Sorry for the content drought on Amis Are We this past week. Life has kicked into high gear but that's no excuse to leave ya hanging! We will do better, I promise!
What have we been up to? Well lots, but me personally I spent a good 7 hours last Friday night making Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon recipe for a french themed dinner party. It was intense!
See my guy had the boys over to his place for poker on Saturday, so obviously we ladies needed to take advantage of that and have a girly night. After some discussion, we hit on the party being french themed, you know because us ladies love the french stuff, but the boys in our life, yah not so much.
Anyhoodle back to the Beef! Well this was my first Julia Child recipe, and yipes, intense is truly the word to describe it. Just reading the detail of her recipes you see instantly her passion bordering on obsession with food. Every part of the recipe is built to maximize flavour. You pat each cube of beef dry so it sears nicely before braising, while the beef is braising, you cook the mushrooms and onions separately so that they don't fall apart in the stew. (Sidebar: hand peeling the skin off of pearl onions - also intense!)
Although the process did take a long time, there is a reason why Julia's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" is the tour-de-force of cook books - this lady knows her stuff! After resting overnight, the beef was fall apart delicious. Us 9 ladies dug into that pot of beefy goodness with ardour, leaving just a wee ladle full as proof that it was even there.
I was so wrapped up in the cooking and serving (and eating) that I barely remembered to photograph this endeavour. So here it is, the one shot I snapped over the whole process. Luckily Jessy did take more pics, so I'll leave any expanding on the party in her capable hands.
Seen here is the beef, petit pois avec lardons (peas and bacon), and Jessy's accordion potatoes.
Delish!
Hmmmm maybe I should encourage more poker nights :)
xo
Jenny C
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