Guess what we did last night? This was the fall out…part of the evening I love every bit as much as the carving….

Guess what we did last night? This was the fall out…part of the evening I love every bit as much as the carving….

(Guess the title should really read “Friday’s Hachis Parmentier Made on Monday, Posted on Wednesday)

Rush rush rush rush.
Cook cook cook cook.

I was trying to get this done BEFORE I headed out to get my daughter from dance class, and it just wasn’t going to happen.

So I left it in the oven, turned the oven off, and headed out the door for about a 30-minute round trip.

Came home, relaxed. Had this waiting, along with some kale (thanks, MM!!) cooked with lots of garlic and sprinkled with balsamic.

This is comfort food as it is meant to be. I loved the mashed potatoes with gruyere. I loved the sausage crumbled up with the beef…I loved the veg, which I left in…because Dorie said I could.

I cooked it all in my black cast iron skillet, workhorse that she is…We could easily have fed 6 people, 8 if we’d had more sides…super generous meal…oh, and great leftovers.

Check out links at French Fridays with Dorie,
and, of course: BUY THE BOOK!

(Guess the title should really read “Friday’s Hachis Parmentier Made on Monday, Posted on Wednesday)

Rush rush rush rush.
Cook cook cook cook.

I was trying to get this done BEFORE I headed out to get my daughter from dance class, and it just wasn’t going to happen.

So I left it in the oven, turned the oven off, and headed out the door for about a 30-minute round trip.

Came home, relaxed. Had this waiting, along with some kale (thanks, MM!!) cooked with lots of garlic and sprinkled with balsamic.

This is comfort food as it is meant to be. I loved the mashed potatoes with gruyere. I loved the sausage crumbled up with the beef…I loved the veg, which I left in…because Dorie said I could.

I cooked it all in my black cast iron skillet, workhorse that she is…We could easily have fed 6 people, 8 if we’d had more sides…super generous meal…oh, and great leftovers.

Check out links at French Fridays with Dorie,
and, of course: BUY THE BOOK!

Why yes, I DID see almost all of my best college friends this weekend. Why yes, a photo of a candy IS the first thing I manage to post…

But who wouldn’t??

I am SO working on recreating this. And you are all getting homemade candy from me for Christmas.

Why yes, I DID see almost all of my best college friends this weekend. Why yes, a photo of a candy IS the first thing I manage to post…

But who wouldn’t??

I am SO working on recreating this. And you are all getting homemade candy from me for Christmas.

See the spiky cheesy goodness of a gougere hot out of the oven.

I couldn’t pass up an excuse to make gougeres. I realize that French Fridays will be easier for me because I pretty much have all the ingredients for the savory recipes…I just do. That baking on Tuesdays With Dorie just wore me out with the sweet ingredients I didn’t have…never a chance to do a quick baking session.

Gougeres? Simple. Bring milk and water, salt, butter to the boil. Add flour all at once and stir HARD. (It ends up looking like mashed potatoes). Then put that batter into mixing bowl. Beat with paddle, adding eggs, one at a time. Then beat in 6 ounces of the BEST grated cheese you can imagine. Spoon (or ice cream scoop) onto trays. Bake until golden brown.

Eat one hot. Eat another one hot. Try not to eat them all. Give a big batch to office staff. Knock on neighbors’ doors (yes, PLURAL)…take them to rooftop and give them to friends while savoring sunset and a glass of wine. Offer to random passers by…take the to game night and force players to enjoy…finally hide one so you can savor the custardy, cheesy, salty goodness of the gougere one last time.

But then? Don’t remember how easy they are to make. Don’t make them again and eat THEM for dinner instead of a proper dinner tonight.

Just don’t.

DO Check out other blogs and photos at French Fridays with Dorie..
And of course, buy the book!

Is the title too much? Too bad. Because any time I have EVER made a Dorie G crust, it’s been awesome…and therefore I come to think of myself as one awesome pie crust maker. And the sum of the parts on this mustard tart is greater than the whole…no, not kidding.

I made the dough. My impatience does not allow me to let it rest in the fridge at 7 p.m. So I made it.

Rolled it out between two sheets of parchments (oh, another awesome trick I have learned from Dorie)…

…then I froze the dough in the tart pan while the oven heated up to 425. Then I partially baked it–I, for one, always go the extra minute or two, because I do love a crispy crust, so it got 20 minutes with the foil and an additional five without the foil. Perfect.

The shell is delicate. Which is good. But bad if you can be a bit cavalier with your baked pastry crust—as I was. The shell shrank from the pan a bit, and instead of moving the pan, I held the pan by the rim, touch the crust..and cracked this little bit.

Ruh roh. Would the custard seep out and make it …awful? I balled a bit of foil up and wedged it under the rim so the custard tipped ever so slightly away from that crack (you can see the edges of the foil in that photo above). Problem solved.

There’s not a ton of custard in this. I was lucky enough to have rich rich rich Lakeview Farms Home Delivery cream (I have to shake it up to incorporate that heavy cream back into the liquid) to use with my eggs.

I also made way too many carrots and leeks..I used three, just like DG says, but she never says: 3 carrots, cut into matchsticks (you should have about 3 cups)….And yes, I should know better. But I love leeks and I love carrots. I couldn’t edit them out of the tart shell.

So I didn’t. In the end, maybe not the prettiest mustard tart of the lot.
But it has to be in the running for one of the best tasting, I’m sure of that…That combo of just enough mustardy custard, the leeks and the sweet carrots? Heaven. (Changes I’d make? I’d slice  the leeks crossways and dice the carrots. The long, slender cuts just pulled everything off the tart shell..)

Check out how others did at French Fridays with Dorie, and BUY THE BOOK.

Is the title too much? Too bad. Because any time I have EVER made a Dorie G crust, it’s been awesome…and therefore I come to think of myself as one awesome pie crust maker. And the sum of the parts on this mustard tart is greater than the whole…no, not kidding.

I made the dough. My impatience does not allow me to let it rest in the fridge at 7 p.m. So I made it.

Rolled it out between two sheets of parchments (oh, another awesome trick I have learned from Dorie)…

…then I froze the dough in the tart pan while the oven heated up to 425. Then I partially baked it–I, for one, always go the extra minute or two, because I do love a crispy crust, so it got 20 minutes with the foil and an additional five without the foil. Perfect.

The shell is delicate. Which is good. But bad if you can be a bit cavalier with your baked pastry crust—as I was. The shell shrank from the pan a bit, and instead of moving the pan, I held the pan by the rim, touch the crust..and cracked this little bit.

Ruh roh. Would the custard seep out and make it …awful? I balled a bit of foil up and wedged it under the rim so the custard tipped ever so slightly away from that crack (you can see the edges of the foil in that photo above). Problem solved.

There’s not a ton of custard in this. I was lucky enough to have rich rich rich Lakeview Farms Home Delivery cream (I have to shake it up to incorporate that heavy cream back into the liquid) to use with my eggs.

I also made way too many carrots and leeks..I used three, just like DG says, but she never says: 3 carrots, cut into matchsticks (you should have about 3 cups)….And yes, I should know better. But I love leeks and I love carrots. I couldn’t edit them out of the tart shell.

So I didn’t. In the end, maybe not the prettiest mustard tart of the lot.
But it has to be in the running for one of the best tasting, I’m sure of that…That combo of just enough mustardy custard, the leeks and the sweet carrots? Heaven. (Changes I’d make? I’d slice  the leeks crossways and dice the carrots. The long, slender cuts just pulled everything off the tart shell..)

Check out how others did at French Fridays with Dorie, and BUY THE BOOK.

Today my daughter came to me at lunch and said she wanted to make something. Something liiiiiike…fried chicken.

Um. No? When I eat fried chicken, you can be pretty damn sure it’s not from my kitchen. All I can think of is the mess. Plus why should I make fried chicken when I can eat it at Price’s Chicken Coop here in Charlotte, the best fried chicken I ever had?

So she started listing other possibilities and she got to dulce de leche–milk caramel–which is so popular in Latin America AND in South Florida…We’ve had it spread on things, in things. We’ve eaten alfajores (say alfa-hore-ace), buttery cookies sandwiching dulce de leche and sometimes dipped in chocolate… Bingo. Both of us had seen Alton Brown make it, so we got to work, and it couldn’t have been easier:

4 cups Lakeview Farms whole milk (the stuff that comes to my door in glass bottles)..(okay, you can use milk local to YOUR area)
12 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise.

That’s it. Get to simmer, add sugar, stir til dissolved, add baking soda, stir more. Here’s what it looks like at first. None too pretty:

Take bean out after about 45 min., and continue to reduce

until you have about 1 cup of golden, thick homemade dulce de leche. (Click on link for Alton’s detailed instructions.)

Eat with spoon.