Braised guinea hen with figs page 183

I forgot to post this. I used chicken and dried figs very good.

Parisian gnocchi page 131

I have never been able to make gnocchi it always turns in to a slimy blob and so not appetising. I have tried a few times but no not working. I was looking forward to this version no potatoes gnocchi and it worked. This was so good and we have a vegetarian in the family and I know she would love this. I will make this again if somebody else does the washing up.

Tarte Tropézienne page 306

I made this great tart for the 14th of July, Bastille day and had some friends over. I also made the clafotis from Dorie so my friends would taste two of the classics. I did not read the recipe beforehand and I had forgotten how long it takes to make the brioche. I ended up putting the springform pan over hot water in the sink to speed up the process. I made the pastry cream the day before to save some time. I had better success with it than last time when it all melted and ran allover the plate. I brought the pearl sugar with me from France as we do not get it over here. Needless to say this was a great success and we drank with it some Cava. I love this tart. I also celebrated the fact that now I´m Franco-Islandaise!

Leeks with bacon-mustard vinaigrette, page 88

This is so not photogenic. It looks so bad but it tasted so good. The store had these great small leeks and I bought 10 of them. I steamed them in a colander since I do not have a steamer and it just worked fine. We all loved it specially my DH who just kept saying how good it made him feel. Eating this healthy. The vinaigrette was easy enough and very good. So doing this again. I served this with cod. We had a vegetarian coming to dinner so I had the bacon on the side. When looking at how this turned out for other members I think I over cooked the leeks. They just look so bad.

French onion soup, page 118

We love this soup, we have made it before á la Julia Child. It was one of the first thing I made from her classic book.

David uses chicken stock not beef stock and it is just as good. I did not follow his recipe to the letter. I did not use balsamic vinegar. I used cognac. It takes such a long time to caramelize the onion that I did not take any chances. I know I love cognac. The last time I made this soup from Julia’s book I only had some crappy sugar and it burnt I almost cried. It ruined everything. This time around the onion was a bit on the light side, I was so stressed it would burn so I kept the heat too low. Well live and learn.

Comté and ham wafers, page 45

Loved it!

I used the Icelandic version of cheddar cheese.  We do not get many imported cheeses and the one we do get are very expensive.  So no comté and no original cheddar cheese.  I used some thyme from my mother in law.  The dough rested in the fridge for about an hour and was easy to work with.  I love slice and bake, you can make the dough in advance and bake when you are ready and it only takes a few minutes.  I did not use the ham, we do not get very good ham up here.  David talks about cutting the cheese with a chef knife.  I used my box grater and than started cutting the cheese with the knife but lost my patience and dumped all the cheese in. Baked the wafers for 15-20 min and they were delicious when cold. Loved it whit a cold beer.

Smoothest, Silkiest, Creamiest, Tartest Lime Tart, page 184

 

Delicious!

 

Butternut squash bread soup, page 163

This was not so much soup, more like bread with cheese.  Our vegetarian was very happy with it and so was my cheese loving husband.  Me, not so much.  The bread took up all the liquid and I followed the recipe to a T.

 

Bay leaf pound cake, page 296

We met up with my mother-in-law in Paris last month and had a great time.  All we did was eat at great restaurants and people watch.  We came home relaxed and stuffed.  In the past we have always stayed at the 6em but now we stayed at the 2em.  We love to people watch at Rue Montorgueil.

She gave us bay leaves from her garden and wild thyme.   The bay leaves came to good use when baking this cake.

It was a straight forward easy bake.  We could not so much taste the bay leaves but it had a very subtle taste of orange.

 

Madeleines page 274

This was just perfect.   The madeleins had to rest 2* 1 hour and then bake for 9 min.  It was not much trouble as the dough just sat on the counter in the bowl of my standard mixer.  Not having to make any extra space in the fridge or the freezer.

I gave some to my mum and she loved it with a glass of milk, so much so that she asked me to make her some when her friends were coming over.  So I did the madeleins twice in one week.  As I have said before my DH loves vanilla and butter cakes so these did not last long at the house.  I made 18 madeline and I will make them again.

I buttered the pans and I did not have any problems getting the cakes out.  It also helps that the pans are silicon.  The baking sheet was hot from the oven which explains why the cakes are darker at the bottom.