Hollandaise Sauce

Made the blender Hollandaise sauce yesterday to top the crab cakes Katie made. Was very yummy.

I've made this before and it's so easy and so good. Can't believe it turns out so very creamy.

Okay, let's catch up!

I made the gnocchi. I don't think I followed the directions exactly because it turned out a little mushy. I will make it again, this time paying more attention to details.

This morning I'm making cheese puffs with leftover chaux paste (that I used for the gnocchi). I'll let you know how it turns out. I think it'll be yummy.

I'm loving this cookbook.

Stay tuned for more. I'm headed to Katie's this Thursday and we'll be cooking more!!!

Chicken Fricasse

Made scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning. The trick is low heat, a teaspoon of butter and cook til just barely done. Heaven.

Just looked thru Julia's cookbook and am going to make an Old Fashioned Chicken Fricasse with white wine cream sauce and vegetables for dinner. Looks yummy. Its basically cut up chicken browned in a little butter, and baked in the oven then add pearl onions and mushrooms and finish the sauce with stock, white wine, and cream.

Wish me luck!

Eggs, Vegetables

Okay, I watched 3 episodes of the French Chef this morning. 2 on eggs and 1 on cooking vegetables the french way. I'm in heaven! Butter rules!

But the good thing about it is that if you use just a teaspoon of butter per serving, it only adds about 35 calories to your serving.

Let's talk eggs first. To make a french style omelet, you only cook the eggs 20 seconds. I've been cooking my eggs way too long! You don't add cream or milk either, only about a teaspoon of water per 2 eggs.

Then I watched her make baked eggs, which I have never seen anyone do before! Easy and it looked so yummy that I made them for Kristie and I this morning for breakfast. I like these eggs so much better than poached eggs because there's no water to contend with and the flavor is so much better. I'll be making this dish over and over now that I know its so easy. (To make baked eggs for a crown, you can use a muffin pan.)

Now let's talk vegetables. She cooked green beans, carrots, spinach and stuffed mushrooms. I had already make the stuffed mushrooms from her cookbook but it was nice to see her do it. The key to the green beans and the spinach is to cook them for 5 minutes in rapidly boiling water - LOTS of boiling water - we're talking about 2 gallons! Then drain them and "refresh" them in cold water. That can be done ahead of time, then simply heat them in a saucepan with a little butter and lemon juice, salt and pepper. for the spinach you can add butter and either stock or cream. Use the spinach as a later to put under fish or eat as is.

Carrots can simply be cut up and put in a small saucepan. The key is to fill the pan only about 1/3 the way up, add a tablespoon of water and some diced shallots. Cover and let cook for about 20 minutes. They're done when all the water evaporates and the carrots are tender. I'll be trying that soon!

This is the most fun I've had learning about food in a long time!

P.S. I'm still counting calories and have lost another 1.5 pounds...even cooking many dishes the Julia Child way! Yay.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Made Julia's stuffed mushrooms tonight. Was very good. Would have been better if my mushrooms had been fresher.

Will definitely make them again.

Oh, and had the hamburgers again. Delicious.

Dover Sole, etc.

Got back home safe and sound on Tuesday and that night...

I poached some Dover Sole Filets in white wine and water tonight, per Julia of course and then used the poaching liquid to make a veloute sauce.

Lovely.

Wednesday night I made the potato and onion dish again but this time with less butter and 1% milk. Guess what? Not nearly as tasty. I'll stick to the cream for this one.

Ordered my fresh turkey for Thanksgiving today too.

Can't wait to eat all day on Turkey day.

Success!

I did it. I made the famous Beef Bourginon dish yesterday. It was delicious. Very tasty. Well worth the effort.

I'm headed back home to my kitchen after spending 3 plus weeks in Sacramento with my daughter and her family, which includes my adorable 2 yr old granddaughter Calla and baby Kinsey who is a month old.

What to make next???

Hamburgers

Oh my gosh! I made the hamburger recipe and it was the BEST HAMBURGER EVER!

I know what you're thinking...a hamburger...come on...you've lost it. But I'm telling you, its truly a gourmet hamburger and so very easy to make.

I'll never make hamburgers the old way again.

And, we had the potato dish again...it's to die for. My new favorite way to make potatoes.

And, dinner tonight was on the table in 45 minutes, from start to finish. Very easy.

I shopped at Corti Brothers today and bought all the ingredients for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's dinner.

Tomorrow? It's Beef Bourginon. One of her famous dishes. Cannot wait!!!!

Great potato dish

Okay, so I recreated the potato and onion dish that I saw Julia Child prepare on the video. It turned out delicious. I sliced a large potato on the grater/slicer and spread it in a pie plate. Then, topped it with 1/2 grated onion. Dotted it with 4 tbls of butter and poured cream and milk halfway up the dish. Baked it at 375 for 30 minutes and it was delicious!

And the whole dish served 4 people which for one potato and half an onion was fantastic.

SWEET.

No chicken tonight

I had great intentions of roasting the chicken tonight but, alas, when I pulled it out of the fridge at the appointed time, I realized I had used all the butter in the house to make the pumpkin halloween cookies with Callamazoo. And there was no time to run to the store.

So, I cut the chicken up and fried it instead. Darn it.

Then, I thought, well I'll make one of Julia Child's potato dishes that I saw on the video. Then I realized it calls for butter too.

So, I opted for mashed potatoes.

What's in store for tomorrow? I don't know, I have to go read the cookbook and find out.

Stay tuned.

Roasting Chicken

I read about chickens today. Interestingly, Julia Child does not have very many recipes for chicken in this particular cookbook. She does talk about how important it is to find chickens that taste good at your local meat market. this does not mean buying mass produced chickens at a regular grocery store. Look for organic and/or free range chickens. 3 pound range is best.

To roast a chicken the french way, you actually turn it from side to side and baste and salt it along the way. The french actually cook it to between 175 and 180 whereas americans usually roast their chickens to 190.

I bought a free range local chicken from Corti Brothers (the local meat market near Katie's) and will be roasting it tomorrow.

Yesterday I made homemade chicken stock for Katie and froze 9 pints of it. I love homemade chicken stock and find that store bought stock now pales in comparison. But you can doctor the store bought stock up if you'd like and she covers that in the cookbook as well.

So, I'm excited to report how the roasting chicken will go (and I will attempt to make one of her potato recipes with it) sometime in the next few days.

Bon Appetit!

I love Julia Child

I read the book Julie & Julia a couple of years ago and it stuck with me. I loved it.

I enjoyed the movie (which I saw with my favorite two daughters, Katie & Kristie) very much as well. I didn't know very much about Julia Child until that movie so I purchased the book written by her titled "My Life in France" which I adore!!!

I want to cook my way thru "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" too! I do, I do!

So, my darling daughter, Katie Jo, bought the cookbook for my upcoming birthday (which I promptly opened early!) and I've been reading it for a couple of weeks, when I can find the time amongst my living in babyland with Kinseybear.

Kinseybear is my new grandson who is now 18 days old! So adorable and so small; a mere 6.5 pounds when he was born. Tiny.

So I decided to start this blog to document my journey. I know its not a new idea but it'll be fun, nonetheless.

In addition, I ordered the Julia Child "French Chef" DVDs she did in the 70s (after writing her cookbook) from a vendor on Ebay and I just rec'd them yesterday.

Katie and I watched the first two episodes this morning. The first was "The Potato Show" and the second "French Onion Soup".

I learned tons!!! Surprising. For example, I learned that if you rub your hands with salt and water it will take the onion smell off your hands. And, you can slice potatoes with the slicer thingy on the hand grater. I learned the correct way to sharpen a knife with a steel. I learned how to make 4 simple potato dishes in no time.

Back to the book. I read the first 36 pages which cover kitchen equipment, ingredients, measures, temperatures, cutting and wine. Onto the recipes!

In her "My Life in France" book, Julia made such a huge deal about her top secret recipe for hollandaise sauce and mayonnaise that I had to skip ahead and try at least one of those first. So I made the hollandaise sauce (the blender version) and it was FANTASTIC! We had the sauce over hard boiled eggs for breakfast. It was rich, creamy, and flavorful.

Today I made French Onion Soup. Katie and Nich had purchased 10 onions from the farmer's market last Sunday and since it was a cold day, soup was perfect. We just got done eating and it was very good.

Will let you know what I'm making tomorrow.

Bon Appetit!