FFwD: Chicken B'stille

Yeah, I know.  Two difficult-to-pronounce items in as many days.  What am I thinking? 

I'm thinking I'm really challenging myself, participating in both the Daring Bakers and French Fridays with Dorie.  But to tell the truth, I'm really having a lot of fun!

I've never made Moroccan food before.  Ever.  This recipe is a great introduction to Moroccan cooking, as well as Moroccan eating!  As with all the FFwD challenges, we're not allowed to share the recipe, but you've all gone and bought the book by now, right?  Right?  You should, even if it's just for this one dish.  Oh my goodness--if you could smell my house over the past two days you'd be running to the bookshop right now!

This recipe starts out really simply, unless you're like Mr. Boom and myself.  Essentially, eight chicken thighs are thrown into a dutch oven with onion, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom.  This concoction rests for one hour.  Dorie calls it marinating; Mr. Boom says you can't marinate without liquid.  I say an onion by other name...

Anyway, after an hour you stir in some stock and some more seasoning, and boil the mess until the chicken meat falls off its pretty little bones.  And your whole house smells like a warm place in a land far, far, far away...

The bones are removed from the chicken, eggs are added to thicken the sauce, and then the solids are reintroduced to the liquids.  This is a very happy marriage, and will result in many years of bliss (lived out on my hips, of course).

I let the chicken mixture hang out overnight, then continued on with the recipe on day two.  Just because it's day two, doesn't mean the process is any less fragrant. 

Toasted almond slices.  Need I say more?

Filo dough lines a well-greased cake pan and is then sprinkled with the toasted almonds.  The chicken marriage is plopped in next, followed by more toasted almonds.  More filo dough covers all that up, and then a light sprinkle of cinnamon sugar finishes off the pan.

While this is baking, your brain will not be able focus on the snow outside, the chill in the air, or anything else non-tropical.

With luck, which I had (hooray), the b'stille will flip out of the cake pan onto a cutting board, and then will re-flip back over onto a serving platter. 

Now, Dorie says this dish needs no accompaniment, but Mr. Boom would have appreciated a salad or some other greenery on the side.  To me, a little glass of port was the perfect little side dish needed.


And what to do with the left over filo dough?  Chirp chirp made baklava, all by herself.  I love that kid!

P.S. Go check out some of the other folks who made this same dish.  There's real inspiration to be found over at this link!

January Daring Bakers: Biscuit Joconde Imprime Entremets

Don't worry, you don't have to be able to pronounce the name in order to enjoy the beauty and taste of this month's Daring Bakers Challenge.  It's french, and the french know their desserts, so smile and nod and dig right in!

But, first things first.  I had no reason to be nervous about my interview with the Master Gardeners selection committee on Tuesday.  The panel was kind and wonderful...and they let me in!  Hooray!!! I now have about 200 hours of training to go through, two years as an intern, and then I'll have earned my way into the program.  I am so excited, and can't wait to get started.  The first class isn't until the end of February, so I'll have to contain my excitement for a little while longer, so let's just move on to the cake.

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

 A biscuit joconde imprime is sponge cake with a design baked right into the cake itself. Two separate batters are made, each with it's own flavor and/or color.  The first batter is either piped or spread onto the sil-pat into any type of pattern desired. I used my decorating bag and piped out a crazy swirl of blue batter on the sil-pat, then added polka dots, and then stopped myself before things swerved too much further out of control.

After the first design is frozen, a second layer of batter is spread over top the first layer. 

This the joconde imprime is then baked, and strips are cut out to line a springform pan.

In hindsight, I should have put the bottom layer upside down.

The joconde imprime was the required part of the challenge.

How to fill the dessert was left up to each Daring Baker...and, since this was my own birthday cake, I felt really free to put whatever flavors of filling I wanted to on the interior.

For the bottom layer, I made a raspberry/blueberry mousse.

Atop this layer, I spread a layer of rosewater gelee.  Unfortunately, the mylanta pink liquid seeped through the joconde imprime, leaving unsightly botches on the outside. 

However, it was my own cake and I chose not to feel too bad about it!

Atop the gelee, I glopped on a layer of orange water infused stabilized whipped cream.

The final layer was a blueberry rosewater sauce.

I loved making this challenge, and I loved the result.  The rest of the family just about gagged on the rosewater flavoring, but I relished the new flavor.  This challenge really brought out the best of so many other Daring Bakers.  The artistry of the imprime was astounding, and the flavor combinations that people came up with were mind blowing as well.

Someday soon I'm going to have to try the chocolate version of the joconde recipe, maybe filled with chocolate mousse and topped with caramel?  What about marshmallow fluff and peanut butter?  Perhaps the world's fanciest strawberry shortcake?  The sky is the limit with this dessert! 

Even if I still can't pronounce it exactly right...

I'm nervous!

I have an interview in one hour.

The Master Gardener program in our area is top notch. Over the years I’ve received incredible amounts of help from their volunteers. They offer a weekly diagnostics clinic, to which you can bring your plants for help with all manner of problems such as pests, diseases, nutritional deficiencies, or just to find out what the heck the plant that your neighbor dug up and shared with you is called. The volunteers almost always know the answer, and when they don’t know it right off they find out and get back to you. Invariably. Reliably. Promptly.

Want to know what type of grapes grow best in your part of town? Ask a Master Gardener. They’ll tell you which is best for eating, which is best for wine, and which is best for jelly. They’ll tell you what to plant next to it, when to prune it, and when you’ll need to be prepared for the glut of fruit. They also show up at the health department when you bring down the berries your toddler ate off a plant that you can’t identify* while you’re on hold with poison control…

How do they know all this stuff? They get trained! Lots and lots of training goes into the making of each and every Master Gardener. Just think about how mind-blowing the trainings must be. I love learning new things, and I really want to do better in my own garden, and I want to start paying back my debt to the community for all the help I’ve previously received.

So, in one hour I have an interview with the Master Gardeners. Will they take me on? Will they accept me into their fold?

Most likely, they will. They take almost anyone…

But still, I’m a little bit nervous.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

*Privet. Not lethal to humans, but can result in stomach aches and other gastro-intestinal distress. Provide lots of liquid and a handy receptacle for catching any barf.