K-Rock of the pop rebellion (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} k_rock) wrote,@ 2006-04-03 20:34:00 |
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30 minute meal a la Julia Child
I decided sometime last week that I want to start delving into my cookbook collection a bit more. I have quite a few cookbooks, which I generally use for inspiration, but really a lot of times the meals come from magazines or TV shows (or my head). Recently, a friend gave me a bunch of old cookbooks that someone in her family was getting rid of. There were a couple of the expected Church recipe collections, which aren't bad, just ... well, they all start to seem the same after a while. They are fun to look at though! Overall, though, the collection was quite nice. I got some James Beard, Julia Child, Fannie Farmer -- the classics. This weekend, I tried something out of the French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child.
For some reason, I feel the need to break the flow of this to tell you that I actually already owned this book, and passed the copy found in my friend's collection on.
After quickly glancing through the book, I decided to go with "Veal or Pork Dinner for Four in Half an Hour", which consists of Vichyssoise a la Russe, Saute de Veau (ou de Porc) aux Champignons, Braised Rice, Green Salad, and Poires au Gratin. Julia also recommends a Bordeaux wine, and really, who am I to argue with her? My first thought was, "Ok, so we'll be going with pork" and my second thought was "How in the heck does she make this in 30 minutes?!?!" Well, when looking more closely, I realized that the Vichysoisse (The final s's are pronounced as a 'z', people, do you hear me?) recipe called for canned Vichysoisse. Also the champignons were in fact canned mushrooms. Well, there wasn't going to be any of this canned stuff in my Julia Child dinner, so I decided to skip the a la Russe (canned beets and sour cream) portion of the soup and make the Vichysoisse from scratch the night before, and of course, to use real honest-to-goodness mushrooms. Also, the pear gratin called for 3 stale macaroons. Not having stale macaroons on hand, and loathe to either buy or make macaroons with the intention of letting 3 go stale, I opted for some coconut sprinkled on top instead of the macaroons.
The "braised rice" was basically a risotto with less stirring, and using your average white rice, no arborio. This was very flavorful, which both Andy and I found to mean "quite filling", I think just because of the richness of the flavor.
The pork with mushrooms was really nice. Again, quite simple. A very short ingredient list and a minimal preparation. The sauce was what really brought this up to amazing. It was meant to be a Hollandaise kind of sauce complete with egg yolks, meat juices and 6-8 Tablespoons of butter, but I must admit to only putting in one T. of butter and adding some stock to enhance the amount. Despite the lowering of fat, this was still a very good sauce.
The Vichysoisse was lovely, but then I do like a good Vichysoisse. I sort of made up a recipe based on Julia (she has a recipe in the book, just not for the 30-minute meal) and on the Joy of Cooking. I thought that cooking off the leeks ahead of time would give some nice flavor, which is where I strayed from Julia for the most part.
I really liked the pear gratin for a nice, easy, light dessert. Next time I would probably actually follow the instructions and peel the pears, or I would not use the Ya Pears, or whatever they were, and would go for a Bartlett or something. The pears were glazed with an apricot and wine sauce with a sprinkling of the aforementioned coconut, and a few dots of butter. Excellent in the simplicity.
All in all, a tasty meal. I'm definitely going to keep trying to make some of these and other "classic" meals for a while, to help me sort of ground myself in the traditional methods and flavors. This particular meal was such a hit that Andy and I are planning on inviting a few wine friends over to show how nicely that 2003 La Chenade LaLande de Pomerol goes with this meal.
I decided sometime last week that I want to start delving into my cookbook collection a bit more. I have quite a few cookbooks, which I generally use for inspiration, but really a lot of times the meals come from magazines or TV shows (or my head). Recently, a friend gave me a bunch of old cookbooks that someone in her family was getting rid of. There were a couple of the expected Church recipe collections, which aren't bad, just ... well, they all start to seem the same after a while. They are fun to look at though! Overall, though, the collection was quite nice. I got some James Beard, Julia Child, Fannie Farmer -- the classics. This weekend, I tried something out of the French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child.
For some reason, I feel the need to break the flow of this to tell you that I actually already owned this book, and passed the copy found in my friend's collection on.
After quickly glancing through the book, I decided to go with "Veal or Pork Dinner for Four in Half an Hour", which consists of Vichyssoise a la Russe, Saute de Veau (ou de Porc) aux Champignons, Braised Rice, Green Salad, and Poires au Gratin. Julia also recommends a Bordeaux wine, and really, who am I to argue with her? My first thought was, "Ok, so we'll be going with pork" and my second thought was "How in the heck does she make this in 30 minutes?!?!" Well, when looking more closely, I realized that the Vichysoisse (The final s's are pronounced as a 'z', people, do you hear me?) recipe called for canned Vichysoisse. Also the champignons were in fact canned mushrooms. Well, there wasn't going to be any of this canned stuff in my Julia Child dinner, so I decided to skip the a la Russe (canned beets and sour cream) portion of the soup and make the Vichysoisse from scratch the night before, and of course, to use real honest-to-goodness mushrooms. Also, the pear gratin called for 3 stale macaroons. Not having stale macaroons on hand, and loathe to either buy or make macaroons with the intention of letting 3 go stale, I opted for some coconut sprinkled on top instead of the macaroons.
The "braised rice" was basically a risotto with less stirring, and using your average white rice, no arborio. This was very flavorful, which both Andy and I found to mean "quite filling", I think just because of the richness of the flavor.
The pork with mushrooms was really nice. Again, quite simple. A very short ingredient list and a minimal preparation. The sauce was what really brought this up to amazing. It was meant to be a Hollandaise kind of sauce complete with egg yolks, meat juices and 6-8 Tablespoons of butter, but I must admit to only putting in one T. of butter and adding some stock to enhance the amount. Despite the lowering of fat, this was still a very good sauce.
The Vichysoisse was lovely, but then I do like a good Vichysoisse. I sort of made up a recipe based on Julia (she has a recipe in the book, just not for the 30-minute meal) and on the Joy of Cooking. I thought that cooking off the leeks ahead of time would give some nice flavor, which is where I strayed from Julia for the most part.
I really liked the pear gratin for a nice, easy, light dessert. Next time I would probably actually follow the instructions and peel the pears, or I would not use the Ya Pears, or whatever they were, and would go for a Bartlett or something. The pears were glazed with an apricot and wine sauce with a sprinkling of the aforementioned coconut, and a few dots of butter. Excellent in the simplicity.
All in all, a tasty meal. I'm definitely going to keep trying to make some of these and other "classic" meals for a while, to help me sort of ground myself in the traditional methods and flavors. This particular meal was such a hit that Andy and I are planning on inviting a few wine friends over to show how nicely that 2003 La Chenade LaLande de Pomerol goes with this meal.
