French Fridays with Dorie
I don’t know if the saying “better late than never” is really true or not but I can tell you if I had never sampled this tourteau de chevre I would have been very disappointed. I know. If I had never sampled the tourteau I would not have known enough to actually be disappointed. But you know what I mean so must I go into it? Surely the universe would have known that this torte must be experienced and would have found a way to signal to me what I was missing out on? Does life work like that? Should it?
And where it doesn’t, I have the numerous posts of my fellow Doristas who cook up a recipe from her book each week to show me! I have been doing a lot of traveling lately but during a brief respite I realized that this unique confection was last week’s French Friday’s with Dorie assignment. Wouldn’t you know that it was the very recipe I had been waiting to make and had been nominating since the project began?
Seeing all the other Doristas blog posts has had me quite jealous and I could tell this one was going to be a keeper so I went to work.
Tourteau de Chevre
Its not very sweet, and not very savory. It is both of these things and neither of them. Just about everything about it defies common description. It is both elegant and yet remains casual. Its an appetizer or a desert yet perfect for brunch. My version was lightly flavored with cognac. Ms. Greenspan gives us a choice of flavorings but I don’t need to be told twice to cook with cognac. (I bet Grand Marnier would be great too!) For desert we drizzled the torte with honey and strawberries.
Unlike so many of the other recipes from this book I have not been able to find anywhere online where Dorie has shared the recipe so I will refrain from publishing it here as I did not modify or adapt this recipe in any way as you see it here. Something this good needs to be shared and I do see that you can get the recipe here. Try it as soon as you can. Better late than never.
Your result looks amazing, as usual. I contemplated using Grand Marnier, but since that’s what I usually use when baking, I decided to actually buy the Cognac this time. Great post!
Ciao ! You are right this tourteau is so good one cannot miss it !! I love your set !
Your tourteau looks perfect…just like the picture in Dorie’s book! I also contemplated using Grand Maarnier but had none in the house…next time and there will be a next time. Loved this torte! Glad your mom enjoyed it! Your photos are beautiful!
Love your photos…I’m especially fond of the second one with all the cracks!!! So tall and regal, your torteau is beautiful. So glad you were able to squeeze this one in…drizzling with honey was an excellent idea 🙂
Beautiful! I like your wooden cake/serving plate, it looks perfect with the tourteau.
Your tourteau is a nice all over brown color which is such a wonderful contrast to the creamy white interior. I’m making another tourteau to bring to a party this weekend I hope to start mine in a hotter oven to achieve a darker exterior like yours. I also love the look of your peanut butter and jelly bar cookies, the layer of jelly with the peanuts on top look great;-)
Given that your scruples prevent you from sharing the recipe — and quite correctly so, I think –, your photographic presentation of the results becomes even more important than usual: without knowing the ingredients contributing to your concoction, one has to rely completely on presentation and description.
Consequently, I am grateful that your photographs give a sense of the texture of the creation: it’s clear that its surface appeal is undergirded by something strong and enticing.
Well done.
– bg
The Universe is a force that should not be reckoned with. You were wise to give in to its demands…
I’m glad you got to make this – it was so worth it! The strawberries were a great addition (I did that too) – they really went well with the torte.
In a word, gorgeous. In another word, decadent. In three words, I want some.
Your torte looks scrumptious. I really liked the flavor of the goat cheese, but then again I
love goat cheese on anything. It is wonderful
toasted on top of salad with a little bit of bacon
drippings added to dressing. Sorry Tricia and
I missed you at Eataly’s but we really enjoyed
it. We had a great cappuchino at the Lavazza
coffee bar, and browsed through the store.
I controlled myself and only purchased anchovies
and capers. We were heading back to the Chelsea
market and didn’t feel like lugging too many
goodies. Next time we will park closer.
Looks great, Trevor. I missed making this because we had out-of-town guests, but your description makes me want to give it a whirl. I found this week’s tart lacking in flavor, so it seems the touteau would have been a better choice for me. Enjoy your week!
If I had known this wasn’t too sweet I would have made it … I am expecting the universe to punish me any minute now.
I’ll make this one you can bet on that!! GREG
LOL!! This is a pretty darn great version of cheesecake isn’t it?? I’m making it again for Thanksgiving this week! 🙂
want!!!
Top Nine. Nice. GREG