French Fridays with Dorie

Feta-filled Zucchini Blossoms – French Fridays with Dorie with a nod to Aglaia Kremezi

July 13, 2014 by Renee

As luck would have it, last week I had a full garden of zucchini blossoms, but this week, I have only zucchini! Not that I am complaining of course! So my plans for making zucchini blossom anything fell apart. This French Fridays with Dorie, which was supposed to be Shrimp filled Zucchini Blossoms, but as I am not actually fond of shrimp, I had planned to make the Feta Filled Zucchini Blossoms that I learned how to make at Kea Artisanal in Greece. But since I was not able to get blossoms in time from the store, we’ll just revisit my time at Kea with Aglaia.

Aglaia Kremezi is a food writer, journalist, and one of Greece’s foremost cooking authorities and she runs Kea Artisanal with her husband, Costas, on the island in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Kea is just an hour ferry ride from Lavrio, a port south of Athens.

If you ever want to go on a culinary vacation to one of the most beautiful places on earth, and learn from someone who is truly able to pass along the techniques, history and traditions of Greek cooking, then you should visit Kea Artisanal. Their hospitality and their passion for teaching is exceptional. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.

It was there that I was introduced to Zucchini Blossoms. I’d never had them before and the way we prepared them was so incredibly easy. Simply done, with a small piece of Feta cheese and a sprig of mint, then covered in a light batter and fried. On the side, we made a zingy potato-garlic spread, Skordalia to dip them and some other vegetables in to- and it was phenomenal!

You can read the post about my Kea Artisanal trip and blossoms here. See more photos here.

Here we dried out the centers with paper towels-

Then we filled each blossom with a small piece of Feta cheese and a sprig of mint, twisting the ends slightly to close the blooms.

A quick dip in a light batter and into the oil it goes.

The finished vegetables, with flatbreads and Skordalia…..

Aglaia

So while my French Fridays with Dorie this week was not really French, and not really Dorie (although the batter is the same for both recipes!), it was great to relive my time on Kea and rekindle my fond memories of zucchini blossoms and Aglaia.

For details on creating these recipes, check out the FFWD site and see others who are also cooking the book-

You can also buy the book here:

Tomatoes Provencal, Guacamole and Skate with Capers, Cornichons and Brown Butter Sauce – FFWD

July 7, 2014 by Renee

This week, I am catching up with my French Fridays with Dorie posts. There were three recipes in all to recreate- Skate with Capers, Cornichons and Brown Butter Sauce, Guacamole with Tomatoes and Bell Peppers and Tomatoes Provencal.

I was almost on time with the skate recipe- it was made just a day late-on that Saturday morning- then it was eaten for breakfast because that’s what happens when you are trying to get several posts completed at once. The cooking, photos taken and edited, and the writing just wound up being too much to get done in those last few weeks of ‘end of school’, graduations and ‘off to camp’ preparations.

The “breakfast” Skate with capers, cornichons and brown butter sauce was reminiscent of Ari’s FCI day’s when he was learning to prepare Classic French dishes, cooking a similar dish for the school’s restaurant, L’ecole, sans the cornichons. Even with the addition of these mini sour French pickles, it was just as delicious now as it was way back then.

The fish’s delicate, sweet, white meat is perfectly suited to the brown butter sauce and zingy capers. It’s one of my favorite ways to dress a light fish. You can also add a few toasted almonds into the butter and make it amandine as well. It’s a great summer dish and if you eat it at the right time of day- any time after breakfast, say, then you could pair it with a nice glass of wine- a white Bordeaux or a Juracon Sec.

This week we had a BBQ with neighbors and made both the Guacamole with Tomatoes and Bell Peppers and the Tomatoes Provencal.

Well, guacamole is a really a non-recipe. It’s avocado, tomatoes, garlic, bell peppers, onion and cilantro mashed together with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime. It’s never the same twice (unless you actually measure the ingredients) and we always add or leave out different things. It just depends on what’s on hand. Also, since we eat multiple avocados in our house weekly, guacamole is something that we make as a condiment really. It’s great on toast for breakfast, in tacos and burritos, on top of baked potatoes and of course with a bowl of tortilla chips. You may even find us just eating slices of the fruit just because. Love avocados.

The Tomatoes Provencal was a bit of a disappointment for me. They tasted okay, and everyone else liked them. But for me they were not what I expected. The mixed garlic and herb topping was very tasty, especially with a healthy grating of gruyere and a large drizzle of olive oil I brought back from Puglia, but the tomatoes were not as sweet as I would have liked. I used larger tomatoes when I should have used plum, and I would have preferred slow roasting them to condense the flavors. These tomatoes reminded me of the ones you are served in England at breakfast. I like them at breakfast, but these were just not what I expected. Perhaps they are meant to be this way.

Ah well, next time I make a Full English Breakfast, I’ll add these.

This week’s recipe is Shrimp Filled Zucchini Blossoms – but since I don’t really like shrimp- stay tuned for an alternative Zucchini Blossom recipe- pending my garden’s cooperation of course!

For details on creating these recipes, check out the FFWD site and see others who are also cooking the book-

You can also buy the book here:

Crab-Avocado “Ravioli” – French Fridays with Dorie

June 16, 2014 by Renee

I’ve been following along with French Fridays with Dorie for the past month, but even with ingredients purchased and several of the recipes made, I have just not had the time to post them!

I’ve been spending most of my entire weekends in the garden, first digging up everything and then replanting and this week, the dreaded task of weeding. I think by Fall I should have the garden and lawn looking just right- just in time for the snow to reappear! So as I am short on indoor time, I am glad this week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie was a very simple crab salad with avocado.

I have a confession- I used imitation crab. I know, the horror! Well, it actually does have some crab in it, so I guess it’s not totally fake. I bought a large bag and made “crab” cakes with it as well.

This recipe came at the perfect time. Last weekend, I was away at Eat, Write, Retreat – a blog conference- in Philadelphia (another post about that soon). One of the sponsors was California Avocado and I came home with a bag of one of my favorite “fruits”. After an avocado inspired menu at the Philly restaurant, Supper, I’ve been enjoying avocado toast and guacamole all week long here at home. So with one of the last three I have, I made this so called “ravioli” which is really more like a sandwich as there is no pasta involved.

I just happened to also bring home an OXO Good Grips Hand-Held Mandoline Slicer. I’ve been wanting an OXO Mandoline for ages. I have the big metal Bron version, but it is a pain to clean and it simply terrifies me as we don’t have a guard for it. As soon as it’s on the counter, my reflex is to pull my fingers into a tight fist. With the OXO slicer, there is a guard and I can tell you it’s so simple to use (I’ve used it every day this week!). I think it’s life changing, really! It also did the trick with this dish. The avocado sliced very thin and was the perfect vehicle for the crab salad.

Made with shallots, fresh lime, cilantro and fleur de sel and pepper, this light crab salad was very refreshing and would be a perfect small appetizer or passed hors d’oeuvres. I suppose if you wanted more crab salad, you could also serve a larger portion with slices of avocado on the side.

One ingredient that I swapped out was the walnut oil the recipe called for. I just used EVOO and don’t think I missed any nutty complex that the walnut oil would have given.

Overall, this recipe was a success but unless I am having guests, I don’t think it will make it into the repertoire of dishes I make frequently.

For details on creating these recipes, check out the FFWD site and see others who are also cooking the book-

You can also buy the book here: