Fridgg: What's For Dinner?

Tour de France – Tartiflette

Tartiflette

Barbara of Winos and Foodies is known for being a huge fan of Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France – after all, every year she organizes the wonderful LiveSTRONG with a Taste of Yellow event.

Once again, she’s organized a great one – a series all about the Tour de France, that brings together a bunch of bloggers who are each assigned a stage of the Tour.

I got Stage 9, which happens today. It starts in Morzine-Avoriaz (check out Raita’s blog to see what she did for Stage 8… heh, let me just say, great minds think alike… ), and finishes in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is in the Savoie region of France – the mountainous region in the south-east. It has a rich history with cycling – the many mountain passes that surround the town are absolutely perfect for biking, and it just happens to be at the heart of the biggest cycling area for climbers.

Of more interest to foodies, the town has an annual bread festival (which will happen on the 5th of August this year), and is famous for its Opinel knives.

Ooey, gooey cheese and cream…

I was delighted to hear that I was assigned to a town from the Savoie region – for several years now, there has been a dish from that region that I’ve been wanting to try. This was the perfect excuse!

Potatoes, bacon, onions, garlic, cheese, cream, wine… you really can’t go wrong with a Tartiflette. These are all the ingredients I love most!

Perfect garnished with some chopped green onions!

Tomorrow’s stage will be over on Mele Cotte, so make sure to check it out!

P.S. Did you know you can also hang out with me on the Fridgg page on Facebook?

P.P.S. Speaking of hanging out, you’re following me on Twitter, right? Feel free to say hi, ask questions, poke fun at me… I always love getting to know my readers better.

Tartiflette, adapted from Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook:

Ingredients

• potatoes to fill a 9×13″ pan (about 5-6 medium potatoes)
• 2 medium onion
• 1 lb good bacon, or other good cured pork
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 tbsp butter
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup dry white Savoie type wine
• 1/2 of a Reblochon de Savoie
• green onion

Cooking Directions

1. Heat the oven to 475°F (250°C).
2. Peel and slice the potatoes into medium-sized slices.
3. Roughly chop the onions.
4. Heat the butter in a heavy skillet and add the onions and bacon; sauté gently for 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the potatoes and continue to sauté for 5 more minutes.
6. Add the wine, give the potatoes a stir, season with salt and pepper as desired, then cover and let simmer and steam in the wine for 10 minutes.
7. Grease the baking dish with butter, crush the garlic cloves, and rub the garlic cloves all over the inner surface of the pan.
8. Add the heavy whipping cream to the potato mixture, and transfer it to the gratin pan.
9. Slice the Reblochon in half with a sharp knife flat wise, and place the two pieces on top of the potatoes, rind side up.
10. Bake for 10 minutes.
11. Turn the heat down to 400°F (200°C) and bake for 10 more minutes.
12. Turn off the oven but don’t open it, and leave the dish in the closed oven for another 10 minutes.
13. Garnish with chopped green onions.
14. Serve hot with a salad, crusty bread, and the the wine you cooked with.

Oyster Stew

Oyster Stew

If you read Sushi Day, my other food blog, you may recall that I went to Seattle, WA last August. Although the purpose of that trip was to learn about sustainable sushi, Son and I decided that if we were going to go, we might as well get the most of our trip. So we met a few friends, ate at a new restaurant owned by the husband of a food blogger whose writing and photos I absolutely adore, got lost a few times, and ended up with a foot swollen so big I could barely walk thanks to a rather inconvenient bug bite saw as much as we could of the city in one weekend.

One of the last restaurants where we ate at was Elliot’s Oyster House. Because we figured, well, we’re in Seattle, so we really should eat some oysters, right? I remember enjoying the meal, though half a year later I’ve forgotten most of what Son and I had. However, there is one thing that we ate that I still crave: the oyster stew.

Since coming home from Seattle, I kept promising myself I would make it. But I kept putting it off, because I didn’t have time to cook, it was better suited for cold weather, etc. etc. Finally, all the stars were aligned, and I made this oyster stew recipe that I adapted from Allrecipes.com.

Yum.

Get some nice crusty French (or sourdough) bread to sop up the warm soup. (Okay, I’ll admit it. That’s my favorite part. I’m not in it for the oysters (*gasp*) or even the potatoes (*double gasp*)… all I really care about is sopping up that hot soup with the crusty bread until it’s soaked and starting to get soft… mmm. Cream, butter, and some hot sauce all mixed together… what’s not to like?)

…with crusty French bread, it’s the perfect meal

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 6 shallots, minced
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 1 quart half-and-half cream
• 1 (12 ounce) container fresh shucked oysters, drained
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
• hot sauce
• crusty French bread

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the shallots until tender.
2. Pour half-and-half into a large pot over medium-high heat. Mix in the butter and shallot mixture. Add potatoes. Stir continuously.
3. When the mixture is almost boiling, pour the oysters into the pot. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce.
4. Stir continuously until the oysters curl at the ends. When the oysters curl the stew is finished cooking; turn off the heat and serve with crusty bread to sop up the liquid.

Sushi! And a sustainable replacement for unagi.

Dragon Roll

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

Catfish

To be honest, I was both excited and disappointed when I saw this challenge. Because, well… I love sushi! But… I make sushi all the time. Where’s the challenge for me?

Dragon Roll

Sumeshi. Dragon Roll. Decorative rolls. Nigiri sushi. Those were the “challenges” for this month. For most people, this is a great challenge, because if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone is scared of trying to make sushi at home… I’d be a very rich woman indeed. But for me… I’ve done that all already. Countless times. *sigh*

BLT Spiral Roll

But!!! In fact, I was able to find something here to challenge me. You see, unagi is bad, bad, bad. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve eaten unagi many times in the past and enjoyed it quite a bit. But… it’s not sustainable. At all. Not good. Especially when these days, I’m trying to go completely sustainable, at least when it comes to seafood.

BLT Spiral Roll

Inspired by a roll Hajime Sato made at the Sustainable Sushi Dinner at Mashiko, I decided I would make my own sustainable replacement for unagi. Made from catfish. And that, my friends, was my challenge for this month’s Daring Cooks challenge.

So how did it turn out? Wonderfully. Perfect. The taste, the texture… we might as well have been eating unagi. It was fantastic.

BLT Spiral Roll

For the Dragon Roll instructions and the sumeshi recipe we were to use for this challenge, go check out the posts on Audax’s and Rose’s blogs. For lots and lots more sushi recipes and the instructions that I use for my own sushi, check out Sushi Day, my sushi blog.

Catfish

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mirin
• 1/2 cup shoyu
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 catfish fillets

Cooking Instructions

1. Combine the mirin, shoyu, and sugar in a small pot.
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer for half an hour. Let cool.
3. Marinate the catfish in the sauce overnight.
4. Bring the oven to 350°F.
5. Wrap the catfish fillets in individual foil packets, pouring some of the sauce over each fillet. Bake 30-45 minutes, keeping an eye on the catfish so it doesn’t overcook.
6. Let cool. Enjoy!

Phở Bò Tái

Phở bò tái (beef noodle soup)

It’s been four years, five months to the day since Son and I went on our first date. In those four years, he has widened my perspective on a lot of things – especially food. The eighteen-year-old girl who met Son in a ballroom dance club at her university wouldn’t recognize the almost-twenty-three-year-old programmer and food blogger that I’ve become – back then, I wouldn’t go near curry, sashimi, spicy foods, exotic fruits… anything that didn’t look like the Japanese- and Swedish-American foods I grew up with.

Nowadays, as you can see from the things I post about both here and on Sushi Day, my tastes have widened significantly. But oddly enough, there is one ethnic cuisine that I rarely cook in my home – Vietnamese food. Son is Vietnamese – so you’d think I’d be leaping at the opportunity to cook the food he grew up with… right? Not so much… for two main reasons.

First of all, Son lived in Vietnam until his family came to California when he was eleven years old. And, of course, his parents still cook the food they grew up with on a regular basis. So obviously, Son knows Vietnamese food pretty darn well… thus I have a certain level of insecurity when it comes to the dishes he’s eaten all his life – what if I make them terribly? What if… *gasp*… I’m deemed an unsuitable girlfriend for him, because I’m unable to make decent phở?

Secondly, we visit his parents every other weekend. And from every visit, we return with food. Lots of food. Lots of home-cooked Vietnamese food. So unfortunately, while the demand for me to cook anything at all is fairly low, the demand for me to cook Vietnamese food is even lower.

Thus when I discovered this month’s Daring Cooks challenge was phở, chosen by Jaden of Steamy Kitchen, I was excited. Very excited. But also incredibly nervous – what if it wasn’t good enough for him? I would be heartbroken if it ended up being a failed phở. But I set my fears aside, and set to work making the phở bò tái (beef pho) (click the link for the recipe).

Liquid gold

I did make a few changes to the recipe. Since there isn’t a single decent Vietnamese restaurant near me (I’d likely have to drive all the way to the Little Saigon area of Southern California, which is easily an hour or more away), I couldn’t find the *real* bones used for the broth. You know, those really great ones filled with all the yummy marrow. So I had to make do with what I could find at the grocery store: two pounds of “soup bone” (a large-ish bone with meat attached), and about three pounds of neck bone (also with meat attached).

Because of my inefficiencies in the bone department, I decided to add some extra richness to the broth by using two quarts of beef broth in place of two of the six quarts of the water used in the broth. I also could not, for the life of me, find cardamom pods anywhere during the short amount of time I had to shop before I started the phở. So I used ground cardamom instead. Instead of regular cinnamon, I used a stick of Vietnamese cinnamon that I’ve been hoarding ever since I was lucky enough to be gifted some by Todd and Diane of White On Rice Couple.

Lastly, I upped the cooking time. By a lot. You see, Jaden’s recipe says three hours of cooking is plenty to get all the great flavor from the bones. And I would have believed her. But no. Son insisted that I cook the broth for at least twenty-four hours, because when his dad makes it, he cooks it for days and days and days. And even weeks. So instead I cooked the broth as instructed in the recipe up to the first hour and thirty minutes, then instead of cooking it for only another one and a half hours, I let it simmer for about six more hours that night. Then I refrigerated it over night, and then simmered it again all the next day – about eight more hours.

The verdict? As I mentioned (more than once) on Twitter, the broth is absolutely heavenly. I would have no problem just drinking it by itself, noodles, meat, and other accompaniments be darned. But then I tried the meat that had been attached to the bones, which had been cooking the entire time and was so wonderfully tender it just fell apart in my mouth… *swoon* As for Son, he approved greatly. Which just makes me so incredibly happy, I could burst.

Yep, I’d say this was definitely a huge success. Easily a recipe I’ll be keeping in my repertoire for many years to come.

A wonderful success

Vols-au-Vents

Pecan vols-au-vents

The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Brown sugar pecans

Sometimes time gets away from you. With work, and life, and everything else, sometimes an entire month can disappear before you realize it. Heck, it could even be Christmas before you know it! At least, that’s what it smelled like in my apartment when I was making these… a couple of days later than I was supposed to. (Remember what I said about time getting away from you? Yeah…)

So was all the work worth it? Oh goodness yes. I made some big ones with macaroni and cheese in them, which were good. Then I made some mini ones and some twists out of the scraps of puff pastry with pecans in a brown sugar sauce (1 cup brown sugar, 1 stick butter, 1/4 cup honey melted together, mix in 1 1/2 cups pecans) – that was good. It tasted… like the holidays.

Macaroni and cheese vols-au-vents

Ingredients

• 354 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 142 g cake flour (or 121 g all-purpose flour and 21 g cornstarch)
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups ice water
• 1 lb very cold unsalted butter
• egg wash (1 egg whisked with a little water)
• filling of your choice

Cooking Directions

1. Mix the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt. Add the water all at once, mixing until the dough forms a ball. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers.
2. Form the dough into a ball, and with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that’s about 1″ thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.
4. Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10″ square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with “ears,” or flaps.
5. Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don’t just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8″ square.
6. To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.
7. Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24″ (don’t worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24″, everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).
8. With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.
9. Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24″ and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.
10. If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you’ve completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.
11. The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.
12. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
13. Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled.
14. On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.
15. (This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d’oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)
16. Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.
17. Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.
18. Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)
19. Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)
20. Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.
21. Fill and serve.
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