chicken, apples, and cream ala normande

December 14, 2012 (made on 12/14 but posted 1/16, better late than never?)

I've just finished my first masters course and I needed to celebrate so I reached for my Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  It's been awhile as a 12 week course kept me busy, heck, I could get to my Mah Jongg group either! But it's for a good cause, right, I am finally moving toward a masters degree in Instructional Design.
But I have to say, I liked the sound of the this recipe but after making it, decided I and we weren't too keen on a heavy cream dish.  Wish I had served it over tons of the lemon wilted spinach as Dorie suggests, but instead, I served it over rice.  It looked blah, and there were no convincing 'mmm's' while eating it.

Well it seems I can't find the picture.....enough said on that, I suppose.

Chicken Basquaise 9/22/12

Delicious!  Everyone loved this, a great dinner for the start of fall!  Again, sorry for the brief post, in the second week of my online course (Intro to Instructional Design) and my son turns 18 on the 30th so I am planning a surprise party.....

Hope you all enjoyed this dish as well!  Happy Autumn!

I did get a new camera with higher pix so I hope my pictures will improve.

Eggplant Tartine with Tomatoes, Olives, and Cucumbers 9/9/12

Served this as the vegetable for a dinner of lobster and steak .  It was a somewhat unusual combination of vegetables and went well with the seafood and beef.

Sorry for such a brief post, but I've started my first online course for my master's in instructional design and time has not been on my side.  Will try to keep up but won't offer many words in the blog.....

Peach Melba 8/23/12

I cooked up this dessert using local Jersey peaches which are wonderful this year.  Added the vanilla ice cream, raspberries, whipped cream, and a dash of cinnamon as I didn't have any almonds in the house.  Of course it was delicious but I don't know that I would go through this cooking and prep process again.  I could of easily cut the peaches, popped them into a bowl and I think it would taste near the same and done in a few minutes instead of the 45 it took....too much time and effort on a summer night.

Warm Scallops with Corn, Nectarines & Basil

It's getting to be that time of summer when you've satiated your craving for grilled burgers and dogs and your taste buds are looking for something new....

This scallop salad fits the bill.  A wonderfully fresh dressing of lime zest, lime juice, and extra virgin olive oil marries well with the grilled scallops and nectarines. Fresh basil and evoo brightens the flavors even more. The corn and tomatoes gives the salad body and what makes it extra special is the peaches (my sub for nectarines), tomatoes, corn, and basil are Jersey Fresh!  This would be a lovely lunch dish as well as dinner.  We really enjoyed this one!

Tomato and Cheese Tartlets 8/3/12

Tomato and Cheese Tartlets

This dish was our Saturday night supper.  Instead of puff pastry, I used a whole grain naan bread for the bread.  A light spread of pesto, my heirloom tomato slices, mozzarella slices, basil, ground sea salt and pepper made a delicious, um, pizza.  This allowed us to continue to watch the Olympics from the family room.

Salmon and Pilaf

Salmon with Basil Tapenade and Lemon Barley Pilaf  7/27/12

French Fridays with Dorie continued…

The last two recipes for this month were a natural together so I prepared them for a single meal.  I must say I like the tapenade with the salmon much better than I did for the recipe with lentils a couple of months ago!  I made the tapenade with kalamata olives instead of the cured as I always seem to have the kalamata in the pantry.  Searing the salmon in a grill pan helped to cook off the white protein that inevitably comes out of the fish if it’s broiled or baked alone.  

Instead of barley for the pilaf I used basmati rice.  It was a delicious substitute.  The fresh lemon zest along with the peppers made this a bright side to the fish.

As we approach the end of July I start to miss summer already, though it won’t officially be over until late September.  August seems to worry about it too, as we usually get rainy that month.  Guess I will finish up the list of summer  ‘to-do’s’ and ‘must reads’, and ‘to watch’ before August  slips away nonchalantly….