I love recipes that can be put together in about 15 minutes, helpful for when you realise you’ve made the wrong Dorie recipe this week and you have only a few hours of sunlight left to get the correct recipe made and photographed in time! This “bread” (though it’s more like a savoury pound cake) was easily whipped up, then put in the oven to be forgotten about as I cleaned up the kitchen, until the delicious aroma of cheese and olives wafted through the house around 45 minutes later… Such was the case for this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe (“Back of the Card” cheese and olive bread, p 33)
I mean, it looks like a cake, right? Its appearance is definitely deceiving… One of my colleagues thought the white bits were marshmallows and the dark bits chocolate chunks. Now that would have been nice too, but this is one surprising, unassuming bread/ cake. It’s a recipe that was originally found on the back of a card (hence the name) produced by the Comté cheesemakers’ association and distributed to fromageries all over France that Dorie took and made her own.
The original recipe sounds like it contained cheese, olives and diced ham cubes which would also have been fabulous; however Dorie added tapenade which, even though it was sitting out on my countertop as I made this, somehow didn’t make it’s way into my loaf.
I used 1/2 olives, 1/2 sun-dried tomatoes for some visual interest (though the tomatoes were more orange than the red I had hoped for) and, well, as you can see, I used small cubes of goat cheese instead of Comté. So my bread turned out like multiple apéritif snacks (cheese, olives, tomatoes) all rolled into one convenient package, easy to slice and eat! Dorie suggests cutting this into thin fingers for elegant serving (I think cubes would be great!) at apéro time, however I can see this being a great light lunch with a tossed green salad. Or even, toasted slices cut up into cubes and put IN a salad. The possibilities really are endless – both in terms of serving suggestions as well as the add-ins you can mix and match according to what you like.
I really enjoyed this one as did my colleagues who sampled this the next day – I was worried it would have dried out but it was fine. I offered the suggestion that it was “better with a glass of wine” but since we were enjoying it for a Monday morning snack, we all had to use our powers of imagination. Even sans wine, it was a wonderful snack and a nice change from the sweet snacks that often populate the staff room table. I’ll be remembering this again when I am short on time and need a quick snack for drinks or pre-dinner. Nice one Dorie!
French Fridays with Dorie participants do not publish the recipes on our blogs (though this week, you can find the recipe online here), we prefer if you purchase Around My French Table for yourselves which you can do here on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Go on, treat yourself then join us here!
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So what recipe did you make for this week 🙂
This really was an enjoyable bread and because of all the flavors, it didn’t need a lot of accompaniment. (I liked the crusty cheese bit on top – it was the best part of the bread)
This would make great croutons, it´s true Mardi. I think adding sun dried tomatoes and not tapenade was a smart move. I changed it a lot, so it didn´t even rise as much. It does look like cake! Good weekend!
Your bread looks fantastic!
Not my favourite recipe though. I prefer this type of cake to be sweet!
Your sun dried tomato/goats cheese subs sound fabulous! I liked this and it seemed to go down well at work too.
A slice or two with a nice cup of Earl Grey and breakfast is ready!
Goat cheese, yummy. I used comte, but next time I think I’ll go with a mix of cheeses.
Glad your co-workers enjoyed this one, too! I bet I would have lovedthe olive and sun dried tomato mix that you tried 🙂
I’m with Cher. What did you make this week? Never mind. We’ll find out eventually. Glad you did get this recipe made and your version looks very, very tasty. I would have thought the goat cheese would melt into nothingness. What I especially liked about this bread was not only that it was quick, with a tasty result, but the bumpy topping just looks all crisp and crunchy. I think we’ll all make this again – trying different flavors and ingredients. Sun-dried tomatoes, for sure.
I didn’t realize the original recipe had ham in it.. I would have liked that, even salami would have been good,,, really would have made it a meal. Yours looks lovely, great golden brown crust.
It looks lovely for something whipped up at the last minute! Actually, mine was last minute too (so last minute it hasn’t bee blogged about yet). Funny your coworker mentioned marshmallows – I thought it looked like that too even though I was certain you wouldn’t put them in a savory cheese bread!
The possibilities are endless with this bread/cake you are so right! Goat cheese and sundried tomatoes…. dully noted for implementation next time around!!!
You’re so right that is like a savory pound cake. I used half sun-dried tomatoes too and liked the contrast with the saltier olives. I served it along some gazpacho which worked well. Your loaf looks so wonderfully colorful.
I hope the sundried tomatoes added something more than just “visual interest!”
Yeah, I want to know what you made too! lol. I think I want to do this with ham and sautéed onions. Loaf Lorainne I guess…next time. But really, nothing in my fridge will be safe from this one.
Great looking loaf!
It looks yummy and an ideal recipe to have up one’s sleeve when there’s no bread in the house! 🙂