Friday, May 29, 2015

FFwD: The AHA Moment!

To launch our celebration month after completing every recipe from Around My French Table, we were tasked with choosing our favorite recipe, and then making a top 5 list. (Okay, so I'm 20 recipes short of "every", but I'm at peace with that number.)

No question in my mind, my number one favorite recipe in this book is Gougeres. This was one of the first recipes I made, before I knew that French Fridays with Dorie even existed. I was not much of a cook at the time, and had a picky, cranky 1-year-old on my hands, but I decided to take a risk and try this cheesey choux dough--not that I'd ever heard of pate a choux--for no reason other than that the picture in the book looked delicious.
Glorious.
It felt like a miracle when Charlie ate one. Then two. Then as many as he could stuff into his face. Gougeres became the treat I made when we had long car rides ahead of us. They became my go-to party snack. Charlie learned to say "cheesy poof," our in-house name for gougeres, before he learned to say I love you. Cheesy poofs are dear to our hearts.
He was so leeeettle! I want to eat his face! And that cheesy poof.
I fully intended to bake a celebratory batch of gougeres today, but life got away from me, and now I don't have time. After a full morning of errands, my husband called and said that he'd broken his foot playing soccer at work (darn military and their mandatory PT!), was at the hospital, and that I needed to come and wait for him to be done, then bring him back to work. By the time I dropped him off, I had just enough time to pick Charlie up from school. I'm exhausted, and instead of gougeres and soup, my dinner will now consist of rotisserie chicken and whatever leftover grain/veg I can find in the fridge.

Matt's plan for tomorrow was to clean out our disaster of a garage. Now that his foot is broken, I guess I get bumped up in the queu. boooooo! Actually, he thinks he's doing it anyway. Um, no. I bump myself up in the queu, and he's going to have to learn to stop being productive for a little while. So, tomorrow may suck, but, by God, there WILL be gougeres!! And gougeres will make it all better.

It is nearly impossible for me to pick a top 5. Here's my best shot. I'm not counting gougeres. They're my #1, but this way, it's like I get a Top 6. Mwa ha haaa!

1. Provencal Olive Fougasse. If memory serves me, this was one of my first forays into bread. I was afraid of yeast before this recipe. After, I was like, "Oh. That was no big deal." Salty, lemony, bready goodness. What's not to love?

2. Cheese-Topped Onion Soup. This takes substantially longer to properly caramelize the onions than Dorie says, but it is so rich and delicious at the end, that I don't care. Best. Soup. Ever.

3. Beef Cheek Daube with Carrots and Elbow Macaroni. This one was a shock to me, because up until I made this recipe, I hated stewed beef with a fiery passion. I LOVE this recipe, and I've made it many times, whenever the temperature drops. I'm looking forward to having a real winter in DC next year (Did I tell you, we now have orders to Washington DC??!! Matt and I lived there for 8 years after college. I'm super excited to go back. It feels like going home, because we have so many friends in the area. I am SO going to feed them this beef.)

4. Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good. The name speaks for itself. Maybe I'm just hankering for cool-weather dishes right now, but I miss this dish! I can't wait to be reunited with the proper kind of pumpkin for it. They have pumpkin in Italy, but it's very different. I tried to make this once here in Italy, and it didn't work.

5. I literally can not choose between Marie-Helene's Apple Cake or the Tourteau de Chevre as my favorite dessert. I can't. I'm not even going to try. So there!
It feels so wrong to leave off the osso bucco and veal marengo and the hurry-up-and-wait roast chicken and dressy pasta risotto and potato gratin and the slow-roasted tomatoes and endives,apples, and grapes, and almond flounder mouniere, and the chocolate mousse, and...and...and...there's too much. I feel like a very lucky girl to have so many favorite recipes in my arsenal. Thank you, Dorie!!

22 comments:

  1. That your son said 'cheesy poof' before he learned to say 'I love you' touches me so. I'm sorry about your husband's foot and your garage duty, but there will be 'cheesy poofs' and all will be right with the world. Love this post! xoDorie

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  2. Oh the pumpkin... and the almond fish meuniere... so many great ones on your official list and honorable mentions. Very happy that you guys will be heading to DC soon. I loved it when I visited for the first time last year.

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  3. Awe, that's an awfully cute story about Charlie and the cheesy poufs. I loved the gougeres too and was very sad to kick them off my list for hubby's ribs.

    So sorry to hear about Matt's foot, hopefully he heals in time for the big move. My uncle actually works at the Navy Yard and lives in Anapolis and I loved the area when I visited them last year. I'm sure you'll miss Italy, but must feel nice to be heading somewhere familiar.

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  4. I have the pumpkin and the apple cake too on my list. Yes, gougeres are amazing. I was just thinking about making them for a fundraiser. I never did a post on them because I joined later. The Beef Daube was a real family pleaser.. great list.

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  5. Cheesy poufs - I think I'll rename gougères that from now on :)

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  6. Oh my gosh! Love the photo of your little guy eating those Gougeres! I agree with you on most of your picks! I would also have a hard time choosing between Marie-Helene's Apple Cake or the Tourteau de Chevre! Both were amazing! It seems that quite a few loved the Pumpkin stuffed with everything good! Also loved that!
    I have completed all, but about 15! And I’m also alright with that!! Happy Friday!

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  7. We are big fans of cheesy poofs, too! I had so many more that five, too---a sign of a fabulous cookbook!

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  8. Your post is hilarious, but I am sure you are not laughing right now. I really feel for you with the garage duty, but I am sure you know, that's life, no matter how crummy. Love the pix
    of your little one, adorable.

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  9. Definitely understand the love of gougeres ... they are yummy. I've seen the pumpkin show up a few times already, too. :)

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  10. We loved the cheesy poufs too! :) I hope your husbands foot heals quickly! I am far more behind than you for sure.

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  11. Yum, those cheesy poufs. I love that story. I like your list. There are so many great recipes in this book that it's almost impossible to pick just 5. As I read everyone's posts, I'm adding more to my list (in my head anyway). Good luck with your next adventure. I grew up outside DC. So much going on, you'll love being back there.

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  12. Your house and life will be a lot easier once you teach him to MAKE the cheese poufs! They are a favorite of mine too!

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  13. Love the picture of you son and your story of gougeres. I am going to have to make these soon as they have made a few top 5 lists. I hope you and your husband survive the broken ankle and garage cleaning. Great job at cooking all but 20 recipes.

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  14. Great choices! Everyone's favourites are making me second-guess my (way too long) list. Tourteau chevre is sooooo good! Hope Matt's foot heals quickly and thanks for adding "cheesy poofs" to my vocabulary.

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  15. What a fun reminder of Charlie's love of his cheesy poofs! Love it. Well, you have more adventures coming up, but so happy that you were able to post your favorites! Some amazing recipes there!! Well done!

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  16. LOL - I adore that Charie loves gougeres and calls them cheesy poofs. You chose some great recipes there - I am a cake/baking lover so I tried to stay away from those in my list (because I would be unduly biased), but of course I loved the baking recipes.

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  17. I had not recalled hearing of gougeres (or at least really knowing what they were) before FFWD and we ended up going to a wedding shortly after these were our Friday pick and gougeres were an appetizer. Yup, I was like - "oh these are cheese puffs, I have made them at home" when folks were not sure what they were. Now that I recall my comments I hope the other guests had a lot to drink. Your list is very fun but you had me at the Charlie story, as usual. Seriously. Cheesy poofs before "I love you" - you are lucky you didn't make us all cry. Very very sorry to hear about hubby's foot. No fun for anyone. Make sure YOU get some rest too and I look forward to the upcoming celebration adventures for FFWD.

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  18. What a marvelous post (except for the broken foot, of course). And, he went back to work? Are you kidding me? The gougeres will now officially become Charlie's Cheesy Poofs (much easier for me to pronounce, actually). Love that story. You brought up a lot of foody memories with your list of six and then your also rans. Enjoyed reading your post. Again, sorry about the foot and even more sorry that you get the garage detail.

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  19. we have very similar lists. the soup, pumpkin, and apple cake are in my top 5 too. loved the gougeres story! i never thought to try giving them to my 2 year old, but now i will.

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  20. Your upcoming move sounds exciting! One of the things I missed after my husband retired from the USAF was the moving. Since someone else always came and packed it up and then unpacked it at the new place it was much less work than a civilian move! I agree with you on 'cheesy poufs'. They were one of my favorites but I left them off because I had made gougeres before FFwD. I loved all your selections except the onion soup. I wasn't crazy about Dorie's recipe. Charlie has really grown up with the group:)

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  21. Cheesy poufs :-)
    It really was hard to narrow this down to my favorite 21 recipes (that was what we were supposed to do, right?)
    I hope your husband recovers quickly. And moving, wow. I am stressing about moving a half hour away this summer - I am not sure how I would feel about a different continent. (But, yay for DC - we need to figure out some kind of Dorista meetup once you are state side).

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  22. WOW! DC! you'll love it! I lived there for three years, for the Navy and our family really enjoyed our time there - we'd go back to live there in a heartbeat! ;)

    Cheesy poofs! :) my kiddos enjoyed the chocolate versions better but we want to make the gougeres with cheddar!

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