Confessions of a Culinary Diva: March 2012

I am a country girl who thanks God for biscuits and gravy. This was a staple in Montana, served hot and greasy at the Dude Rancher in Billings just the way we country folk like it. So this week’s French Fridays with Dorie challenge evoked some wonderful childhood memories of branding season, cooking over an open fire and listening to John Denver sing about being a “country boy.” I resisted my sous chef’s suggestion that I cook this week’s dish in a heavy cast iron skillet over a gas flame, while he made mooing sounds in the background, but just barely.

St. Germaine des pres Onion Biscuits is certainly not country food, but I am not complaining. Since I was out of milk, I used heavy whipping cream. And because I don’t own a cookie or biscuit cutter, I improvised and instead used my ravioli cutter. This inspired me to press the dough to a thinner thickness and the biscuits ended up more like cocktail bread. My intrepid sous chef wanted something with a little more pizazz, so I added bacon and topped it with an Herbs de Provence goat cheese from my local farmers’ market and a dash of tomato relish. Paired with a little spring salad from my garden with a freshly made Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette, the result was magnificent! Oh, and I did go ahead and pop open a bottle of Foppoli Sparkling Wine. One can’t properly eat without wine and in my experience a good bubbly works well with any food.

Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cold butter

Add softened onions, and milk (heavy whipping cream and a little bacon in my case )

Use fork to create dough - this is a lot like making a pie crust

Right now I’m knee deep in March Madness, Palm Springs Style. That means endless functions, charity events, and two of my favorite annual sporting events—the BNP Paribas Open and El Paseo Fashion Week. If you want to see the beautiful desert I live in and watch some fabulous tennis, catch it starting Saturday on The Tennis Channel with the finals the following weekend on ABC. It is the world’s fifth largest tennis tournament and the likes of Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer (my two favorites) will hopefully be playing through next weekend. Go Rafa!!!

Use your hands to form a dough to press out on lightly floured surface

Cut pressed dough - ravioli cutter worked just fine

Place on silpat/cookie sheet and bake approx. 15 minutes

Spring lettuce from my garden

El Paseo Fashion Week is a series of runway fashion shows from top designers and related fashion and food events. The frenzy generated by attendees trying to out-dress the designers and their models is a sport unto itself and worth the price of admission. If you are in the area the week of March 18, make the effort to attend.