French Fridays with Dorie: How to Make Dinner with Cheez-it-ish Crackers

Along about Wednesday afternoon, I took a look at this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe - Cheez-it-ish Crackers. Simple enough to make with only three ingredients and some spices, and I happened to have a 4-ounce wedge of Manchego cheese sitting by its lonesome in the refrigerator, but what was I going to do with a few dozen crackers mid-week?

Contemplating this further and deciding to stay with my Spanish themed Manchego Cheez-it-ish Crackers, I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home from work to gather up some complementary nibbles for a tapas platter...thinly sliced Jamón ibérico ham, shrimp, olives, membrillo (quince paste), and Marcona almonds.  I'm not into making much of a dinner for myself on weeknights, so tapas with a bottle glass of Tempranillo wine sounded just about right.

Dorie's Cheez-it-ish Crackers are your basic cheese crackers, best served freshly baked and still warm, with a glass of wine or cocktail before dinner.

Make the dough with 4 ounces of cheese (Dorie suggests cheddar, Gruyere, or Emmenthal), 5 ounces flour, 1 stick unsalted butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon white pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Pulse the ingredients together in the food processor until curds form. Dump out the dough, knead it together, divide in half, form into two disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 3 days. Roll out a disk of dough, cut small rounds with a cookie cutter, transfer to a lined baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes. I gently pressed a Marcona almond into the center of each round before baking. Repeat with second disk of dough, or keep the second disk refrigerated and bake fresh crackers on another night.

While the crackers baked, I poured a glass of Tempranillo, arranged the deli items on my board and prepared Gambas al Ajillo - shrimp sauteed with olive oil, garlic, Spanish paprika, red pepper flakes, dry sherry and lemon juice.

Tapas for two, inspired by a recipe for Cheez-it-ish crackers!

Buttery, flaky, a touch of heat from the cayenne, and added crunch from the almond...

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French Fridays with Dorie is an online cooking group, dedicated to Dorie Greenspan‘s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. As members of the group, we have purchased the cookbook and cook along as much as we can. There is a new recipe each week, and we post about that recipe on Friday. We are asked to refrain from posting the actual recipes on our blog. The book is filled with stunning photography, and personal stories about each recipe, which makes it that much more intriguing. I highly recommend adding it to your cookbook collection if you haven't already!

French Fridays with Dorie - Cold Melon-Berry Soup with Grilled Shrimp

I've said this before about Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours, but I enjoy reading Dorie's introduction to each recipe as much as preparing the recipes themselves. When she mentions an unfamiliar region in France, restaurant, chef, or ingredient, my interest is always peaked and I start Googling! Since I've never been to France, I have much to learn.

For this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Cold Melon-Berry Soup, Dorie tells us her inspiration came from a soup she enjoyed at renowned chef Alain Ducasse's former hilltop retreat, Ostapé ("in the shade of oak trees"), a 45 hectare estate located in the heart of the green Basque country, close to the village of Biddaray. The spacious guest rooms are located in the 17th-century manor house, or in five farmhouses that have been converted into traditional Basque-style villas. This looks like my kinda place!

The Navarrian restaurant serves regional cuisine using fresh, local products, including vegetables from its own garden. See the watermelon on table? Dorie says just about every restaurant has melon somewhere on the menu when they're in season.

The cold melon-berry soup is nothing more than pureed cantaloupe (or Cavaillon if you're in France), topped with melon balls and strawberries. The soup should be served in glasses, to show off its beautiful color.

I'm strawberry'ed out, so I went with raspberries. Actually, The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs, highlights raspberries with cantaloupe, and doesn't even list strawberries. Ginger, lime juice and sweet white wine, basil and mint are also recommended flavor pairings.

To the pureed melon, Dorie's recipe adds grated fresh ginger, fresh squeezed lime juice, and a pinch of sea salt.  To serve, top the soup with a little wine, a few melon balls and berries, and mint or basil chiffonade.  I used raspberries, basil, and Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.

I had the chance to use my ginger grater I bought from our Little Italy Mercato. It works quite well, and you don't lose the ginger juice.

In an effort to make a light dinner out of the soup, I added grilled shrimp. These shrimp are from one of my newest cookbooks, Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue!: 309 Recipes, 60 Countries.  Grilled Shrimp Sprayed with Olive Oil and Wine is from the "archly innovative grill restaurant Etxebarri in Spain's Basque Country."  This also looks like my kinda place!

I nestled a melon ball in the curve of each shrimp, and threaded two shrimp per skewer. During grilling, the shrimp are lightly misted with olive oil and wine, and then finished with course sea salt.

Not too shabby, for a light, summer dinner on the patio.

French Fridays with Dorie is an online cooking group, dedicated to Dorie Greenspan‘s newest book Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. As members of the group, we have purchased the cookbook and cook along as much as we can. There is a new recipe each week, and we post about that recipe on Friday. We are asked to refrain from posting the actual recipes on our blog. The book is filled with stunning photography, and personal stories about each recipe, which makes it that much more intriguing. I highly recommend adding it to your cookbook collection if you haven't already!

José Andrés, Outstanding Chef of the Year, and Sandwich of Lomo, Manchego and Quince Preserve

Spanish chef José Andrés, best known for popularizing tapas – the Spanish custom of dining on small, shared dishes - and his PBS series, Made in Spain, was named Outstanding Chef at this year’s James Beard Awards, the “Oscars” of the culinary crowd.

Minibar, his Washington, D.C. restaurant, which seats only six, offers 30 tapas courses. Tom Sietsema, reviewing for the Washington Post says: “The high times might begin with "sangria" you eat with a spoon and end with a strip of bacon robed in chocolate flecked with a speck of gold leaf. Along the way, a team of several cooks - focused but friendly magicians who whip up edible wonders just feet from their audience - might also hand over a cloud of cotton candy that replicates Thai curry, brilliant near-liquid baby carrots, a blue-cheese-topped almond "tart" based on almond cream and liquid nitrogen, and (hang on!) prawns served with "brioche" that's just yeast-fragrant air pretending to be bread.”

Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen, buried in my cookbook collection, made an appearance for a Daring Cooks' Challenges in 2009, and a Basque-themed Concert in the Park last summer. It was time to break it out again. As I browsed through the recipes and photographs, I settled on something simple, rustic and intriguing - Sandwich of dried pork loin, Manchego cheese, and quince preserve.  All of the recipes in this cookbook are simple and straightforward - none require any molecular gastronomy techniques employed at minibar!

The recipe calls for Lomo Embuchado (dried cured pork loin), something totally new to me, and quince, relatively new to me, and it gave me an excuse to visit Pata Negra Market, which specializes in the import and distribution of selected regional food and wine of Spain. Chris raided the market for our Basque-themed Concert in the Park, and I remember the delectable tapas and bottle of wine he shared that evening.

We parked in the back and walked through Costa Brava, the adjoining restaurant.  Of course, we couldn't resist stopping at the bar for Sangria and a few tapas.

Sangria Pitchers

Costa Brava's Tapas and Sangria
Shrimp in Garlic and Sautéed Chorizo sausage

Gambas al Ajillo - Shrimp in Garlic

We made the mistake of ordering just two glasses of sangria, rather than a pitcher, especially after asking for a few extra rolls to soak up that luscious garlicky-butter left over after devouring the shrimp.  

After lunch, we walked over to Pata Negra Market and perused the paella pans, deli cases stocked with sausages, meats, and cheeses, wine cellar, and shelves featuring an assortment of Spanish delicacies.  We grabbed a triangle of Manchego cheese, container of quince paste, and 1/4 pound of thinly sliced Lomo, and were good to go.

We thoroughly enjoyed these sandwiches for a weeknight dinner, with a side salad, but I envision smaller bruschetta versions as tapas for a fabulous party or picnic platter.

Sandwich of Dried Pork Loin, Manchego Cheese, and Quince Preserve

Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen

Four Sandwiches

8 slices rustic bread

Spanish extra-virgin olive oil

1 block Membrillo (quince preserve), about 12 ounces, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/2 pound thinly sliced Lomo Embuchado (dried cured pork loin)

1/2 pound thinly sliced Manchego (Spanish sheep's milk cheese)

Brush the slices of bread with olive oil, place on a baking sheet, and toast each side under the broiler until golden.  Top four slices of bread with the sliced membrillo, followed by slices of pork loin, then slices of the Manchego cheese.  Drizzle the Manchego with more olive oil and top each sandwich with a second slice of toasted bread.