Category Archives: French Fridays with Dorie
paris-brest {ffwd}
Ambivalence. Dread. Fascination. Resignation. I’ll admit to a full range of emotions about this week’s selection for French Fridays with Dorie: Paris-Brest. What is a Paris-Brest, you ask? It’s a special pastry that was created in honor of a bicycle race. How French! Every four years, the bicycle race is held between Paris and, you guessed it, Brest, a city in Brittany, in northwestern France. OK, that’s the etymology, but what is it? Reminiscent of a bicycle wheel, it’s a ring of choux pastry (the same dough as cream puffs) filled with an almondy pastry cream.
So why the emotional range? Well, even though I’ve made it before, and it’s challenging, but doable, pate a choux is not my favorite dough. Pastry cream? A little intimidating to make, though I think we’ve made it before for FFwD (éclairs?) Not my favorite, loads of calories, and Howard showed no interest in sharing. One concession was to “minify” (nod to Mardi). At her suggestion, I planned to make one small ring for me, form the remaining dough into cream puffs to freeze and save for later. I was further inspired when I saw Christy’s mini rings on Instagram, piped into and baked in mini-tart pans. I had a plan.
First, I set out to make the caramelized almonds that flavor the pastry cream. I didn’t have any whole blanched almonds, only slivered, which have a whole lot more surface area than whole ones. I decided to double the caramel to be sure to have enough coating. It worked out perfectly. Wow! Those caramelized almonds were delicious. We, Howard and I, could have nibbled on the whole batch. The almonds even sparked his interest enough that I varied my plan and made two rings so Howard could try Paris-Brest too.
Almond Praline: Next Year’s Holiday Food Gifts?
I didn’t have the right kind of pastry tip, so for piping my rings, I made do with a ziplock bag and scissors to cut off its corner. It worked great.
The mini pastry rings were so cute. The center of bottom filled in, but when I sliced it in half to fill, the top still had its hole. I removed most of the dough in the bottom half of the pastry ring, filled it with the pulverized caramelized almonds mixed into pastry cream, and put the other half on top. Then, we waited an hour for the Paris-Brest to chill. A sprinkle of confectioners’ sugar to dress it up before serving, and we had dessert.
I will say that this is a gorgeous dessert. Certainly, it looked like it came from the closest patisserie, not my kitchen. As for how it tasted? It was as good as it looked, if you like this kind of thing. No matter how I try to spin it, custard just isn’t at the top of my list. However, it was a worthwhile experiment, and I impressed myself with a professional looking treat.
We don’t post the recipes, but you can find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. To see what other Doristas thought of this recipe, check out their posts here.
moules marinière {ffwd}
We are no strangers to mussels at our house. We eat them a few times a year and always enjoy them. When I saw that this week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie was Moules Marinière, I knew we’d be having at least one simple dinner this week. I’ve been thinking about it, and I don’t typically put mussels on the grocery list. I’m usually out shopping, see them, and bring them home for dinner. I’m not sure why I don’t plan to eat them more often because they are always surprisingly quick, easy, and satisfying.
The name marinière reminds me of marinara sauce. However, marinara sauce is always a tomato sauce and the marinière had none. Marinière is more of a white wine based sauce. According to Wikipedia, the origins of the names are the same, “Mariner’s Style”. I suppose Italian and French seamen have different cooking tricks up their sleeves.
For moules marinière, onion, shallot, and garlic are sautéed in butter. White wine is added along with herbs and some lemon peel, and a speck of chicken bouillon cube (Dorie’s secret ingredient). The mussels are added to the pot and cooked for just a few minutes, until they open. With some crusty bread, this makes a hearty meal. Reasonably priced, too, at least where I live. I paid $6 for a two pound bag of mussels from Maine. Not bad for a seafood dinner for two.
As I said, I can’t remember meeting a version of steamed mussels that I didn’t like. Moules Marinière was no exception. We both enjoyed this version.
I made my own no-knead bread in the bread dome my sister gave me for the holidays. It was crusty and airy and perfect with the mussels. I hope to share my results in more detail soon. The second loaf is rising on the counter as we speak.
As I said, I used half the mussels called for, though I made the full broth recipe. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any leftovers. When we do have leftover mussels, I enjoy using them to make something like linguine with clam sauce. I pick the mussels from the shells and save the leftover broth (along with any aromatic vegetables). The next night, I cook a box of linguine, gently reheat the mussels in the liquid and pour it over the cooked pasta. All this dish needs is a little fresh chopped parsley to finish it off. I think leftover moules marinière would work well with pasta too.
I’m looking forward to reading about what my fellow FFwD bloggers thought about this week’s recipe. Check out their links at here. We don’t post the recipes, but consider getting your own copy of the book, Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. It is well worth it.
A Plateful of Happiness 