I decided to make a kid friendly version of this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe!
Actually, I made the bread to start with and was a little hesitant about the cheese. I used Gruyere and Emmenthal.
The smell that greeted me when I opened the packets was… well… bad!
But I’m glad I persevered.
Once the bread was in the oven, the smell changed and it really surprised me that something that started off so stinky could change so much!
I really did think that there was no saving this baby and had written it off, but suddenly, as the new smell filled the kitchen I felt hope!
I couldn’t wait to taste it and see if it was as good as it smelled.
And you know what? It was really, really good…
I swapped Dorie’s chives and walnuts for ham and shallots in an attempt to make it more tempting to the kids.
But I was enough of a realist to know that while the kids were encouraging, they would like it way more with a good dose of cheddar cheese.
So back to the kitchen and this time I dumped the Gruyere and Emmenthal for a packet of “4 cheese blend”! (It’s a mix of cheddar and mozzarella cheeses).
I know what you’re thinking… Classy!
Hey, it worked! The kids loved them!
If you want to see many more exciting and varied versions of this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe click here!
Below is the recipe, copied straight from Dom’s post.
Braided Challah Bread
1 sachet (or 7 grams) easy blend dried yeast
1tsp clear honey
8fl oz lukewarm milk
50g melted butter
16oz plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 eggs lightly beaten – in separate bowls – one for the mix and one for glazing
Poppy seed or sesame seeds (optional)
Combine the yeast, honey, milk and butter, stir and leave for 15mins to dissolve
In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture and one of the beaten eggs. Stir to make a dough. (It will be very sticky and will definitely need extra flour for kneading)
Knead till smooth and elastic (a good 15 mins) then transfer to a clean bowl, cover and leave to prove for 1 1/2 hours.
Grease a baking sheet. Knock back the dough and divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll to shape each piece into a long strip for plaiting.
Lay 2 of the strips over the third to make a star shape and plait from the centre, tucking the ends under. Do this on the baking sheet, then cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for 30 mins.
Brush with egg and bake in a hot oven at 190 for 35 – 40 mins or until golden and sounds hollow if you tap it.
I’ve never had Challah Bread before and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to make!
Dom’s instructions were great and, for what felt like very little effort, I managed to turn out this baby…
The kids came home from school and wanted to know what the great smell was?
I showed them the bread and told them excitedly “I made it! Cool, huh?”
They just rolled their eyes, patted me on the back and said “Sure you did mum…”
And then happily loaded the slices of hot fresh bread with butter and jam!
I glowed with satisfaction the entire weekend! Plaited challah bread! Thanks Dom!
I admit it! I have (until recently) been one of those people who thought creativity meant being able to paint or decorate!
It was something that involved a lot of drawing and knowing which colours went together.
So, given this definition, I routinely described myself as “the least creative person you were to ever meet!”
Then, my 10 year forced me to re-evaluate my beliefs.
I had his future clearly planned for him in my mind. Studying economics at university and then working for one of the major banks! Done!
Then something weird happened. He started to develop a real creative streak!
I started to get nervous.
He enjoyed it and others noticed he had a knack for it.
My banking dreams were being threatened and replaced with visions of him painting portraits at Circular Quay!
How could he do this to me!!!
Just as I was beginning to think I had to do something drastic to save my child from a life of artistic poverty, he said to me “Jack (his friend) and I have been talking and we decided we are going to work for Disney making graphics for their movies!” I wanted to cry! Working for Disney! That was a real job? Right? And he would be making money!
He forced me to re-think my ideas on creativity! It was the best gift he could have ever given me!
Today I see creativity everywhere I go.
Take this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe. It took creative genius to pull this baby off!
Juggling work, three kids at three different schools doing three different after school activities, a father coming out of rehab after a massive heart attack and stroke and me deciding to go back to uni, I was sure these ribs were going to fall by the wayside!
But the sadist in me wouldn’t let go of the satisfaction I knew would be waiting for me at the completion of this week’s recipe! So after buying a wheelchair and mobility scooter for my dad, I ducked into the fabric shop nearby and bought the cheesecloth for the bouquet garni.
After driving to uni to pick up my time-table with my 3 year old I realised it was ‘O’ week (orientation week) so I put off my grilling plans and we joined the celebrations!
A few lollipops and some one on one time with my baby was worth the delay!
Back home and the grilling…
…chopping and cooking were finally under way!
Before long the ribs, vegetables and a tonne of booze were all tightly snuggled into the oven for a few hours and we were on our way to pick up the others from school and meet friends for a catch up.
While the kids ran around and the grown ups chatted, the ribs bubbled away at home. We came home to the most amazing smell! Everyone was so excited about dinner till I told them it was for tomorrow night! Ha!
The next day the fat was scooped off and the ribs were ready for the final grilling!
They were pretty amazing!
If I didn’t join French Fridays with Dorie I would never have cooked these!
I would have flicked through the book and came back to it on the odd occasion and maybe even made a handful of recipes I felt comfortable with.
How much I would have missed out on!
The creativity of the other members inspires me, check out their takes on this recipe here.
Have you ever wondered why some people leave you cold while others leave you wanting (or in the case of Nigella Lawson), begging for more?!
Backtrack to Italy in the early 1990’s where Italian researchers made an unexpected discovery (don’t you just love the way most of our greatest discoveries were made by accident?) Anyway…
One day, sitting in the lab, surrounded by macaque monkeys with electrodes implanted in their brains, one of the researchers noticed something interesting as they reached for their own food. The monkeys watching him began to show neural activity in the same area of the brain that fired when they themselves made similar hand movements! The discovery of mirror neurons was made!
These brain cells fire not only when we do something, but also, when we watch someone else do the same thing.
Scientists used to think our brains used logical thought processes to understand and predict other people’s actions.
Now they believe we understand other people by feeling, not by thinking.
These little neurons help us to not only mirror other people’s actions but also the intentions and feelings behind those actions.
For example, when you see someone smile, your own smiling neurons fire up, creating a sensation in your own mind of the feelings that go with smiling.
Or you watch an athlete on television and feel your own heart racing and the exhiliaration of winning.
Or you watch Nigella taking almost erotic pleasure and delight in her cooking, you can feel her rapture and joy in what she is doing (no wonder we can’t get enough of her!).
In all of the above examples, our mirror neurons fire away, creating in us, the same experience and emotion being observed, so in a sense we enter another person’s reality for a moment.
Now this is all fantastic when we are around people who make us feel as fabulous as Nigella does, but consider the effects of those who aren’t so positive in their take on life. People who are anxious, nasty, fearful, depressed, manipulative or just plain whiny! We all have them in our lives (and if we are really honest we’ve all been one of them at some point in our lives!) People who we walk away from feeling drained, empty, anxious and depressed. If we understand how mirror neurons work, we can identify who these people are and prepare ourselves or even choose to avoid them.
And just as importantly, we can ask ourselves, “how do we want others to experience us?”
So… what in the world does this have to do with Madeleine’s???
All this started with a decision to catch up with some really great women one Friday afternoon. Intelligent and supportive women that approach life with a sense of humour, so there’s always a lot of laughter. And there are no hidden agendas or power plays, so there’s a wonderful lightness and a simplicity in being with them. As I flicked through Nigella’s “How To Be a Domestic Goddess” book, I took one look at the simple yet elegant madeleine’s and they seemed to embody the essence of what these women are about and how they make others feel!
Rosebud Madeleines
(Nigella Lawson’s “How to Be a Domestic Goddess” book)
50g unsalted butter (plus 1 tablespoon for greasing tin)
1 large egg
40g caster sugar
pinch of salt
45g plain flour
1 tbsp rosewater
icing sugar for dusting
Steps (abbreviated by me)
1. Melt butter then leave to cool.
2. Beat egg, sugar and salt with electric mixer for 5 mins, until “thick as mayonnaise.”
3. Sieve flour over egg and sugar mixture, then fold with a wooden spoon.
4. Fold in butter (minus one tablespoon for greasing tin).
5. Fold in rosewater.
6. Mix gently, then leave to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
7. Take out of fridge and rest a further 30 mins.
8. Preheat oven to 22o degrees Celsius.
9. Brush insides of tin with melted butter and fill with mixture.
10. Bake for about 5 minutes, turn out and cool on a rack before dusting with icing sugar.
(Nigella says her recipe will fill two x 24 bun mini-madeleine tin. I used 1 x12 bun tin and only filled 10 of the holes).
The green beans were amazing!
I honestly thought most of them were going to go to waste so figured I’d better make a kid friendly main and planned to force them to at least try the beans, but I didn’t have to do that at all!
I made a huge serving and they were all gone! My 10 year old son was incredibly pleased that pancetta tasted “almost as good as bacon!”
I ‘get off’ on seeing the colours, textures and flavours of vegetables that have been blanched!
Awesome!
And don’t get me started on the colours and flavours of anything ‘bacony’ being fried up!
The smell was driving the neighbours crazy! (Especially their dog, I could hear him scraping at the fence trying to get over!)
On their own, the beans and the bacon were already looking great, but when they were brought together for one last saute, it was like watching the coming together of two gorgeous people and forming a… a Brangelina! (Too much?)
I was thinking of something fancy to accompany these beans and match their elegance, but let’s face it, with kids in the house (3 of them) I couldn’t face fighting them to eat the green beans and the main! I decided to practice self love and went with Salmon Fishcakes! (And surprisingly, they went really well with the beans!)
While the potatoes were cooking, I poached the salmon in milk with some lemon slices and a handful of peppercorns.
I then mashed the potatoes and mixed them with the flaked, poached salmon and shallots (I luv shallots!)
I took scoops of the mixture and formed patties the size of my palm.
These were then dipped in flour, eggs and fresh breadcrumbs before being placed in the fridge to chill for 20 mins.
Then cook for 20 minutes, turning the patties at half time at 200 degrees celsius!
Salmon Fishcakes
(Adapted from MasterChef Australia)
5oog potatoes (I prefer dutch cream)
500g salmon fillets
2-3 cups milk (to cover fillets depends on size of frying pan)
4 lemon slices
handful of peppercorns
1/2 cup sliced shallots
1/2 cup of flour
3 eggs beaten together
150g fresh breadcrumbs (about 6 slices of bread, crusts removed, in a food processor)
Steps:
1. The potatoes – peel, dice and boil until tender. Then drain the potatoes and mash until smooth. Set aside.
2. Salmon – place salmon in frying pan with lemon slices and peppercorns and cover with milk. Place over medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer. When the liquid bubbles, turn heat to low and poach for another 7 minutes.
3. Combine the mashed potatoes, salmon and shallots in a bowl then season with salt and pepper.
4. Take scoops of the mixture and shape balls the size of your palm into fishcake patties.
5. Place the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs into separate bowls and dip each fishcake first into the flour, then the eggs and finally coat in breadcrumbs.
6. Place the completed fishcakes on a tray or plate and chill in the fridge for 20 mins.
7. Lightly grease an oven tray and bake for 10 minutes on each side or until fishcakes are light and golden.
The Pancetta Green Beans came from Dorie Greenspan’s latest book, Around My French Table and were this week’s recipe from French Friday’s With Dorie, click to see a whole variety of takes on this recipe!
I came across the “Nigella Forever” at Maison Cupcake and I it was the perfect excuse to cook something totally indulgent!
(I seem to need a good reason to do things just for the fun and pleasure of it, contradictory I know!
However I’ve noticed that something as simple as having a deadline legitimises all my worries away!)
Nigella’s Flourless Chocolate Lime Cake with Margarita Cream really struck a chord with me!
Margarita cream! Really! How flamboyant!
And in addition to a very real deadline I had an even better excuse… Valentine’s Day!
I couldn’t wait!
I made the cake…
It turned out absolutely perfect!
I made the Margarita Cream…
And since I was on a roll and loving it I decided to make Margaritas!
And I remembered a few things in the process…
It’s perfectly okay to have fun for the sake of fun!
And when you relax and enjoy yourself, everyone else around you relaxes and has fun.
Isn’t that what life’s about?
I found this tart really easy to make.
Maybe it’s because I was prepared and organised.
I read the steps, organised my self and over a couple of days I completed one stage at a time.
I made the dough after picking up the 10 year old from school with a bunch of his friends.
As they ran riot around the house, I whizzed up the dough, pressed in the crust and placed it in the freezer before dragging them all off to karate.
I cut and dried the oranges that same night while negotiating with my 13 year old daughter a camping trip being planned on facebook with 7 boys and 7 girls at a site only accessible by boat or an hour and 1/2 bushwalk!
The next morning my 10 year old had early morning try outs for the school Eagle Tag team so we were up early and I had time to blend up the hazelnut cream and leave it in the fridge to chill.
(My 13 year old is allergic to most nuts, so swapped the almonds for hazelnuts which she can actually eat!)
And while waiting for the 3 year to finish dance class in the afternoon, the tart was easily assembled and put in the oven to bake!
I am never organised or prepared!
Most things I squeeze in at the oddest moments with never enough time or the right equipment and ingredients at home!
So this was such a pleasant experience!
Until I decided to go through the 13 year old’s closet and pull out clothes she no longer wears while the tart was baking.
I lost track of time and burnt it lightly singed the edges.
Conclusion:
The tart tasted delicious!
I do think almonds would have been better, the hazelnuts have a very strong and distinct taste.
But well worth the time and effort.
We had a week of record hot temperatures in Sydney.
High 30’s to over 40 degrees Celsius.
Living by the beach we get a cool breeze at some point in the day, however this week the humidity was high and any breeze we had was hot.
The nights were incredibly still, not a breath nor a whisper of a breeze.
We had broken restless sleep, often waking to find ourselves thirsty and our pillows damp from sweat.
We ate out a lot.
We hung out at the beach a lot.
Being home was hot and uncomfortable.
Turning the oven or stove on was not even to be contemplated!
French Fridays With Dorie was postponed for us this week as we eagerly waited for the cool southerly breeze to hit.
It finally arrived late Sunday afternoon and we all slept in the next morning.
Ahhhh, sweet sleep!
I was really looking forward to making the Basque Potato Tortilla and better late than never!
I started with the original recipe by Dorie and followed it exactly (except for the size of the skillet! I just used my frying pan which was much bigger!)
I chopped the potatoes about 1/2 an inch maybe a tad bit smaller (as I had read from the P&Q pages they were taking a while to soften).
I fried them with onions and as they were cooking I decided to make another tortilla with chorizo and capsicum. I’ll call the second one a frittata to differentiate between the two.
I boiled the potatoes first in the second version to cut down on frying time and increased the number of eggs to accommodate the extra ingredients and also my larger size frying pan!
Chorizo and Capsicum Frittata Recipe
(Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Basque Potato Tortilla Recipe)
500g potatoes chopped to 1cm to squares 2 chorizo sliced in half length ways and then sliced in half again before chopping into smaller cubes 1 red capsicum cut into thin strips 1 onion diced 2 cloves of garlic, crushed 12 eggs
Method
1. Boil potatoes in salted water until they just begin to soften. 2. While they are cooking, fry the chopped chorizo and sliced capsicum in some oil. 3. When the chorizo begins to turn brown and the capsicum softens, place into a large bowl and put aside. 4. Drain the just softened potatoes and fry them with the onion and garlic until golden and soft enough to eat. 5. Add them to the chorizo and capsicum mixture. 6. Beat the eggs with salt and pepper and add to mixture. 7. Pour the entire mixture into a clean frying pan and cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes. 8. Lower heat, place a lid on the frying pan and cook for another 10 minutes until the centre pulls away from the edges but the centre is still wet. 9. Turn grill on while the frittata is cooking and position the rack so it is about 15-20cm away from the heat. 10. Place frying pan in oven and cook until the top of the frittata is set and golden.
Conclusion: The Basque Potato Tortilla tasted really nice on its own.
However it paled in comparison to the flavour packed frittata!
We decided the only way we could do both versions justice was to eat the tortilla first and enjoy it’s simple flavours before turning our attention to the frittata!
And back to the beach!
I really enjoyed reading all the different posts at FFWD!
I was ready and excited to learn! You see, I love bread recipes but avoid them. Like the plague. Not sure why! Habit? Fear? Yeast? A habitual fear of yeast?! Dunno… Nevertheless, it was a habit and a fear I was prepared to face and work through! Cos I love bread! (Unlike my crazy fear of snakes that I have decided does not need to be addressed. Ever.)
I made the dough very late one night after another hectic, school holiday day at the beach with all the kids and their friends… (and that’s just half of them, the other half were riding the waterslides around the corner!)
After our 8 hour day at the beach we were exhausted.
However, I was determined to participate in this month’s challenge and psyched myself up to bake!
I began… and within minutes it was over!
The dough was made and resting in the fridge overnight!
I was thrilled with how easy it was and convinced myself I must have messed it up and surely missed something in my bleary eyed enthusiasm!
The next day I wasn’t expecting much.
My first batch I rolled around a thin beef sausage.
We ate these for lunch.
I put all the sauces out for the kids, who were happy to eat the ‘sausage rolls’.
I found that the sauce detracted from the wonderful taste of the bread!
The dough smelled amazing while baking and it tasted too good to hide under any sauce flavouring.
For the rest of the dough, I followed the cutting and rolling style of the Kiflice.
I filled half with crumbed goat’s feta…
And the rest with Nutella…
I rolled them up. Baked them…
And for such little effort what an amazing result.
I can’t recommend the flavour of the pastry enough.
The smell and taste was so good, the kids actually fought over them (especially the Nutella ones).
The following day we had a futsal gala day and my only regret was not making enough of these to feed the team.
And the younger sibling (supporters) that get dragged around to watch their older brothers!
With school around the corner, I will definitely be making batches of these rolls to put in lunch boxes and have ready for after school snacks.
I love cookbooks! I love to read them, take in the photos and then stack them lovingly on the bookshelf, full of good intentions to return soon and often!
But if I’m to be honest, I don’t return soon enough or often enough. And if I’m to be really honest, when I decide to make something from one of my beloved books, it’s usually something I am comfortable with. You know… we all have our comfort zones. Our grooves… Okay! Our ruts! I admit it! As much as I like to think I’m open minded and expose myself to new experiences, my initial reaction is “play it safe!”
Now that’s no way to live life!
And that’s why I joined French Fridays With Dorie. I knew myself enough to know that I would follow through on a commitment and I would cook recipes that I would normally dismiss.
Recipes like this one!
A “sweetly spiced” chicken pie which has “as it does in Morocco, a dusting of cinnamon sugar over the crust.” Ummm… no thank you!
But I made a commitment…
So I found myself marinating the chicken in onions and spices.
Boiling and simmering ’till “falling-off-the-bone tender.” Then whisking, reducing and thickening some more.
Spooning into stacked and buttered filo sheets.
Then topping with some more stacked and buttered filo sheets before tucking the edges in “as though you were making a bed.”
Baking ’till golden brown and serving warm.
Yes, I skipped the dusting of cinnamon sugar on the top (what can I say?! I really wanted the kids and husband to eat it!).
I also skipped the almonds (my daughter is allergic).
The final result… everyone loved it! Even my 3 year old!
The only issue we had was that it was so rich and flavourful we couldn’t eat too much of it so I had to make sure we had other bits and pieces to fill up on.
Best of all… feeling amazingly good about myself for stepping out of my comfort zone!
Kitchen Therapy 
