Thursday, September 4, 2014

FFwD: 2 Make-Ups

The recipe that the French Fridays with Dorie gang is cooking this week is Curried Chicken, Peppers, and Peas en Papillote. I've made this dish several times. Each time, I amp up the measurements and the variety of the spices I use, and each time, it turns out bland. For me, it's a cozy kind of blandness that I don't mind. Matt, however, grumbles and moans and says it doesn't taste like anything. It may be bland, but it's so, so easy, and one of these days, I'm going to figure out a good way to make the spices stand up to the amount of water that leaks out of the vegetables.

Because I mistakenly thought that I'd already done a post about this dish back in the day when I first made it, I decided to skip it this week and catch up on two recipes that I missed.

First, I made Potato Chip Tortilla. Yuck. I like potato chips. I like Spanish tortillas. I'd skipped this recipe originally, because dumping half a bag of potato chips into my eggs didn't exactly align with my dietary ambitions at the time. I shouldn't have worried about it. I ate three bites and threw the rest out. I would think that food cooked with half a bag of potato chips would be salty, but it wasn't. It was remarkably underseasoned, and the texture was weird, to the point of being gross. I'm pleased to say that I hated this one. I could have been in trouble if I thought it was delicious.
Last night, I served one of my old Dorie favorites: Creamy Cauliflower Soup Sans Cream. To go alongside, I made Socca from Vieux Nice, which is a simple batter made from chickpea flour, water, olive oil, salt, and chopped rosemary. A thin layer of this goes into a cake pan, where it's baked for a few minutes, then broiled to brown and (ideally) burn the top.

I didn't cook mine properly. I baked it for the specified amount of time, but hit a snag with my broiling. My oven is gas, but the broiler is electric, and takes a looooong time to get going. I switched over from baking to broiling, and let it sit there for quite a while, but I don't think the broiler was even warm yet when I finally took the socca out of the oven. I made the executive decision to remove it, even though there were no brown or burnt patches, because it looked like it was drying out.
Not a looker.
For such simple ingredients, the flavor was surprising and delicious! Chickpea flour. Who knew? The best bits were the crunchy edges, so I imagine this would have been even better when cooked properly. Dorie isn't joking when she says it should be eaten immediately. When Matt got home from work, his portion was gummy and dense. He ate it anyway, but after tasting both, I can confidently say it was much better hot out of the oven.

Despite the fact that easyjet flies cheaply from Naples to Nice, I haven't really been interested in going, because it's so expensive to stay there. Now I kind of want to go, just to try "real" socca. We'll see.

18 comments:

  1. I'll go with you to Nice...wouldn't that be fun to eat this socca there?

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  2. I shall go straight to socca and skip the other for my make-up list!

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    1. I remember other people liking it, back in the day when the group covered it. I'd take a tortilla with real potatoes over the chip version any day!!

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  3. Forget about it, I'd have a drink and wait for next week's recipe choice.

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  4. I like the comfy blandness of the chicken en papillotte too. Yhe chickpea pancakes were a nice surprise - I should make them again soon.

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  5. I can't image curry as bland. I put a tablespoon and and some cayenne pepper... bummer it didn't work out for you. The potato chip and egg thing sounds like something a stoner would make. Not my cup of tea either. The socca was hard to make. In Nice they have big outdoor skillet like things, that I suspect are really hot.

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  6. Its weird but the curry is bland. I'm with you and think the bland is okay but my family didn't agree! The socca was delicious!

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  7. I was just thinking about the socca earlier today. I had success and was thinking I should try it again. I'm not sure why I thought of it after all this time. I don't think I liked the potato chip tortilla either. It had such possiblities.

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  8. We loved the Socca! In fact, you just reminded me to make them again! Even my hubby enjoyed them! Have a great weekend!

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  9. I think the verdict on the potato chip tortilla was that it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. But the real thing is so much better - not that hard to peel and chop potatoes, after all. The soup was a real winner - I'll have to make that again when the weather cools. And the socca was a fun project.

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  10. The potato chip tortilla was interesting, but I think I would still rather have the real thing :-)
    Since no one in my house will touch curry powder, I went in a different direction.

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  11. Oh, too bad it wasn't any good. Definitely will be making the chicken dish again.

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  12. I am intrigued by the potato chip tortilla. I may have to make it just to see how I like it. We love chickpeas so the socca looks good too.

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  13. Sadly, I recalled liking the potato chip tortilla thing. Not sure whether I was just shocked it was actually good (forgive me Dorie....) or due to the chips I used. Which of course I can not recall just like I can't even recall if I made the socca or if it is on my makeup list. Many years of FFWD and a bad memory is a great reason to have a blog, so I can look it all up. Good for you for passing on the chicken if the hubby wasn't on board. Life is short and recipes are many....

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  14. Don't you love it when that happens. I had a similar experience recently. There was a REALLY expensive dress which I'd been eyeing in the store and after finally breaking down and trying it on I was delighted to discover that it looked better on the hanger than on me:-)

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  15. I love Nice. I attended the Institut de Francais in Villefranche-sur-Mer for month-long-immersion school for 5 straight years. I went to nearby Nice often - loved that place - but never had socca. What was I thinking. (I actually never learned to speak French either.) I didn't make it when it came up in rotation and do need to get that done. The chickpea flour is still sitting in my freezer. You are the first Dorista that has said that the chicken curry seems bland. That's my complaint. It was fine but it really needed to be jacked up a bit, in my opinion. Go to Nice. Have fun.

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