French Friday's with Dorie: Pancetta Green Beans

Valentine’s Day Supper ~ Part 2

After Christmas I bought Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. Shortly thereafter I found the group French Fridays with Dorie. Each week we cook one recipe from the book. 

The second part of our Valentine’s Day supper was the pancetta green beans that are this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe. (In last week's post I was confused and thought that we were posting the short ribs this week, thanks to DessertByCandy for pointing that out!) This simple recipe turned out to be kind of a pain to make.

Usually we make a trip into the heart of Minneapolis to do our grocery shopping, but this week we just did not feel like it. What that means is that I had to find green beans and pancetta in Coon Rapids. This was a bit of a daunting task.

You see it is winter in Minnesota and fresh beautiful green beans are a bit hard to find. I am sure we would have found some at the Wedge, but as I said we did not make the trip. I was left with what I could find at Cub. All I could find was some sad pre-bagged ones and some even sadder pay-by-the pound kind. So the pre-bagged ones it was. (To be fair I was at Grass Roots at one point, but at that point I thought we were going to go to the Wedge so I did not look at their green beans.)

Now pancetta was a different story. It was a problem because it is just not easy to find in this neck of the woods. I actually looked for that at Grass Roots and two meat stores. None of them had it. I finally found it at Cub. (One of the reasons I thought we were going to have to go to the Wedge was because I was having so much trouble finding pancetta.)  I am sort of wishing we had not found it, but I am getting ahead of myself.

The recipe was easy enough to make. Timing was an issue, but we will talk more about that next week. The green beans I bought were quite ugly. They were just this side of still edible. The pancetta did not render out fat like the recipe said to expect (and like I have seen pancetta do in the past). It was also very salty. Nevertheless I put it all together and it was tasty enough. I think I paid way too much money for a dish that should be a simple throw together. In the future I will make this when I find beautiful green beans and I have access to good pancetta. Though I am thinking bacon would be good too, maybe not as delicate. 

Pancetta Green Beans and Roasted Parsnips.

What else do you think is on that plate? Hmmmm....?

Valentine's Day Supper ~ Part 1

Valentine’s Day Supper ~ Part 1

Valentine’s Day Supper ~ Part 1

As I said yesterday, I made a complicated meal for Valentine’s Day supper. However, because I used that meal as a way to make several recipes for both of my cooking clubs, I can not tell you about all parts of the meal just yet. I am sure if you are part of French Friday’s with Dorie, or if you read the comments from my post from last week, you know most of what the menu consisted of. I will post about each item on its appropriate day. I will have the whole meal posted by the end of the month.Today I am going to talk about the two items we had that were not part of either club.

I needed a starchy something to go with the meal, so I made roasted parsnips. I peeled and chopped the parsnips into fry-like sticks. I then tossed them with garam masala (from Penzey’s) and S & P. I roasted them for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. I needed to reheat them after the meat was done and I don’t think it was a good plan. They ended up being a bit tough. It is times like these when I wish I had two ovens. I think they would have been much better directly out of the oven. Still, all-in-all they were tasty enough.

After dessert I had a small glass of Chateau de Beaulon Pineau des Charentes. It is a delicious fruity sweet wine. I love it. I discovered it when Rodney took me out for my birthday in 2008 to a now defunct restaurant. They served with dessert. I enjoyed it do much that we walked across the street to Surdyk's and bought a bottle on the way home that night. (This is not that same bottle.) 

Come back Friday to read Valentine’s Day Supper ~ Part 2!

Valentine's Day Lunch

We think Origami is the best sushi in Minneapolis.

We like the Downtown location the most.

They have won many awards and they have many framed greetings from the celebrities that have eaten there.

The one above our table was from Daryl Hannah. (Sorry, I didn't get a pic.)

We sat close to the Sushi Bar today.

Our first appetizer was edamame. 

I also ordered tea instead of sake. I just wasn't feeling alcohol at noon-ish.

Our second appetizer was tempura. 

(I only took one picture, so I was stuck using this one.)

Then cam the sushi. 

We had a NY! NY! Roll and a 9 1/2 Weeks Roll.

It was incredibly filling!

They always give you a flower. 

(I took mine home!)

Happy Valentines Day!

Ah, Valentine’s Day, a day to express your love and to eat chocolate. I intend to do both today. I have a wonderful supper planned to celebrate the day. Sadly, I can not share that supper with the blog today. All of the components are either from Daring Bakers or French Fridays with Dorie. I promise that by the end of the month I will be able to post about that complete meal.

I can tell you about the rest of the day, however. Rodney has the day off today, so we are going out for a nice lunch. I think we are going to Origami for sushi and sake. (I love sake!). I will post more about that meal this afternoon. Until then I hope everyone has a great Valentine’s Day!