French Fridays with Dorie : Tourteau de Chevre and more...

Here is Dorie's recipe for this Friday, It's a cheese cake made with goat cheese and many eggs giving a very spongy and soft wonderful cake. Anita loved it and kept saying how soft it was.

This cake is totally different from cheesecake and from crostata di ricotta.

Please if you want to see more versions of it visit the French Fridays with Dorie site.

As you might know I'm behind with my recipes for FFWD so here is what I made this week:

Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak (with Frites, of course)

Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli

Caramel Topped Semolina Cake

I Heart Cooking Clubs : Pot-roasted Pork in White Wine with Garlic, Fennel, and Rosemary

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

I had never heard of this saying, maybe because we have more rain in March.. this year though the weather is strange : it was so hot a week ago and now it seems November !

So I went for a wintery Roast very tasty and rich of perfumes from fennes seeds, garlic and white wine.

I served it with potatoes Latkes but I'll tell you more tomorrow about those.

You can find the recipe here on the Food Network or read more.

Please visit the site for more April showers !

RECIPE

Ingredients

• 1 (3 pound/1.5 kilogram) pork loin, off the bone and skin removed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 2 to 3 large knobs butter
• Olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic, skin left on
• 1 handful fresh rosemary, leaves picked
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 fennel bulb, sliced
• 1/2 (750 ml) bottle Chardonnay

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

With 2 or 3 bits of string, tie up your pork loin, do this any way you like. It doesn't have to be fussy, you just want to keep the meat in a snug shape while it's cooking. Season generously with salt and pepper, then roll the meat in the fennel seeds until covered.

In a casserole pan or roasting tray, fry the meat for a couple of minutes in half the butter and a little olive oil, until nice and golden.

Throw in the garlic, herbs, fennel, and wine, then cover the tray loosely with some wet greaseproof paper and cook until an insertedmeat thermometer reaches 150 degrees F. As the pork loin is off the bone it cooks very quickly. Remove from the oven and allow the meat to rest on a plate. Then, without using any more heat, finishoff your sauce in the pan, scraping any goodness off the bottom and adding the rest of the butter. Remove any large bits.

Daring Cook's Challenge : Pork Satay

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppyliciousand she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

I really enjoy being part of the Daring Cooks especially when we get challenges we have never dared to try or even eat before.

In Rome there are only two Thai restaurants and we are lucky to have one at walking distance. Whatever we order we always get satays even if the owners of the restaurant (I thing they are from Malaysia) being Muslims do not serve pork, so it is chicken satay.

Therefore I was very happy Cuppy chose this recipe that we really have enjoied a lot ! Thank you Cuppy !

RECIPE

Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce

Satay Marinade

1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce. (I keep some premature (still green) dragon chili peppers in the freezer for just such an occasion.)

Directions:
1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Chill Chart

Pork	Beef/Lamb	Chicken	Vegetables	Tofu (no oil)
4-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	6-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	1-4 hours Up to 12 hrs	20 min – 2 hrs Up to 4 hrs	20 min – 4 hrs Up to 12 hrs

Faster (cheaper!) marinade:

2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (1 oz or 30 mls)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ginger powder (5 mls)
1 tsp garlic powder (5 mls)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5 mls)

Directions:
1b. Mix well.
2b. Cut pork into 1 inch thick strips (2-2.5 cm thick), any length.
3b. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Cooking Directions (continued):

4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.

* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.

Peanut Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

TFF: The Ultimate Beef Stew

And here I come back to my dear Tyler ! This 'spezzatino' was a very conforting dish for the first cool nights.

I used veal instead of beef and onions instead of the pearl ones, and I didn't have the mushrooms but it was good anyway !! I didn't mention the horseradish either......!

Here is the recipe if it's nor enough visit the blog for more !!

TFF Teriyaki_Glazed Pork Spare Ribs

Another week and another great 'supper saver' by our friend Tyler !!

As you have noticed all my Tyler's horrible photos are made in the kitchen at dinner time just before the dishes are assaulted by my beloved family ! Sorry !

I loved the recipe and it was faster than the one you find here because I used already divided ribs (here it is very uncommon to find a whole piece) .

Please check the blog !

Recipes to Rival Flambè

This month Shawnee of Delishes Delishes and Temperama of High on the Hog chose flambè as a very nice shiver in our kitchens !!
I really liked the meat even if Andrea bought it too thin, but it was really full of nice smells and flavours.
Thank you !! And please visit the blogroll for more fire !!

Steak Diane Flambé
recipe by
Frank Bordoni from Great Food Live

Ingredients

For the steaks
4x85g beef medallions
1 tsp Dijon mustard
freshly ground salt and pepper

For the sauce
1 tsp Butter, clarified
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp Shallots, finely chopped
50g button mushrooms, finely sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
125ml double cream
1 tbsp Chives, snipped
50ml Brandy

Method 1. Rub the medallions of beef with the mustard, season with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and when hot, add the clarified butter and Worcestershire sauce.
3. Add the shallots and mushrooms, and push to the centre of the pan. Arrange the medallions around the edge. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring and tossing the mushroom mixture as you go. If you prefer your steak well done, give it an extra minute or 2.
4. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
5. Turn the steaks over and pour in the cream and chives. Tilt the pan slightly (away from you) and pour in the brandy at the far end. Now turn up the heat to high so that the brandy ignites. Swirl the sauce around in the pan and turn off the heat.
6. Put the medallions on 4 plates, pour over the sauce and serve.

Disclaimer:We do not require that you flambé, if you choose to flambé and burn down your kitchen, don't sue us. If you choose to flambé try and get a picture (I recommend getting someone to help). Remember when playing with fire keep a fire extinguisher close and never use water on a cooking fire.