French Fridays with Dorie : Mustard Batons... and Chocolate Eclaires

I cannot believe I finally made it this Friday !! I baked this wonderfully yummy and superfast goodies which are fantastic : they come together in minutes and are really delicious, I want to try them with different fillings too.

I promised myself to catch the group up with all the recipes and started with these 'get out of here or I'll eat you all' babies. I made the chocolate version half recipe (froze some ganache and chocolate pastry cream for a bright future !)

Please visit French Fridays with Dorie to see more, and get yourself a copy of Around My French Table.

French Fridays with Dorie : Gougeres

As we are getting closer to finishing Dorie Greenspan's fabulous book Baking from my home to yours we couldn't bear not cooking with her any more so we are starting today a new group that will be cooking from the new Around the French Table wich is a very rich book filled with all kinds of french recipes. If you think you may be interested please join us !

The first recipes were chosen by Dorie herself and the first month's recipes are on a pdf you can find in the site.

Our first appetizer were delicious and fast to make Gougeres , I made them with part Parmigiano and part Caciotta cheese they were a great success and couldn't stop eating them !

As you can see good is never enough so Carlo used them as a sandwhich and filled them with mortadella and mozzarella.

Plese visit the wonderfully design new site you'll be hooked !

Recipes to Rival: Olive Straws

This month Lori selected three appetizers to choose from (or make all three) and I chose these nice straws also because of their look !

If you use store-bought puff pastry they come together in a breeze (allow some fridge time before cutting them, while heating the oven), and your guest will love them (Andrea brought me the last one in the kitchen !).

Visit R2R blogroll for more appetizers.

Recipe

The demonstration can be found here.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/olive-straws.
And this is the recipe.

* All-purpose flour, for work surface
* 13 ounces Puff Pastry
* 15 large green pimento stuffed olives, about 1 1/4 inches long
* 1 medium egg yolk
* 1 tablespoon milk

1. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out puff pastry to a 12 1/2-by-6-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick. Using a large sharp knife, cut the rectangle into a 5 1/2-by-6-inch rectangle and a 7-by-6-inch rectangle. Place both rectangles on a baking sheet and transfer to refrigerator; let chill 20 minutes.
2. Place the 5 1/2-by-6-inch rectangle on a baking sheet. Place 5 olives, end-to-end, in a straight line along the short side of the rectangle, leaving about a 5/8-inch border. Repeat process two more times to make three lines of olives.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and milk. Brush egg mixture on all exposed spaces between olives. Cover with the 7-by-6-inch rectangle of puff pastry, pressing the whole surface of the dough between the olives firmly with your fingertips. Transfer to refrigerator; let chill 20 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Using a very sharp knife, trim edges of dough; cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide straws. Lay flat-side down on a baking sheet. Transfer to oven and bake until pastry is golden and crisp, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer straws to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm

TFF Samosas with Chickpeas and Spinach

Dear friends this week we made samosas but vegetarian and baked instead of fried, I hope it's not too much of a change but that evening I really didn't want to deep fry ! The results were very good I made the samosa smaller but that way you don't get enough filling so next time I'll stick to Tyler's suggestions




I don't really have the skills of a perfect samosa's maker ! But I'll get better !



I froze half the samosas and I'm looking forward to eating them !! If you want to try the recipe is
here . Please visit the blog for more super ideas !!