Welcome to the first of four celebratory French Fridays with Dorie posts! This week we were tasked with choosing our very favorite recipe from the book and explaining why. We are also sharing our Top 5 favorites. This was not an easy task! I may have cheated a bit…
The Favorite
Roast Chicken for Lazy People with Asparagus and Bits of Bacon
Roast Chicken for les Paresseux!
Why did I choose this one? Several reasons:
- I have made this recipe many times, perhaps the most of any other recipe from the book.
- I love roast chicken and this is a good recipe (and easy!).
- The bread trick!
- My whole family loves this one.
- This recipe represents the quintessential Dorie recipe that is more a technique than a recipe. I love the options she gives us: Add root vegetables. Or not. Make a sauce. Or not. Share the super-tasty, sinfully delicious piece of bread. Or not.
The Top 5
Choosing my most favorite recipe was actually easier than choosing the top 5. My initial pass-through of the book started with a list of favorites nearly 30 long. I had to be ruthless! Here is the list, with links to, and comments from, my original posts:
1. Roast Chicken for les Paresseux
“The chicken was fabulous with crispy brown skin and tender meat. My husband especially loved the garlic that roasted along with the chicken. My mother-in-law and I both enjoyed “the bread trick” (the chicken is roasted on top of a piece of bread which soaks up the cooking juices and gets wonderfully caramelized).”
“Heaven!”
“… I loved Navarin Printanier. The lamb was tender, the broth rich and flavorful, and the vegetables were perfectly cooked.”
“This was a very yummy quiche that my 7 year old daughter loved! But what’s not to love about bacon, eggs, cheese and spinach?”
“These tartlets are a real winner and I will be making these every tomato season!”
Honorable Mentions: Saint-Germain-Des-Pres Onion Biscuits, Provençal Olive Fougasse, Salmon Tartare, Armagnac Chicken, Café Salle Pleyel Hamburger, Brown-Sugar Squash and Brussels Sprouts en Papillote.
Top 3 Desserts
You may notice that the list above does not include any desserts. That’s because I had a hard time narrowing it down to just one to include on the Top 5 list. So I made a top desserts list instead! These three desserts are the ones I think about most often and dream about making (and eating) again.
“I’m SO glad I had an excuse to make Tourteau de Chèvre. I love, love, loved it! I served it with sliced strawberries and drizzled with a little honey. The strawberries paired fabulously with it! The dessert was a big hit with everyone, even my chocolate-loving husband who seemed skeptical when I described it to him earlier in the day.”
2. Paris-Brest
“This was a huge hit! Everyone loved it. My daughter ate hers very enthusiastically and then had seconds. My 5 year old niece wasn’t sure she even wanted to try it, then ended up loving it so much she gave it “20 thumbs up”! I will be making this one again for sure.”
“Why did I wait so long to try this tart? I knew I would like it because, you know, dessert. But I didn’t expect to love, love, love it! I loved the unexpected burst of orange juice. The flavor went so well with the creamy almond filling and the tender, sweet crust.”
The Husband Top 5
I asked my husband to pick his top 5 recipes, since we didn’t always agree. Here are his favorites, keeping in mind that he chose from my already narrowed-down list of 30:
- Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse
- Roast Chicken for les Paresseux
- Armagnac Chicken
- Pancetta Green Beans
- Crab-Avocado “Ravioli”
There you have it! There are many other recipes that didn’t make these lists that are still delicious and I would make again. I can’t wait to read the other favorites lists! If you are interested in seeing what the other Dorista’s chose as their favorites, check out the links here.
From Scratch 
I love that you added your husbands top 5 along with your top 5. We don’t always agree on the best here either. 🙂
We should have made the spouse/partner’s list part of this week’s assignment. I like that it’s not exactly the same as yours. You’ve reminded me of recipes I didn’t put on my list(s) that I enjoyed and now want to make again. Here, here for the Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux!
Yes! That Spinach Bacon Quiche is an all-time favorite of mine and also made my list.
Yup that orange almond tart was the FIRST dessert that stood out for us when we were going through the list too!
I love your lists… although I feel bad that I haven’t made any of the three desserts you love. Maybe soon I’ll tackle the Paris Brest, if only for my love of everything with pastry cream.
I love everything that you picked, especially the three desserts. This is
all making me hungry looking at all the great recipes.
Desserts aways win the contests don’t they! I don’t think I’ve ever had a roast chicken as good as the Roast Chicken for les Paresseux. I wonder why I left it off my list?
I thought about the Roast Chicken, the bread idea is fantastic. I can’t believe I haven’t made the Tourteau de Chevre looks incredible.
Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux…best chicken dish ever! The Tartlets were a big hit in my house! And I adored the Tourteau de Chevre. Great choices, Karen! Have a wonderful weekend!
The Torteau de Chevre could easily have made my list, as could the Spinach and Bacon Quiche – I’ve made them both several times. I love that you included your husband’s list – it’s interesting to see how favourites vary within the same household.
Karen I love how creative you were in your lists. I am getting such great information to continue cooking the book. And I am getting hungry.
Oh my! Love your list. I’m sitting here looking at posts, and getting really hungry! What great recipes. Some will show up over the next couple of weeks. Sure to be fun to see what we all come up with!
LOL – I like that you have your list of faves and your husband’s faves. It is also interesting that except for the chicken, they don’t overlap.
Oh how fun ! It still amazes me to see the duplicates between the Doristas, when there are such an amazing array to have chosen from. I love that you asked your Hubby for his favorites as well since most of us have shared this adventure with our family or friends. Taste testers rock !
When I asked my husband to look through the book to pick his favorite recipe, he also came up with his own list of 5 or 6:-)
I didn’t even try to narrow it down to five 🙂 I think the chicken made a lot of lists.
Your dessert choices are good ones! I think I need to remake the Paris Brest one of these days.
The Navarin Printanier is a stew we make yearly now! 😉 Love your list!