So last night I made Quiche Lorraine using the recipe in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". The in-laws were over for dinner because we were celebrating my mother-in-law's birthday. I made two but cheated in that I bought pre-made, frozen crusts rather than making them from scratch.
Anyway, I think they came out beautifully though it took a little longer than the 25-30 minutes Julia had in the recipe. I dunno if it was because I did two at a time or what. Also, I would not only brown the bacon but next time I'll make the pieces much smaller.
I served up the dinner to everyone and then father-in-law asked for two slices of bread. Turns out that anytime he has eggs, or something made of eggs, it goes onto bread and he makes a sandwich out of it.
A sandwich...out of quiche lorraine...
Anyway, it was really good and because they rose a little bit over the edges of the crust we didn't have to ingest all of the butter that was put on the top of each one before cooking. The extra butter ended up pooling on the cookie sheet that I had the foresight of putting under the pie pans.
Oh, that solves the time mystery, doesn't it? You're supposed to put the pie tins directly on the rack and I had them on a cookie sheet. But, if I had put them on the rack we would have enjoyed a very smokey kitchen as the butter overflowed and landed on the electric element!
I made Thon à la provençale for dinner last night. That is Tuna steaks with wine, tomatoes, and herbs.
First of all, getting the skin off of the tomatoes was a snap using Julia's method: ten seconds in boiling water and then the skin peeled right off.
It was a tasty meal though I think that the tuna was WAY overdone. I had to pan sear it to brown both sides and it was ready to eat then. However, the recipe called for it to be placed in an enameled pot, heated at 350 for 15 minutes with the tomato mixture on top, added some white wine, and then cooked for another 30 minutes! The plus side is that the sauce was so good that it didn't really matter that the tuna was a bit on the dry side.
Julia suggested that it would go well with potatoes and green beans and she was correct. I found some small potatoes that I cooked in the microwave and then blanched some fresh green beans before adding some butter and heating until the butter was melted.
The only frustrating thing for me is typing in the title of these dishes in French. I end up googling the name and then doing a copy/paste. I'm sure there's an easier way but I'm too lazy to figure it out I guess.
I took three largish russet potatoes and 'baked' them in the microwave. I at first thought I'd cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides but the skins were too thin for that so I just chopped them up into small pieces.
I put the potatoes in a bowl and added an avocado, chopped up broccoli, 3 tbs of butter, a handful of chopped up green onions, 4 cloves of garlic minced, some shredded Mexican blend cheese, and some mozzarella. I mixed this all together with a fork and then spooned the mixture onto tin foil packets to place on the grill.
The potatoes tasted awesome but doing them on the grill was a bad idea. They got crusty against the foil and that was impossible to scrape off so it was wasted. Next time it would be in one packet or done on the cooktop or stove.
I made Concombres Au Beurre as found described in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and made them à la Crème. It is summer, in August, in South Carolina so having the over on 375 for over an hour probably wasn't the best idea but since we have central air conditioning I figured, why not?
I also served grilled chicken, grilled vegetables (vidalia onion, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes) and served up some store-bought macaroni salad since Next To Youngest Son is not a big meat fan.
PW thought the Concombres dish was the best vegetable dish she's ever had and I feel suitable flattered!
I'm already bookmarking recipes that catch my fancy and that I can make without having to by any cookware, utensils, or fancy ingredients.
I made tomates grillés au four last night to go with our dinner of grilled chicken, watermelon, and potato salad. It was ridiculously easy to make and tasted awesome.
I want to buy some local, fresh tomatoes and try it again since one of the last steps was to baste the them with the juices in the pan. There weren't any juices in the pan from the store-bought tomatoes so it is time to try fresh.
We've moved and you would not believe the drama that ensued. My oldest youngest sister says that she "loves those boys to death" but has decided that she won't acknowledge their birthdays.
She said that she doesn't want to be the 'faceless aunt' that sends cards and the boys don't know who she is. I guess the irony of the situation escapes her, that she had relatives during her childhood that did such a thing for her. Aunts and grandparents that lived in NH while we lived in PA and then the reverse when we moved to NH and left the PA relatives behind.
Essentially, she's decided that this is all about her and what the boys want or need doesn't matter. She's mad at us for moving and has decided to take it out on them. She predicted that we'll be back in a year (right!) and if that was the case wouldn't she want to keep the lines of communication open?
She's 45 going on 5 in my opinion.
PW and I went to see "Julie and Julia" the other night and I loved it. PW liked it, but I LOVED it.
I have Julia Child's cookbook and I've looked at a couple of recipes but haven't spent the time and effort to do much but try making an omelette the way that she describes how to do it.
What can I do that I can record in my blog, that people will read, and will result in multiple book deals and ultimately a movie deal?
One thing I've mentioned before when talking about having a blog is that I often don't remember the events described in it until I take the time to look back and read. That really wasn't the case when I reviewed this time in August over the last five years but it still made for interesting reading.
8/17/04 - I was taking and teaching karate classes. My main concern was learning a new Sai kata.
8/18/05 - Oldest Son had been gone for a year, oldest daughter was getting ready to move into UNH and the youngest two daughters were teenagers. I was actually pondering an empty nest.
8/17/06 - I had taken a picture of a hydrangea and noticed afterward that there was a hornet looking at the camera from behind one of the petals. I had lost Mary a few months before and was trying to find ways to stay busy and not depressed.
8/22/07 - I've met and married Michele and I'm incredibly happy. I found love when I thought I was past the age of it happening with an incredibly beautiful, kind, and all-around wonderful person. She's the love of my life and soul mate. What I'm pondering at this point is her 'wicked awesome ass' after having had shoulder surgery. I'm on pain medication and it turns out that text went to one of my daughter's phones instead of Michele's. Oops!
8/29/08 - And now here I am a new dad! I'm pondering how amazing our new baby is and describing the good recovery that Michele had after the delivery. Karate to fatherhood...quite a journey.