broth-braised potatoes: French Fridays with Dorie

Getting ready to cook the potatoes.  Overall it was good, but not great - like not "lick the plate" kind of good.  I doubled the recipe to serve more than 4, but I didn't increase the herbs - good thing, since I don't like too much rosemary.  Next time I may use fresh sage leaves or the thyme...

Since I got bigger yukon gold potatoes, I had to cut them up into smaller pieces.  To make it easy to throw together (since it's such a straightforward recipe) I put the cubed potatoes into cold water so they wouldn't brown waiting for the right time to go take their bath in the broth!

Broth getting ready for the potatoes.

Starting to cook the potatoes in the broth.

Potatoes are done cooking.  It was really easy.

Serving up the potatoes.  They were very nice.  We had them with a spiral ham, and a bread (won't say which one yet!!), plus a salad.

So I did have quite a bit left over, since the 3 grandkids didn't really eat them - must have been the rosemary.  So today for lunch I decided to "mash" some of the leftover potatoes with some broth.  They were pretty good this way, although I wouldn't cook them this way to make mashed potatoes. 

Quatre-Quarts French Fridays with Dorie

Oh so yummy.  Oh so good.  Oh so easy.  Oh so in the freezer before I eat it all....

But on to the recipe - a really good one to have if you need to throw together a quick cake.  Or if you have a grandson that LOVES vanilla-flavored anything.  However, I used the Armagnac Cognac (to justify the expense in last week's chicken).  I did have to cook it about 5 minutes longer, but it's probably my oven and not the recipe instructions.

                                            Getting ready to throw it all together

  

                                        Into the oven / Out of the oven / Cooling time

To me, it tastes a little like a cross between a pound cake and a sponge cake.  It tasted very eggy right after it cooled down.  It tasted only slightly eggy the next morning.  I know so cause I ate 3/8 of that cake in 2 days.  Which then caused  me to go on Amazon and order 2 exercise DVDs.  I find them so much easier to store than exercise equipment.

This, my second link to French Fridays with Dorie, was another keeper recipe from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  And I'm so glad I decided to join this group, that I ...yes, I did it, I joined Tuesdays with Dorie.

m. jacques' armagnac chicken for French Fridays with Dorie

This is my first link to French Fridays with Dorie.

I did use armagnac (had to buy cognac/brandy because I didn't have any in the house) and it was very good.

The chicken going into the oven.  The house smelled wonderful, the dish was sweet and savory.  The only thing I might do next time (and there will be a next time!) is remove the casserole lid and broil a bit at the end to brown chicken a little more.

The chicken was certainly cooked through and very juicy and tender.  It was a big hit with the family.

Bubble Top Brioche - French Fridays with Dorie

Almost caught up with the calendar to actually link to the FFwD blog.  So it's Monday, and this should have been linked last Friday, but I'm almost on schedule.

Oh, and I did learn one important thing with this recipe....never, ever leave your Kitchen Aid Mixer alone when the dough hook is doing its work....like don't go to the laundry room and switch loads....stay right by that mixer because I found out that it will walk off the counter (well, luckily for me it only got halfway off the counter....I basically caught it before it went over).

These brioche's were delicious.

Cauliflower-Bacon Gratin for French Fridays with Dorie

Okay, so I found this great group called French Fridays With Dorie (FFWD) and I'm making their last recipe, Dorie Greenspan's Cauliflower-Bacon Gratin.  This coincidentally came together - I was getting ready to make the gratin since I had bought the Bram that Dorie was recommending on Open Sky.  This was the recipe she showed in the Bram on Open Sky.  And this was the last recipe that FFWD made.  So....connecting the dots, I decided to join FFWD.

One note for those that are new to clay pot cooking:  build in the 2 hours for the first soak of the clay pot.  It's not going to be for tonight's dinner - darn.

Anyway, the recipe was surprisingly uncomplicated.  I choose the steamed cauliflower method, and cooked it and the bacon during that 2 hour soak time.  So when the soak was done it was really simple to throw all the ingredients together in the Bram.

Here's the finished product:

Since I missed the posting Friday for this recipe, I will start linking with the next Friday post I am able to complete.  But I just had to start myself with this one!!

My Favorite Salad Dressing

Mesclun Salad Dressing

Recipe Adapted from Provencal Light by Martha Rose Shulman

3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 to 1.5 Tablespoon olive oil (or up to 3 Tablespoons oil if you're not counting calories)
.5 to 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 to 4 large garlic cloves, minced or put through press
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix together vinegar, mustard, garlic.  Add the oil and combine well.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Shake well before serving.

Note:  The ratio of vinegar to oil is reversed here to lower calories, but I like the "kick" with the garlic and mustard.  I also usually have thinly sliced red onion in my salads which works well with this recipe.