Happy French Friday! We are going to do some catching up today. I mentioned last week that I had a couple of French Fridays with Dorie recipes to catch you up on. Plus I also have this week’s recipe to tell you about. I had hoped to get to the catch-up recipes earlier in the week, but that obviously didn’t happen… Let’s get to it!
French Lentils: A Basic Recipe
The title of this recipes says it all. It is a basic recipe for French lentils (lentilles du Puy) that can be used as a side dish or the base for a salad. I served mine as a side dish with grilled chicken stuffed with sage and mozzarella. I topped them with Honey-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes from the book River Cottage Veg.
The combination of all these flavors was excellent! I enjoyed this dinner very much. While I liked the lentils, my husband merely tolerated them, so I will likely not make this recipe again, unless I find the perfect dish that needs lentils on the side.
Chanterelles with Napa and Nuts
Next up is a recipe the group made a few weeks ago called Chanterelles with Napa and Nuts. I wasn’t able to find chanterelle mushrooms (though the guy in the produce department said they had them just the week before), so I used a gourmet mushroom mix instead.
This dish was a quick saute of mushrooms and Napa cabbage, garnished with parsley and chopped nuts. It would be excellent as a side dish to all sorts of meats, especially grilled steak.
My husband was out of town the week I made this dish, so I served mine with a simple hamburger patty cooked on the stove. I really, really loved the mushrooms! The title of this recipe didn’t appeal to me, but you must look past that and make this if you like mushrooms. A winner!
Shrimp-Filled Zucchini Blossoms
I finally got a few zucchini blossoms from my garden!!! I harvested 3 of them and made myself these blossoms for lunch one day.
I tend to shy away from deep-frying things. It seems hard, and wasteful, and stressful. It really isn’t hard. The hardest part (for me) seems to be getting the oil to just the right temperature.
In this recipe, we simply stuffed the zucchini blossoms with large shrimp, dipped them in a tempura batter, and deep-fried them until done. I wish the recipe had specified what temperature the oil should be, because I think I had it too hot. My blossoms cooked faster than the recipe suggested they should.
These were fun to make! I have never cooked with zucchini blossoms before, but I should since I have them in my garden. And the deep-frying would be easier with practice. Maybe next year I will try the goat cheese-tapenade variation!
Whew, I’m caught up (on the writing, at least)! If you are interested in trying any of these recipes, be sure to check out Dorie Greenspan’s book, Around My French Table. On a related note, I finally pre-ordered Dorie’s new book, Baking Chez Moi: Recipes from My Paris Home to Your Home Anywhere. Now I will be ready to go when the group starts the new book!
From Scratch 
Everything looks so delicious, you have certainly been busy. I have been trying to catch up with a couple of recipes too, and I have many more to do.
You’ve had a busy time! Congrats on harvesting your zucchini blossoms. This week’s lentils were quite tasty.
I am always looking for a good way to make lentils!
Nice catch-up, Karen! The zucchini blossoms were definitely a winner for me…all of your dishes look great. I really enjoyed the lentils for lunch this week. Have a great week!
Wow what a week ! And it all looks so yummy. Great job on the catch ups. We enjoyed all of these (the ones I have actually made). I wish I was like you in not liking the fried stuff but unfortunately this is one area where I tend to not mind the effort to prep food. I would be far healthier if my choices were to spend the time/effort cutting veggies to use rather than battering them 🙂 I need to hunt down those zucchini flowers and make up that recipe soon. – Tricia
Serious catching up… I just love the idea of the fancy mushroom dish with burger… très élégant.
Three recipes in one week, you have been cooking. I think salmon goes best with lentils so if your husband likes that …
I think frying is an art. I too am afraid of frying. My husband does the frying if we ever need to which is not often.
Busy, busy. That’s quite a round up of catch up recipes. I loved all of these, especially the zucchini blossoms. I usually hate to deep fry things, but I can see making an annual exception for these babies.
Love all three of your FFwD dishes! Delish! I am waiting for my pumpkin flowers (I spied 5 buds this morning) to bloom to make the fritters!!
Wonderful catch up! I’m not a huge fan of deep frying either, but the results were delicious. And chanterelles are elusive little things, aren’t they. Luckily, I think Dorie’s recipe is perfect for most mushrooms. I love this lentil recipe a lot, too.
I like the catch up post!
Those zucchini blossoms were dangerously delicious – I am very glad my aversion to deep frying foods (and the difficulty in finding blossoms) keeps me away from making them more often.