Blog Archives
waffles {ffwd}
Last month, my friends at French Fridays with Dorie made waffles with cream. That week, I had a momentarily lapse of confusion and made the cheesecake tart which wasn’t scheduled until today. So this week while the Doristas enjoy their tarts, I will share my waffles with you.
I grew up eating waffles at breakfast time. I’m not sure what the difference is between pancake and waffle batter, but my mother made them distinct by using Hungry Jack for pancakes and Bisquick for waffles. Waffles were a considered treat, I think because they are cooked one at a time, and when we had waffles, you didn’t have to wait for everyone, you just ate your waffle when it was hot off the iron. I even have memories of waffles for dinner occasionally, the same ones served at breakfast time but eaten at night.
In France, waffles are not the entrée but dessert. These waffles were more delicate than the heartier ones I sometimes make for breakfast. (I use my college friend Sara’s recipe, not my mom’s.) I’m not sure whether this recipe is typically French, but the waffles were super buttery and light and crispy. The lightness came from beaten egg whites.
I did have some trouble cooking these. I halved the recipe, and I didn’t do a great job of judging how much batter to pour onto the waffle iron. I ended up with three rather thin waffles instead of two. The instructions were a little confusing too. Dorie had us pour the batter and then spread it (straightforward), but unlike the savory waffles with smoked salmon we made last spring, she never says to close the waffle iron. She does tell us to flip them over. I tried both ways (with the waffle iron open and closed) and did flipped all of them, but they didn’t get quite as golden brown as they should have. I’ll attribute that to not using each batter for each waffle.
The waffles being dessert, I sprinkled them with powdered sugar and drizzled them with chocolate sauce (some leftover chocolate ganache that I reheated). Neither of us care for whipped cream, so I had planned to serve ice cream with the waffles, but, uncharacteristically, there wasn’t any in the freezer.
This wasn’t my favorite dessert recipe from AMFT, so I doubt I’ll be making them again. And for breakfast, Sara’s recipe is perfect so I’ll stick with hers.
If you want to read more about the other Dorista’s waffles, check here. If you want to know about the cheesecake tarts they made this week, check here. The recipes can be found in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.
After our brutal winter, spring is decidedly here. Here are a few shots from my garden.
My favorite daffodils: Barrett Browing
Assorted Spring Flowers
sardines escabeche {ffwd}
I think the anticipation of making this week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie, Sardines Escabeche, was one of the most-dreaded in the book. While I sympathize with others’ trepidation, I wasn’t bothered by it, because I like fish, even oily fish, and even sardines, In fact, I had a little trouble finding fresh sardines this week and was disappointed to think I wouldn’t get to try it.
The stars aligned and I found sardines at the largest Whole Foods in my area. And, I remembered to ask for them to be cleaned. Last time I bought fresh sardines, I didn’t realize they were whole, guts and all, so had to quickly teach myself to clean them out. Yuck… I hadn’t read the recipe through and didn’t realize they needed to be filleted, so this time around, I learned how to fillet sardines, courtesy of Jamie Oliver. It wasn’t too bad. I’ll take filleting over cleaning any day!
I couldn’t quite imagine what this dish was going to be like as I put it together. The sardine fillets are quickly fried to partially cook them, arranged in a dish, and strewn with thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, and sun-dried tomatoes. Then thinly sliced vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, and garlic) are sautéed and then simmered in olive oil, vinegar and spices (and a little bit of ketchup). The hot vegetable mixture is poured over the fish and chilled overnight.
We ate the sardines escabeche with crusty bread for dipping in the flavorful oil and a beet walnut salad on the side — a picnic of sorts.
There was a reverse verdict on this one. Howard really enjoyed it. For me, the fish was just too fishy. It reminded me of pickled herring, which is one of the few fish preparations that I don’t really care for. On the other hand, I loved the oily pickled vegetables. While I doubt I would make this with sardines, I would make the vegetables, or maybe even the bonne idée, using shrimp instead.
To see how the other Doristas made out with their escabeche, check out their links here. You can find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table or this similar one on Dorie’s website.
A Plateful of Happiness 