Blog Archives
French Fridays with Dorie: Lemongrass-Coconut Braise
As I sit here writing today’s post, all I can say is that if you live on the East Coast, what’s with this heat? We thought we were leaving the Boston area heat behind by escaping to the lake in Maine, but as I follow the temperatures today, it’s just as hot here as at home. Ugh!
I found this week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie, Braised Lemongrass-Coconut Pork, to be a seasonal challenge. A stew with root vegetables just didn’t feel like the right thing to be eating when you’re stuck under a “heat dome”, temperatures in the high 90’s for days. I have eaten more ice cream this week, 4 times already, and, true confessions, I don’t even like ice cream that much. (I know, it’s not normal. I’m also not a huge chocolate fan.)
My version is more of interpretation on the theme than a strict following of the recipe, though it does have the same structure. I kept with spirit of Dorie’s recipe so the sauce and flavorings were the same. I used chicken thighs because Howard made ribs over the weekend, and I was just plain “porked” out. I also took inspiration from the season’s vegetables and used steamed green beans and raw red and green pepper along with cherry tomatoes instead of the more autumnal ones suggested. I just realized I didn’t add anything from the onion family. I think I should have included some diced onion chunks, briefly stir-fried. I served this stew over jasmine rice, in a bowl.
This one will go in the “OK” category. It was fine, but lacked excitement. It wasn’t quite Thai, it wasn’t quite Indian, it definitely wasn’t French. Even though I used hot curry powder, the flavors weren’t as strong or as interesting as they could have been. I’m not sure whether I will play around with this to try to make it more to my liking, but there are so many recipes out there to try, I think I’ll just move on. (To be fair to the dish, I don’t mean to dis it, but it just wasn’t 90-degree-weather fare.)
Next week’s recipe is intriguing: a mixed berry terrine. I’ve never made anything like it before. I know I’m the only one in my house that will eat this one, so I either have to figure out how to make a mini-version, or find someone who wants to share it with me.
For this cooking group, we don’t share the recipes, but if anything looks good to you, you can find it in Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. Of course, you are welcome to cook along, any time you like. We’re here every Friday at French Fridays with Dorie. (Note that, this week, the server is probably down until the end of the weekend…)
If you are under the heat dome with me, stay cool this weekend. It looks like the temperatures will go back down on Sunday.
French Fridays with Dorie: chicken b’stilla
Another week, another recipe for French Fridays with Dorie. So far in January, the two recipes I made earlier this month were a little disappointing. I was really excited about this week’s recipe, Chicken B’stilla – and it met all my expectations.
B’stilla is a Moroccan chicken pie, wrapped in fillo dough and sprinkled with sugar. I had this dish once before, at a Moroccan restaurant in Philadelphia, where this was just one course in a multi-course meal we ate lounging on pillow-laden couches around a low table. I’ve seen recipes for it, but I never had the occasion or reason to try it at home.
I made this chicken pie over the weekend, and I think it would be too involved to make on a weeknight. I loved the lovely fragrance as the chicken simmered with the warm spices. The dish is a little unusual. Between the honey in the sauce and the cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top of the pastry, it is a very sweet though soundly savory dish. It is definitely something different, but I liked it.
The chicken from Chestnut Farms comes as whole legs, so instead of 8 thighs, I used 4 whole legs, that I cut into separate legs and thighs. It was all dark meat that gets shredded in the end, so I don’t think this adjustment made any difference at all.
The recipe called for a 9-inch cake pan at least 2 inches high. Mine was only 1½ inches. I wasn’t sure if it would be deep enough. If it wasn’t, I’d be in trouble. I have a 9-inch springform pan which was 3 inches deep, so I used it instead. It worked out perfectly. It also was very easy to free the pie from the pan. All I had to do was unhinge!
This pie is wrapped in fillo dough, which I haven’t worked with in decades. It didn’t make me nervous because I’ve had good results before. Unfortunately, on this count, the grocery store failed me. It wasn’t that I couldn’t find fillo dough. They carried it. The issue was that, despite following all warnings and instructions about keeping the defrosted dough covered so it would stay moist, the fillo was already dried out when I unrolled it. Something went awry in their storage process.
I dealt with it. I did learn that, for me, it was easier to lay the sheets in the pan BEFORE brushing them with butter than to brush them first and THEN try to move them. I started out brush and moving, but it was disastrous. This could have been because the dough was already slightly crumbling. I ended up using two extra sheets on the top and the bottom to bandage the cracks. It all worked out in the end.
I loved the moist filling. The chicken was tender, and the honey sauce added to the texture. It reminded me a little big of pulled chicken from a BBQ restaurant, but with a completely different sauce and no smoky flavor. I enjoyed the contrast between the filling and the crispy pastry and the crunchy almonds. It was delicious. Dorie said this needed no accompaniments, though I served a green salad with vinaigrette to which I added a teaspoon of Penzey’s Turkish Seasoning.
I hadn’t planned ahead, but I should have invited friends over to share. We did get to enjoy the leftovers. It reheated better in the oven (for dinner at home) than the microwave (for lunch at work), but it still tasted good either way.
My box of fillo came with two sealed packets, and I defrosted one, which had about 20 sheets. This recipe only called for 8 sheets, and I don’t like to waste. I ended up finding a recipe for baklava in Small-Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos. The recipe used 7 sheets to make a mini-baklava, in a loaf pan, making 8 pieces. There was just enough to compliment the b’stilla the first night and with the leftovers. The syrup for this recipe had a strong orange flavor which I’ll tone down when I make it again. It was excellent.
If you’d like to see how the chicken b’stilla worked out for other bloggers, check out their links at French Fridays with Dorie. If you like what you see, you can buy yourself the book and join our cooking group.
A Plateful of Happiness 