Friday, October 29, 2010

FFwD - Marie-Hélène's Apple Cake

It's Friday already.  This sounded like a quick and easy recipe to attempt at the end of a busy week.  Who knew it would take me over 1/2 an hour to peel four apples!  The rest came together without a problem.  Thanks to http://marymaryculinary.blogspot.com/ for her suggestion to brown the butter.  I could not stop sniffing the stuff!  I bought a 9 inch springform pan for this as that was all I could find but as soon as I had the batter poured in I could tell that wasn't going to work, not enough to fill it all, so I switched to a regular 8 inch pan.  Better...but...


...how to get it out of the pan!?  I did my best.  I was impatient and did not let this cool all the way.  My first bite I thought ok, a little too much of a rum taste but after letting it cool properly I did enjoy it. 


Happy Halloween everyone!  I've got a bat girl costume to put together tomorrow, should prove to be interesting!

Friday, October 22, 2010

FFwDorie - hachis parmentier

This is a dish my mom would like.  Similar to the shepherd’s pies she tried to get me to eat as a kid.  She never succeeded.  I would not even try them.  Why?  My utter dislike of potatoes.  As a kid I only ever ate the French fried variety, or raw with salt!  I spent many a night sitting at the table staring at the little mash of potatoes on my plate, refusing to eat them.  They are even worse cold!  I’ve grown to like them a little more.  Serve them mashed with lots of gravy or cheese sauce and they aren’t so bad.  So you can understand I was a little hesitant with this dish.  I was not overly familiar with the cheeses suggested so I googled each one and my hesitation grew even more when I saw the descriptions of nutty and smoky.  I bought a cheese a few years ago like this and I really did not enjoy it.  I decided on a French emmental hoping it would be mild.  In the end it turned out well!  The potato topping, with it’s crispy crust and just a hint of cheese, was the best part.  I was a little disappointed in the meat filling.  I expected more of a meaty flavour.  That may be attributed to the cut of beef I used.  I still have not figured out if the stewing beef I used is the same thing as chuck.  Anyone? 
Oh..the three year old would only try the potatoes, which he loved.  The fifteen year old wanted nothing to do with it and L gave a shrug and an “it’s ok” but I did notice he ate two portions and just finished off the left overs.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Welcome...

Hello out there!  So, I have made the decision to blog along with the French Fridays with Dorie group.  Why you ask?  Well after a Thanksgiving dinner which involved burnt caramel sauce, seized caramel sauce (second attempt), stuffing dropped on the floor, two burns on my hands, a log of those store bought crescent rolls that would not unroll, and a three year old who started screaming when the gravy he poured all over his mashed potatoes dared to touch his corn, I decided to torture my family some more with my cooking attempts.  Hmm … actually the dinner itself was delicious so maybe I'll just be torturing myself.  We'll see!