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Tag Archives: French
 
L.’s aunt from Boston and his cousin from the Azores are visiting us for a few days and I decided to try out a new dish on company; which, mind you is something I usually never do. I have a standby roasted chicken dish that I seem to serve whenever we have people over for dinner from out of town. After all, you can not go wrong with the chick, everyone loves a good chick, right?! Well, MOVE ON OVER stand-by chick, you have just been replaced by the new chick in town – Tarragon and Pancetta Roasted Chicken!
This chicken is not only SUPER easy but it is so darn good. The skin is raised on the chicken and lightly stuffed with a breadcrumb, tarragon and pancetta mixture and then cooked to perfection. The stuffing sealed in all the juices, making an ultra moist and juicy chicken – so succulent! I usually do not care for tarragon; but, with the saltiness and flavors of the pancetta it was just like spring time in Italy!
You have to try this one, it will be your new favorite dish to fall back on.
L. and I really do not “celebrate” V~day. We both are strong believers that all these special “things”, should be things that are done throughout the year, not saved up for one “big” day. And, since we eat pretty well on a nightly bases, why should this night be any different or for that matter stuck out at a restaurant, paying over priced prices for food that is not that good because it is so busy – save it for a rainy day! In the same breath, it is kind of hard not to get a little sucked into all the pink & red fluff everywhere, so I do always pick up a little token of my love, a bottle of pink bubbly and a card.
Now, since I LOVE to cook as well, I know L. was expecting the big fancy french meal; but, I surprised him with a Jamie Oliver pizza of Pancetta, artichoke hearts and an egg! He was quite surprised!
For dessert I made L.’s favorite dessert, Iles Flottantes – a big Thank You to Tartelette for a wonderful recipe! Not only was it delicious but very easy.
bit·ter·sweet (btr-swt)
n.
1. A woody vine of the genus Celastrus, especially the North American species C. scandens and the eastern Asian species C. orbiculata, having small, round, yellow-orange fruits that open at maturity to expose red seeds. Also called staff tree.
2. See bittersweet nightshade.
3. A dark to deep reddish orange.
adj.
1. Bitter and sweet at the same time: bittersweet chocolate.
2. Producing or expressing a mixture of pain and pleasure: a movie with a bittersweet ending.
3. Dark to deep reddish-orange.
There have been a few episodes the past couple of months that have been “bittersweet” for me. This event came at a perfect time.
As well, I am a chocolate addict. I would eat it everyday of the week if I could. The darker and the deeper the chocolate the better. No semi-sweet, milk chocolate for me!! It is like a bad drug. For this event which was hosted by Apartment Therapy The Kitchen, I choose a bittersweet chocolate tart – I love it because it is incredibly bitter (70% chocolate) and just a little sweet (hardly any sugar). I love to have it drizzled with olive oil and sea salt, or a drizzle of cream, or maybe a ripe red raspberry; but, this time around, the slight bite of the chocolate and the slight sweetness of the crust went incredibly well with a deep dark espresso! Pure sin ….. all things bad turned into one good thing!
Unfortunately, for you the viewers, the photos are terrible. As it was a very last minute decision, I forgot until half way thru the process that I was suppose to take a few photos of the baking process as well a few of the finished process. Because of chilling times, etc.. I missed all the wonderful natural light and had to work with what I had. I can assure you all … this is a fantastic tart and you should definitely make it when you are feeling the need to be a little bad!
Recipe
that is what the past weekend has been all about. Upon arriving back home with a very rainy weekend in store, we decided we should stay as close to home as possible! Every January, we give up alcohol for a month and start eating healthy, again, at least better than we had the past holiday season. This time we decided to take advantage of the terrible rainy weekend and stay in and indulge before the clean living starts up. We definitely fulfilled that sin – lots of good food being cooked, bottles of wine & champagne to be drank, lots of sleep and being lazy in front of a TV (which we never do), some shopping and one incredible dinner out at Delfina.
Tonight we decided to start the clean living with a simple soup – a Provencal vegetable soup with Pistou, served with a crusty loaf of bread and some very creamy blue Roquefort – incredible!!!! Now we are settling in to warm up the evening with a cognac, the last drip of alcohol for the month!
for leaving you stranded in our kitchen for so long! We have had a terrible time, trying to find time to stay home – too busy, since coming back from the Costa Rica. Definitely, dying to get some quality time hunkering down at home – maybe 2008!
We did get a chance to toast the holidays with some friends of ours over the weekend – D., JT, & S. (who is in from Boston). I have been dying to cook a Cassoulet since taking my classes at Tante Marie – what better time than now!
Started the evening with a nice bottle of bubbly wine and Gougere Puffs – I did not have Gruyère cheese so I compromised and added what I had on hand – goat cheese! They came out a little heavier than usual but very tasty, especially with a glass of bubbly! We then moved on to the star attraction, Cassoulet! I was quite happy – the duck fell off the bones, and the flavor was fantastic. Could use a touch more salt but otherwise, very good. For dessert I whipped up a Chocolate Souffle. I had some extra pistachios so I crushed them with sugar in the old food processor and coated the sides of dish before adding the sinful part of the souffle. Not the same as I usually make, more like pudding with a crunchy topping, very rich and sinful. We highly recommend!
Overall, a fantastic evening. Great Friends and good food – the best way to ring in the holidays!
L. left for the La Ruta de los Conquistadores, last night. We have been living and breathing biking for the past 11 months. This was our first Saturday in so long that we could lounge around the house on a Saturday, drink coffee, watch a movie and just enjoy each other company! In honor all of his hard work & to give a guy a decent meal before his trip, I used my skills learned at Tante Marie and made an outstanding dinner!
We started with a mixed green salad with a light French Vinaigrette. I picked up some outrageous Roquefort and forgot the bread, so I crumbled it over the salad. The cheese was fantastic and while good on a salad would had been better with a baguette – live and learn. Despite the raining day and night, we picked up some of these steaks we found a couple weeks ago – by far the best we have had, ever – and tossed them on the grill. Lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. The star attraction with our steak was my new favorite potato – potatoes fried in duck fat and sprinkled with sea salt. OH MY GOD! These morsels with a nice grilled steak and a full bodied red wine are to die for!
We kicked it up a notch for dessert and made crepe Suzette.
The entire evening was fantastic – the food, wine and most of all my hot guy, I am so proud of him!
another late night spinning. Luckily, I had a few minutes before we left to toss together a gratin. So all we had to do was pop it into the oven and Voila, lovely french food for dinner! This was an endive and prosciutto gratin that I learned to make in my French Cooking classes a couple weeks ago. When I started putting it together, I had a feeling L. was going to give it a BIG VETO like he did to the Leek Soup; but, he did not! It was too tasty with all that smokiness of the Prosciutto and cheesy sauce!
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