For Christmas Lindy gave me Julie and Julia, wherein Julie Powell decides to prepare (and then blog about) every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (MtAoFC). Everyone knows that Bob is the master chef at our house, but every time Julie Powell describes a recipe, I am inspired to try it. Last night I read about how she made these fabulous omelettes for dinner, and when I woke up this morning, I was itching to make an omelette. Then, I found this vintage video of Julia Child--special bonus! Here she shows correct omeletting technique, and that voice of hers..... Watch it, and see if it doesn't make you want to run to your kitchen, grab two eggs, and go for it.
Next I want to try Oeufs en Cocotte with Sauce au Carie (I'm not sure what it is yet, but it probably involves eggs), mainly because Julie Powell says this is how it makes you feel: "....Oeufs en Cocotte with Sauce au Cari, a cup of coffee, and an enormous glass of water is like a meal fed to you by the veiled daughters of a wandering Bedouin tribe after one of their number comes upon you splayed out in the sands of the endless deserts of Araby, moments from death--it's that good." (Side note: Did you know that ramekins are teeny weeny casserole dishes? You make oeufs en cocotte in them. I thought ramekins were bread.)
And tonight, Bob and I are making potage parmentier, named after the guy who showed France's masses that the "poisonous root" that had been given to him in a German prisoner-of-war camp isn't poison after all. Louis XVI credited Parmentier with saving France from starvation. And we're having bread, too.
Postscript #1: The potage parmentier was fantastic! Next time we're putting asparagus spears in it.
Postscript #2: The omelettes didn't work at all like Julia said they were supposed to. Maybe I need a different pan.
Postscript #3: The coddled oeufs were fabulous, just like Julie Powell predicted. We used brie and chives....ummmm.
YAY! That's funny because reading that book made me think "eech, I can't believe someone would put so much time, energy and money into cooking this gross stuff!" When will you be making an aspic?
ReplyDeleteNooooo aspics.....no no no. I agree with CHRIS!!! (the person who followed Julie's blog and commented using mostly caps and exclamation points). This morning I made baked oeufs with chives, brie and cream. When they came out they were a little underdone, but were still very tasty.
ReplyDeleteEwwww, meat jello? Not cool. My goal is to make a really good homemade hummus. So far, lots of unsuccess.
ReplyDelete