Happy Friday! This week for French Fridays with Dorie I have the week’s selection plus a make-up from November 2010! I am slowly working my way through the recipes I need to catch up on, and now I only have 7 left. Five of them are desserts. I would like to get all the desserts made before Dorie’s new book comes out and we start in on those recipes.
Scallop and Onion Tartes Fines
This week’s recipe was little savory tartlets called Scallop and Onion Tartes Fines. They start with a base of puff pastry. After the base is baked, they are topped with a mix of chopped bacon and golden onions. Finally, thinly sliced sea scallops are placed on top, and the tarts are baked just long enough to slightly cook the scallops.
Since I am the only scallop-eater in my family, I only made one tart with the scallops. The rest were topped with mozzarella cheese (Gruyere would be wonderful, but I used what I had).
The real star of these little tarts is the bacon-onion topping. Oh, my it was good! First the bacon was cooked until crisp. After it is removed from the pan, some of the drippings and a bit of butter were used to slowly cook the onions until they were soft and golden. Add the bacon back in, and you have a wonderful topping!
So, I ate my scallop-topped tart, and half of a cheese-topped tart. I have to admit, I preferred the one with the cheese. My husband and daughter really liked their cheesy tarts, so I think that is the way to go unless you can find super-fresh scallops.
Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake
Since we did not have a dessert in March’s line-up of recipes, I decided this was the perfect month to catch-up on one of the desserts I have left to make. Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake is made from farina (aka, Cream of Wheat) with a caramel sauce baked along with it, “upside-down”-style.
Doesn’t this cake look pretty?
Here is the raw truth:
Oops! I had trouble getting the cake out of the pan.
So, this was an interesting little cake. I liked the flavors, even though I burned my caramel sauce slightly. The texture was kind of pudding-ish. I wish I hadn’t struggled to get it out of the pan. While I liked it, I doubt I will make it again as I would rather spend my dessert calories on other sweet treats. I have never used farina, but now I am intrigued by the idea of using farina in desserts and for breakfast. I found a farina pudding recipe that looks interesting, and a breakfast cereal that looks good.
What did the rest of you think of this recipe (if you can remember that far back!)?
From Scratch 
I like the cheese version you made – nice variation! I think I would have preferred the scallops seared and served separately from the onion-bacon tart.
Nice choice for a catch up, too. I remember liking this one, but haven’t made it again.
So with you on cheese instead of scallops. I was thinking brie.
Brie would be wonderfully decadent!
I like your idea of the Gruyere – that sounds like it would be perfect with the onions and bacon. I didn’t get to this recipe this week (I’m afraid I’m more than 7 recipes behind at this point), but I’m glad that it was a hit at your house.
I did make the cake when it was on the docket. I kind-of liked it. Certainly it was unusual. I’ve thought of making it again, but I usually just stick with the apple cake if I’m making something out of the book – always yummy. Kudos for making the effort to catch up. I guess I need to update my list, and see where I’m at.
I eat a lot of farina for breakfast and see this cake coming up for brunch sometime soon! The Gruyere would be the holy grail in these tarts, but a mild mozzarella doesn’t compete with the oniony goodness.
You are so right. The onion/bacon mixture was the best tasting part of the recipe. With cheese on top, that’s what I’ll try if I make it again. You have the right idea. I vaguely remember this cake. I have a hot cereal aversion, so I remember thinking this was better than I expected, though I still have the jar of leftover farina in the pantry…
Your tartes look very tasty!! Glad you enjoyed them…I actually made a few with Slow Roasted Tomatoes because my hubby does not eat onions! We both enjoyed our tartes!
The semolina cake was a favorite of mine! I grew up on farina and used to make it for my kids for breakfast. I still enjoy eating it! Have a nice weekend!
I think Bill would have eaten the tartes the way you prepared them for your family. And you’ve reminded me I missed the semolina cake. I remember buying the ingredients, but then leaving on vacation before making it…oops.
There are very few foods that are not improved by the addition of cheese 🙂
I remember enjoying that semolina cake. Cream of wheat, who knew? RIght?
Good for you for tweaking the recipe to ensure the whole family could try a version and be happy. And how fun to end up with the comparisons. Nana did the same and ended up liking her cheese version. My guys wolfed the scallops so I didn’t have much tweaking to do. And I loved your “keeping it real” shot of the semolina cake. I actually was struggling to remember whether I made it or not until I saw that picture. THAT jogged a memory so I am thinking that I did…and that I also had a bit of trouble getting it out of the pan. Ah, memories…..
Nice job, Karen, to adapting to what works with your family. I sorta think that melted cheese might be the way to go. I absolutely loved the onion/bacon mix. Did you ever make the carbonara that was made of onions? remember how delicious that was. That’s what this reminded me of. I don’t think I made the semolina cake. Probably won’t. I am looking forward to making next week’s Visitandine. Hopefully that will fall out of the pan in a nicer manner for all of us!