Wednesday, March 18, 2015

FFwD: Cote d'Azure Cure-All Soup

I'll admit that I wasn't remotely interested in cooking the Cote d'Azure Cure-All Soup from Around My French Table. On paper, 10 cloves of sliced garlic, steeped in chicken broth with herbs (sage, bay, and rosemary instead of thyme), then thickened with egg yolk and Parmesan, and drizzled with olive oil sounded, at best, boring, and at worst, nasty.
Charlie wouldn't taste it, but he was impressed by the polka dots.
I came down with a cold on Monday, and all of a sudden, this soup sounded like the only thing I wanted to eat. I don't know if you have to be sick to like it, but this was a surprise hit. It was cozy and comforting and, because of the thickening from the egg and cheese, soothed my throat. I loved it. It didn't cure my cold, but, for a few minutes, it made me less miserable. Good enough for me!

I can't believe that we only have 10 recipes left to cook from Around My French Table. It's blowing my mind. I don't think I'm going to manage to complete all of my make-ups--I have more desserts than my judgment thinks I should bake in three months, and there are some things (dilled gravlax, chicken liver gateaux, arman's caviar) that I flat-out refuse to make. Including those, I only have 22 to make up after this post, so I'm going to try my damnedest to get that number down. So, here are some make-ups:

I always thought of Orange and Olive Salad as being an Italian dish, so I was surprised to see it here. Because I've made what was basically the same recipe in my cooking class here in  Napoli, I stalled on making Dorie's version, because it's not one of my favorites. I put this together this week, and I don't know what went wrong, but by the time I was done, my oranges, which were extremely sweet on their own, tasted BITTER with the onions and olives. That didn't happen when I made it in cooking class. Maybe the type of olive I used changed the flavor. Regardless, neither Matt nor I enjoyed this.

In the same meal, I made Salty-Sweet Potato Far. This has a strange list of ingredients--grated potatoes, bacon, prunes, raisins, eggs, milk--but I like all of those things individually, so I was open to the idea of them coming together and creating something glorious.
Maybe I didn't use enough bacon (I cut up 3 strips), but this was underseasoned. For the first few bites, I couldn't figure out if I liked it, though I was leaning toward yes, for it's nursery-type blandness and bread-pudding texture. Halfway through my portion, I'd had enough. Matt thought he liked it, but a few hours later, he tried to eat a cold piece, and he said it was disgusting, which ruined it for him.

I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't make it again.

14 comments:

  1. I'm glad the soup was a surprise hit for you. I suspected before I made it that I would like it (I'm a big fan of garlic) and I was right.

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  2. The soup seems to be a surprise hit for everyone!

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  3. That is a pretty dish you served your soup in. It was indeed a surprise that this soup was well received by my hubby, he asked for it again at dinner the next day! My reaction to the salty sweet potato far was the same as yours. At this point in time, this potato dish is the only thing I dislike from our book!

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  4. I'm glad you enjoyed the soup, too! I vaguely remember the far, but I'll have to search my blog to see if I actually made it :/ If I did, I bet I was the only one who ate it!! Hope the soup chased away your sniffles! xo

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  5. Weird about the orange salad, did you use red onions sliced super thin...I find them sweeter? Glad the soup worked out well and that Far dish... agreed with you husband, not to be made again.

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  6. I'm 100% with you on the soup, I think that I would have had a far different reaction had I not been sick at the time.

    And the Far ranks as one of my least favorite recipes in the book, but I'm pretty sure that I did something wrong. It was one of those times (not the first nor the last) when I wished that I could taste Dorie's version to find out how the recipe should have tasted.

    Good luck with your make ups!

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  7. I don't think I'll get all my make ups done by the end either so stick around. Maybe I can convince you to make that gravlax. It was really quite good. I wasn't sick for this soup and I really quite liked it. I had other things that ailed me I suppose.

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  8. I couldn't get my head around what the end result of this soup would be. In the end, I liked it, but probably not enough to make it again. I have a handful of recipes that I haven't made yet. I think the far might be one of them. I guess I should make a list if I have any chance of making any up before the end... (Hope your cold is all gone.)

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  9. Happy that you enjoyed the soup, especially when not feeling well. It looks like we are all
    trying to play catch up with the recipes, I wonder if we will make it. It's sad to see this come to an end. Enjoy your weekend.

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  10. I enjoyed the soup, perhaps because I ate it on a downpouringly rainy night. This soup would be perfect to cure a cold. The potato far was only okay, as I remember, but I was surprised at how much I liked the olive and orange salad.

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  11. Less miserable is a good thing. I am going to have to try this soup.

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  12. Glad the soup made you feel better. I wasn't a fan of the olive and orange salad or the far either.

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  13. Let's just go with the fact that the soup was very good and a big surprise to you. The make-ups, not so good but you DID them. Good for you. I will miss seeing all the pictures of your international adventures when you return home. It's been fun to go along with you on your Italian military assignment. Thank you for sharing.

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  14. Soup was a win - I remember not being a fan of the far...
    Hope you are feeling better.

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