FFWD - Brown Sugar Squash and Brussels Sprouts En Papillote

This week's recipe from Around My French Table is a winner!  It was so easy to prepare too! 
The ingredients are:  butternut squash, brussel sprouts, and apple (I used a Granny Smith)!  It is mixed with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and brown sugar and topped off with a piece of fresh sage.

Place the mixture on a piece of foil and seal packets.  Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

Next time I make this I will probably only bake for 20 minutes, but the vegetables tasted great and I loved the addition of apple; a sweet surprise to the dish.

I usually roast vegetables so this was a nice change!

FFWD - Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles

I'll start out saying we liked this!  Reading all the other reviews I was a little scared to make this!  But I had already bought all the unusual ingredients!  Did anyone else have a hard time finding Chinese Tree Ear mushrooms?  I couldn't find them and ended up buying Black Fungus mushrooms, I think they are the same?!  The name and looks were a little intimidating, the taste was almost none.  

Soaking the dried muschroom.

Cellophane noodle soaking - first time I have ever used these! 

 

Mushrooms after soaking - they really opened up a lot!

I am glad I tried this dish and I did stick to the recipe.  Will I make it again??  Probably not...But it's fun to try new things like black fungus and cellophane noodles! 

 

Chicken Liver Gateaux

I did not make the Chicken Liver Gateaux for this weeks assignment... I am just not a liver lover!!

But I thought I would share a picture of Dorie's son Josh and myself taken last Sunday at the retail location of Beurre & Sel in the Essex Street Market.  It is a very small store but filled with  a great variety of cookies.  I bought Jammers, Classic French-Vanilla Sables, Mint Chocolate Sables and Rosemary-Parmesan!  They are all wonderful!!!  But I think my favorites are the Jammers and the Rosemary-Parmesan. 

Josh was so much fun to talk to!  I told him I was a big fan of his Mom and just had to visit their store (It cost me almost $20.00 each way in a cab) he tried to convince me to take the subway back..but I felt I'd be safer in the cab (who knows where I would have ended up if I took the subway)!! 

I had a great trip in New York!  I was also able to go to Eataly, which is amazing, wish I would have been able to buy some fresh pasta or cheese or meat or fish... etc. to take home!!  We also had dinner at Guy Fieri's new restaurant Guy's American Kitchen & Bar...it was just o.k.  Had a wonderful dinner at Becco, chef Lidia Bastianich's restaurant (thanks Kathy at Bakeaway with Me for the recommendation!)  I enjoyed Afternoon Tea at the Plaza...a real treat!! 

I am also a Good Morning America fan!  I headed down to Times Square early Tuesday morning and couldn't believe I actually made it on TV with my sign Haden Grandma Loves You!  Haden is my 22 month old grandson!  What fun!!

I look forward to next weeks recipe -- Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles!

Long and Slow Apples - FFWD

  

This was an easy dish to prepare and I had everything in the house I needed!!  It tasted GREAT (what I could eat) loved the ginger and ground coriander mixed with the sugar, it really had a wonderful taste.   But .... I had a problem with the plastic wrap!! Dorie said don't worry it won't melt...mine disappeared on top - it was still on the sides of the dish though.  I am anxious to hear if anyone else had this problem.  I am wondering why the directions had us use it anyway.  I did turn them over and I ate a little off the bottom, thinking the plastic would only be on the top layer.  So sad this happened because the taste was incredible!  I will definitely make these again WITHOUT the plastic wrap!

 

Apples layered --- getting ready to cover with the plastic wrap :(

Holes punched ....

Placed a mug on top and into the oven for 2 hours at 300 degrees.

After two hours --- they really bake down a lot.

I can't wait to make these again!

This is the plastic wrap I used that DID NOT work!


You can find this delicious recipe in the book Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan on page 390.  The ingredients are simple (sugar, ground ginger, ground coriander, orange zest,  apples and butter.)  JUST DON'T USE SARAN WRAP to cover them!

Herb-Speckled Spaetzle and a New Blog

 

I am back cooking with the group French Fridays with Dorie!  This is a fun group that is cooking a different recipe each week from the cookbook Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.

This weeks recipe was Herb-Speckled Spaetzle!  I have seen this made on tv but this was my first attempt at making it!  I did go out and by the spaetzle maker - found it at Bed Bath and Beyond for $6.99 minus my 20% coupon! :-)   I am glad I invested in it, because I love spaetzle! 

The dough was made out of flour, nutmeg, milk, eggs and finely chopped fresh herbs.  Then you bring a large pot of water to a boil, put your dough into the spaetzle maker and move through the holes over the boiling water.  It is done in two minutes. 

In Dorie's recipe we added cooked mushrooms and onions.  This makes a great side dish or can be eaten as a main course.  

Now onto my second bit of business.....NEW BLOG.  For some reason I was having trouble loading pictures....I believe it was because my old blog had my old email address and I wasn't able to change it??!!  I know enough about computers to be dangerous!! 

So I thought NEW YEAR 2013 and a new blog Haden Kitchen Favorites.  Hopefully my followers with follow on my new blog!