Tartiflette

This is potatoes. 

I mean it is the pinnacle of potatoes. 

I saw this recipe when I first joined TikTok, just over a year ago. I've thought about it ever since, and good gravy was it worth it. 

We served it with unexciting ham because the star was actually these potatoes. 

Be warned: if you live in the US, the cheese you need is NOT imported. Please use a brie or similar super soft cheese. 

Tartiflette

Ingredients

- 4 to 5 medium yellow/Yukon gold potatoes, sliced thin (use a mandolin if you're good with it.)

- 5 or 6 rashers/slices of bacon, or about 4 oz uncut, sliced into lardons (tiny strips)

- 1 medium onion, diced

- 4 cloves garlic, diced 

- 1/4 cup white wine

- 1 tbls butter

- 1 cup heavy whipping (double) cream 

- mixed herbs (I used herbs de Provence)

- 1 lb reblochon or brie (or like), sliced in long strips, preferably thicker.

- salt and pepper to taste

Directions

- Preheat over to 375°F

- crips bacon in a pan (lightly brown), remove lardons, leave bacon fat

- add butter to pan, stir in onions and garlic, sweat down until just translucent

- add wine and bacon, dash salt, pepper and herbs, cook for just 3 minutes or so

- layer potatoes on the bottom of a casserole, add 1/3rd of the onions and bacon, add another layer of potatoes, keep going until everything is used up, ending with potatoes on top

- pour over cream

- lay the strips on cheese on top, dust with herbs. 

- bake for 1 hour

Enjoy! 

Tomato Boursin Soup

I'll bet you didn't know that there are soup pendants in the world. 

There are. 

This incredibly delicious soup has quite the debate going on in the comments on TikTok. It's a little weird, and people are arguing this is a puree or a dip. 

Since I've clearly made the thing and eaten it, it's soup. So soup. So good. I couldn’t get over how good it was. This is going to be a staple this winter. In the upper right is a half slice of fresh, homemade Polish Beer Rye. 

This whole damn meal was amazing, and go ahead and make this soup (it's soup. Good Soup!) for yourself. 

I'll include the bread recipe too, but it's a bread machine recipe. 

Ingredients

1 lb tomatoes (cut on the equator, seeded)

1 onion OR 1 large shallot, peeled and quartered

1 head of garlic, bottom sliced off

1 pkg of Bousin (I used garlic herb)

4 tbls olive oil

1 tbls paprika

1 tsp oregano (or Italian herb blend)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

-Drizzle 1 tbls olive oil on the bottom of a baking dish and place the tomatoes cut side down.

-Add paprika, herbs, salt, pepper, drizzle 3 tbls oil, toss to coat.

-Add onion, garlic bottom up (with a little oil rubbed on the exposed cloves) and whole cheese wheel.

-Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 400°f

-Remove garlic, squeeze cloves on to tomatoes, and mash a bit with a fork. 

-Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. 

-Serve hot with croutons (or saltines if you're bougie like me). 

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Polish Beer Rye (Bread Machine)

*always add wet ingredients first

8 oz (1 cup) flat, room temperature Beer

3 tbls apple cider vinegar

2 tbls honey

1 tbls melted butter

1 tbls minced shallot

2 cups bread flour

3/4 light or medium Rye flour

1/4 whole wheat flour

2 tbls yellow corn meal

2 tsp caraway seeds 

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbl SAF yeast or 1 tbls + 1 1/2 tsp bread machine flour

Set machine for basic loaf, 1.5 lbs loaf, medium crust. Not suitable for delay cycle. Remove and place on rack. Allow to cool to room temp before slicing. Enjoy. 

Dutch Baby

This is a fun, but large, German style pancake. I put apples and cinnamon in it. If you're going for sweet, I'd use unsalted butter. If you're going for savory, use the salted butter. 

INGREDIENTS

• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 tablespoons butter
• confectioners' sugar, for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. In a blender, combine eggs, milk, flour, sugar, and vanilla. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Let the batter rest as you preheat the oven and heat up the skillet.

  2. Add butter to a 9-inch or 10-inch oven-safe skillet (I used a 10" pie plate) and place the skillet in the cold oven. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

  3. Once the oven has reached 425°F, carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven. Melt butter in skillet/pie plate. Pour the batter into the skillet and place it back into the oven.

  4. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.

  5. Serve warm, dusted with confectioners' sugar.

  
  

Apple Filling: 
1 apple
1/4 cup brown sugar 
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbls butter

Peel and slice apple thin. 

Melt butter in pan, add brown sugar and cinnamon to combine. 

Add apples and toss coat. Cook on low for about 15 minutes. 

Pour into center of hot Dutch Baby after removing from oven.

Jollof Rice

I've been dying to make Jollof Rice for months. But it's hard to find the "right" recipe for this. It's a Nigerian dish and there are certain steps that must happen. 

Finally, on TikTok, I came across one that seemed to have all the right steps, and the comments confirmed it! Tons of Nigerians were delighted by it, so I wrote that bad boy down. 

The original recipe makes 9 cups of finished rice, so I cut it in half for the recipe below. This still makes 5 cups, so feel free to cut it half again. 

Enjoy!

Jollof Rice: 

1/2 onion chopped fine

2 tbls oil (I used evoo) 

6 oz tomato paste

1 red bell pepper, coarse chopped

1/2  15-oz can of diced tomatoes

1 1/2 onion, coarse chopped

1 small habeñero (sub out for milder, or eliminate if you don't like heat)

2 Maggi cubes (or one large one) (Find them in the Latino section)

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tbls Curry powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder (or measure with your heart)

1/2 tsp thyme

1 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 tbls salt

2 1/4 cup rinsed rice

__________

Use a large pot if your doing the full recipe!

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-- Cook fine chopped onion in oil for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add tomato paste, cook for 10, stir often to avoid burning.

-- blend (in a blender or by stick blender) bell pepper, spicy pepper of choice, coarse chopped onion and diced tomato until smooth. 

--add to pot with onions 

--add maggi, all spices, stir together and simmer for 30 minutes

--add salt and chicken broth, simmer about 10 minutes

-- add rice and about 2 cups of water. (The water should be above the rice slurry, about 1/4")

--layer aluminum foil over the top.of the pot and cover with lid. Cook about 30 to 40 minutes on a low boil. Stir once or twice.

Check out more pictures on IG

Mushroom Soup

Why is someone who hates mushrooms posting about Mushroom Soup? Simple. My issue is always with the texture, never the flavor. 

My family makes a delicious Mushroom Soup for Christmas Eve, (Wigilia in Polish) and since COVID kept us all apart this year, I made it myself. My husband loves the mushrooms and I love the soup. It worked out perfectly. 

I'm going to post the two versions I have of this recipe. The first is the original, and the second is the doctored up version I wound up with. 

I served it with lightly toasted Balsamic Glazed Onion bread. (Droool...)

Enjoy! We did!

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Original Mushroom Soup: 

1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced 

4 cups of water/ chicken broth

3 tbls flour

Butter to taste

Vinegar to taste

Salt to taste 

(Typical for an old family recipe!) 

Saute sliced mushrooms until tender. 

Add 3 cups of water and bring to a gentle boil.

Add flour to remaining cup of water and stir or shake until no lumps remain. 

Slowly pour into mushrooms and stir until slightly thickened. 

Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Yield: 4 1-cup servings 

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Jennifer's Mushroom Soup

1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced or quartered

2 1/2 tbls butter

4 cups chicken broth

2 tbls + 1 tsp vinegar (approx)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce OR Gravy Master

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)

1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)

3 tbls flour (for thickening, optional)

-Melt butter in a 3qt or large sauce pan, add mushrooms, salt and pepper and saute until just starting to brown

-Add chicken broth(all if not using flour, 3 cups if using flour), garlic and onion powder, bring to a gentle simmer

-Taste broth for base flavor (don't burn your mouth...)

-Add vinegar one tbls at a time, tasting after each for personal taste. 

-Add Worcestershire, 1/2 tsp at a time to taste.

Optional: mix 3 tbls flour with remaining cup of liquid until smooth, add to soup slowly and allow to boil for thicker soup. 

Yield: 4 1-cup servings

WW84 - Just a quick review

Let's start with, I enjoyed it. As a lark, in a year that I just can't with anymore. It had some themes that I appreciated, and some angles I was glad for. And there were lacking bits. 

Let's start with the good. 

THEY DIDN'T FOCUS ON THE 80S FASHION. God, we all know that our sense of fashion in the 80s was nonexistent. The costumes for this purpose were well done. The one scene with bad clothing was lighthearted, and put Steve Trevor in something non-offensive. 

The opening with Diana on Themyscira was excellent. It was nice to revisit the characters, and see another part of her youth. 

Max's conclusion was good. He got it, and I felt like he needed that. Pedro Pascal was good (but it was weird to see him out of Mando's costume!). 

Diana's conclusion (and that bonus scene! OMG YES) were good. She learned from her... well, I won't call it a mistake, but maybe her hubris? selfishness? She did what she had to do, and kept her humanity at the end. 

Now the not so good... 

The story was too loose. It dawdled at the start, not getting us into the real story quickly. It seems to be a flaw with most DC movies. They shuffle along, and then all of a sudden grab you and start running, pulling you along skipping good storytelling points. 

It felt like this was a vehicle to create a villain who's story isn't wrapped up or "to be continued" by the end.  

Things I took real issue with: 

1. the fireworks scene - Steve was killed in a mortar barrage and explosion. He has no reaction to these things around him? And hello, stupid flying. 

2. The Mayan text. I get that Diana has been around for thousands of years and can read extinct languages. But the Mayan texts were destroyed or badly damaged during the Spanish Inquisition. A book like that would also not have survived in such pristine condition. 

Things that bothered me greatly:

1. Barbara's "costume". More than one person has mentioned it looked like they borrowed it from "Cats." And it was a bad choice. Consider the Catwoman costumes from the Dark Knight (Anne Hathaway) or Batman Returns (Michelle Pfeifer). They weren't transformed, but rather chose a costume to reflect what they were. Which is the smarter way to go. Barbara's wasn't in keeping with the idea of the Citrine--all the other wishes didn't physically alter the person. Not even Steve. But she did. Bleh.

2. Too much flying time when she discovers it. Thanks, Supes flies too we don't need this expanded.

3. Barbara's focus on popularity. Being unpopular myself, I never had a burning desire to become an apex female. Ever. I get that the 80s were shallow, but this was just too much. 

It's not as good as the first, by a long shot. But it's a light lark. The story could have been more powerful. They should have focused either on Barbara/Cheetah OR Max Gold. It dawdled terribly at the start, but the ending came in at medium strong, and I would watch again. 

I refuse to read feminist themes into it, or that it focuses on the MMC (he's a vehicle, nothing more). It's flawed. 

I'd give it 3/5. Because there were some things that made me smile. Like Max just **getting it** at the end.

Go into with a sense of "this is just light fun."

Coq au Vin for 2

I have loved Coq au Vin since freshman year of high school. Madame Freeling took us to the French Embassy in NY and there was a restaurant, attached or next door I can't remember. I do remember she was proud of all of the student who stepped out of their comfort zones to try real French dishes. There were a handful of us who went for the Coq au Vin and I was hooked.

I've ordered it on and off in places I suspected could actually make it, including Paris and a French restaurant in London. 

So, when I took my first bite of this, and it was better--YES BETTER--than the dish I had in Paris, I was floored. 

This is going into rotation. But as a treat. The original recipe at Garlic & Zest says 4 hours, and they aren't kidding! 

Alternately, if you don't have a Dutch oven (which you should, my Lodge cast iron was $50) you can do this in an Instant Pot. Follow all the directions, in a heavy saute pan, and then transfer to the IP for 45 minutes. Remove the chicken, and finish with the beurre marnier in the same saute pan. 

ENJOY! 

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COQ AU VIN for 2

Ingredients

- 1 bottle drinkable red wine - burgundy, beaujolais, cabernet would work well-- I used a cabernet. 

- 4 slices bacon chopped

- 4 chicken thighs excess skin and fat trimmed OR 2 bone-in, skin-on breasts, large

- 2 carrots peeled and diced 

- 1 stalk celery diced

- 1/2 yellow onion diced

- 1/3 cup dried porcini mushrooms

- 1 cup button mushrooms quartered or large chunks

- 2 tablespoons tomato paste

- 1 cup chicken broth

- 5 sprigs fresh thyme

- 2 stems rosemary

- 1 cup frozen pearl onions

- kosher salt

- freshly ground black pepper

beurre marnier

- 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature 

- 1 tablespoon flour

Directions

(Buckle up... this is a lot of steps)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Pour the wine into a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a moderate bubble. Cook until wine is reduced to 1 1/2 cups -- about 15 minutes. Set aside.

3.
a. Chop your bacon, veggies, your mushrooms.
b. Tie thyme and rosemary with a piece of kitchen string. Set aside.
c. Add dried porcini mushrooms to a clean coffee grinder or spice grinder. Pulse until a fine powder is formed. Set aside.

4. Set a dutch oven or heavy pot over a medium to medium low heat. Add bacon and cook until browned and crisp. With a slotted spoon transfer bacon to a dish lined with paper towels to absorb excess grease.

5. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Add chicken, skin side down to the hot dutch oven. Cook 4-5 minutes until browned. Using tongs, turn chicken and brown the other side for an additional 3-4 minutes. Transfer chicken to a tray. Reserve two tablespoons of grease and discard the rest. If you don't have enough, add a tbls of butter.

6. Add celery, carrot and chopped onion to the pot. Cook 3-4 minutes until slightly softened. Transfer vegetables to a small bowl. Add the white mushrooms and cook until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

7. Add vegetables back to the pot. Add tomato paste and cook and stir until vegetables are well coated and tomato paste is fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the mushroom powder.

8. Add wine reduction and tied herbs to the vegetables. Mix. Add the chicken broth and stir to combine. Add pearl onions and salt and pepper to taste. If you'd like, add the chopped bacon.

9. Add chicken back to the pot and nestle the thighs (skin side up) into the braising liquid. Put the lid tightly on the pot and place in the oven. Cook for two hours.

10. Meanwhile, in a small bowl add the butter and flour. Using the back of a fork, mash them together to form a paste -- (this is called a beurre marnier).

11. Remove pot from the oven and place on the stove. Remove the chicken pieces and transfer them to a plate. WARNING: This chicken is super tender, fall off the bone. Remove the herb bundle and discard. Skim any excess grease off the top of the braising liquid.

12. Add the beurre marnier to the dutch oven over medium high heat and cook, stirring frequently until mixture thickens and creates a thinner gravy -- about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the chicken back to the pot. Let simmer about 4 to 5 minutes. 

Serve with Mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower or over noodles--but the mashed is best.