Category Archives: French Fridays with Dorie
gâteau basque {ffwd}
I feel like I might say this every time we make a dessert for French Fridays with Dorie (because it’s true), but I am much more of a cook than a baker. And, when it comes to baking, the sweets I like best are simple ones that showcase the main ingredient, be it butter, chocolate, or fruit.
I was thrilled to find that this week’s selection, Gâteau Basque, matches up with what I enjoy so perfectly! I could tell from reading the recipe in the book that the Basque know how to make a cake that I will adore. To me, this was more of a giant cookie sandwich or a double-crusted jam tart than a cake, but that’s OK with me.
This recipe also used a technique that we used once or twice before while cooking from this book, one that I always think “brilliant” when I’m instructed to do it, and then promptly forget about. That technique is to roll a soft dough between pieces of wax paper before chilling it. I don’t know if it works with all dough, but it sure works with this one.
My one set of round cake pans are 9-inch, not the called for 8-inch. I was concerned the resulting dough would roll out too thin, so I used an 8-inch springform pan instead. (For some reason I have many different-sized springform pans.) Worked perfectly. I did trace the base of the pan and cut out the exact size when I was ready to assemble the gâteau for baking. That left some scraps to egg wash and bake for a “cook’s treat”. Those bonus cookies were tasty. They reminded me of the salted butter breakups which hailed from Brittany, I think, which in turn reminded me of Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies.
To assemble, one disk of dough is placed in the pan, covered with jam (leaving a small border), then the second disk is placed on top and the edges are sealed. The top is brushed with an egg wash and cross-hatched with a fork. Lovely! I was tempted to use some jam from my pantry, but I bought the traditional cherry jam instead.
Now that I know what the “original” tastes like, I would not hesitate to vary the filling in the future, and there will be a future. I loved the gâteau Basque. I also love any baked goods that can stay at room temperature and be shown off in my cake dome. Another plus for this one.
To try this at home (which you should), you can find the recipe here on the NPR site, accompanying an interview with Dorie Greenspan. Of course, FFwD recipes can always be found in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. To check out my Dorista friends’ gâteaux Basque check their links here.
provençal vegetable soup {ffwd}
Hot soup isn’t what I usually want to eat during the summer, especially when the weather is hot and humid. The things we do for French Fridays… Even though the temperature didn’t seem seasonal, the ingredient list certainly was, especially with tomato and corn. Between my farm share and a few things picked up at the farmers market, this soup turned out to be a masterpiece of local bounty. I also love anything with chickpeas.
I made one modification when I read Dorie’s warning about the pasta getting mushy when reheating the soup. I made it the morning to serve for dinner that evening, so I knew reheating was in my soup’s future. I chose to cook the pasta separately, cool it down, and keep it in a separate container until later. I just stirred it in when I reheated the soup. It seems to have held up well, not just the night we had it with dinner, but also as leftovers.
As I mentioned, the soup was a bit too hot for the weather, but it did taste delicious! It was amazing that just 3 minutes of simmering infused the vegetable broth with so much tomato flavor. I also enjoyed the drizzle of pesto (which I made sans Parmesan). Howard’s not a fan of zucchini, so he didn’t love it, but did pronounce it “OK”.
You can check out the other Doristas’ soups by following their links here. You can find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.
We have a double-header this week. The zucchini plant that I planted about three weeks ago offered up two male blossoms this week. I picked them early in the morning and stored them in the fridge for the evening, when I would make two fried shrimp-filled zucchini blossoms. Unexpectedly, when I stopped by the Belmont Farmers Market in the afternoon, one of the vendors had bunches of pumpkin blossoms for sale, just $4 for just over a dozen, so I bought a bunch to add to my homegrown couple and make it a meal.
I was worried it would be hard, but I was able to pull the stamens out without ripping the blossoms (using tweezers). I stuffed half with shrimp and half with goat cheese mixed with chopped olives and pesto. Other Doristas raved about the batter, and they were right. I loved how it bubbled up and stayed frothy. I’m not a big deep-fryer, but if I were frying stuff again, I’d use this batter recipe.
I enjoyed the fried blossoms. I also liked that there were multiple fillings. Once cooked, I couldn’t remember which were which, so the surprise on the first bite of each was fun. I’d make these again, as a once-a-year treat, if I come across blossoms again next summer.
As a final note, I spent last weekend hanging out in New York City with Kathy, Cher, and Diane. What a blast! Diane already posted about our adventures here, so I won’t repeat, but I will include a photo of the four of us getting ready to go into Chelsea Market (This is Kathy’s picture, I won’t take credit). Here’s to more Dorista meetups in the future.
A Plateful of Happiness 