Happy Friday! It has been a strange week here at the From Scratch household. Between a third week of Christmas break (yes, my daughter’s school district has a 3 week winter break…), head colds, and cable/internet/phone problems, things just didn’t feel normal around here. This is a long way of saying I didn’t make this week’s (dreaded) French Fridays with Dorie recipe. I will make it next week when things are hopefully back to normal. Instead, I will catch you up on a couple of recipes that I made in December but haven’t had a chance to write about. Let’s get started!
Orange and Olive Salad
Orange and Olive Salad. This is one of those recipes from Around My French Table that I was dreading the most. It just didn’t sound good to me. But, since I’m committed to trying every recipe, I carried on.
Much to my surprise, I liked it! I especially liked how refreshing the orange seemed with it’s drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. I also liked the onion with the orange. But I found my mild Niçoise olives did nothing to add to the flavor of the salad. Perhaps a saltier kalamata would have been better? Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised!
Pan-Seared Duck Chicken Breasts with Kumquats
Next up is Pan-Seared Duck Breasts with Kumquats. Except I used boneless chicken breasts. This recipe is all about the kumquat sauce and I knew my family would prefer chicken over duck.
Despite my change to chicken, I followed the recipe pretty closely. I made the sauce and candied kumquats as written. The chicken was pan-seared skin-side down just like the duck would have been, but then I kept it in the pan and roasted it in the oven until cooked through.
This was good! I had never cooked with kumquats before and it was fun trying something new. The sauce was good with the chicken and my husband loved the candied kumquats. I would make this again.
If you are interested in what the dreaded recipe for this week was (and don’t want to wait until I write about it next week), you can find out here. Here’s to a good weekend and a more normal week ahead!
From Scratch 
Both your dishes turned out well, but I have a special liking for the chicken/duck – yum.
Hope things settle down for you soon! Both of your dishes look mouthwatering! I was also quite surprised at how delicious the orange salad was! Something I would definitely make again! Happy New Year, Karen!
We really like the orange salad, too! Glad you enjoyed it and isn’t that the best when we didn’t think we would? The duck/chicken is great as well and you’re right that the sauce is what shines in that dish. Happy New Year!
The orange and olive salad was a surprise! We thought it was very good and have made it several times now. The olives make a big difference. Although, we supposedly buy the same Nicosie olives each time, sometimes they are saltier than other times. I couldn’t find kumquats and think I used clementines, or was it cherries? I think the holidays have everyone’s homes and routines in chaos. Here’s to the New Year settling into happy routines!
Nice orange-y catch up. I used Kalamata olives in the salad, and it worked. Of course, I was being lazy and didn’t want to go shopping. It was the only kind of olives I had around. I like the idea of trying the kumquat sauce with chicken breasts. Clever! Have a great weekend.
I loved the orange and olive salad – you are right, Kalamatas are the way to go. Next time I think I’ll make a salad with arugula, orange segments, and a tapenade vinaigrette.
Sorry for the mishaps and sicknesses over the holidays. Not fun, for sure. Glad you liked the orange and olive salad as much as I did. I liked the Niçoise olives but, really, any olives that you like would be fine, I think, In fact, Dorie has a wonderful olive medley recipe in AMFT. I personally loved every duck recipe in Dorie’s book but chicken works as well. I wasn’t able to find kumquats but used figs. They were delicious as well. Nice post.
Great make-ups. My son used to have 3 weeks off for the winter break but now that he is in middle school we are down to a normal 2 weeks. Much better for Mom:) Good luck with the aspic.
The olive orange salad was a pleasant surprise – I wasn’t sure how that one would work.
Hope things have settled down!