September | 2013 | One Wet Foot

Living vicariously can only be so satisfying. I’ve been glued to my Twitter and Facebook feeds this weekend, as many of our most beloved Doristas attended IFBC in Seattle. I languished at home, nursing my “Last-Minute McCarthy” moniker, because I couldn’t commit. While I pouted, Trix, another NON-attendee, drank wine and floated the hashtag #suckitDoristas on Twitter to drown her sorrows. I think Mardi wins for most mature, as she stuck to compliments and encouragements on the conference attendees’ social media channels.

Even in my funk, I managed to make this week’s recipe, though there were no piquillo peppers in sight. I was seduced at the Food Co-op by some pretty little organic purple peppers, which I substituted for the intended star of the show. I want to prolong that summer freshness for a little while longer, so the crunch of sweet, raw pepper was more appealing than the wintry-seeming jarred variety. I kept to the recipe otherwise, though our dog claimed a little bit of the tuna meant for the filling.

These were a hit – sweet, hot, salty, tangy, and minty – hard to go wrong, right? There may or may not have been some Okanagan red involved in the meal, but you should just put that down to my sour grapes (the Okanagan ones weren’t, though; they were just right).

Tomorrow there’ll be a little balm for my wound – I get to meet Cher, one of our most stalwart Doristas. I’m looking forward to it!

And just so you know, I did make the chops from last week – twice, in fact. Both times, though, I neglected to take pictures. I think it just went out of my head, once I saw how perfectly cooked they were. My chops were venison, so I modified the herbs a bit, using a mix of rosemary and sage. I marinated them for a day (which really draws out the gaminess – though these chops were from a young buck which, according to my Dad, is as sweet as candy). I also made the rosemary butter ahead, too. The herbs were from my garden, we served them with the last of the green beans from the garden, and the rosemary butter that topped the chops also went into some lovely smashed potatoes. All you’ve got is my word for it though, because I forgot all about my camera for those meals.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this FFWD recipe here: Tuna-Packed Piquillo Peppers

I struggle to reconcile my contradictions, sometimes. I can be a book snob, but secretly loved it when my oldest niece requested that I read the Harry Potter series, so that we could discuss the novels’ themes. I love trying new restaurants and exploring interesting shops, but I’m horrified by the displacement of the poor that’s happening in some of our newly hip neighbourhoods. Suburban-raised and city-dwelling, university-educated and a little downwardly-mobile, my contradictions are predictable, but bothersome all the same.

One contradiction I’m not so bothered by is my love of both old fashioned, family-style cooking and complicated, elegant fare. I’ve been making simple cookies like Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Crinkles since I was a child, but I was just as happy to learn how to make this week’s French Fridays recipe, Îles flottantes. Especially since, like so many of Dorie’s recipes, it’s easier than it looks.

Dorie’s recipes for both the meringue and the Crème Anglaise divide nicely, so I was able to make just enough for Kevin and me (there may have been seconds involved, but I’m pretty sure there are no witnesses to attest to that).

I thought about making some of Dorie’s Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce to serve with the Floating Islands, but instead ran down the street to Woodland Smokehouse and Commissary and picked up some Earnest Ice Cream. Their pints, in adorable, and returnable, little jars, are just indulgent enough for the two of us. I passed over Whiskey Hazelnut, Tahitian Vanilla, and Cardamom, settling on Milk Chocolate, instead. It’s like a Dairy Milk in a jar and was a perfect counterpoint to the intense vanilla of the Crème Anglaise.

I’m quite positive that I’m going to continue to be of two minds about a lot of things, but not about this dessert. Now, if I can just manage to make it to Dîner en Blanc next year, I think I’ve got a perfectly elegant picnic dessert up my sleeve.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Floating Islands