French Food = Eggs

This past weekend I was inspired by the Cooking Channel and one of their shows, French Food At Home. With the exception of one recipe (we'll get to that later), everything was really great and quite easy to prepare. I'm pretty sure that my cholesterol is way over the legal limit since I used eggs, and a lot of them, in every recipe but one. Once I had my mixer out, I just left it out all weekend because everything called for me to whip egg whites. This can be a bit annoying, but since I had read the recipes ahead of time and I was making 3 recipes from the show that required whipped egg whites, it wasn't as much of a nuisance.



The very top picture of those beautiful Angel Cookies or, as the chef of the show calls them, Powder Puffs, look so yummy. This is the recipe I was referring to...they weren't good...at all. The cookies came out of the oven smelling like popcorn for some reason. Now this might sound like a good thing, but I assure you, it was not. The texture was bad too; very powdery. Hey, maybe that's why she calls them Powder Puffs? Once the cookies were assembled, I realized they had to be eaten right away. They turned into one big blob in the refrigerator after just 1 hour and had to be tossed, without eating, the next day. Guess the hubbie wasn't really missing anything to begin with. The only salvageable item from this recipe was the vanilla whipped cream. I mean, who hasn't made this before right?! But after a really gross tasting cookie, the vanilla-scented pillows of cream (me and my daughters all with our own spoons in the bowl) made up for it.



The second item I tried from French Cooking At Home, was this Pea, Asparagus & Fava Tumble. I didn't have fava's or the time to deal with them, so I just used asparagus, peas, and edamame. Yummy! The bi-weekly column I do for the Commercial Appeal will have my version of this recipe out on 7/30.

The third item was her Spinach Omelet Souffle. Yum, yum, and more yum. I did have to cook mine on both sides or my kids would have said it was raw. Regardless, it was delish and easily flippable without losing too much air.

The fourth recipe was her Angel Cake. I used fresh blueberries from down the street and a homemade, quick Maple Creme Anglaise (1/2 sour cream & 1/2 heavy cream). The cake, again whipped egg whites, was light as air but still had depth of flavor from the egg yolks. This cake doesn't keep long as it takes on other flavors easily, so serve it at a dinner party or at brunch so that it doesn't make it to another day.


Angel Cake out of the pan.

I've been doing a lot of canning lately: tomato marmalade and blueberry syrup from Food & Wine, among other things. I'll be sharing those soon. I've canned before, but this time the lids made that beautiful "pop" to let me know they sealed. Very exciting!

kēēn-wŏ

Recently I have been craving cold summer salads of all kinds. While searching the pantry for ingredients for my next salad adventure, I found some quinoa (kēēn-wŏ). Originating in South America, quinoa is an edible seed that is used like a grain or cereal and is high in protein and fiber. I used to use this at The Peaks in Telluride in a roasted vegetable terrine. It was really yummy, full of roasted zucchini, yellow squash, red bell peppers, eggplant, and quinoa. We served it with a smoked tomato vinaigrette. That's sounding really good too, so I'll have to play with it and see if I can manage a recipe.

See, IT"S NOT DEAD!

For today I knew I wanted a sweet and sour taste, so I made an easy vinaigrette with equal parts sugar and vinegar and then some olive oil. Since the quinoa and my chosen bean, black-eyed peas, cooked for the same amount of time, I just boiled and drained them together. Fresh basil leaves from the herb garden outside that I have managed not to kill, added a fresh summer bite. I tossed in a few other pantry ingredients and let it marinate for 3 hours. This was so good that we fought over who got to take the leftovers for lunch. I won!



Quinoa & Black-Eyed Pea Salad
Yield: 2 quarts
Serves: 12

1 cup quinoa (couscous, rice, or small pasta will work too)
1 small bag frozen black-eyed peas
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup sugar, brown sugar, honey, or granulated calorie-free sweetener
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
8 basil leaves, torn or chopped
2 tomatoes, diced

1 cup frozen or canned corn
¼ cup pimentos, drained

Boil the quinoa and peas together in 8 cups of boiling, salted water for about 20-30 minutes or until the peas and quinoa are tender; drain. In a large bowl, mix together the vinegar and sugar until dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients, including the peas and quinoa, and toss to combine. Let set in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours but it tastes better if it sets overnight. If using couscous, rice, or pasta instead of the quinoa, cook it according to its specific directions, separately from the peas, and combine after they are cooked.

Quinoa before it's cooked.