French Fridays With Dorie - Scallops With Caramel Orange Sauce

This week's French Fridays With Dorie's recipe was her Scallops with Caramel Orange Sauce. Originally, I thought about not doing it because I'm not a huge fan of navel oranges. Then I went to the seafood counter to check out the salmon for a ravioli dish I wanted to make. A little pricey for me, so I decided to wait. When I walked past the ready-to-grab seafood cooler, I noticed little containers of bay scallops, ready to be thrown into a pan and consumed. I picked up a small amount, just in case I didn't like the sauce. I forgot to check the recipe to see what was actually in the sauce, but I figured I would grab the scallops now and figure it out later.



When I got home, it was dinnertime. It was too late to really cook anything (read: too tired and hungry). Then I find myself staring at these scallops. Well they were already thawed. I looked up the recipe and realized it didn't take long to make these at all. Even Dorie says "it takes less time to make than a hamburger." The sauce is made up of sugar, dry white wine, and orange juice. I had sugar. Didn't have the wine so I used a sweet peach chardonnay. For the orange juice, I used blood oranges.

I had to make two attempts at the sauce. First time, I let the sugar cook too long, and the caramel got too dark. Then when I was adding the butter at the end, I put in too much. You see, I cut the recipe in half but forgot about halving the butter. Whoops.

The scallops...I guess sea scallops are way bigger than bay scallops? Because mine were definitely tiny. Regardless, I enjoyed this dinner. At least now I have a quick, elegant dinner recipe I can put together at the last-minute.

As per Dorie's request, FFWD participants do not publish the recipes on their blogs. Rather, it is encouraged to purchase Around My French Table. I do highly recommend buying this book and joining us every Friday to try another delicious recipe.

French Fridays With Dorie - Salted Butter Break-ups

I'm really bad at this whole group cookbook thing. I was kicked out of Tuesdays With Dorie. So glad French Fridays With Dorie doesn't care how often you participate. This is my second recipe made from Ms. Greenspan's book, Around My French Table. Her Salted Butter Break-Ups were very easy to put together. You put flour, sugar, sel gris (sea salt), butter, and water in a food processor. Pulse to make the dough. After chilling for a bit, you roll it out, make an imprint with your fork, then brush with an egg yolk glaze. Minus the chilling time, it didn't take long at all.



Sel gris, which translates to grey salt, is a moist sea salt used in France. Ironically, a few weeks ago, I picked up some French grey sea salt at Penzeys. I didn't get much of a saltiness to my cookies though. I think mainly because Dorie said to use a coarse grain, and I picked up a fine grain. Maybe next time I'll increase the amount? Or mix some in with the yolk glaze.



My favorite part of the cookie was the crispiness on the outside. The middle was tender and although good, I preferred the edges. My hatch marks did hold up, but it's not nearly as pretty as Dorie's picture.



As per Dorie's request, I'm not going to post the recipe. Instead, I'm going to promote her book and encourage you to go buy it! Promise you won't be disappointed.

French Fridays with Dorie - Michel Rostang's Double Chocolate Mousse Cake

For Christmas, I got Dorie's new book Around My French Table. I finally got around to joining French Fridays with Dorie. This week's recipe was Michel Rostang's Double Chocolate Mousse Cake. Since my parents were visiting last weekend, this cake was perfect to make so I didn't get stuck eating it all.



Dorie suggests serving it three ways - chilling it only, baking it and serving it warm, or baking it and serving it chilled. I served it warm with lemon gingersnap ice cream (which will be a future blog post). This cake went quickly and I would make it again. However, I had a leftover slice chilling in the fridge, and the texture after it was chilled just tasted...weird.





If you want to read about other members' results, you can find the links at French Fridays with Dorie.