You might notice a distinct lack of heart-shaped-ness in this week’s dish. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the traditional moulds for this dessert, so substituted a colander, instead. We’re not big fans of Valentine’s Day around here. We’d rather celebrate Kevin’s birthday, which is within a few days of the holiday. When we first started dating, we had a tentative conversation about it:

“So, I’m not really into the whole Valentine’s Day thing, are you?”
“No, not at all! That’s so great we’re on the same page!”

Obviously, reconstructing conversations is outside of my skills set, but you get the idea. We’d had partners in the past who celebrated it and it was a relief to both of us to be able to let it go. It’s one of those holidays that engenders the sort of high expectations that can lead to disastrous results – like New Year’s Eve, but with more self-esteem involved. Sis Boom Blog’s Trevor has a story that tells it so much better than I could, so I’ll leave it at that.

I’ve not tasted this dessert yet, though I’ve tasted all its components, so perhaps I’ve tasted it after all. My no coeur in this crème version of this week’s recipe is going to taste pretty fabulous. Instead of liqueur, I added a couple of teaspoons of Campbell’s Gold amaretto-spiked honey. Drizzled on top is more of the honey and Dorie’s bittersweet chocolate sauce. (I should have stuck with just the chocolate sauce for drizzling purposes, as the honey made everything a little bit smeary. Oh, well.)

With this dessert and a pot of chocolate sauce in the fridge, I think we’re set for a cosy weekend. Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate it and a very relaxing weekend to all.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Coeur à la Crème

This post is so late that it qualifies as an almost-the-next-French-Friday post. We had this week’s dish for dinner last night with steak, potatoes, and a mixture of beans from my garden and my mother’s. After a slow start, summer’s hung on a little. We have fresh Okanagan peaches awaiting pie-making tomorrow and I used a beautiful Honeycrisp from the same region in this recipe. It’s always nice when the line between summer and fall produce blurs a little bit.

This side dish blurs some lines, itself – a mixture of bitter endive, along with sweet apples and grapes, slowly cooked in butter with sprigs of rosemary. When it’s done, the juices from the fruit have caramelized so much that strings of dark brown sugar pull from the pan when you plate the dish. Add a little water and those caramelized bits left over cook down into a scant sauce that brings all the flavours together.

We liked it with the meal we had, but it would be even better as an alternative to apple sauce with pork chops or roast. Dorie’s bonne idée for this recipe is a version with squash and chestnuts and I’m tempted to try it this coming long weekend.

In the meantime, I must get on with our next recipe, which will mark the beginning of the third year of cooking together from Around My French Table.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Endives, Apples, & Grapes