Adventures in Cooking-Crepes

My heart stopped beating for a second as my mind caught up. For a couple of months I had been searching in vain for an affordable crepe pan. Then, out of the blue, I saw it. Not just any crepe pan either. It was electric and about half the price of a standard crepe pan. And that's not all. It was clearance priced!



My inauguration of the most awesomest crepe pan ever occurred at the house of a family friend. Because I am without my Mastering the Art of French Cooking I settled for the generic recipe in the instruction manual. It was quite simple. The crepe pan works like a waffle iron. Coat the pan with the batter. When the little light turns off, the crepe is ready to be removed. The crepes came out perfect ever single time. Fill with sugared strawberries, top with whipped cream, and call it dessert.

While they were absolutely delicious, I will try the Julia Child dessert crepe recipe just as soon as I get custody of my cookbook. Then I will try the dinner crepe recipe with chicken salad. Oh, I can't wait!

Adventures in French Cooking

It was after we had enjoyed my first French cooking endeavor, Boeuf Bourguignon, that Mom declared she expected Chocolate Soufflé for Thanksgiving. She wasn't joking. Mom was so serious about it that she bought a soufflé dish and looked up soufflé recipes and taped an episode of Good Eats about soufflés(very helpful) that we watched together. She even ate a chocolate soufflé at a fancy-pants restaurant nearby so she would know what it was supposed to taste like. She called it research. Suuuure.

This was my first taste of chocolate soufflé but I am a big fan now. It was just so delicious.
We used Julia's recipe with one exception: I substituted hot cocoa for the strong coffee that it called for. We knew from this experience that the coffee flavor comes through too strongly for our discerning palettes.

We didn't get away without learning a couple of lessons. It was a first try after all. It wasn't perfect. We didn't have the right sized soufflé dish because we couldn't find one that was 2-2.5 quarts so we used a 1.5 quart dish which worked alright, but the dish was small enough that it needed extra time to cook in the middle while the outside got a touch too much heat. It made not a bit of difference to the taste. You can see a little of the black edges in this photo.

Isn't she beautiful?

That fancy-pants restaurant I mentioned earlier? We went there a few days later where I sampled the Grand Marnier Soufflé. OMG, Heaven! They serve their soufflés with warm sauce that gets poured over the top and into the center, chocolate for the chocolate and vanilla for the Grand Marnier. I will be doing that next time because Mom already declared that Soufflé is now a family tradition for the holidays. :)

Adventures in French Cooking

I'd like you to meet my culinary BFF. Dude, it rocks! Not only does it rock but it also chops, slices, grates and kneads in just seconds. Gone are the days of chopping and slicing by hand for 20 minutes. This food processor is one of the best Christmas presents I ever asked for.

But it has its limits.

First I shall share the fancy nom français of our meal(Google Translator is oh so helpful):

Bifteck Sauté Bercy
Purée de Pommes de Terre à l'Ail
Tomates Grillées au Four

That's pan-broiled steak with shallot and white wine sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, and whole baked tomatoes.

I started by doing something new; I rewrote the recipes in the style that we modern Americans are used to using, meaning the list of ingredients followed by orderly instructions. As I went along I left out all the parts that weren't necessary, like an entire paragraph describing how to tell when the steaks are cooked to the perfect à point(medium rare). This took about half an hour for all three recipes but it saved me so much frustration as I was cooking. And I was never caught off guard by a sudden "refer back to the master recipe but leave out this and add that." It is the beginning of my collection of Petunia's Semi-Homemade Julia Child Cookbook. Look for it in a book store near you in 2015.

I have made the pan-broiled steak before so it went smoothly but still, here is what I learned this time around: buy a good, thin cut of meat. The sauce may sound awesome but it is mild. It's not like adding salt to your food; it's more like adding parsley. You don't really taste it. And the meat needs to be thin in order to cook all the way through. Either start with a thin cut or pound that baby down. We don't like pink meat so there was a piece of steak that didn't get eaten. :(

And now is where I share the food processor's limits. While making the potatoes I thought I would use the processor with the chopping blade to "mash" the potatoes since I was missing the requisite potato ricer. Bad idea. Do you know what happens when you chop boiled potatoes at turbo speed for a couple of minutes? They become paste, like the kind of paste we all used to taste use in kindergarten. And this paste tends to work its way into all the crevices of the food processor's bowl and blade taking at least three days to clean properly. Needless to say I will be asking of a potato ricer this Christmas. Still the potatoes were good if hard to swallow. Btw, there were 2 heads of garlic in there. Not cloves, heads. The flavor is milder than you would guess but still.

Lastly I made the tomatoes. This was the easiest thing I have made so far and I loved them. Loved. Them. If you are a tomato lover you have to try this. Put a bunch of cherry or grape tomatoes in a baking dish. Sprinkle on a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake at 400* for 10 minutes. They are so hot and juicy. Just make sure your mouth is closed tightly before you bite into them. Tomato seeds stain. (Who knew?)

So I continue on my trek through France by way of MtAoFC. Stay tuned next time when I attempt Chocolate Soufflé for the Thanksgiving Buffet.

Adventures in French Cooking

One of my favorite cooking shows on cable is Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee. She's so pretty and the colors in the background of her kitchen match the mood of whatever she is cooking and she decorates the table so adorably; and best of all, she creates wonderful food by cutting corners without sacrificing flavor. She saves us time by showing us what we should do for ourselves and what can be 'borrowed' from other sources. It's like Martha Steward for real women.

As you know from my previous adventures in French cooking, Julia Child doesn't cook semi-anything. She is down and dirty, food flung all over the kitchen, 3 sinks full of dirty dishes, and hunker down 'cause it's gonna be a long ride. In the end the food is usually really good but I am learning where corners may be cut that would not make any difference to the food. I am going by the advice of first do it the right way, then adjust it to suit your needs.

What I need is for Sandra Lee to come out with a book based on Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

I haven't cooked a full meal in a couple of weeks because of a readathon and a flu followed by a cold but I did try to squeeze in this little dish because asparagus was in sale:

Asperges au Naturel avec Sauce Hollandaise

In case it is not completely obvious, that's boiled asparagus with Hollandaise sauce. I was surprised when I read through the recipe. First, she tells you how to peel the asparagus. I have never peeled an asparagus before. I had no idea it needed to be peeled. But, as I said, first do it the right way. Second, Hollandaise sauce is essentially egg yokes blended with two cups of butter. That's it?

Guess how long it takes to peel two dozen or more thin asparagus? Guess! Forty five minutes!! You can't just use a potato peeler either. I'm grateful that Julia tells us that up front. Once they are peeled and placed in the boiling water I was ready to start the Hollandaise sauce.

The process for the sauce looks something like this: whisk, dribble in melted butter, whisk whisk, dribble, whisk whisk whisk, dribble dribble, whisk some more. Fifteen minutes later I realized that I would be using the electric mixer with the whisk attachment next time. I also realized that my hand had a major cramp going on. French cooking is a contact sport.

So pour the sauce over the boiled spears and there you have it. It tasted just like when I boil my spears and add a big dollop of butter. An hour for this? Oh well. I like asparagus and I like butter. But I will never peel an asparagus again.

Next on the menu:

Râpée Morv Andelle

Gratin of shredded potatoes with ham and eggs and onions. OH EM GEE! This was the best recipe so far. It was easy to make and tasted like heaven in my mouth. Can you see the foamy bubbles around the edge of the dish? That's what butter looks like when it has been baked into a gratin.

Real men may not eat quiche but they DO eat gratin. And they ask for more. You can't tell from the photo but this is a smaller sized casserole dish. It makes about six smallish portions. When we all realized how little gratin there was we almost cried. So I made it again the next week, doubling the recipe and cooking it in a regular sized casserole dish but it didn't turn out as yummy as the first one. I will just have to buy another smaller casserole dish. Yes, I would spend money on another dish just for this gratin. It's worth it.

Hey, I thought of something that Sandra and Julia have in common: they both suggest the appropriate type of alcohol to go with any meal. No wonder I love them both so much.

You can read more of my Adventures in French Cooking here.

Adventures in French Cooking

"Les poissons, les poissons,
How I love les poissons,
Love to chop and to serve little fish."

Actually I hate fish but my family likes it so I eat a couple of bites, mostly for show, every week. Fish is good for you. And I don't want to limit my children's tastes. So I make myself eat fish.

I had hoped that if I went into it with an open mind and a good recipe then I could overcome my aversion to fish. For now I am left hopeless. The meal was:

Potage Parmentier
Filet de Poisson Poches au Vin Blanc
Haricots Verts a l'Anglaise
Bavarois au Chocolat

That would be Leek and Potato Soup, Poached Filet of Sole in White Wine, Buttered Green Beans, and Chocolate Bavarian Cream.

The leek and potato soup was easy(Yay!). It did take an hour but it was mostly simmer time. And it was good after a liberal shower of salt. The fresh baked French bread from the grocery store was absolutely fab with it.

The buttered green beans were excellent. Seriously. I blanched them, which is apparently different than my usual method of not quite boiling them enough so they remain a little crunchy and no one eats them. There was of course a butter bath involved, but that's why we like Julia so much.

And the chocolate cream was very much like the orange cream of two weeks ago but with much more confusing instructions. But we were familiar with the process so we managed fine. The flavoring was coffee and rum instead of orange juice and orange liqueur. It tasted like mocha mousse ice cream, which probably doesn't exist but might be a good idea(Are you paying attention Ben & Jerry? I will expect a commission for sharing my brilliant ideas with you.).

And then there was the fish.

As soon as I opened the package my throat constricted. My throat never un-constricted. It is still constricted and now it hurts. I tried to avoid smelling it but it has a way of permeating everything. And don't try to tell me that fresh fish doesn't stink because you lie. I lived in Seattle once. I walked the fish market. No matter how cool the flying fish were, they still stank. And sole smells like fish wrapped in gym socks.

And then there's the sight(I can see where the backbone used to be). And the feel(like it's trying to swim out of my hands for freedom). I'm getting queasy.

I got the fish washed, dried, seasoned, and poached without puking. I even got it on the table and on my plate. I even took a few bites. Like more than two. Then my gag reflex kicked in. Yeah, no. I couldn't finish. Now I'm left with nausea, a sore throat and a house that smells like sole, which actually tastes like fish wrapped in gym socks.

Hey, you can't win them all. And maybe you, dear reader, like filet of sole. *gag* If you are a fan of fish then you might consider this meal. It was very light and only took an hour(dessert sold separately). Considering the source, that's pretty good.

I'm Twitterpated!

I have some really exciting news to share. At least, it's exciting to me. It's the biggest thing that's ever happened to my blog. I discovered that I was tweeted(twittered? twitted?). I'm a Twit! I know. I'm all aflutter. Aren't you?

It seems that somehow my Adventures in French Cooking post appeared on the monitors of some foodies on Twitter who passed around the link. I don't exactly know what it means but I am elated. I feel like I won a prize of some kind.

I have loved every moment of cooking in the French way and blogging about it. I am fortunate enough to have the time, energy and support of a wonderful set of guinea pigs people(Hi family!). And it seems that you like it too. The feedback I'm getting is encouraging. Your comments are saying "Good for you" and "Keep it up". And I plan to. I won't be making everything in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (calf brains anyone?) but I will be making and trying new foods. Tonight this sea food hater will make and taste(I'll try anyway) filet of sole. I'll also eat a leek for the first time in my life. I cannot wait to share with you my experiences.

BTW, if you are on Twitter I've just joined. Look me up. I'm EducatinPetunia(be sure to drop the G).

And don't forget to stop in at Book Chatter to add your own confession. (OK, so mine is more like self congratulation but it's blog related so I'm legal.)

Adventures in French Cooking

So far my family has been gracious about my adventurous cuisine but you know what they say: Real men don't eat quiche. So when the menu for the week was

Quiche Lorraine
Creme Brulee

I decided to feed my friends who have been keeping up with my cooking plans and have been anxious to try some for themselves.

Well, as you know from here and here, French cooking is a contact sport. It's a tie-your-hair-back, don-an-apron-with-big-pockets, make-a-potty-trip-first kind of activity. In other words, it takes a loooooong time to make. Thankfully it didn't take so long for this meal.

The Creme Brulee was made the night before to give it time to set. Other than the batter bath I gave myself (refer back to the apron tip) it went smoothly. Two cups of creme mixed with eggs and sugar plus homemade caramel brittle for the topping. Délicieux! And nary a blow torch in site. Hear my husband's sigh of relief.

The next day I started early on the pie crust for the quiche. I love pie crust. Especially made with real butter. Julia's recipe called for 3/4 cup butter plus 4 Tbsp. of shortening, which I didn't have so I used butter. :) She even gave me permission to blend it in my food processor. I love you Julia! While the crust was baking I whipped up more eggs and cream for the quiche-y part while my son sizzled some bacon(because I only specialize in the black kind). It wasn't until after I had added the bacon and quiche-y part to the crust and put it back into the oven that I realised that not only did I not prick holes in the bottom of the crust and baked it for 5 more minutes like the recipe said but I also forgot to add an ingredient to the crust. I've never put sugar in pie crust before. How was I supposed to know? I mean besides the fact that it was written in front of me. I figured no one would notice if I didn't tell them.

When the quiche came out of the oven it smelled like heaven and looked like Jupiter. Now I see why it's so important to prick holes in the bottom of the crust. There was a big brown spot where the crust had grown a tumor. I considered putting some silk flowers over it but those things are dirty. Then I considered making more crust cut in a pretty shape to set over it but I was running out of time. Then I decided to love it despite its looks and eat the crusty part myself.

This is the point where I pull out the Creme Brulee. I knew it didn't set right when it slopped over my hand when I took it from the fridge. Hmmm. More like Potage Brulee(potage means soup). Friends arriving in 10 minutes. Just sprinkle on the caramel brittle and set it on the table. Caramel brittle mostly sinks to the bottom. "But," think I, "it will still taste fab. Right?"

Of course it did. After all, this is Julia's recipe. Jupiter quiche is delish and Potage Brulee is still yummy. My friends ate and laughed and agreed to be my guinea pigs again sometime.

So I learned that pie crust doesn't need shortening or sugar but it does need to be pricked and baked a little longer. And I learned that the recipe for Creme Brulee will not yield what one expects but my friends will gladly drink it from a bowl with me. Tres Bon!

Adventures in French Cooking

When I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" I did not think it would lead to something like this. I mean, I don't care to be trendy; I didn't want to be one of the millions of women (and three men) who bought all the books, including the expensive cookbook. I even said after the movie that it wasn't quite enough to make me start cooking a la francé. But here I am. And I'm loving it. Our Sunday dinner consisted of:

Poulet roti
Carottes a la concierge
Champignons a la Grecque
Bavarois a L'Orange

For the French impaired that it roast chicken, casserole of creamed carrots with onion and garlic, and mushrooms a la Grecque(?) followed by orange Bavarian cream.

I prepared for my 1.5 hour estimated cooking excursion by: making a potty trip, washing hands, changing into clothes that may be splattered on, pulling hair out of face, eating a small snack, prereading the directions for all recipes, and removing all jewelry that might get lost in the body cavity while molesting my chicken(So sorry chicky. Julia made me do it). All of this added an extra 1/2 hour to my excursion time but I planned for it so it was okay. We would be eating by 5pm.

Starting with the recipe needing the longest effort, I cleaned, salted and buttered my bird and placed it in the oven. According to direction I have to turn it on each side, then it's back, not to mention basting it every 10 minutes. EVERY 10 MINUTES?! FOR 1.5 HOURS?! Okay, I can handle that.

Doesn't he look all roasty-toasty in there?

Anyway, the bird was easy if high maintenance. On to the next recipe, creamed carrot casserole. This one takes about an hour. AN HOUR?! Okay, deal Petunia. It takes a lot of carrots; 4 1/2 cups of sliced carrots. At this point I whip out my nifty food processor. (Oh food processor, how I do love thee.) Carrots and onions chopped in a mere 2 minutes. So carrots and onions and cream and beef stock are cooking on the stove. In the spare minutes between basting I clean dishes and reread the next recipe. Thank Heavens the mushrooms only take 10 minutes. We'll save those for last, after the chicken is out of the oven.

So the carrots are done and staying warm on the stove, the chicken now comes out of the oven and it's time to start the mushrooms. Wait. I'm referred to a second recipe that takes an additional 10 minutes. That's okay. So I make the Grecque sauce(whatever that is) and then I add the mushrooms. Mushrooms done. Wait. Now I have to boil down the remaining Grecque sauce(what does Grecque mean anyway?). Another 10-15 minutes. Wait. The chicken juices need to be boiled down to make a sort of gravy. Okay. Another 10-15 minutes. It's a good thing I ate that snack earlier.

Finally the food is ready to serve. An hour later than planned but that's okay. Add a salad and a glass of Cab and we're ready to dig in.

Well the chicken just tastes like roast chicken. It still needs salt. And the mushrooms taste like boiled mushrooms. More salt. But the carrots. Heavenly! Seriously, the best of all the recipes I've tried so far. I could eat them for a meal all by themselves.

Now for dessert. I made this on Saturday so it would be completely set. It took about an hour and lots and lots of cream. When turned onto the plate it flopped a little cattywampus but it was still a thing of beauty. And it separated a bite but that added to it's charm. It was kind of like a mousse on the bottom and a custard on the top. The family all adored it. My ego expanded.
Another successful French meal. So far I have not found a recipe that takes less than 30 minutes but that's fine with me. It's the process that I enjoy. It's the learning experience and the experimenting that make me happy. We'll see if that changes when it comes time to make calf brains.

Remember folks: food is not just sustenance. It can be a joy too.

Adventures in French Cooking

I don't know by what kind of magic my mother conjured but my sister and I believed eating artichoke was a treat akin to ice cream for breakfast. It felt like breaking all the rules but with my mother's sanction. Perhaps it was because we got to eat it with huge, mountainous globs of mayonnaise; possibly because we only ate them about once or twice a year when they were in season and ridiculously low priced. I can't explain it. It just is what it is.

In all my years of eating artichoke I've cooked and eaten it the same way, the easy way: steamed in a pressure cooker and eaten with mayo. Until tonight. Tonight's Mastering the Art of French Cooking meal:

Bifteck saute au beurre

Artichauts au naturel avec beurre au citron

Riz naturel

In English that's Pan-broiled steak, artichoke with lemon butter, and white rice. Old arty was cooked in the new-to-me, old fashioned way: boiled for an hour on the stove. In fact, everything I made tonight was from scratch. That's one of the things I love about MtAoFC. It's kind of like reading Moby Dick. Nobody really likes the story, they just read it for the bragging rights. Or maybe that's just me. (Yes, I've read Moby Dick. No, I did not enjoy it. Yes, I brag about it whenever I get the chance.) Except with cooking this way I do enjoy the final results. All the effort is worth it.

The steak cooked up nice. I would recommend a thinner cut of beef if you like your meat cooked through like my family does. The red wine and butter sauce was all the flavoring it needed.

The artichoke was great. I had fun making the lemon butter sauce. But it was too lemony for my pallet. And it just didn't compare to mayo. Nevertheless, I ate like a purist and made all the kids try at least one taste with the lemon butter sauce. Afterward I ate the heart with mayo. Awe, that was good.

The white rice was made on the stove following directions precisely. It was very sticky. Our family hasn't eaten white rice in at least a year, preferring the wholesomeness of brown rice with a little butter. It was a bit of a treat. I made so much that we will use the leftovers to make rice pudding.

I used just about a cup of butter. Anyone who knows me knows that I love butter. Love. It. This much butter is divine, wasteline be damned.

The verdict: it was good. It wasn't so wonderful that we will add it to the monthly recipe rotation but there was very little left for tomorrow's lunch.

Because I consider this an adventure I feel the need to take something away from my experience. I learned a couple of interesting things. The first is that you shouldn't drink wine when eating artichoke. Julia Child advises against it. The wine interferes with the artichoke's "character". The other is that, though I tend to dislike meat, when cooked skillfully it is not just tolerable but satisfying. OK, so I knew that second one already but it is an idea that always hits me fresh whenever I it proves true.

Food is more than just sustenance. It can be a joy. And French cooking the way Julia does it is an art. If you have the time and inclination(and stamina) you should take that copy of MtAoFC off your shelf or coffee table(I know you bought a copy) and try something new. It's rewarding. And you can brag to all your friends.

The Sunday Salon

It's been a few weeks but I'm back to the Sunday Salon. Did you miss me?

Reading
I finished and reviewed Against the Odds, a short story collection by L.M. Montgomery. I am still working through Pay Attention, Say Thank You and House of Sand and Fog. I started reading a cute, funny little book to my kiddos called What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy. Our beloved kitty is named Dickens and I love fairy stories. I'm so glad it has turned out to be such great fun.

Non-Bookish News
Our homeschool has been successfully running for three weeks now. We learned all about Queen Elizabeth I this week. Shakespeare is next week. I'm so excited about reading some Shakespeare to my kiddos. We have also done some science experiments to learn about molecules. Our favorite experiment so far has been putting a balloon over the top of a soda bottle, then shaking it up. The balloon inflates from all the carbon dioxide.


We went on a weekend trip to the coast last weekend, meeting with my daughter's best friend who had moved away recently. We found the biggest sand crab I have ever seen. Usually they are the size of a fingernail. This one was much bigger.


FLYLady
Last time I mentioned my progress Debra asked me how long it took per day to keep up with FLYLady. I work on it a few minutes here and there throughout the day but in total it is probably an hour. The point is to declutter for 15 minutes(or 10 or 5, however much time you have) a day, then set up morning and evening routines. I also like working on the daily missions. I don't bother with shining my sink. I take what works for me and leave the rest. My one complaint is that you get 10-15 emails a day, most of which are called "testimonials" but are really advertisements for FLY shop cleaning supplies. Those get old fast. A lot of people are doubtful but it has really worked for me. I suggest trying it for a month and seeing if it makes a difference for you.

This week we are focusing on the master bedroom. This is where my sewing area is. I haven't sewn in months because this area is the catch all for all my junk. But 15 minutes a day will make a dent in it which is better than nothing.

French Cooking
I broke down and joined hundreds of trendy housewives. I bought Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Then I actually made a recipe from it the very next day. It took 4 1/2 hours but the Boeuf Bourguignon(beef stew with red wine) was sooooo delicious. Is anyone else doing any French cooking?

Une Friandise

Looky looky what I got!

The other book there is a notebook that I will use to chronicle my progress through Child's cook book. I promise to post photos.