These days, the light disappears before I even realize it’s afternoon. Rain is forecast as far into the foreseeable future as meteorologists are willing to predict. Not even the unseasonable warmth seems to make up for the dark and the wet. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed.

But that’s not all of it. Often, the predicted rain falls while I am asleep and I wake up to sunshine, warmth and clean air. Even when that’s not the case, the darkness and the rain can be beautiful. It’s just a matter of perspective.

This is what I tell myself when I get frustrated. Like today, when I’m running late with everything and nothing’s working quite as well as it should. Except for dinner. Dinner is terrific tonight. The spiced butter-glazed carrots are so good they might almost pass for dessert and they make a great companion for Sam Sifton’s Asado Negro.

And if you were still hungry afterward, though I’m not suggesting you would be, you might turn to page 36 of the current edition of Edible Vancouver and finish your meal with some pots de crème.

We’re doing things a little differently again for the month of December. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: December 10

Our cookbooks sit on a set of shelves near the entrance to our kitchen. All that fit, that is. Others have no permanent home, floating from kitchen to coffee table to nightstand. Those are the ones I look at most. Note that I did not say use most, although sometimes that’s true. For me (and I’d venture to guess for a lot of people in this culture), cookbooks represent an aspirational impulse. What I shall do; what I want to do; what I wish I could do. Not so very different from the aspirations served by window shopping or dusty mid-list novels.

The reality is that there is only one cookbook in the house, with recipes pulled from here and there in the books on the shelf and those peppered around the house, along with some bookmarked on the computer or printed on cards and slips of paper. The bulk of the recipes, though, are stored in my head. Those are the dishes I come back to over and over again, on the overwhelming majority of days when creativity in the kitchen is shunted aside for the tried and true. My everyday cookbook is a slim volume indeed.

This is one of the reasons I joined the Around My French Table cook-a-long. I don’t want to simply expand that everyday cookbook by a recipe or two, but rather I want to develop a practice of cooking again. Exploring techniques and ingredients that I don’t normally use or have let slip out of my repertoire. Testing the truth of what I believe to be to my taste.

Which brings us to this week’s recipe, Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flans. This recipe has divided opinion almost evenly in our group, with people loving it, hating it or changing it completely. If not for the group, I know that it would be one of the recipes that I considered making, but never actually tried. Pumpkin is generally given sweet treatment in Canada and the U.S., while blue cheeses are challenging enough on their own here. Flans, too, are seen here as desserts, rather than savoury appetizers. All of which makes for intriguing reading and doubtful execution.

I liked it, but my two taste-testers weren’t enthralled. Kevin took one small bite, which was enough for him. Our friend ate half of hers, while helpfully telling me that if I’d served it hot, or with sweetened whipping cream, or with a syrupy sauce, it would be a much better dessert than it was. I thought that the pumpkin flavour was a good match for the strength of the gorgonzola and I liked the contrast of those flavours with the honey and sour cream that I’d used for toppings. I’m slowly working my way through the leftovers. After all, I can’t let the gorgeous gorgonzola that I got at Les Amis du Fromage go to waste.

Stretching my repertoire in this way is expanding my cooking habits beyond Around My French Table. I’m finding I’m cooking more from my other cookbooks, too, as well as experimenting in the kitchen. There’s satisfaction and a little bit of power in being able to look at the contents of my pantry and say to myself, “This with this…and this. Yes.”

We’re doing things a little differently for the month of November. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: November 26

We had the first snow of the year last night, though nothing really stuck to the ground. It’s wet here in Vancouver and there are only a few times each year that conditions are right for snow. By the time I took the dog out for her final walk of the day, the snow had turned to heavy rain and only a few small patches of ice remained, stuck to the grass. Still, I can see that it’s time to put away my light jackets and reach to the back of the closet for my winter coats. I should also finish the scarf that I’ve been starting for the last two months. It will go quickly now, for I seem to knit with more conviction when it’s cold outside.

Pommes Dauphinois is a wintry dish. Layers of potato soaked in garlic-infused cream, with a layer of gruyère cheese on top – it’s a perfect dish for chasing out the cold. It looks wintry, too, with white on white on white, until it’s baked. Then, its gruyère topping turns golden.

The recipe itself takes some time, so it’s not a good choice for a last-minute dish. However, none of the steps are particularly difficult. My knife skills are lacking, so I didn’t achieve uniformity in the thickness of my potato slices. I think I must invest in a mandoline. Cooking the dish took longer than the time given in the recipe, so be prepared for that. I used the opportunity to add more cheese, which was very bad of me, but very much appreciated by my dinner companions.

There’s no picture of the completed dish. Everyone was quite hungry. I’d also made Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux and it was resting on the counter, filling the kitchen with its aroma. There was really no time for any more photographs. The dish was quickly decimated. You’ll have to be content with the photo I took just before I added that extra layer of cheese.

The potatoes are creamy and subtly garlicky and gruyère is the perfect counterpoint to those flavours. They were a very good accompaniment for the chicken and we rounded off the meal with steamed brussels sprouts. I’ll be making these potatoes again, though probably in smaller quantities, as the recipe is suitable for a crowd.

We’re doing things a little differently for the month of November. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: November 19

Cream-of-Wheat and raisins were high on my list of hated foods when I was a child. Well, not raisins in all situations. I loved chocolate-covered Glosettes and a box of Sun-Maid raisins was always welcome. I just didn’t like raisins in things. Such is the specificity of childhood food aversions.

All this did not frighten me away from making this week’s recipe, though. Perhaps it was the promise of caramel that kept me on track, but I think it was probably more that I was interested in seeing how a cake made from semolina would come together.

As it turns out, fairly easily. The hardest part of this recipe is the timing. Making sure that the milk is just at a boil and then, once the semolina is added, that the mixture doesn’t scorch. Making sure that your sugar syrup is amber, not dark brown. Making sure that you plate your cake quickly, before the caramel cools too much.

I actually made this cake twice, as the first time, my caramel was a little too dark. I wanted to see if it made a difference to the flavour. It turns out that the flavour of the first cake was only slightly smokier, though the caramel doesn’t spread as easily when it’s overcooked. Both times, I used currants in place of raisins. (Some food aversions don’t change.)

This dessert is more of a set pudding than a true cake. Even with the caramel, I found it wasn’t overly sweet – perfect for the end of a heavy meal. I served it with cinnamon whipped cream, opting not to make Crème Anglaise. I think I’ll save that serving suggestion for Christmas Day brunch.

I don’t have any photographs of the finished cake. Well, that’s not true. I do have some photos, but they’re terrible. I clearly need to take a food photography class. Shiny-surfaced foods seem to be beyond my capabilities for the moment. So, I’ll have to leave you with a photo of the cake just before I plated it.

Until next week (where things will get a little more savoury).

We’re doing things a little differently for the month of November. We’re still posting weekly, but people are free to post this month’s recipes in any order. You can find many other blogged descriptions of this month’s FFWD recipes here: LYL: November 5

I have a new rule: never make the French Fridays With Dorie recipe on the day that it is due. Especially when you’re also making six litres of Soup for your Housing Co-op’s soup swap.

I will be getting this in just under the wire (I hope) and am now wondering why I took so long to try this recipe. I love Shepherd’s Pie. In fact, it’s really hard to resist ordering it, if it’s available on a menu. Usually, it doesn’t measure up to what I can make at home, with lamb from my parents’ farm. So, homemade Shepherd’s Pie…what was I waiting for? No matter, the leftovers are in my fridge now, along with the soup for tomorrow’s swap.

Hachis Parmentier is essentially Shepherd’s Pie, but much, much richer. I had an elk roast that I’d set aside for this recipe and combined it with some organic beef stewing meat. I looked for gluten-free sausages and finally found some smoked Bison that fit the bill. I had to mince the sausages for the recipe, as they were not crumbly, but they were tastily worth it. Boiling the meat with the vegetables produces a thin, but delicious broth. As a bonus, I was left with enough broth after making the dish, that I was able to freeze two ice cube trays’ worth.

It was hard to avoid eating the filling while I was making the potatoes, but they provided some distraction themselves. So much milk, cream and butter. Then Gruyere, Parmesan and more butter…I love French food.

This recipe worked beautifully, but with three kinds of meat, two sorts of cheese, three varieties of dairy and Dorie’s instructions; I could hardly go wrong.

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

I don’t live in Paris. I live in East Vancouver. There’s one aspect of my neighbourhood, though, that’s always made me feel a tiny bit Parisian – the produce markets that run up and down Commercial Drive. While my suburban friends and family are taking their cars to the local supermarket to stock up on groceries, I’m walking along the Drive and thinking about what looks fresh for dinner that evening. And if I sound a tiny bit superior, it’s just the part of me that wishes she did live in Paris getting a little of her own back.
                       
I do appreciate my neighbourhood shops for more than just their ability to enhance my fantasy life. Really. I am blessed to have easily available to me fresh, often organic, ingredients from a variety of world cuisines. If I’ve forgotten something, I can usually just run down the street to get it. Best of all, my food bills are often a third of the price I’d pay at major supermarket chains. On the weekends, I can also head over to the local farmers’ market and spend a little more for farm-to-table goodness.

I reminded myself of all this while shopping for the ingredients for this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe. I was frustrated because I wasn’t able to find hoisin sauce, but only because I was looking for one that was gluten-free. It exists, but clearly not in my neck of the woods. I have nothing to complain about.

In the end, I didn’t miss the hoisin sauce at all, because this chicken noodle soup was very flavourful. I didn’t stray far from Dorie’s recipe, only substituting the rice sticks that I already had on hand for the rice vermicelli that was called for. Provided you have all the ingredients at home, or are able to pick them up on your way home from work, this is a great weeknight dinner recipe. Once you’ve got the chopping out of the way, the only thing that takes time is poaching the chicken. It’s so easy to finish, especially using rice sticks, which only need a few minutes under boiling water to cook.

Speaking of the chicken, I poached a little more than was called for in the recipe and set some aside for chicken salad. The meat absorbed the flavours of the soup and I think it will be perfect with a simple dressing on mixed greens. Since there’s only two of us in our household, I divided the soup and chicken, finishing each batch the day we ate it. The soup was good on the first day and better the second, as the flavours had melded beautifully overnight. When I make it for company, I’ll definitely start it the day before.

We used mint and bean sprouts for garnish this time, but there are so many possibilities for this soup. I’d like to add mushrooms, along with the suggested lemon grass and Thai basil. I’m also looking forward to trying the curry version or adding some smoky ham when it’s almost finished cooking. Yum.

                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup