How’s it possible we’ve been together all these years and NOT done a tribute to the great Julia Child? Cindi organized a menu based on Julia-style French cooking (the art of…), and told us to wear our pearls, too.
Another food blogger, Jacqueline Pham, provided the recipes for some of us, and others used Julia books on hand (and online elsewhere) for a 4-course meal that was definitely très élégant. And yes, Jacqueline, we were indeed rassasiés by the time we were done!
Le Menu:
Canapés au camembert, by Amy
French Onion Soup, by Pamm
Boeuf Bourguignon, by Cindi
Carrotes Vichy, by Keri
Haricot Verts with edible blossoms, by Mary
Reine de Saba (Queen of Sheba) Chocolate Cake, by Wendy
Amy made a homemade crust for the canapes instead of the puff pastry crusts, which worked great.
The Onion Soup, as Pamm made it, could easily be a complete family meal, paired with a greens salad. Very hearty, healthy.
The beef was fall-apart-in-your-mouth tender and delicious, though Cindi says if she made this again she would probably simplify the recipe, and not bother with all the de-boning. We missed potatoes. Definitely serve some potatoes with this. Keri reports cooking her carrotes only 25 minutes instead of 40, as called for, in seltzer water, rather than vichy water.
Note the stick of butter as the take-home gift! Click picture for all the pictures from Julia night
They were the perfect state of tenderness — as were Mary’s haricot verts. Both are intense in color, just the way a vegetable should be. On the cake, Wendy reports that the sides raised higher than the middle (the middle of the cake is supposed to stay somewhat wet), so when you invert the cake, the sides can crack away from the center and cause the cake to fall apart (which it did!). But the chocolate icing covers a multitude of sins, so as Julia would say, “doesn’t matter — not to worry!” We all agreed the taste was fantastic.
