Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake = French Friday's with Dorie

I am so glad it is Friday.  I am happy because I have two days off from packing lunches, I don't have to rush the kids out the door as the sun is coming up, begging them to eat breakfast, no rushing from here there and everywhere and I can relax, just a little.

I also love Friday's because I get to take myself to Dorie's virtual cooking school. I get to share my cooking experience with people who live all around the globe and we talk to each other, via the Internet, as if we have been friends since childhood.  I have only known these people for a little under a month, but we all share a common passion; food, cooking, Dorie, and her new book; around my french table.

What I really love most about this book is that it puts "french food" into perspective.  It is not intimidating and it is Americanized just enough for it still feel very, very french.  Before joining French Friday's with Dorie, I had earmarked so many pages in the book.  This cake was earmarked.  I was overjoyed when I saw that this cake made the list of  November challenges.

The semolina in this recipe is plain old, Cream of Wheat cereal. Growing up, I was a HUGE cream of wheat fan.  I liked it with a little pat of butter and a sprinkling of brown sugar.  I have not eaten it for over 30 years and obviously did not have any in the house.  However, I did have a bag of Bob's Red Mill Organic Brown Rice Cereal.  You ask why?  Can't tell you!  So, I opted to use what was on hand.  The recipe calls for golden raisins, which I was out of.  Yet, I did have some dried, black mission figs.  Rather than making a special trip the grocery store, I swapped out the raisins and added the figs.  Mmmmmmm.

The texture of this cake reminds me of a cross between a flan and a clafoutis.  It is somewhat custard like and then  cake is topped with a caramel sauce.  I think that is why I originally earmarked the page.  Caramel anything is my friend.  This cake is my new friend!  It got the thumbs up from everyone in my house!

Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake
page 438-439

French Friday's with Dorie: pommes dauphinois

I have a serious problem with this dish.  I am embarrassed to say that I ate 25% of it  before dinner was served last night.  I am scared to put on my jeans.  Instead of walking my usual 2.5 miles today, I am going to have to double that!  What was I thinking?

The real problem here is that these are so utterly good, that one cannot just take a small portion. With that said,,  eating 25% of the pan, isn't all that unreasonable.  Is it?  In the past, I have always made Patricia Well's recipe, Gratin Dauphinois from her book At Home in Provence.  I adore her books and have made many of her recipes, but her particular dish requires one to cook the potatoes in the cream and milk mixture, on the stove, before layering the pan, etc.  An unnecessary step.  Dorie's recipe beats out any other potato dish of this kind and this is my new "go-to" dish for those nights when I just don't have time to mess in the kitchen.

Potatoes au Gratin or "scalloped potatoes" as my dad endearingly referred to them as, was one of my dad's favorite dishes.  He loved his food.  And he loved his restaurants. He was a carbs kind of guy. Happily I admit, I am as well.  As I tempered the cream and sliced the potatoes, all I could really think about was my dad.  He would have loved these potatoes.  And he would have told all his friends about them and he would have talked about them for weeks!

I  got my passion for food from my dad.  I can remember, even at 10 years old, a huge desire to go to the best restaurant I could find.  If someone had mentioned something being the "best", I would make a mental note and hint a little hint to my dad. Growing up we were in no position to eat in these types of restaurants.  But, there were those rare occasions when he'd step out and indulge.

I felt such pride the first time I ate at Scandia, Chasens, The Bel-Air Hotel, Spago, The Palm, Musso and Franks, and countless others.  And as much as I enjoyed putting on my best outfit, my dad enjoyed it even more.  He looked so good in a suit and the smile that stretched from ear to ear, knowing how excited I was, is a memory etched in the back of my brain.  I know, if he could have, he would have done it a lot more than he had.  Yet, just as much as my dad and I loved dressing up and going to the finest, we also loved a good burger at The Apple Pan, the fried eggs and salami at Nate 'n Als, the fried zucchini circles at The Hamburger Hamlet and the french onion soup at La Frite.

My life today, centers around food, the home, and my kitchen.  At age 7, when I whipped up that first cake, from scratch, for my dad's birthday - the feeling was no different.  So as I take another bite of these delicious potatoes, I say thank you to my dad for sharing his passion with me and I also say thank you to Dorie for bringing me back to a place in my life that I hold very, very near and dear to me.

around my french table
potato gratin (pommes dauphinois)
page 360-361

Marie-helen's Apple Cake

I know, I know, I am a couple days late in posting this, but it was a very busy and hectic weekend.  Halloween is fun yet daunting all at the same time.

I did make this cake on Friday morning and had nothing but good intentions in posting on Friday. But, between pumpkin carving, an international pot luck at Eli's middle school and making Friday night dinner, I ran out of time.  Then the weekend came...and went!

So, here I am, on Monday morning to tell you how much I love this cake. I have so many plans for this cake.  I want to make it again, this week (have tons of apples) and make them bite size.  I love bite size anything and I have a feeling that this cake would be great as little cakelettes!

Friday morning was wet and rainy.  As this cake baked in the oven, my house smelled so good. I could not wait to dig into it.  All I wanted to do was cut a huge slice, get under my favorite blanket and catch up on Oprah. But I held out.  I restrained.  I exercised my skills in will power.  Glad I waited.  I had some homemade caramel sauce in the fridge.  Drizzled a little warm caramel sauce over the cake and it was like eating a caramel apple.  

I have committed or possibly over committed to French Friday's with Dorie.  But, I love all things Dorie, so I am treating this like an education.  Some days you just don't want to wake up and get up and go to class, but you really don't have a choice in the matter.  I have made the commitment and I want to see it through.

I am anxiously waiting for the November "assignments" to come my way.  If anyone of you want to do this with me, I would welcome the company!  It's fun and it forces you to do things you wouldn't normally include in your weekly meal plans.  Come on, people, buy the book and let's do this together!

Mmmmmmmmm.  Can't wait until the next time I make this cake!

Marie-Helen's Apple Cake

page 432-433

Make it and enjoy a slice for me!

French Friday's with Dorie: Hachis Parmentier

I am sure you all know by know that I am a big Dorie Greenspan fan.  So, when I read about French Friday's with Dorie, a virtual cooking class, I immediately signed up.  The idea here is that every member of this "cooking class" creates a dish from Dorie's new book; around my french table.

I am thrilled to be a part of this as I was "shut out" of "Tuesday's with Dorie" Each week I would see submissions on tastespotting and completely felt left out.  Boo Hoo!  I am now a proud memeber of "FFwD". I have yet one more thing to add to my "to do" list, however cooking doesn't feel so much like a chore, I actually enjoy it.  I am excited to step a little bit outside of my comfort zone and try a new way of doing things.

When I saw what was on this weeks, menu, I was ecstatic for two reasons.  One, I had earmarked this page, and two, "shepherd's pie" was on this weeks meal plan.  I was able to check a dinner off my weekly menu and I was able to create dorie's version of this very classic dish!

Hachis Parmentier is simply just a fancy name for shepherd's pie.  I made it according to dorie's recipe, however my original plan, was to make one with ground turkey.  I am happy I made it Dorie's way.

hachis parmentier
page 258-259
yield: 4-6 servings.

This recipe was easy, super economical and DELICIOUS!!!