Time just seems to fly by without being able to keep up with the blog posts and the cooking. March was very slow for my FFwD recipes. I'd already made the cheese bread at Christmas then, with finals and everything else, just didn't get a chance to do the others on time. I still lurk on the site, read the Q & A posts and follow others' postings. I'm learning so much from everyone and feeling far more confident in the kitchen!
Here are my updates:
Savory cheese bread (FFwD, March): I made two kinds in December: a feta/sun-dried tomato bread and a cheddar/dill bread. Both were definitely on the dry and crumbly side. I found, though, that if I cut slices about 1.5 inches thick, then cut those slices again perpendicularly, I'd end up with cracker sized pieces that were very good toasted and used with dips.
Scallops with caramel-orange sauce (FFwD, March): Made these last week and Mom raved about them. I used frozen scallops. The first time the scallops weren't completely thawed so they emitted lots of water when cooking and the scallops didn't brown up prettily like they are in the photos. The sauce was easy, though not as thick as I expected. The sauce was very good though-- got as much as I could on the green beans and then sopped up the rest with bread! The second time (with the leftover sauce), I thawed the scallops completely on paper towels. They browned up nicely but were much tougher so I think the first batch was better. The sauce was just as good (after 2 days in the fridge) and just a bit more caramelly.
Quinoa, nut & fruit salad (FFwD, April): Easy, fast, delicious. Just bought one at Von's the other day and mine was just as good. I did find, though, that there wasn't enough zing in the dressing (my dried fruits were golden raisins & orange-flavored cranberries; nuts were pecans and pine nuts). I added the zest of two oranges to the salad which helped a lot. Unfortunately, the lemon peel was already in the garbage disposal but I think that would have been a good addition. This will easily become one of my staple side dishes.
Cherry tomato tarte tatin (see here: NY Times Recipe): I've been wanting to make this since I had it in a restaurant in Colmar a couple of years ago. I don't know if this is exactly the same recipe but boy was it good (even cold the next day for lunch). It's much sweeter than expected with the caramelized onions and the tomatoes. I didn't use the puff pastry (I will try it again with the puff) because I remembered a pâte brisé crust so I used this crust recipe instead. The crust was very, very crumbly and difficult to manage on a tatin; I think it would be better for a right side up tarte. The crust also didn't fit over the edges. Nonetheless, the flavors were delicious: the bright yet sweet pop of the cherries (Trader Joe's has a nice box of heirloom cherry tomatoes of different colors), the sweet onions, the salty olives and the crunch of the crust. Yum, yum, yum!
Empanadas. Again. Still good!
Lots of Asian greens in the co-op basket yesterday. Rather than another plain old stir-fry, I'm going to try something different like the chicken salad here.
FFwD recipes postponed for another time: Beggar's linguine (March), Salted butter break-ups (March), Garlicky crusted broccoli (April). Will try to do the mustard batons and pepper steak next weekend due to travel. The eclairs may or may not make it on the docket for now.
