Leeks Vinaigrette with Mimosa # French Fridays with Dorie

Last week we were assigned to make Leeks Vinaigrette with Mimosa for French Fridays with Dorie.  

Had it not been for FFwD, I would have never thought of making any dish with leeks as the star ingredients. However since Dorie's recipes are unique and never ceases to surprise, I decided to try. The ingredient list was small, so sticking to the recipe felt important. But there was no way that was happening this time. There was no sherry vinegar in our local grocery store.  I had to make do with whatever I had and proceeded thus....

I trimmed the leeks off the root and the dark green parts, cleaned them, tied four of them in a bundle and cooked them for 20 minutes in salted boiling water. Meanwhile I boiled an egg and in a cup whisked together some Dijon mustard, olive oil, walnut oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Once the leeks were done, I snipped the thread holding them together, sliced two of them crosswise, left the other two as it is, poured the vinaigrette over them and finally grated a quarter of the hard-boiled egg over the leeks. 

 

The grated egg was suppose to look like mimosa on the stalk.  It was not until later that I found the above image of mimosa... so my plate of leeks simply looked like cooked leeks with vinaigrette and grated egg. 

My husband avoids egg yolks so there was no "mimosa" on his plate. He neither praised nor complained about the leeks vinaigrette.  I thought  that the walnut-balsamic vinegar vinaigrette was great and that the leeks that had been cut crosswise tasted better since the vinaigrette had seeped into them. I however was not thrilled about the dish, just glad that I tried.

Visit French Fridays with Dorie to know what the other members thought about this dish. You can find the recipe here. For more such recipes get your copy of Dorie Greenspan's book  Around my French Table and starting relishing.

I shall be sharing this at some of these weekly parties.

Quiche Maraîchère # French Fridays with Dorie

Quiche Maraîchères (pronounced as maʀeʃe) was this week's assignment for the French Fridays with Dorie. 

Finally !      I had been longingly staring at the photograph alongside the recipe for weeks... With all the red and green market fresh vegetables, the quiche looked so pretty, springlike and so very inviting. But when it came to making it I was such a mess....

No. The recipe, though a little unusual, wasn't complicated at all.  All we had to do was to toss chopped celery stalks, leeks, carrots and red bell  pepper  in melted butter. Cook the veggies for about 10 minutes, then spoon the cooked vegetables into a 9 inch partially baked tart shell. Next whisk cream with an egg and an egg yolk,  pour the custard over the veggies and bake the quiche for about 20 minutes at 400°F. Finally sprinkle grated Gruyère or cheddar over the semi-baked quiche and bake it for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and the filling is uniformly puffed, browned and set. 

My quiche would probably have come out of the oven all pretty and dolled up had I not been over enthusiastic about letting the filling puff and brown uniformly. In trying to do so, I let the quiche bake for an extra 10-12 minutes which made it as brown as it looks below :( Anyway though thoroughly browned and somewhat over baked, the quiche tasted wonderful. I used  grated smoked Gruyère cheese on top and both husband and I thought that that cheese made it even more flavorful. We simply could not stop admiring the quiche. We loved it warm, we loved it cold, we loved it every time we cut a wedge out. It was simply fantastic ! 

update 4/27/2014: Made the quiche for dinner tonight and enjoyed it in all its prettiness...  I baked it for 30 minutes this time and was rewarded for following Dorie's instructions to the T :)   

Visit French Fridays with Dorie to know what the other members thought about this quiche. You can find the quiche recipe here and the recipe for the tart shell here. For more such delicious recipes order your copies of Around my French Table and join the Doristas in this tasty adventure.

I shall be sharing this recipe at some of these parties.