Crepe Suzette

Part 4 of 4 of my daughter’s French Meal for her French Class is of course dessert.  In hindsight I should have made other crepes that do not call for alcohol.  We have children after all and my husband and I found the taste of it overpowering.  But I cannot be certain that it burned off properly.  As it turn out my daughter (14) is actually pretty good at making crepes.  Okay, we started off rough.  The first 15  or so crepes ended up in a discarded heap, but as time went on, they were actual crepes, that we could use.  I doubled the batter knowing that we would likely have difficulty making the crepes (but the recipe is the original amounts).  The batter must be refrigerated at least 2 hours before making the crepes, so plan ahead.

Crepes Fines Sucrees

(Light Crepe Batter as for crepe Suzette)

Adapted from Julia Child (Mastering the Art of French Cooking page 649)

Yield: 10-12 (6 inch) crepes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp rum/orange liqueur/or brandy
• 1 cup flour
• 5 Tbsp melted butter

Instructions:

Place the items in a blender (or do as I did in a bowl and use an immersion blender to combine) and blend.  Use a rubber spatula to push down any flour that is on the sides to form a smooth batter without lumps.  Refrigerate the batter at least 2 hours or longer before making the crepes.

To make the crepes, heat a non stick skillet (or crepe pan if you are lucky enough to have one) and melt some butter in the pan.  Pour about 1/8 cup of batter into the skillet, rotating the skillet to spread into a thin crepe.  Cook until it is golden brown and flip (very very carefully) to cook the other side.  They are tricky to make, but once you get the hang of it, it does become easier. (My daughter made these remember?)

Crepes Suzette

adapted from Julia Child (Mastering the Art of French Cooking page 650)

Serves 6 (3 crepes each)

• 18 prepared crepes

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 oranges, zest removed with a microplane
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup orange juice (without pulp)
• 3 Tbsp orange liqueur

For Chafing dish (I used a foil lasagna pan)

• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup orange liqueur
• 1/3 cup cognac

Instructions:

Combine the sugar, orange zest, softened butter and add the orange juice and orange liqueur.  Stir to combine.  Place them in a chafing dish and allow the butter to melt into an orange sauce (I didn’t have a chafing dish and placed a foil lasagna pan over a low flame on my gas burner.  Dip the prepared crepes into the orange sauce to coat on both sides and then fold them first in half and then in quarters and place to the side of your chafing dish (foil lasagna pan).  For presentation: Sprinkle the arranged crepes with sugar. Pour the alcohol over the crepes and light it on fire (make sure you don’t have anything above it- like a face, hair, microwave… I did this part on my table making sure everyone was standing well away).  While the flame is burning, ladle the sauce over the crepes with a long handled spoon.  For some reason it did not burn as much as we had anticipated and the crepes had a sharp alcoholic taste to them.  If I do make them again, I will stop short of the alcohol and just serve them like that, maybe broil the sugar to get a caramelized look to it.

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NOTES: It was part of my daughter’s French project, we were glad to get it done.  As far as making it again, probably not, but it was a good experience for us.  My daughter now realized she can make herself some pancakes for breakfast – since she has now made crepes!

 

 

 

Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream

Part 3: Main Course:

1. Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream Sauce (Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons- Julia Child)
2. Buttered Green Beans I (Haricots Verts a l’ Anglaise- Julia Child)
3. Scalloped Potatoes with Milk, Cheese, and a pinch of Garlic (Gratin Dauphinois – Julia Child)

We really liked the scalloped potatoes and buttered beans.  I have had more flavorful chicken, but it was not bad.  The sauce was good.  The recipe is pretty involved for the chicken, but it was certainly still in the good category.  Julia Child really explains her recipes well.  The steps are well spelled out.

Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream Sauce

(Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons- adapted from Julia Child – Mastering the Art of French Cooking pg 269)

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 5 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp minced shallots
• 1/4 lb sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 6 chicken breast halves, boneless, skinless
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup whipping cream
• salt and pepper
• Lemon juice as needed
• 2 Tbsp fresh minced parsley

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400- 425 F (I had it at 425 for the potatoes)

For the Chicken:  Heat the butter in a large skillet over moderate heat until it is foaming.  Add the minced shallot and cook for a minute or two, without browning the shallot.  Add the mushrooms and cook stirring from time to time, but not browning the mushrooms.  Season with salt.

Sprinkle the chicken breast halves with lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.  Quickly roll the chicken in the butter and mushrooms.  Butter a piece of waxed paper on one side.  Lay the paper buttered side down onto the chicken breasts.  Cover the skillet with a lid and put in the preheated oven.  After 6 minutes press your finger on the chicken breasts to test if they are done.  (If the chicken is soft to touch it still needs time to cook, if it springs back they are ready).  Remove the chicken to a warm platter and prepare the sauce.

For the sauce:  Pour the beef broth and white wine into the skillet with the mushrooms and butter.  Bring it to boil and reduce the liquid until it is syrupy.  Add the whipping cream and reduce liquid to thicken slightly.  Turn off the heat and taste adjust the seasoning with additional salt and pepper and lemon juice if desired.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with parsley.  Serve while hot.

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Buttered Green Beans I

(Haricots Verts a l’ Anglaise- (adapted from Julia Child Mastering the Art of French Cooking page 444)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

3 lbs hot blanched green beans

salt and pepper, to taste

4 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces

Preparation:

Cook the green beans in a covered saucepan with 1 inch of water, and 1 tsp of salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover.  Steam the green beans for about 10 minutes, or until crisp tender.  Pour off the water.  Heat the beans to evaporate the excess water.  Season with salt and pepper and toss.  Pour into a prepared serving dish.  Dot the green beans with pieces of butter.  Serve while hot.

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Scalloped Potatoes with Milk, Cheese, and a pinch of Garlic

Gratin Dauphinois – (adapted from Julia Child Mastering the Art of French Cooking page 523)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 6-7 cups Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/8″ slices
• 1/2 clove garlic, cut in two
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 4 oz grated Swiss cheese (optional, but if you do omit it increase the butter by 2 Tbsp)
• 1 cup boiling milk

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Peel and slice the potatoes 1/8 inch thick.  Keep them in a bowl of water until you need them to prevent browning.  Drain and dry on paper towels when ready to use.

Rub the bottom and sides of the baking dish with the slices of garlic to give it a little flavor.  Coat the baking dish with butter.  Place 1/2 of the sliced potatoes in a neat layer along the bottom of the baking dish.  Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with 1/2 of the cheese and dot with half the butter.  Repeat with a layer of potatoes, season, sprinkle with cheese and butter.  Pour the boiling milk over the potatoes and bake at 425F for 20-30 minutes.  If they are just underdone, cover with foil and allow them to sit for about 10 minutes while you finish other parts of your meal – or bake them another 5 minutes.

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Leek and Potato Soup

This is Part 2 of a series of 4 for a 4 course French meal that my daughter had to help prepare.  Our soup course: Leek and Potato Soup.  A recipe from Julia Child (adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking page 37-38).

Potage Parmentier

Leek (or Onion) and Potato Soup

adapted from Julia Child Mastering the Art of French Cooking page 37-38

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1 lb peeled potatoes, sliced or diced
• 3 cups thinly sliced leeks, trim away the dark green leaves (or yellow onions)
• 2 quarts water
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 4 Tbsp whipping cream
• 2-3 Tbsp minced parsley or chives

Preparation:

In a large stock pot, combine the leeks and potatoes.  Cover with the water and season with salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer with a lid mostly on, but vented.  Cook for 40-50 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  Mash the vegetables, or use an immersion blender to blend the vegetables and broth.  Just before serving stir in the whipping cream to make it a cream soup.  Garnish with parsley or chives.

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Bonjour

Well, what does a mom do when her (she shall remain unnamed) daughter comes home and says she has to make a 4 Course (French) Meal for a project in her French Class — AND that it is due on Friday… and yes, today is Wednesday and she informed me on Tuesday night….  Now, my daughter has the distinct advantage that mother owns a Julia Child Cookbook and can pull off pranks like this without too much fainting.. but really.. a four course meal?  Yes, of course we did it.. well almost.. we didn’t have time to make the dessert but that will be tomorrow.  I think we did enough for today. Because it was my daughter’s project, she did a lot of the work, but I assisted her.. we are dealing with HOT ovens and burners and sharp knives (new ones at that) -

For the appetizer we made a blue cheese ball with slices of French Baguette. My daughter arranged the bread and cheese ball very nicely I thought!

Well the name of it.. I won’t begin to try to pronounce.. that will be my daughter’s job.  But let me say this: I will be making this appetizer for the next party.  It is easy to make and is very good (if you like blue cheese you will LOVE it!) My son loved it too.  He is 8, but my most adventurous eater. I halved the recipe, because it was just for our family.

Amuse-Gueule Au Roquefort

adapted from Julia Child “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” pg 196 Serves 12 appetizer servings

For the cheese ball:

• 4 oz blue cheese, crumbled (Roquefort if you can find it)
• 3 Tbsp butter, softened
• 2 tsp fresh chopped chives
• 2 tsp finely minced celery
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• dash of Worcestershire sauce

Coating:

• 1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbsp very finely minced parsley

Instructions:

Combine the blue cheese, softened butter.  Add chives, celery, cayenne pepper, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir until well combined.  In a separate bowl, combine the breadcrumbs and minced parsley.  Roll the cheese ball in the bread crumb mixture until it is well coated.  Refrigerate until serving.  Serve with slices of French baguette or crackers.

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Boeuf Bourguignon

Making Julia Child’s recipe of Boeuf Bourguignon has been on my “bucket list” of recipes I wanted to make for a while now.  This past weekend was to hectic to make something this involved, so it fell on a Monday – a very special Monday meal! I made it – and we ate it! YUMM!

A word of warning: It is time consuming, but Julia set the recipe out in simple steps that it is completely doable, even for the cook who has only a little experience.

I got the recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child, Lousisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck) 2009 Printing (no first edition there!)

The best choice of meat to use in this is: Rump Pot Roast, but Chuck Pot Roast (which I used) or Sirloin Tip, Top Round, Bottom Round are also acceptable cuts.

Boeuf Bourguignon (page 315 Mastering the Art of French Cooking)

Serves 6

6 oz chunk of bacon -remove rind and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long) Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water.  Drain and dry.  (I could locate bacon with a rind in my local supermarket, and I skipped directly to the next step because of it)

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Saute the bacon in 1 Tbsp cooking oil in a large enameled cast iron pot (I love my 6 1/2 quart Le Creuset it is perfect for this dish) for 2-3 minutes to brown lightly.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon to a large bowl.

Dry the beef (3 lbs stewing beef cut into 2 inch cubes) with paper towels.  This improves the browning of the beef.  Bring the bacon fat up to almost a smoking point and brown the meat in batches so it can get a nice crusty sear on them, turning them from time to time to brown another side.  Remove the meat cubes and add to the bacon and repeat with remaining beef.

Once the meat is browned, brown the vegetables (1 sliced carrot - I love carrots I used 3 medium ones; 1 sliced onion).  Pour off the bacon grease (mine did not have any grease after browning the vegetables.

Return the browned beef and bacon to the pot.  Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and toss to coat. Then sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons of flour and toss to coat again.  Place the uncovered pot in the middle of your preheated oven and cook for 4 minutes.  Remove, stir again and cook in oven another 4 minutes.  Remove from oven and reduce oven to 325F.

Stir in 3 cups full bodied red wine (Bordeaux, Burgundy or Chianti- I used Chianti). Add enough beef stock or beef bouillon to cover the meat (2-3 cups depending on your pot).  Stir in 1 Tablespoon tomato paste, 2 mashed garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, a crumbled bay leaf and blanched bacon rind (if you had one).  Bring to a simmer (just below a boil) on the stove top and then cover with the lid and place in the oven.  Allow to braise 2 1/2-3 hours. I had to take my kids to piano lessons at this point and it was to finish during lessons, so since hubby was home I set the timer and directed him to just turn off the oven at the specified time and let it sit for the time that I was gone.  By the time I returned home it was closer to 4 hours but since it didn’t have the heat going it was just fine and not dried out.

18-24 baby onions braised in stock (pg 483): (this is to be prepared while the meat is braising, but I did it ahead of time and put them in the fridge and then added them in the end.  Turned out fine.  Same with the mushroom preparation) RECIPE:

18-24 peeled white onions (1 inch in diameter)

1 1/2 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 Tbsp oil

When the butter and oil are bubbling in the skillet, add the onions and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning the onions carefully so as not to damage their skins and allow them to brown.  Remove the onions to a small baking dish and add 1/2 cup of beef stock to the dish and a few springs of parsley, and thyme.  Roast them in the  350F oven for 40-50 minutes until tender but retain their shape, turning them once or twice.  Remove the herbs.

1 lb quartered fresh mushrooms sauteed in butter (pg 513):

Recipe:

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp oil

1 lb fresh, clean, dry mushrooms (halved or quartered depending on size)

Place skillet on high heat with the butter and oil.  As soon as you see the butter foam has begun to subside and the mushrooms in smaller batches (if they are crowded they will not brown).  Toss and shake the pan for 4-5 minutes until the mushrooms begin to brown and remove them immediately to a separate dish.  Repeat with remaining mushrooms.

When the beef is tender remove to a large bowl.  Pour the juices into a sieve over a bowl to capture the juices.  Wash out your dutch oven and return the meat and bacon to it.  Distribute your prepared baby onions and cooked mushrooms over the meat.

Skim off the fat from the reserved juices.  Simmer the sauce in a pan and skim remaining fat as it rises.  You should have 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon.  Taste carefully for seasoning and add salt if necessary.  I didn’t have to it was great!  Serve with boiled potatoes, cooked pasta or steamed rice.

My entire family enjoyed this dish.  Yes, it was time consuming, but Julia was a genius!  Thank you Julia for giving us servant less cooks something to work with!

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