French Fridays with Dorie Archives - Page 7 of 9 Kitchen Conundrum

Filet Mignon Diable – French Fridays with Dorie

March 1, 2013 by Renee

Feeling a bit devilish and a lot carnivorous, I was so glad to see the sidebar for this recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s, Around My French Table states that the Chicken Diable dish could be made with Filet Mignon. Given the choice between chicken and Filet Mignon, it’s a no brainer- BEEF! (It’s definitely what’s for dinner!)

When I was in Paris last year I stocked up on mustard. And when I say I stocked up, I could have easily been mistaken for a doomsday prepper. There was a Monoprix (similar to a Target but with much, MUCH better food) right around the corner from the apartment where I was staying. I wandered the aisles several times a week filling my cart with coffee, cornichons, sauces, wine, cheeses (Watch two minutes of French cheese!), pates, rillettes and mustard. I am pretty sure I bought every type of Maille mustard they had to offer. And not just one jar of each, but several.

Yes, you can get Maille mustard here in the U.S., but somehow it’s not the same. Spicy, sweet, tangy, bitter… Old Style Whole Grain Dijon, Dijon with Honey, Mustard with Chablis, Moutarde Aux Fines Herbes and so many other varieties are available. I found one in a beautiful white crock, a green one, a red one, one in a stemmed “wine” glass, one in a juice glass and of course many jars of their regular Originale Dijon… it doesn’t matter the variety, they all ended up in my suitcase. Which was the real devil to carry through the airport and ended up being, not surprisingly, “overweight”.

For this recipe, Moutarde a l’Ancienne was chosen just because it was open. It’s a very traditional grained mustard with white wine and large, whole mustard seeds. It’s not as sharp or hot as Dijon Originale and it adds just the right amount of tang without masking the velvety smooth, rich flavor of the meat. It was a perfect combination! I am looking forward to trying this again with Chicken. Perhaps I will venture to use a different jar of mustard too!

Pureed carrots made a terrific side dish, simply done with butter and salt.

So sorry, but I cannot share this wonderful recipe- but you can (and should!) buy the book and cook along with us. It’s great fun! Every Friday we make a new recipe. And I can’t wait for next week’s challenge! For details and to see how others are recreating the dishes from this awesome book, check out the FFWD site.

Click on and buy the book:

Boca Negra Cake- Tuesdays with Dorie

February 19, 2013 by Renee

After the week I have had, and it’s only Tuesday mind you, I am thankful to have something so incredibly chocolatey and decadent to soothe my over-stressed mind and satiate my soul! I couldn’t bring myself to make last Friday’s Coeur à la Crème from the French Fridays with Dorie group. The heart shape and the Valentine’s Day theme just struck a raw nerve with me and I ended up returning the mold I had purchased to make it. Needless to say, I am not a fan of the holiday.

I almost did not make this cake too, as it’s lusciousness and opulence seemed like something only lovers could share on the most special of occasions, an anniversary or birthday dinner, perhaps. But I changed my mind and at the last minute went to find some good quality bittersweet chocolate.

Chocolate really does soothe the soul and this Boca Negra cake fits the bill perfectly! It’s dense and rich and oh, so good! Just what the Doctor ordered and maybe it’s the sugar rush or the bourbon, but one bite is all it takes to put a smile on even the most cynical among us.

I did encounter a few snafus when making this. Firstly, the recipe states that one should boil a mixture of bourbon and sugar and once its boiling to pour it over bits of bittersweet chocolate that you have broken up into a bowl. This part worked fine and the chocolate melted alright, but the next step was to mix in and melt two sticks of butter into this chocolate mixture. This proved nearly impossible as the chocolate had cooled down significantly and the butter just refused to melt. The chocolate was a big glob in the bowl. I ended up putting it over a double boiler and remelting the chocolate just to allow the butter to melt properly. Even after a good whisking, it finally came together only once the eggs were incorporated.

It was a thing of beauty going into the oven, only to emerge 30 minutes later with a center the consistency of jello. While it looked beautiful, had I sliced it then, I felt it would just have fallen into a puddle of chocolate goo onto the plate. So, back into the oven it went for ten more minutes. The end result was a cracked top which had puffed up so high that it needed to settle before I could complete the inversion onto the plate!

Next, because the cake was still quite warm when I was serving it, the creme (a wonderful mixture of heavy cream, bourbon and white chocolate-which tastes just like eggnog!) melted all over the top when I made my pre-photo decorative swirls.

All of that aside, it’s a very fast and easy cake to create….and no matter what it looked like or how far off it veered from what it should be like, it was sinfully delicious!

As with the French Fridays with Dorie group, I can’t reprint the recipe. But you can purchase the book here.

Fresh Orange Pork Tenderloin- French Fridays with Dorie

February 8, 2013 by Renee

The recipe for Dorie’s Fresh Orange Pork Tenderloin is incredibly easy and definitely fast enough to make any weekday night. Orange and cardamom is one of my favorite combinations- it’s found in several desserts, breads and poultry dishes in my repertoire. This sauce was a perfect example of one that would cross over well with poultry and veal. It is quite refreshing and like other citrus, it really brightens up the dish. And considering the blizzard we are having here in the NE, anything bright right now is a good thing!

I made a minor alteration by using only two oranges, zesting and juicing the same oranges and adding a bit of orange juice to make up for the omission of the other two oranges. I just didn’t want to use four oranges! It seemed a bit of a waste for just the juice.

Something I noticed that was missing in this recipe was how thick to cut the pieces of the loin. Dorie gives cooking times for the pork, but since the thickness really affects how much time is needed, I was a bit surprised this was left out. You don’t want to eat under-cooked pork- ever! We do have plenty of meat thermometers around but I know it’s not a common tool in many kitchens, so if you don’t have one, get one! Save yourself a bad tummy or a trip to the E.R.!

Two of the three little people ate a filet and enjoyed it. The third has an aversion to oranges and orange juice and refused to touch it. I think it’s because she drank nearly a half gallon of OJ on a daily basis as a toddler. She has had enough to last her a lifetime. Or at least until she is an adult and redefines her tastes.

I quite liked it, especially the sauce. Ari isn’t a big fan of pork, unless it’s in pate, bbq or sausages so I think we would repeat this recipe but use veal or poultry instead.

I cannot share this wonderful recipe- but you can (and should!) buy the book and cook along with us. It’s great fun! Every Friday we make a new recipe. And I can’t wait for next week’s challenge! For details and to see how others are recreating the dishes from this awesome book, check out the FFWD site.

Click on and buy the book: