Happy Friday! I actually got a French Fridays with Dorie recipe done on time this week! Plus, I am including two make-up recipes; one that I made this week and one I made a couple of weeks ago. After this week I only have one “catch-up” left for the year and I plan on hitting that one in the next couple weeks. Let’s get started!
Fresh Tuna, Mozzarella, and Basil Pizza
This was an interesting one, but I liked it! It’s a little appetizer pizza with a puff pastry crust topped with fresh mozzarella, sauteed onions, barely-cooked fresh tuna, basil, tomatoes, olives, radishes, and ginger.
I inadvertently made one change: I accidentally left off the sauteed onions, even though they were cooked and ready to go! I also skipped the ginger because it just didn’t seem like it would go with the rest of the flavors.
My husband won’t eat raw fish, so I cooked his for an extra few minutes. He liked the result, while I was happy with the mostly-raw tuna.
I am not sure I will make this again, but we liked the flavors and the idea of making little pizzas on puff pastry. We liked the Tomato-Cheese Tartlets better, so we will probably stick with those in the future.
Duck Breasts with Fresh Peaches
I actually had all the ingredients to make this one on time, but then my oven died so I had to postpone making it until it was back in working order.
This simple preparation of quickly cooked duck breasts in a sweet-savory sauce turns duck into a weeknight dish. I love the meaty flavor of the duck paired with the sweet peach and sauce.
I only had one problem with this dish. My duck breasts were much smaller than the ones Dorie recommends, so I overcooked mine a bit.
Floating Islands
I was really looking forward to making this one! Floating Islands are a quintessential French dessert. The “islands” are meringue floating in a sea of Crème Anglaise.
It was fun learning a new technique for baking meringue. I am used to individual meringues baked on a baking sheet. This was baked in springform pan in a water bath. The result is a soft, moist meringue rather than the drier ones I am used to.
The Crème Anglaise was heavenly! And I loved the melt-in-your-mouth texture of the meringue. I topped mine off with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and it was delicious!
From Scratch 
Everything looks great, Karen. Good for you for only having one more to catch up on. I have several, but most of them aren’t appealing enough for me to want to make them just for completeness sake. I even skipped the make up week last month. Have a great weekend!
I should clarify that I only have one recipe left to be caught up for *this year*… I still have about 8 more from prior years to complete. You have a nice weekend too!
Yours look beautiful… I didn’t saute anything. I didn’t see the point of cooking scallions? I loved the ginger it was the one ingredient that really made the dish special for me. I hope you’ll try it some time.
Nice job! I ended up skipping so many of the main ingredients that I wonder if my dish even counts this week 🙂
I think the floating islands may be my favorite dessert from this dish…
Great week! Everything looks simply delicious – hope you enjoyed all the gourmet goodness from your kitchen!
That’s a great catch-up, Karen! I loved the sauce for the duck… it goes really well with chicken too.
I have most of the ingredients in the house to make the pizza, but somehow tuna and mozzarella don’t go together in my head… let alone with ginger!
I have a few catch up recipes to get checked off too. In fact, the duck breast is still on my list. All of your recipes look delicious.
Great catch up post! I am in sore need of one too. And I now want more duck!
Holy moly that is some “catch up”…which is exactly what I need to do too !! Seriously, you are inspiring me to revisit a few that I missed, including this pizza one. (I did get the veal done for this week 🙂 Great job – and those floating islands in particular look crazy good. Granted I have a sweet tooth but your presentation is perfect !! Tricia
Karen, Nice catch up post! Those floating islands were a huge favorite in my house… a keeper for sure! I don’t do raw (or almost raw) fish so I substituted prosciutto…they were very good! We loved the duck…another keeper! Your dishes look wonderfully delicious!