I LOVED this dish. I think it was the first FFwD dish I made that I would call "quick" so that was a huge plus. This dish will find its place into my work night dinner rotation, because it can be on the table in less than 30 minutes.
I really made this recipe something that I thought we would both love, and we did! That meant leaving out the dates and the raisins. To substitute in, I added macadamia nuts which are delicious and were on sale this week, and kept the portion of pistachios and almonds the same.
The butter bubbles and browns with the nuts.
Dorie directs you to zest in orange at the end, and zest in Parmesan. I zested most of this naval orange, and it gave a great flavor pop to the dish. For the Parmesan, I pulled out another of my favorite cheese brands - Hautly aged Parmesan. This Parmesan is nice and strong, so just a little of the cheese grated on gives great flavor, with only a little cheese.
In the future I would use a less butter than Dorie calls for, and just add whatever nuts I have on hand. While we normally don't share the recipes from FFwD to encourage support of printed cookbooks, Dorie has posted the recipe on her blog, you can see it here: http://doriegreenspan.com/2011/01/there-was-a-time-in.html
I'm betting there will be lots of fun variations to check out with the other FFwD bloggers.
Very nice! I agree that a little less butter might have been a good idea. The macadamias sound like a great addition!
ReplyDeleteI love that this is going into your regular rotation! And your changes to the recipe sound divine. It's going to be a fun recipe to play with depending what ingredients are actually in the kitchen!
ReplyDeleteVery nice photos! I also enjoyed this dish and will make it when I need a quick dinner. The nice thing about this recipe is you can substitute many different ingredients, depending on what you have on hand!
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious! I made a nut only version too and loved it.
ReplyDeleteI loved the orange zest too. It was a prominent but good flavor. I might try experimenting with dried fruit in the future too. I wonder how dried cherries would taste? Glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteYummy! I left out the raisins and figs, too, and fell in love with this dish! :)
ReplyDeleteI went with dried cranberries instead of raisins, which was a nice sub, I think (tangy instead of sweet). Well done!
ReplyDeleteNice! The macademias must have bee so good!
ReplyDeleteMmm, I bet the macadamia nuts were yummy in this! Your pictures look delish!
ReplyDeleteI was able to use less butter (about 4 tablespoons instead of 6 for a half-recipe) and felt very good about that! I thought this was very unusual, to say the least, but I liked it!
ReplyDeleteI bet the extra nuts were great! I loved the smell of everything simmering together in the butter.
ReplyDeleteFun to see all the versions...yours looks wonderful with the extra nuts :)
ReplyDeleteWasn't it great to have a quick and easy recipe? I think I'd use less butter too.
ReplyDeleteLooks lovely! I wonder if I would have liked it better with only the butter and nuts -- and of course the cheese!
ReplyDeleteI think your dish turned out great! I like your substitution with macadamia nuts. Thanks for commenting on my blog. I've added yours to my Google Reader and look forward to reading your future posts.
ReplyDeleteI loved this fruit and nuts pasta. Macadamia nuts sound like a great addition to this dish :)
ReplyDeleteso smart to leave out the sweet stuff. i think i will too next time. i like sweet and savory, but not as an entree. see you next time!
ReplyDeleteI loved that this was such a quick dish and so good! The macadamia nuts I am sure gave it a really good flavor and a great substitution for the fruit since they are a sweet nut.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great addition--I love macadamia nuts! I think this deserves a "rotation" meal as well!
ReplyDeleteNext time I make this I will use macadamia nuts, that's a great idea. The variations possible on this recipe are endless, that's just one of the things I like about it. Could I cut back on the butter, probably but I think the brown butter is one of the best things and I'm not sure I would want to give any of it up;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting me and leaving your nice comment;-)
Two things...I agree that this is a great weeknight dinner and can I get that cool blue/cream/brown peacock feather pattern in wallpaper or fabric? it is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteI agree! All that butter made it hard for me to eat more than a couple of mouthfuls! It was pretty quick to make which was a bonus!
ReplyDeleteYou have a beautiful site!
Great idea to make an all nut version. I love macadamia nuts! I bet they tasted great browning in the butter and with the orange zest. Yum!
ReplyDeleteThe photos look great and I love the idea of only nuts and no dried fruits! Thanks for the tip on the parmesan, too!
ReplyDeleteThat looks great. I love that nut combo - all those heart healthy oils!
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