February 20, 2011 new recipe

What is that, you are wondering? These are fabulous Galette de Sarrasin, made by Anne Tregloze. We watched, we learned, and I cooked a couple galettes. We tend to call these crepes, but the savory version made in Brittany and Normandy are larger than crepes, they are made for savory ingredients, and they are made with buckwheat flour. Every recipe I've seen online include at least a little wheat flour, but these were all buckwheat (sarrasin). We had three fillings--a soubise (pictured) , a fondue de poireau (leeks), and smoked salmon with crème fraiche (also pictured).

I was pleased to learn that our home made version of crème fraiche met with Anne's approval. I no longer remember where I got the recipe, but you take 1 cup of cream, warm it gently (80's, not hot), and add 2 tablespoons of buttermilk. Let is sit out on the counter for a say or two until it has set. The flavor should be creamy, with maybe just a hint of tartness, but it is not as sour as sour cream.

Galettes are traditionally drunk with cider or fermented milk. We opted for cider! No finding any French ciders, we has Aspall's English Dry Cider. It was very good, and worked nicely with the galettes.

January 15, 2011 new recipes

Dinner on 1/15/2011 was a Round Steak with Soy Citrus Marinade--I adapted this from the London Broil with Soy Citrus Mayonnaise recipe on Epicurious.com. Carl made an Smoked Onion Soubise from Food and Wine Magazine. It was all served with a red pepper salad in our Viandox dressing, with edible flowers.

The steak and the soubise were new. The soubise was sublime, the steak was not. I think the recipe was just fine, but I overestimated the thickness of the steak and the ease of cooking it. Let's just say I need to learn more about round steak!

I don't recall the wine.