Tag Archives: tartine

December 11, 2014 · 3:05 PM

Lamb and Dried Apricot Tagine + Tartine de Viande des Grisons

Happy French Friday! How is your December going? Mine’s been busy, but with fun stuff like a birthday party for my daughter and Christmas preparations. I’ve been decking the halls and trimming the tree!

Thank goodness for last week’s easy French Fridays with Dorie recipe, since I doubled up this week with it and the current week’s recipe. I also have a little bonus at the end of this post!

Lamb and Dried Apricot Tagine

This week the group made a Moroccan-inspired dish called Lamb and Dried Apricot Tagine. Lamb shoulder, onions, tomatoes, and dried apricots were braised slowly in broth infused with exotic spices, including garlic, saffron, ginger, cumin, and cinnamon. To finish, each serving was sprinkled with toasted almonds and chopped cilantro. I served it with plain couscous, which was perfect for soaking up the flavorful sauce.

We liked this! My husband wasn’t sure about the apricots when he saw them, but it turned out he had nothing to worry about. I loved the variety of flavors and textures. A hit for sure!

Tartine de Viande des Grisons

Next up is a simple open-faced sandwich: Tartine de Viande des Grisons. The hardest part about this one was finding the bresaola, a dry-cured beef from Italy. Interestingly, I looked for this at Whole Foods and they didn’t have it, but when I returned a week later they did!

Like I said, this one is simple. Lightly toast a slice of country bread, butter it generously, top with a layer of bresaola, drizzle with a bit of walnut oil, and strew on a few pieces of walnut. Cut and eat!

Yum! This made a lovely little lunch that I enjoyed very much.

Bonus: Red Kuri Soup Redux

Finally, I found a “real” red kuri squash while in Seattle for Thanksgiving. I brought it home and re-made the red kuri soup from a few weeks ago. If you recall, I wasn’t convinced the squash I found here in Reno was really a red kuri squash. Or it least it wasn’t the kind you can find in France. As you can see, the one I found in Seattle looks more “authentic”.

I made the soup again with my new squash. It definitely had a different flavor and we liked it much more. My husband wasn’t comparing this version to boxed soup. Whew! However, I don’t think we liked it as much as the French seem too. I think I will stick with my favorite butternut squash soup recipe. But I am glad to have tried this with the second squash.

I hope you all have a good weekend!

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Tagged as bresaola, cooking, French Fridays, lamb, tagine, tartine

March 7, 2014 · 5:28 PM

Two Tartines from La Croix Rouge

Happy French Fridays with Dorie! This week’s recipe was very simple and tasty. We made two tartines inspired by a neighborhood cafe in Paris called La Croix Rouge.

A tartine is basically an open-faced sandwich. The Food Lover’s Companion defines tartine as, “French for a slice of buttered bread, which can be topped with any of various other spreads from jam to cheese”.

Both tartines start with a slice of country bread that is lightly toasted on one side. I have been looking for an excuse to make a loaf of bread from Jim Lahey’s My Bread, so I made my own.

tartine saint-germain

To make the tartine saint-germain, as soon as the bread is toasted spread it with mayonnaise, then top it with thinly sliced cornichons and slices of roast beef. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

tartine norvégienne

Tartine norvégienne is very similar, but replaces the mayonnaise with butter and the beef with smoked salmon. Finish with a sprinkle of capers and freshly ground pepper.

These tartines were delicious! I made them for dinner, but really they make a great impromptu lunch. I must keep this concept in mind next time I have leftover bread or appropriate toppings. A winner!

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Tagged as cooking, French Fridays, roast beef, smoked salmon, tartine

August 16, 2013 · 7:31 AM

FFWD Make-Up Week

Happy August! Can you believe my daughter went back to school this week? It seems so early, but the school district is trying out a new schedule this year. School starting means I have more time to cook and blog!

The French Fridays with Dorie administrators decided to make this week a make-up week to give everyone a chance to catch-up a bit. This couldn’t have come at a better time for me since the last few weeks of summer are always busy, and I missed a few of the weekly recipes.

I had big plans to catch up on all the recipes I missed the last few months, but unfortunately my oven is out of commission so I could only make the dishes that didn’t require baking. Don’t worry – the heating element of my oven burnt out, but a new one has been ordered and should arrive any day now!

The two FFWD recipes I made this week were Tzatziki and Dieter’s Tartine. Let’s talk about them one at a time.

Tzatziki

You may be thinking to yourself that Tzatziki is a Greek dish, not a French one. You’re right! Apparently Greek foods are fairly common in Paris.

Tzatziki is a very simple dip or condiment made from Greek yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, garlic, and some herbs and spices. When I was thinking about how to serve this, I was inspired to make a full-on Greek feast!

I made the Greek-marinated lamb kabobs from Tom’s Big Dinners and a Greek salad from Greens Glorious Greens. I had hoped to also make some roasted, smashed potatoes, but I needed my oven for that. It was still a wonderful meal!

The next night, I stuffed leftover lamb, tomatoes (from the garden!), lettuce, and Tzatziki into pitas for some yummy sandwiches.

Dieter’s Tartine

A tartine is basically an open-faced sandwich. This light version is apparently popular with Paris ladies for lunch. I purposely skipped this recipe a few weeks ago, waiting for our garden tomatoes and cucumbers to be ready for harvest.

It doesn’t get easier than this tartine: toast some crusty bread, spread it with fromage blanc, season with salt and white pepper, and top with fresh tomatoes and cucumber. To turn this into dinner, I served it with Zucchini-Basil Soup, one of my favorite ways to use up a glut of summer squash.

While I enjoyed the overall meal, we didn’t love the tartine. My husband thought it was too fussy to eat (too messy to pick up, but not easy to use a knife and fork). I didn’t love the flavor of the fromage blanc with the fresh veggies. It was fine, but not good enough to make again.

Have a great weekend! I hope to be back next week with a working oven and more “make-up” recipes!

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Tagged as cooking, French Fridays, tartine, tzatziki

June 7, 2013 · 4:16 PM

Goat Cheese and Strawberry Tartine

This week’s French Friday’s with Dorie recipe was a super-easy appetizer called Goat Cheese and Strawberry Tartine.

Here is the non-recipe: Spread soft goat cheese on slices of baguette. Top with strawberry halves, sprinkle with freshly ground pepper, and (optionally) drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Voila!

I used a balsamic glaze from Trader Joe’s. I should have practiced my drizzling skills first, because as you can see in the picture below, my drizzling was more like big drops and not very pretty.

The best thing about this week’s recipe is that I actually had an appropriate event to enjoy these! We had my mother-in-law over for a very-belated Mother’s Day dinner and this was our appetizer. I served the tartines with a light, slightly bubbly, white wine and it was delicious.