Kitchen Conundrum

French Fridays: Dukkah-Roasted Cauliflower-Cook The Book Fridays-David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen

by

MyParisKitchenDavidLebovitz
When I saw that the French Fridays with Dorie group had just started cooking from David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen, I knew I had to join right in, I just couldn’t resist!  It’s one of my favorite cookbooks and not just because I adore David, or because it’s features my home away from home, Paris, but it’s truly one of the best cookbooks I own.  And I own many!

The book holds a prominent spot in my kitchen bookshelf, set apart from my other cookbooks that live in the den library. It sits alongside some of my most beloved and used books, The Perfect Scoop , the Silver Palate Cookbook and Aglaia Kremezi’s Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts to name a few.

I actually just bought a second copy to use for this cook the book challenge because I want to keep my signed copy in good condition (I’m a dork that way!).  I know that since I will be using it even more often now, its pages will be become receptacles of splashes and stains, drips and drops, and they will be torn and tattered in no time- the sign of a well-loved cookbook.  I’ve been quite good about keeping it nice until now but I don’t want to take any chances!

Luckily, the group is only recreating just two recipes a month, a much more manageable regimen for me than a weekly recipe.  Life is hectic.  Finding time to shoot and edit photos or to write anything (outside of my professional life) has been a real challenge this past year. (As you can see by the lack of postings here on KC.)  But I should be able to handle two posts a month!

This week’s recipe is Dukkah-Roasted Cauliflower (p 224). Since the group just started last month, I went back and made the last two recipes as well-Steak with Mustard Butter and Fries (p 206), and Winter Salad (p 98). What a terrific dinner we had!

Dinner began with a winter salad, a beautiful white salad made of Belgian endive batons and coated with a pungent, creamy Roquefort cheese dressing.   Endive is a member of the chicory family, which I really like sautéed.  It also includes radicchio, escarole, and my nemesis leafy green, frisee.  I absolutely hate frisee.  I pluck it out of every salad and leave it jumbled like a pile of barbed wire on my plate.

I am not particularly fond of raw bitter greens.  Cooking them mellows their sharpness and, in my opinion, makes them edible.  Raw, I prefer peppery arugula and lite delicate lettuces such as butter greens or baby spinach.  This was actually palatable due to the copious amounts of the Roquefort dressing I made to coat it.  I was actually a little disappointed that I only bought one. The dressing is now being used as a dip for carrots and other cut up vegetables. Yum!

Winter Salad

Winter Salad (Recipe in My Paris Kitchen)

Steak frites is such a simple and quintessential Parisian bistro dish.  Adding to the meat a hint of smokiness with a chipotle chili powder and topping it with a compound butter made with a sharp Dijon mustard transforms it into a highly flavorful, mouthwatering experience. This was served with a heaping side of freshly made, crispy French fries. The best thing is to save a few to mop up the leftover meat juices and tangy, buttery sauce.

Steak with Mustard Butter and French Fries

Steak with Mustard Butter and French Fries (Recipe in My Paris Kitchen)

Lastly, we also had Dukkah-Roasted Cauliflower.   Dukkah is a warm, aromatic Egyptian spice blend made up of nuts (mostly hazelnuts but can be made with almonds, pistachios, other nuts, or a combination thereof), sesame seeds, coriander seeds, and cumin seeds.  The blend can be purchased in some gourmet and ethnic markets, but it’s incredibly simple to make at home. Quickly toasting the nuts and spices draws out their fragrance and gives them an earthy flavor that is often not like the character of the raw spice.

Using a mortar and pestle, or a quick whirl of a food processor, the mixture can be ground into a fine powder or left with coarser chunks of nuts and seeds. It’s a versatile blend with many uses- mix it with olive oil for dipping flat breads into or sprinkle it on hummus,  tahini or yogurt. You can also dust it on vegetables for roasting; it is delicious on squash, zucchini and especially cauliflower.

Dukkah Roasted Cauliflower

Dukkah Roasted Cauliflower (Recipe in My Paris Kitchen)

 

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

You can also buy the book here:

MyParisKitchenDavidLebovitz-269x337

 

 

 

Follow the group on Twitter @ctbfridays

#cookthebookfridays #mypariskitchen

Visit the Facebook Page: Cook The Book Fridays

 

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links to my Amazon Associate’s account. This means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using these links.

Test for Doneness. Filet With Garlic Roasted New Potatoes

by

This is one of our favorite meals. It never gets old. It’s quick, easy to make and we clean our plates every time. It’s nice to make a peppercorn or Bearnaise sauce to accompany the steaks, but because the meat is so good on it’s own, its not a necessity. Add a bottle of wine and you have a nice dinner for two.

The key to making perfectly cooked steaks is a hot pan and a hot oven. Searing the meat on the stove first and transferring to a hot oven to finish cooking helps keep the juices intact and the meat retains its flavor and does not dry out. With this method, you should have perfectly cooked meat every time.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Place a high heat, oven safe pan into the oven to heat up while you prepare the potatoes.

Slice 1.5 pounds of red new potatoes into 1/8 inch slices.

Toss the potatoes in a bowl with two tablespoons olive oil, 5-6 peeled garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons of garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.

In a 9×13 baking pan or on a  cookie sheet, layer the potatoes to cover the bottom. Try not to over crowd them so they have room to crisp.

Place in the oven, keeping an eye on their doneness while preparing the steaks. They should cook in about 10 minutes. Remove the potatoes once they are browned and fork tender.

The steaks from our butcher come with a layer of fat held on with a string. We remove this before cooking.

Season the steaks with salt and pepper.

Remove the pan from the oven carefully. Place over a high flame on the range top.  Add a teaspoon of vegetable oil to the pan. Do not use olive oil as it will burn at a high heat. Add the steaks to the heated pan, searing the outsides for about 1 minute on the first side. Flip the steaks when you have a nice brown crust.

Leave on the second side for about 30 seconds before transferring the pan back to the oven.

Test for doneness by taking the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer inserted  into the center of the meat at a 45 degree angle to the flat surface. Depending upon the thickness of your meat, there will be residual heat and the internal temperature will rise during resting and cause the meat to continue cooking. This means the meat should be removed from the heat at an internal temperature of about 5 degrees lower than your desired final internal temperature, allowing the residual heat to finish the cooking.

For rare, a red cool to warm center with a very spongy feel , the temperature will be 125 degrees F. For medium rare, a red warm center and bit springy, it will be 130 degrees F. A medium steak, or a hot pink center with a little spring and will have a temperature of 140 degrees F. Medium well done has an internal temperature of 150 degrees F and only has a slight pink color and feels frim. A well done steak has no color and feels very firm with little to no give. It’s temperature is 160 degrees F.

You can also use the hand method of touching the steak to feel it’s firmness.

For rare, it should feel like the fat in between your thumb and first finger when your hand is relaxed. Stretch your thumb out a  little more for medium rare.

For well done, it should feel like the fat of your thumb on the palm of your hand.

Once your desired temperature is reached, remove the pan from the oven and place on top of the stove half on a burner so the pan is on an angle to rest the steaks for about 10 minutes.  Placing the pan at an angle will keep the steaks from sitting in their juices and loosing their crispy crust.  It is important to let the steaks rest as this lets the juices meld back into the meat and keeps it juicy.

Serve with the potatoes and a vegetable of your choice and you will have a lovely dinner.