Kitchen Therapy

Tag Archives: french fridays with dorie


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Salmon Fishcakes with Pancetta Green Beans

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!


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Orange-Hazelnut Tart

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.

For the almond version and many more variations check out French Fridays With Dorie!

 


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Chorizo and Capsicum Frittata & Basque Potato Tortilla

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!

 


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Chicken B’stilla

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!

Thanks French Fridays With Dorie!


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Michel Rostang’s Double Chocolate Mousse Cake

Just joined French Fridays with Dorie! Very excited!

I’m kind of new to this whole blogging thing. However it didn’t take me long to find some amazing sites!

And even less time to work out what most of these guys had in common was an appreciation for Dorie Greenspan.

I have to admit I had never even heard of Dorie prior to this but after looking at pics of some of the amazing stuff being cooked from her books, I found myself eagerly awaiting my Amazon delivery of a few of her books!

So this is my first French Fridays post and I just discovered the Problems and Questions page which I read in retrospect.

I was lucky the one cake pan I had was exactly the right size and my cake didn’t leak!

And while I’ve been reading about the all the baking being done in snow storms and oohing and aahing over fairytale pics of snow-covered fields and trees, I forgot that I live on the Northern Beaches of Sydney Australia! Our 6 week summer school holidays are coming to an end with the kids back at school Jan 31st but most of our days are spent here…

Doing this…

You may be wondering what in the world I am on about!

What I’m trying to say is… it is hot down under in Oz!

So to complete this week’s recipe I started cooking after 9pm when the humidity and heat isn’t so bad (sometimes) and chose the option to chill it over night.

I was up and baking the rest of the cake at 6am the next morning before another full day at Manly Beach and the water slides!

The kids were exhausted and famished after another 10am-5pm beach day so they devoured the cake.

The final verdict was “delicious!” from myself and my 10-year-old son, while my husband and 13-year-old daughter thought it needed to be more sweet!? (Each to their own I guess!)

Thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this week’s event and I found that while participation is voluntary having some accountability and a set day and time to complete the recipe by, motivated me into action.

Have been enjoying reading all the other posts on Michel Rostang’s Double Chocolate Mousse Cake at French Fridays With Dorie!

And loving the snow pics, but still stopping to appreciate this…

The Aussie summer and Manly Beach at dusk!