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:

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:

Hurry Up and Wait Roast Chicken for Food Revolution Day! French Fridays with Dorie

May 15, 2014 by Renee

It’s Food Revolution Day!

This year, for Food Revolution Day, Jamie Oliver wants everyone to “get kids excited about food”.

“It’s time to take action!

We need every child to understand where food comes from, how to cook it, and how it affects their body. This is about setting kids up with the knowledge they need to make better food choices for life.” – Jamie Oliver

You can read more about what Food Revolution Day is all about here.

For French Fridays with Dorie this week, we were tasked to choose a recipe from Dorie’s book, Around my French Table that we think every child should know how to make.

We discuss this topic often at home. The kids all want to make sure they know how to make my meatloaf, Salisbury steak and challah. But there are so many other things they need to know how to make before they leave home and are out on their own. Aside from the obvious basics- vinaigrettes, pate brisee, steamed vegetables (with butter and salt), chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cream pies to name a few, one of the most important dishes they need to know how to make is a good roast chicken.

So we chose Dorie’s Hurry Up and Wait Roast Chicken to make. Before I tell you about our dinner adventure, I’ll tell you this- the chicken never touched the floor!

Firstly, the girls insisted on wearing gloves so as not to actually touch the raw chicken. (Confession: I usually do too.) Hannah was the butcher and chopped off the large piece of excess neck skin. Then, Abby rubbed the entire chicken with a large chunk of butter. I added the salt and pepper as I was the only one with clean hands. I placed the chicken in the roasting pan and Hannah tied the legs and turned it on its side for the first round of roasting.

(Also, I must teach them how to hold a knife properly!)

There was a small incident while Hannah was trying to maneuver the pan and her cell phone and the pan ended up on the floor with the chicken in her bare hands. She caught it as it flipped off the counter. Great catch! Many minutes of hot water and soap followed as we all laughed hysterically.

Thinking they were relived of their dinner tasks, they dispersed to play Minecraft before being brought back to peel the carrots and chop the potatoes. We added some fresh herbs and smashed garlic to the pan and continued roasting.

We had to give up on our oven midway through because the chicken had been in for an hour already (it was nearly 9:30pm at this point) and the bird was still was not cooked. We moved it to the Puck Pressure Oven and within another half hour the chicken emerged- crisp and golden and the vegetables beneath cooked through. (“I need a new oven already”, I said to no one in particular.)

Anyway, they were very pleased with their result and I was very proud of them. We let the chicken rest on it’s head end, so the juices would run into the breast while we made the sauce. A mixture of white wine and water, pan drippings and a swirl of butter.

It’s these last touches, resting the chicken in a headstand and making the sauce, that turns a simple dish into a special dish.

I cook a lot with the girls, but mostly it’s been baking cakes and cookies, making homemade pasta, pancakes and eggs. It’s time to move on to meats and poultry – tonight was a great start. They only have a few years left at home then they will be out in the world. I hope they will take my love of cooking with them wherever they go. I honestly think they will.

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