Cooking with Julia

Yes it is that time again. I cracked open my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Today I decided to make Beurre Blanc or White Butter, which is a hot butter sauce. In the movie Julie & Julia, Julia Child explains beurre blanc to her sister Dort as a creamy, light, frothy... with, with a kind of a fantastic... subtle kind of... (At this point she is lost for words, she cannot find the right word to describe this, as she says, fantastic sauce. This is when her wonderful husband chimes in...) Paul Child: Tangy. It has a tanginess. Julia and Paul were a match made in heaven. A true couple. They are how I picture couples should be.

Anyway back to the sauce. I whipped some up and put it over a filet of salmon and asparagus. It was delicious to say the least and I ate it all up. It definitely had that tanginess to it. *grin*

    For about 1 cup 

    The flavor base
A 6-cup medium-weight, stainless saucepan
2-1/2 Tb white-wine vinegar
2-1/2 Tb dry white wine, vermouth, or lemon juice
1 Tb very finely minced shallots of green onions
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 Tb butter

Boil the liquid, shallots or onions, and seasonings with the butter until reduced to a syrupy consistency - about 1-1/2 tablespoon should remain.

   The butter-Added the classic way
A wire whip
8 ounces (2 sticks) best quality unsalted butter, well chilled, and cut into 16 pieces
Salt, pepper, and lemon juice as needed

Remove saucepan from heat and immediately beat in 2 pieces of chilled butter. As the butter softens and creams in the liquid, beat in another piece. Then set the saucepan over very low heat and, beating constantly, continue adding successive pieces of butter as each previous piece has almost creamed into the sauce. The sauce will be thick and ivory-colored, the consistency of a light hollandaise. Immediately remove from heat as soon as all the butter has been used. Beat in additional seasonings to taste.

There is also an Adding butter - The fast-boil way but I chose to do it the classic way. Maybe next time I will try the fast-boil way.

*Recipe taken right from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Make sure you have all of your ingredients together ahead of time since this is a quick process. 

And yes those are all empty bottles of wine. *wink* What can I say I enjoy wine. I prefer in red: Malbec and in white: Riesling.

Just look at that tender filet of salmon with that wonderful tangy sauce.

A fantastic dinner overall, my glitterites.

xo

*Shine like Glitter*
My beurre blanc turned out a little thinner than I expect it should be.
Probably because I stopped to snap a few pictures here and there.
I need to get a live in photographer.
Yeah right if only.
I also used lemon juice instead of dry white wine or vermouth. I think next time I will try it with one of those.
If you have tried this recipe before and have any tips for me let me know. I would love to hear them.

Oh Julia...

Julia Child once said "People who love to eat are always the best people."

The first time I saw Julie and Julia I fell in love. It was love at first sight. Seriously. I wasn't even through the first half of the movie and I already felt the butterflies. Julia changed the world of cooking and she did it with her quirky, fun self. I love her.

I have since then bought the movie (shocker) and watched it hundred times. I bought My Life in France. And I own Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 

I told you about my trip to the beach on the motorcycle. Well I also told you that I would share the recipe of the dinner that I made for N and I.... that day is today!!

This is my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It is the 50th Anniversary addition. Isn't it beautiful? *wink* 

This is the recipe page (218) Coquilles St. Jacques A La Provencale (Scallops Gratineed with Wine, Garlic and Herbs). Yum.

The recipe seems difficult at first but it is actually easy to make and the end product is quite tasty... I got my father's approval. 

Yes I like to drink beer while I cook *wink* These are most of the ingredients that I used. I am not going to go through step by step since I gave ya'll the recipe. But I will show you some lovely pictures of the process. If there are any questions ask away, let's chat. 

Aren't these a bute? I got them at Lombardi's Seafood Inc. They are located in the Winter Park area. Find the website here.

Yum! Look at those juicy, bubbly deliciousness!!

That is shredded Swiss cheese on top. I apologize for not having a picture of after putting it in the broil. N and I were very hungry after the beach and well we dug right in... Oops.

The scallops were scrumptious. I enjoyed every bit of them. And like I said I got dad's approval as well!

*My Thoughts*

I don't think this is how Julia made them but I am sure the taste was close. I put them over pasta to add more to the dish. 

This is my first dish made from this cook book. I am very impressed with how it turned out. I can't wait to start making more recipes from this book.

I hope you all give it a chance and like I said if you have any questions on it ask away... I will answer them to the best of my ability

xo Kelly