Goodbye Earl

One of my sisters was up visiting for the weekend. I had planned on making her a special dinner on Saturday night, and she had mentioned inviting one of my friends over for the occasion.

I made (with the assistance of the other two) Coq au Vin. Or Chicken in Wine. For all of you who are wondering if you can make this dish for anyone younger than the legal drinking age, the alcohol evaporates when the wine is boiled.

Of course I used Julia Child's recipe. I didn't buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking so it could sit on my shelf, unused. She said at the beginning of the recipe that nearly any wine could be used, but the French use red. I used the same GratoNegro Cabernet Sauvignon I used in the Beef Bourguignon. As well I used bacon strips, not a bacon chunk. Overall it was a tasty dish. However, the next time I would go the non-French way and make it with a Riesling (Coq au Riesling).

The recipe can be found: http://www.recipezaar.com/Coq-Au-Vin-by-Julia-Child-98589

While most grocery stores might sell a whole, cut-up, chicken, I bought the whole chicken and cut it myself. My friend commented that by the end of the cookbook I'll be able to do anything. The butchering of the raw chicken was not as easy as the lobster murder. That was quick. The chicken requires joints to be popped out, and the cutting of bones. Sick. In one of the pictures you can see chicken blood on my finger.

(the finished product)

A long time ago, years in fact, my sister bought me a brulee set which included a kitchen torch. I had never used the kitchen torch, mainly because I couldn't figure out how to work it. My friend showed me how this weekend (THANK YOU) and now I can brulee. Which is great since creme brulee is my favorite dessert of all time.

MtAoFC says to make a Creme Brulee, you first make a creme anglaise.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=_8wKzhk70o8C&pg=PA588&lpg=PA588&dq=julia+child

After the creme anglaise was made (in my stand mixer), it became apparent was a cream sauce, not a custard like I had thought it would be. I still bruleed it, and it was very delicious.

(my prized possession, the stand mixer by KitchenAid)

Some Kinda Wonderful

Tonight was my only night this week cooking from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This is bittersweet, as the food tastes amazing, but my heart can't take much more. Or my pants for that matter.
I had decided to make Bifteck Saute Marchand de Vins, or Pan-Broiled Steak with Red Wine Sauce. To go with the steak I was going to make sauteed mushrooms and rice. (Crazy enough, MtAoFC contains recipes for rice).
I realized this was low in vegetable content. So to go with my very French meal I made Greek Salad. In honor of me renting and currently watching My Life in Ruins. (And if anyone has seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you might remember this hilarious part "He don't eat no meat? It's ok... I make lamb")

Ok.. Greek Salad. Easy as can be. Cut up a cucumber, a red pepper, a tomato (I used Roma), half a red onion, and a garlic clove. Add some dried basil, extra virgin olive oil, and the juice of half to a whole lemon. And some salt and pepper. You could toss in some olives too, but I don't because I hate them. (Sorry Grandma... strongly dislike them). Of course, no Greek Salad would be complete without feta cheese. And a lot of it. Let this all sit for about a half hour so all the veggies and cheese really pick up the flavor of the lemon and basil.


The steak... I love love love New York Strips. I look for the ones with fat along the side, but not so much in the middle, it's easy then to cut the fat off, and you get a lot of tasty meat. In a skillet, heat up a bit of butter and some oil. The butter is for taste, the oil is to keep it from burning too quick.
For medium rare, which is the correct way to have a steak, saute each side for 3 minutes. NEVER EVER flip the steak too soon. When it hits the hot pan the meat sticks to it, until it caramelizes a little bit and lifts off the pan.
When the 6 minutes are up, remove the steak and place it under foil for 5 minutes so it can rest. Do yourself a favor people, when you cook meat let it REST. If you cut into it right away, all the juices will run out. Let it rest, and the juices redistribute themselves into the meat.

Now drain the fat out of the pan, and add some butter to it. Saute a minced shallot, and then add half a cup of wine. I used red, but you can use white. Let it reduce until it's thick and syrupy. Remove from heat and stir in about 4 tablespoons of butter. Not all at once... add them in small pats.

Earlier on today I wasn't really feeling the rice. Or potatoes, it having been Thanksgiving and all. Since I was making everything with butter already... ravioli with a brown butter and sage sauce it was. However, I do not live near a magical grocery store. Like the ones on TV. Where you can go to a store and get any kind of pasta, or fresh seafood, or hard to find produce. So instead of ravioli I bought tortellini. And instead of remembering to buy sage, I forgot it.
Brown butter sauce is really easy. You melt butter in a pan. Until it turns brown. Hard I know. However, once it turns a golden to amber brown it needs to be removed from the heat. You do not want black butter sauce. Gross.
My favorite part about tonight's meal was the mushrooms. Ok that's not true... my favorite part was the steak. There is nothing better in this world, than a hunk of red meat.
Back to the mushrooms. Up until a week ago I hated mushrooms. I had even tried them three times.
I have a rule, in which everything must be tried three times as it just might have been the preparation that you didn't like, not the actual ingredient.
The trick to making these amazing mushrooms is to get the butter in the pan very hot. The butter is hot when it melts, foams, and the foam subsides a bit. Then place the quartered mushrooms in the hot butter. DO NOT CROWD THE MUSHROOMS! If they are crowded they sweat and steam and become disgusting chewy gross things. If they have room to breathe, they will brown and caramelize and the texture is amazing.
Plus since mushrooms absorb everything they taste like meaty butter. So good.

I tossed the mushrooms into the brown butter for the pasta and mixed it in with the pasta. Then I served the steak with the wine sauce on top.

Now I apologize for my terrible picture taking. Please believe that the food tasted really really
good, and it appears that I have to practice making it look more appetizing in photos...

So Amazing

Last night I made the best Beef Bourguignon I have ever made. I was inspired by Julie & Julia (the book and the movie) to buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In the movie it’s referred to as Julia’s Beef Bourguignon. I was skeptical at first. I mean, really, can it be THAT much better than any other BB recipe?
It can. The recipe can be found here:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Boeuf-Bourguignon-a-La-Julia-Child-148007

This is what I did a bit differently. I used 7 slices of bacon, rather than the chunk bacon. I also browned the bacon, not just for 2 or 3 minutes. That gave off enough fat that I didn’t need oil to brown the meat.
My grocery store also didn’t have pearl onions, fresh or frozen. And I hate using canned veggies. So there was no pearl onions in mine.
The finished product was AMAZING. (I served it on top of buttered egg noddles) I have made good beef stews, and I have made good BBs before. This took the cake. It was heaven on a plate. I don’t even like mushrooms, but even the mushrooms were tasty buttery morsels.




Now I know some people might think after a meal this good, who needs dessert? I do.
I followed the BB with Baked Alaska. I have never even tasted Baked Alaska before, but I decided to make it. The recipe (courtesy of Everyday Food). Actually I need to stop here for a moment. Anybody who enjoys cooking, or wants to be a better cook, or is tired of cooking the same thing week in and week out, should start buying the Everyday Food magazine. Every recipe is simple, with easy to find ingredients, and the outcome is always delicious. I haven’t missed an issue since I bought my first one 3 years ago.

Individual Baked Alaska… This is not the official recipe.. this is the recipe in my words
You need: 3 egg whites, pinch of salt, half a cup of sugar, 4 slices of pound cake, and ice cream
1) cut the slices of pound cake so they fit into four ramekins. (I used Angel Food Cake since I couldn’t find pound cake)
2) scoop about half a cup of ice cream on top of the cake.
3) beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until it forms soft peaks
4) gradually add the sugar and beat until it’s glossy and forms stiff peaks
5) top the ice cream with the meringue, and set in the freezer for at least one hour. (up to 1 day)
6) preheat oven to 450 F. Remove the ramekins from the freezer and place on a baking sheet. Let stand for 10 minutes.
7) place the baking sheet in the oven for 2-4 minutes, until the meringue is lightly browned. (mine took 2 minutes)





Also very very good. The meal was wonderful. I had excellent company, whose mom had recommended the wine used in the BB, a red Chilean wine by GratoNegro.