Wednesday, January 19, 2011

From really good to unbelievably good


veal marengo
Some more delicious dinners from Dorie Greenspan.

Monday:

Chicken breasts diable. Really good. Chicken breast pounded and sauteed, then served with a sharp-creamy mustard sauce.

Broccoli with crunchy breadcrumbs. Really good. Broccoli is steamed, butter is melted with garlic, crispy breadcrumbs are rolled in the garlicky butter, the broccoli is rolled in the buttery, garlicky breadcrumbs. I needed to throw in a little extra butter to make it all come together; I suspect that only made it better.

Tuesday:

Veal Marengo. Really, really good. Veal is stewed with tomatoes and wine, then served with buttery pearl onions, mushrooms and potatoes.

Carrot salad. Unbelievably good. And easy. Carrot is shredded, topped with raisins, served with a honey-mustard-oil-cider vinegar dressing. Best carrot salad I've ever made. Going into the scrapbook.

Caramel sauce. Unbelievably good.  Also easy. Sugar is melted and caramelized, then mixed with cream and butter and salt and, when it cools to a saucy thickness, poured over ice cream. Another one for the scrapbook, and by scrapbook I mean the binder of recipes I make again and again.

The upshot? Yesterday I joined a gym. It's been a year and Around My French Table brought me to yet a new crisis point. I like to read on the treadmill. Here's what I finished on the treadmill yesterday:



Pageturner! And funny and self-deprecating and I highly recommend it, even if you were extremely annoyed by the Wall Street Journal excerpt and are now sick of the whole subject. The book might surprise you. David Brooks, as always, has an interesting take.

Brooks also has a curious and fascinating piece in the New Yorker. I'm souring on Gabrielle Hamilton given how widely her review of Dorie Greenspan's book missed the mark, but the woman sure can write. She has a personal history in the same issue and I'd link to that too, but it's behind the firewall. If you see the 1/17 copy of the magazine, check it out.

12 comments:

  1. See, lots of people are wanting to jump down Amy Chua's throat about this, but I really want to read it. I think I'm a little bit Tiger Mother by modern standards.

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  2. Mmmmm...veal marengo. One of my absolute, all-time favorite dishes.

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  3. That's not encouraging me to get the book, but as I discovered one entire drawer is somehow full of carrots, perhaps I should investigate. Thanks for all the great tips. I'm making the Armagnac chicken again tonight for a friend who just had a baby.

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  4. I'm on the library waiting list for Chua's book.

    Maybe you can cook through a light recipe book.

    I have this:
    http://www.amazon.com/Light-Recipe-Editors-Illustrated-magazine/dp/0936184973/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1295472147&sr=8-9

    and this

    http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Light-Desserts-Fabulous-Calories/dp/0060779292/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295472187&sr=1-5

    and this

    http://www.amazon.com/Enlightened-Cakes-Decadently-Cupcakes-Cheesecakes/dp/1581826265/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295472187&sr=1-14

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  5. I think I will have to buy the Greenspan book - the chicken and veal and carrots and broccoli ALL sound do delicious. I am trying to remember when I last bought a cookbook... certainly not for years. I got Julia and Fannie and Irma/Joy for wedding gifts and bought a couple of NYTimes for myself. I bought Joyce Chen's chinese cookbook when she was the latest thing in Cambridge in the 70s and a Moosewood which I love......time for a new cookbook??

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  6. I think I will have to buy the Greenspan book - the chicken and veal and carrots and broccoli ALL sound do delicious. I am trying to remember when I last bought a cookbook... certainly not for years. I got Julia and Fannie and Irma/Joy for wedding gifts and bought a couple of NYTimes for myself. I bought Joyce Chen's chinese cookbook when she was the latest thing in Cambridge in the 70s and a Moosewood which I love......time for a new cookbook??

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  7. BTW - interesting to see that the Chua book title is patterned on Battle Hymn of the Republic written by pacifist, suffragist, radical thinker Julia Ward Howe.

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  8. I love all the cooking that you're doing and I'm thrilled that you're loving what you're making. Now that you've joined a gym, is it the time to tell you that I"m working on a new baking book : - )

    Interesting to hear your take on the Amy Chua book. Thanks.

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  9. I'm sorry to say, but Dorie's book bores me. It seems like a mishmash and doesn't really grab me (but neither did her baking book).

    I appreciate all your recent posting, though!

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  10. Not that posters shouldn't buy her cookbook, but I just found the veal marengo, carrot salad and broccoli recipes online from her own website.

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  11. MKM -- Thanks! And she's posted her Beggar's Linguine recipe, which is the most incredible thing I've made from her book yet: http://www.doriegreenspan.com/

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  12. I just finished Chua's book. Great read; I finished it in two days. I'm not a tiger mom, but Lulu definitely reminds me of my daughter when I'm trying to get her to do regular average 2nd grade homework! I think Chua knows she's crazy and flawed, but goes for it anyway.

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