French Fridays with Dorie Archives - Page 2 of 10 Kitchen Conundrum

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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For details on creating these recipes, check out the FFWD site and see what other Dorista’s who are also cooking the book have done-

You can also buy the book here:

Green as Spring Veal Stew and Baby Bok Choy en Papillote- French Fridays with Dorie

May 3, 2014 by Renee

I don’t eat tuna, thon, atun, tonno or however you want to call tuna- unless I have to. I try to avoid it as much as possible and even have a separate can opener for those rare cans that are opened in my house. I don’t understand why, when you order a salad abroad, that they must toss a can of tuna on top. All across Spain as I hiked the Camino and even in Italy, when I just wanted a nice bowl of greens, when I craved greens, it would arrive topped with a can of tuna-much to my dismay, as though the greens the needed something. They don’t. I would prefer them to be plain or with just a bit of a oil and vinegar and a dash of salt would have been sufficient, thank you. So, I am skipping this week’s tuna rillettes for French Fridays with Dorie (duck rillettes, on the other hand, are a favorite!) and since I actually made these recipes the weeks they were assigned but never had the time to post them, I thought this week, I’d play catch up.

I present Green As Spring Veal Stew:

Veal stew as green as Spring, who’d ever heard of such a thing?

Brown, and white I’ve enjoyed before, but green, that’s one I had never seen.

Herbs and leaves I mixed and blended, till my sauce was greener than green

My blender pulsed and pureed, and from the lid it did spray.

A Springier green I had never seen, it was bright,and vivid and oh, the veal was incredibly lean.

I poured the sauce onto my plate and took some pictures before I ate.

I picked up one piece with my spoon and took a bite and started to swoon,

I am keener than keen to eat veal that’s greener than Spring.

I was pleasantly surprised with this one. While it doesn’t look so appetizing, (I find stews and sauces like this hard to photograph!) the sauce- a combination of mint, parsley, spinach and thyme was delightful and bright. It made for a terrific Spring dish. And veal, of course, is quite apropos for Spring as well. The sauce would be excellent over chicken or fish as well. And a lighter version would taste great with grilled vegetables.

Speaking of vegetables, there was also Baby Bok Choy, Sugar Snaps and Garlic en Papillote. A simple mixture with baby onions and orange zest, steamed in little pouches in the oven. A lovely and light side dish for any meal. I would definitely make both of these again, or at least the sauce from the veal, and vegetables in papillote happens quite a bit around here- it’s quick and easy! Which is what I need these days!

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:

Quiche Maraîchère- French Fridays with Dorie

April 11, 2014 by Renee

Quiche is synonymous with Spring and Summer eating. This Quiche Maraîchère is actually the second quiche I’ve made in a week. The weather is finally turning warmer and thoughts of lighter fare with fresh vegetables and greens are quickly replacing the heavy sauces and meat and potato laden stews that were sustaining through this extremely long, cold winter.

I am looking forward to the delicate Spring asparagus and the crisp, sweet summer tomatoes to be in season. We are not quite there yet, but getting much closer. In the meantime, it’s great to try some new recipes in anticipation of those long summer days where you want to eat something a bit brighter and fresh.

This week’s French Friday’s with Dorie does just that. This delicious Quiche Maraîchère has a lot more vegetables than custard and is not too heavy at all. With celery, leeks, bell peppers and carrots, you certainly get your fill of fresh vegetables. I am sure you can even toss in some broccoli and/or asparagus and spinach and it would still have been quite good.

The only modification I made was that I ran out of Gruyère (Quelle horreur!)and used cheddar instead. (Side note: Did you know that when you vacuum pack shredded cheese that it turns back into a solid hunk of cheese? It does! I bought a huge bag of shredded cheese from Costco and knowing that we can’t possibly eat that much (we do eat a LOT but not that much at once) it was divided into a few bags that we vacuumed packed. Well, fast forward a few months- we go to open the shredded cheese and it’s a solid brick of cheese shreds! Who knew!?!)

It made for a few terrific lunches and even a quick dinner one night when I just didn’t have the will (or desire) to make anything at all.

For the crust, it was the standard Pate Brisee. It’s the crust that I live by. Perfect for sweet and savory. It’s no fuss and comes out perfect every single time. You can find it here with a more summery dish- and one of my favorites- Tomato Tart and Pate Brisee recipe.

I’ll definitely make this one again. But I think I may even add more vegetables next time.

If you want to make this yourself, you can find the recipe here. But you should buy the book (and cook along with us). It’s great fun! Every Friday we make a new recipe. For details and to see how others are recreating the dishes from this awesome book, check out the FFWD site.

Buy the book: