Monday, March 21, 2011

FFWD: Scallops with Caramel-Orange Sauce, Pancetta Green Beans, and Salted Butter Break-ups

I have fallen WAY behind on FFWD. In my many roles, first and foremost, I'm a mom to a spunky little toddler, other roles include wife, cook and full-time professional. A CPA. A tax accountant. So, you see, early February to mid-April is crazy time for me. Balancing the crazy work hours with showing my little guy lots of love, trying to working out to stay sane, and trying to keep our house in liveable shape for those 2 months is a challenge every year, and, well, FFWD kind of fell off my radar for a bit.

We finally found overselves with a Sunday with no commitments, and the topic of dinner came up. I logged in to see what the monthly recipes were, and which ones I missed... I opted to make a few of the simpler ones, with no fussy ingredients, and minimal prep.

The Scallops with Caramel-Orange Sauce were a favorite. Sweet, tender, melt in your mouth delicious with just a slight tang from the oranges and wine. I was worried my husband wouldn't love this one, since he tends to snub his nose at sweeter entrees, but he loved it. He declared it better than any scallop dish he'd had in a restaurant, and suggested I never order scallops in a restaurant again, which I often do.


The Pancetta Green Beans were cooked to a perfect tender crisp follwing Dorie's instuction and the pancetta gave it a nice salty bite. Pancetta makes everything better.


The Salted Butter Break-ups were also a winner. I looked over some of the blog entries for this one and completely agree that more salt would only enhance the flavor in these. With a name called 'salted' butter breakups, I definitely would have liked a more salty flavor. Although, I did use kosher salt, and I imagine the other salt suggested would have given it a different depth of salty flavor. They were still enjoyed, even without the salty flavor I expected. The crispy edges were my favorite part. And the little guy had fun with these, too!


At the end of the meal my husband said - the French got it right tonight!!!

Can't wait to see what next month has in store for us!

Friday, January 7, 2011

FFWD: Paris Mushroom Soup

I am a mushroom lover, so I knew I would love this soup. The hardest part of making this was wiping the mushrooms clean. I hate that part. I could chop, chop, chop all day long, but the wiping just seemed so tedious. And my mushrooms were fairly dirty.

The soup was richer and more complex than I expected considering the simple list of ingredients. It was a winner with my whole family, including my uber-picky toddler... which was incredible to me! I hope he loves the gnocchi next week just as much!


To check out the group, head over to French Fridays With Dorie. And to buy the book (which you should!) head over to amazon.