped off with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese to create an amazing breakfast or brunch treat.  I had no problem eating a slice every day until it was gone. 

Cardamom Rice Pilaf

The last dish I made was Dorie's Cardamom Rice Pilaf.  Cardamom pods are bruised in order to release the tiny seeds inside which contribute both flavor and aroma to the plain white rice.  I made half of the recipe, which called for 1/2 cup rice and about 3 cardamom pods.  I think the flavor of the cardamom was subtle, yet recognizable.   I really enjoyed this rice with Dorie's Spiced and Buttered Glazed Carrots (which also have cardamom) and thought both of these dishes paired wonderfully together.  I will definitely pair both the cardamom rice and the buttery spiced carrots together again!

French Fridays with Dorie Roundup

Lifelong procrastinator that I am, you will usually find me in the kitchen on the last day of the month trying to cram every FFwD recipe in at the last minute.  This, my friends, is how I roll.  I've had about 35 years to perfect my procrastination skills and I think I've finally got it down to a science. 

 

In the month of March there were four recipes: Savory Cheese and Chive Bread, Beggar's Linguine, Salted Butter Break-Ups, and Scallops with Caramel-Orange Sauce.  Early on, I decided not to make the Scallops with Caramel-Orange Sauce.  Good scallops are hard to find here in Kentucky and I'm pretty much the only one in the house who enjoys them.  

Surprisingly, my favorite recipe of the month was the Beggar's Linguine. Dorie's Beggar's Linguine is a combination of linguine (or in my case spaghetti) tossed with pistachios, almonds, dried figs, moist raisins, Parmesan cheese, brown butter and orange zest.  I love pasta and I love fruit and nuts, but I didn't really think I would like them together.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  This dish was amazing and I'm definitely making it again.  The brown butter together with the crunchy toasted nuts and the little sweet bursts of fruit was a real revelation.  I've been craving it's unique taste ever since I had it for lunch the other day.

The second runner up was Dorie's Savory Cheese and Chive Bread.  A delicious quick bread loaded with not only shredded cheese, but also cubed cheese with lots and lots of chive flavor.  This bread was so delicious toasted and smeared with butter.  I made two loaves.

Cubes of cheese created little cheesy pockets  - yum!

 

Lastly, here is my sad, very sad, version of Dorie's Salted Butter Break-Ups.  The butter break-up is supposed to be a big beautiful golden brown cookie with a gorgeous crosshatch pattern that is broken up and served at the table.  Mine was big alright, but it never achieved a golden brown color, the crosshatch marks didn't show up, and there were lots of little holes in the cookie.  Baking is one area where I need a lot of work.  Clearly.  Appearances aside, the cookie itself wasn't a favorite at all.  It was buttery and salty, but not very sweet (almost like a cracker).  We tried smearing it with Nutella, but at the end of the day, it was only okay. Definitely our least favorite of the three recipes and also something I wouldn't make again.

There are five delicious recipes for the month of April and I want to make them all.  Hopefully I won't wait until the last day of April to make all five.  That would not be pretty!

French Fridays with Dorie February Roundup

 There were four recipes for FFwD this month: Basque Potato Tortilla, Pancetta Green Beans, Orange-Almond Tart, and Short Ribs in Red Wine and Port.  I ended up making three out of four.  I just couldn't bring myself to make the short ribs.  I've braised way too much meat this winter and I just didn't have it in me.

My hands down favorite of the bunch was Dorie's Orange-Almond Tart.  I have to say that I was really skeptical about this recipe.  It just seemed strange to bake oranges and serve them in a tart. I'm not sure why I felt this way, but I did.  I shouldn't have worried though because this tart was insanely delicious.  We devoured it.  The crust is very much like a shortbread cookie and the almond cream filling ....wow is that stuff good.  When the almond cream bakes in the oven it forms a thick crackly surface but remains rather gooey underneath.  The thick cookie-like crust along with the delicious almond cream and the sweet pop of the oranges make this an incredibly pleasant dessert.  I'd love to try several variations on this recipe from using cherries, to figs, or even pears.  I don't really think you could go wrong.  

 Taking second place in the roundup are these Pancetta Green Beans.  I ended up using bacon in place of pancetta, but we still loved these green beans that were tossed in bacon fat, butter, and slices of bacon.  A delicious side dish that was requested again.

This Basque Potato Tortilla was simple and classic.  A Spanish version of a frittata with eggs, diced potatoes and a sprinkling of Pimenton.  We enjoyed it, but I wouldn't necessarily make it again. 

French Fridays with Dorie Rewind: I'm a Month Behind!

So I'm literally drowning in recipes, but that really isn't a bad thing, right?  I'm a month behind on French Fridays with Dorie, so this is actually December's monthly roundup (minus the speculoos, which I didn't make).  Surprisingly enough, my very favorite recipe of the bunch was Dorie's Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots.  The carrots are cooked until tender and glazed in a wonderful combination of onion, ginger, garlic and cardamom seeds.  As a lover of cooked carrots, these were some of the best I've ever had.

No one else in my family likes cooked carrots (I told you I lived with a bunch of crazy folk), so I just made a half batch.  I had them as a side dish for dinner one night and then ate the rest of them for lunch one day.  Just me and a plate of carrots.  I felt virtuous, for once.

I've done an obscene amount of braising this month, but Dorie's Go-To Beef Daube really does stand out among the others. A very robust and hearty beef stew loaded with veggies and braised in red wine.  A real winner for the whole family.  Even my picky daughter asked for more!

I usually don't have a least favorite when it comes to Dorie's recipes.  However, I really didn't care for the Leek and Potato Soup.  I think the recipe was written well enough.  It was really more of a personal thing.  I'm thinking that maybe I'm not the biggest fan of leeks.  Not sure.  Either way, I jazzed mine up with some extra buttery croutons, which made the soup MUCH tastier.

And, finally, Dorie's Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts.  I made the recipe two times and both times they disappeared quickly.  The first time I made them according to the recipe, with chili powder, cinnamon and a dash of cayenne.  We loved them!  The second time I made them with only cinnamon, sugar and a sprinkling of cardamom.  We loved those too!  I think it's safe to say that Dorie's Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts are a winner.  I can see myself making them many times in the future (almonds and pecans are my favorite)! 

Now onto next month!  Hopefully I'll have a chance to catch up.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Dorie Greenspan's Go-To Beef Daube with Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Onion Biscuits

I normally like to do a monthly round up of my French Fridays with Dorie recipes, but this month will be different.  I'm trying to play catch up to last month's recipes and keep up with this month's recipes as well.  I've got a lot of cooking to do!

My husband bought me a brand new Martha Stewart Dutch oven for Christmas.  Hooray!  Prior to receiving this Dutch oven, I had been using the insert in my crock pot as a "makeshift" Dutch oven.  I'm so glad that my husband took notice of my "makeshift" Dutch oven and bought me a real Dutch oven as a Christmas gift.  It really is a beautiful pot and I know that I will get years and years of good use out of it.  Making Dorie's Go-To Beef Daube was the perfect way to break it in!

I have to confess that I've never made or ate a Beef Daube before.  Turns out that a Beef Daube is pretty much a beef stew or even much like a pot roast with veggies.  The recipe begins with a  3.5 pound chuck roast that has been cut into 2- to 3-inch cubes.   Four slices of bacon are cooked in the Dutch oven until brown, then removed.  The beef cubes are then browned in the bacon fat until they have quite a bit of color.  Once the beef has achieved a deep and dark color, it is removed and set aside. 

Do you like to chop veggies?  I love chopping veggies.  It's probably one of my favorite tasks in the kitchen.  Lucky for me this recipe requires a lot of chopping.  Featured in the pan below are two yellow onions and six shallots.  I love to chop, but those onions and shallots were very strong....there were some tears involved.  I stuck my head in the freezer a few times.  Do you ever do that?  It works.  Stops the tears instantly.

After about 8 minutes, once the onions and shallots cooked down, I added one and a half pounds of carrots, a half pound of parsnips, and an entire head of garlic (with the loose papery peel removed).  My kitchen was a mess at this point.  Onion and shallot peels were everywhere, including my hair.  I didn't sweat it though.  You know why?  It was time to break out the alcohol!  Get out the Brandy and the red wine................. 

It's time for the Brandy once all the veggies have a chance to mingle together for a few minutes. Do you like to deglaze?  I do!  I love it. I poured that Brandy in the pot and waited for the sizzle.  Once you hear that sizzle then you know you are going to be in for some wonderful aromas.  Not to mention..... this is your chance to sneak a sip, or two, of the Brandy.  Believe me, look around at your kitchen.  It's messy.  You'll need a few good sips.  Possibly even more than a few sips.

Now it's time to make the bouquet garni.  Do you like to make a bouquet garni?  I love it.  There's just something about that cute little package of herbs and/or spices.  The bouquet garni for this recipe includes rosemary, thyme, parsley, and celery leaves.

The beef cubes and bacon are added back into the Dutch oven, as well as the cute little bouquet garni and then an entire bottle of red wine is added in (I like to use Cabarnet with my beef).  Thankfully I had another half bottle in the fridge left for drinking.  It came in handy when it was time to clean up my kitchen.  I love to chop.  I love to deglaze.  I love to make bouquet garni.  I DO NOT like to clean.

The Beef Daube cooks at 350F for 2-1/2 hours (with a sheet of foil and a lid over the top).  After 2-1/2 hours, it is fall-apart tender, with a deep dark and rich color, and full of flavor thanks to the red wine.  A delightful and glorious meal.  Everyone loved it, including my 9 year old daughter who tends to be picky from time to time. 

We enjoyed the Beef Daube with Dorie's Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Onion Biscuits.  The biscuits weren't one of the recipes for last month or this month, but I thought they sounded delicious and it turns out they were.  The biscuits were tender and flaky and studded with finely chopped and lightly cooked onion.  The biscuits had a mild onion flavor and went perfectly with the Beef Daube.  I would make both recipes again.

Happy Cooking!

French Fridays with Dorie Monthly Roundup

One of my friends, Mimi of Mimi's Kitchen, had a great idea to do a monthly roundup of the French Fridays with Dorie recipes. I liked the idea so well, that I adopted it and decided to do it myself. Without further adieu, here is my first monthly roundup of this month's French Fridays with Dorie recipes.

Without a doubt, Dorie's Roast Chicken for Les Paresseu (roast chicken for lazy people), is my favorite pick of the month. Hmmm...maybe there's a hidden message in there somewhere. Seriously though, it may very well be my favorite roast chicken recipe ever. I know, I say that all the time. What can I say? I find it hard to quell my excitement. I will say that I liked this version even better than Ina's, which is saying a lot.

I think maybe the secret might lie in using a roasting dish that hugs the chicken. Either way, the chicken browned wonderfully, it was moist and tender, and the flavor was amazing. I was more than impressed with Dorie's recipe.

Of course, it's hard to knock a recipe for cheesy and cream-laden potatoes. Dorie's Potato Gratin (Pommes Dauphinois) was in fact a real delight.

How could it not be?

Marie-Helene's Apple Cake was a pick from October that I just got around to making this month. A very moist cake, filled with chunks of apples, and distinct rum flavor, we enjoyed it with a side of apple pie ice cream.

Not only was this cake perfect for the fall season, it would also be perfect for someone watching their waistline. Most desserts don't fit into a diet plan at all, but this one fit in nicely, without all the feelings of guilt. The ice cream, of course, is another story altogether.

And, finally Dorie's Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flans. I eagerly awaited the day when I could make these without all the critiques of what was going into them. No one in my family appreciates pumpkin or any type of blue cheese. Crazy folk I live with, I know...

The flans had a very smooth and silky consistency, with a strong pumpkin flavor. The gorgonzola paired beautifully with the pumpkin and was a nice contrast in flavor. I do feel like it was the toasted walnuts that made the dish and added a nice contrast in texture. If you enjoy these flavors together, then this would be a fun recipe for you. It certainly is beautiful to look at as well.

**In lieu of my family's finickiness, I skipped the Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake because I didn't think they would enjoy it and I hardly need to eat an entire dessert myself.

Which one do you think would be your favorite? Or, if you were lucky enough to try them all...which one was your favorite?

Symon Sundays meets French Fridays with Dorie

There were some wonderful selections for Symon Sundays this time around. The first one, Crab Tater Tots, was a delicious potato croquette loaded with crab meat, breaded in panko, and deep-fried. OH YEAH! These were delicious sprinkled with a little old bay seasoning and served with homemade tartar sauce. My Mom and I really enjoyed them!
Crab Tater Tots
Serves 6-8
Makes up to 35 tots (I halved the recipe with excellent results)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup a/p flour
1 large egg
1 cup mashed potatoes
canola oil, for deep-frying
1/2 pound lump crab meat
Panko bread crumbs, for breading
kosher salt

In a small saucepan, combine the butter with 1/4 cup water over high heat. When the water comes to a simmer and the butter is melted, add the flour. Reduce the heat to medium and stir until the resulting paste pulls away from the sides of the pan, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add the egg to the pan and stir vigorously until the egg is incorporated into the flour mixture. Stir in the mashed potatoes and let cool.

Pour enough oil into a medium pot so that the oil comes 3 inches up the sides. Heat the oil to 350F.

While the oil heats, gently fold the crab into the potato mixture; the lumpier the batter the better. Using two soup spoons, shape the mixture into quenelles, or 2-inch footballs. (You should end up with about 35). Roll in the panko. Deep-fry, working in batches and turning once, until crisp, brown, and heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels and season with salt.

The second selection for Symon Sundays was the Ohio Creamed Corn with Bacon. I was still able to find corn on the cob, but I paid a premium for it, $5 for 4 ears. My family and I loved this recipe though, so I have to say that it was worth the inflated price.
Ohio Creamed Corn with Bacon
Adapted from Live To Cook by Michael Symon
Serves 4-6
5 ears of corn
1 teaspoon EVOO
1/4 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch strips
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
1/2 recipe Corn Cob Stock (if you'd like the recipe, leave me a comment)
1/2 cup creme fraiche (I used 2% milk)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Grated zest of 1 lime
Cut the kernels from the cobs and set the kernels aside. (Use the cobs to make the stock).

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and glaze the bottom with the olive oil. Add the bacon and cook, stirring as needed, to render the fat and brown the pieces, 5 minutes. Add the onion and sweat it for about 45 seconds. Add the garlic and continue to cook, stirring, for another 30 seconds. Add the reserved corn and the salt and cook for 2 minutes.

Pour in the corn cob stock and bring to a simmer. Cook until the liquid reduces to approximately 1 cup, 10 minutes. Add the creme fraiche (milk, in my case) and simmer until the mixture begins to thicken, about 3 minutes. Stir in the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cilantro and lime zest. Season with salt if needed before serving.

On Friday, I was supposed to post this Hachis Parmentier for French Fridays with Dorie. I tried. I wrote the post. I hit publish. I repeated these actions several times. Without using expletives, let's just say that Blogger had other plans.
Moving on, this is a wonderful French rendition of a meat and mashed potato pie, sans veggies. I opted to make a variation of Dorie's recipe using ground beef and 1/2 pound spicy sausage. The meat filling was exceptionally aromatic and flavorful and the mashed potato topping was light and airy. I topped mine off with a delicious French Comte cheese. Golden brown on the edges with cheese and butter, this was a definite family pleaser when placed on the dinner table.

I am submitting both Michael Symon recipes to both Brenda of Brenda's Canadian Kitchen for her Cookbook Sundays event and also to Ashlee of Veggie by Season who is the host of our wonderful Symon Sundays event.

French Fridays with Dorie: Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

I have to say that I am loving all of Dorie's recipes and her Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup is no exception!

In her book, Around the French Table, Dorie's Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup is white and very creamy in appearance. This silky white appearance comes from the use of coconut milk, which we all know is some really great stuff! I used light coconut milk and added quite a bit of soy sauce to my version. I'm wondering if that's why my soup took on a golden color? Either way, it was absolutely delicious garnished with slices of cayenne pepper, hot chili oil, cilantro, Thai basil, and a little wedge of lime on the side.

A perfectly flavored and comforting bowl of soup that is healthy and delicious. I know that I'll be making this one again.

Next Friday: hachis Parmentier