For the Inimitable Julia, With Love, On Her 100th

Yes, I am eighteen.  But I understand the impact that the late great Julia Child has made on food and cooking in general in the U.S.  I watched her show after each Arthur show concluded, and I have to say, I loved her energy.

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a food person who doesn't immediately think of Julia when anyone references the "Chicken Show" (a personal favorite of mine).  And I can't refer to Boef Bourguignon without exclaiming it in Julia's jubilant tone.  Not that I refer to it frequently...usually just when someone mentions Julia.

Things I remember about Julia are just brief snippets, segments from her PBS programs that I watched when I was six.  Learning to make bagels.  Eating avocados with Rick Bayless.  Donning a fireman's helmet and wielding a fire extinguisher at the prospect of good friend and co-host Jacques Pepin flambeing something (it may have been Crepes Suzette).  She had a real enthusiasm when in the kitchen, and it was obviously infectious.  No chef seemed to leave her kitchen without first having a thoroughly good time.

She taught people to get excited about food.  I'm not really sure if the episode with Rick Bayless was actually the first time she ate an avocado.  If it wasn't, she made it seem like it was, sharing her new discoveries about the food with her viewer and her guest.

She made people laugh.  I don't even know if she actually intended to.  Certainly, wearing a fire hat and preparing to extinguish Jacques's crepes was a planned moment of hilarity, and sitting various raw chickens cross-legged (cross-drumsticked?) couldn't have been planned without some chuckling among the production crew.  But her infectious passion led to a cooking show that not only pioneered in its field, but also made the viewers smile.  That voice?  When I hear Julia's name, that's all I can think of.

Julia was more than just a culinary and television pioneer.  She was a woman bold enough to enroll in a high-level class of all men at Le Cordon Bleu.  She made French food "cool," and started her whole culinary journey when she was in her thirties, not slowing down until she was in her eighties.

She was the reason I wanted omelets for breakfast when I stayed overnight at my aunt's house.  And her show is what opened the door for essentially every other cooking show that has aired on American television since.  Without her, there would be no "celebrity chef," no Food Network, and no real knowledge of French cuisine among purported foodies.

For these things I thank her.  She was a woman who took food very seriously, but could also find it in her to laugh at herself.  She never seemed to stop looking for new foods to fuel her passion for food.  And she, in a way, inspired me to love food, cooking, and cooking shows.

I know I cried when I found out she'd passed on.  It just never seemed possible that she could stop living, eating, and enjoying life.  But when you think about it, until her death, she never did.

Her birthday isn't over quite yet in my timezone.  I raise my glass to you, Julia.  You truly were, are, and always will be, the best.

Bon Appetit, Julia.  And Bon Anniversaire.

~AF.

A Tasty Egg Casserole for the Weekend

Now, readers, I may have been slacking off a little lately, but just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I haven't been hard at work gathering material to share with you.

On the weekend, I like to cook.  Actually, I like to cook any time, but especially the weekend.  It shouldn't make a difference since I'm on summer vacation right now, but I digress.

I like to cook on the weekend!  And this weekend, I raided the veggie crisper and came up with something I just had to share.

We've all been there.  The last two or three eggs in the carton are about to pass the "best by" date, and the veggies are nearing the point where you're not quite sure if they should be consumed.  Fear not!  This will solve your problems.

With an array of veggies that complement each other and enough eggs to turn them into a casserole, you too can have a delicious breakfast to share with your mom (and then reheat the next morning for breakfast again, but we'll get to that later!).

Basic Egg Casserole

Ingredients:

•  4-5 mini sweet peppers (or 1 medium-sized red or yellow bell pepper)
• 1/2 medium Vidalia sweet onion
• 3 medium-sized button mushrooms
• ~1/3 c. sweet cherry or grape tomatoes
• 3 large eggs
• 3 Tsp. 2% milk
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/3 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Fresh-cracked black pepper
• Salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Butter (to grease the casserole dish)

Instructions:

1. Prep your veggies:  Chop the onion into a 1/4 inch dice.  Cut the peppers into small strips.  Slice the mushrooms.  Halve or quarter the tomatoes, depending on the size.  If all of your veggies are prepped ahead of time, you won't need to rush back and forth trying to get everything ready for the pan.  Also preheat your oven (or in my case toaster oven) to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a saute pan over medium heat.  Add in the diced onion and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent.
3. Once the onion has had a chance to cook, add in the sliced pepper.  Add just a pinch of salt to draw the moisture out and help it to cook.  (If you want to speed up the cooking process, add a few tablespoons of water to the pan to generate steam and put a lid on it.  Let the veggies steam a few minutes, then let them cook uncovered for a bit to let the water evaporate.)
4. Once the peppers are softened and the onions and peppers are starting to brown just a bit, add in the mushrooms.  After the mushrooms soften and shrink up a little, toss in the tomatoes, stir a bit, and shut off the heat.  You want them to remain plump and juicy in the casserole.  The veggies will rest a while in the pan while you prep the eggs and casserole dish.
5. In a small bowl, crack the three eggs.  Add in the milk, along with a pinch of salt, a few twists of ground pepper, and the dried thyme.  Beat the eggs vigorously with a fork until the yolk and white are well-blended.  (If you want to use more or fewer eggs, it's fine.  You should add as many tablespoons of milk as the number of eggs that you use.  If you use four eggs, use four tablespoons of milk, and so on.)
6. Here's where my recipe differs from most.  Grease the casserole dish with butter.  Put the veggies in the dish first, then sprinkle the cheese on top of them.  Pour the egg mixture over the veggies and cheese, and gently stir until everything is well-dispersed.
7. Place the casserole in the preheated oven.  The eggs will cook at 375 for about 20 minutes.  Stir the whole mix after the 5-minute mark and the 10-minute mark.  This will make the casserole fluffy.  But after that stop mixing.  The casserole develops a nice souffle-like puff as it finishes cooking (thanks to the milk we added, along with some residual water from the veggies).
8. You know it's time to take the casserole out when the middle is set.  You can gently part the eggs in the middle of the dish with a fork and just make sure there's not any liquid egg remaining.
9. Allow the dish to rest for about five minutes after it is removed from the oven.  Tent it with foil (loosely cover it up) so the top stays nice and warm.  You can serve it with some extra cheddar for on top.  Serves 4.

Here's some important stuff to note:

Use milk and not water for a creamier casserole.  Substitute water and it'll be much puffier, but not as smooth.  Plus, I think the milk gives it a nice flavor.

You can use just about any vegetables that go together.  Just remember, aromatics like onions and garlic cook first.  Don't leave garlic by itself in the pan for too long because it'll burn, and burnt garlic tastes yucky.  'Yucky, you say?'  Yes, yucky.  Don't burn it.  Veggies that contain more water take less time to cook and should be added toward the end of cooking so they don't become mush.  And never steam watery veggies.  Never.  They are soggy enough already.  These veggies include mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes.  Greens like spinach and kale can wait to go in until the end.  And peppers and eggs are a match made in heaven.  I recommend using peppers.

Don't use a mild cheese if you're going to bake it in!  The flavor will just disappear into the eggs, and you'll be left panicking and asking yourself if you forgot to add the cheese.  Sharp or extra-sharp cheddar go so well with eggs...use them!

Do not be afraid to add salt.  Say it with me.  Don't be afraid to add salt.  Eggs love salt.  Plus they'll taste like Spackle if you skip the seasoning.  That's Spackle, not spaetzle.  One is a delicious German food, the other is, well, drywall putty.  Not that I know what Spackle tastes like, but I would imagine it would be something like unseasoned eggs.  Get it? Got it? Good.

Thyme is super-traditional with eggs, especially in French cuisine.  And it's tasty.  But you could use any herbs you like with your eggs.  Except maybe mint.  But I'm not a big fan of mint anyway, so use it if you'd like.

Unless you have high cholesterol anyway, please don't be afraid of using eggs.  They contain lots of protein and important nutrients and stuff.  Plus they're much tastier than that fake-egg-in-a-carton stuff.  (I've just used the word "stuff" twice...well, now three times.  The journalist in me is having a temper tantrum...but you're picking up what I'm laying down, right?)

When you go to reheat any leftovers, add a teaspoon of milk to the top of your serving before you microwave or bake it.  This will keep it moist and delicious, instead of making it the consistency of a kitchen sponge.  Preferable?  Yes, indeedy.

Enjoy your breakfast, and try to share it!  Eggs are good for you, but not if you eat the whole casserole.  Plus, your parent/significant other/kid/whoever's eating with you will really appreciate the fact that you cooked for them!  (Because you were cooking for them, right?  Wink, wink?)

Happy Cooking!

~AF

C'est Magnifique: Macaroni Gratin that Wows

Mon Ami Gabi is one of those restaurants with a few locations: one in Vegas, one in Chicago, and one conveniently close to me in Oakbrook, Illinois.  It's a French bistro-style restaurant that has a wide range of items to pick from, a quality that almost guarantees that no one will go without finding something they will love.

I've tried some great stuff there before, from savory crepes filled with chicken stew to a Burger au Poivre, crusted in pepper and served with au jus and green peppercorn aioli.  Anything you order is delicious, and if it's served with pommes frittes (French-style crispy-fried potato strips) it is downright amazing.  They always bring out crusty French baguette with raspberry jam and whipped butter at the start of the meal (pictured right...superb!).

I've been stuck in a rut lately, alternating between the Burger au Poivre and a special that seemed to pop up a lot, a succulent lamb burger.  But on my last visit to the restaurant, I decided to try a dish that has been calling out to me since the first time I stepped inside: Macaroni Gratin.

Now, this ain't your mama's mac 'n' cheese.  Instead of elbow macaroni, they use teeny-tiny shells that really grab onto the luxurious, silky bechamel sauce.  They add crisped, salty cured ham to the mix and top it all off with a substantial layer of Gruyere cheese.  And then they bake it.  Wow, oh, wow.  It is so creamy, so rich, that you're probably only going to polish off a third of it (just a third!) and that's if you're really hungry.  Isn't it pretty?

Readers!  In my haste (and my excitement about my macaroni) I neglected to mention the tasty soup that I tried as a starter.  At Gabi, they present you with a bowl of garnish and pour the soup into the bowl at the table.  The soup I tried during this visit was a mushroom soup.  It wasn't necessarily a cream soup, but it was creamy.  My only complaint about it was the garnish they used. 

Most of the time the garnish is a perfect complement to the soup, like a paprika-scented creme fraiche atop a velvety butternut squash soup.  But the garnish for the mushroom soup was a few pieces of fresh wild mushroom and croutons.  The wild mushroom was entirely raw and completely unseasoned.  It was begging for salt, or maybe even garlic.  And the poor, pitiful little croutons (also painfully underseasoned) were not quite crispy enough, and they became extremely soggy when the soup was poured over them.

Now that the soup is out of the way, I digress.  Let us proceed to dessert!

French desserts are, to put it quite simply, exceptional.  My aunt, my sister, and I tried desserts that weren't necessarily French, but they were rather exceptional.

When it comes to food, we first eat with our eyes.  Presentation is paramount.  The white chocolate bread pudding (below) that my aunt and I shared was plated beautifully, topped with ice cream and caramel sauce.  And the chocolate-pecan tart my sister ate (at right) featured a cannelle of fresh whipped cream and a decorative smear of caramel.

I'll speak first about that tart.  My oh-so-generous sister let me try it, and it was delicious.  The crust was sweet, more like a graham cracker crust, and the pecans were like pralines, embedded in chocolate.  If you have a sweet tooth, then this is the dessert for you, and it's always on the menu.

The bread pudding...OMG.  It's really all I can say.  It was custardy and warm...if it weren't so rich I could have eaten three.  I'm pretty sure it was on special that day, but if you ever see it featured, get it.  You will not have any regrets (just don't ask to see the calorie count).

A Fun Little Bistro, Hidden in Plain Sight

In Wheaton, Illinois, there are many places to eat.  One of my favorites is definitely Suzette's Creperie.  It's unassuming in both location and facade.  You could almost miss seeing it if you weren't looking carefully.  But once you get inside, you feel as though you've been transported to a cafe along the Champs-Elysées.

The restaurant itself is not just small...it's teeny-tiny.  They've managed to cram enough tables into the cramped space that a patron could quite literally rub elbows with his or her neighbor.  But this is one of the things that makes it unique.  It's bustling and serene all at once.

During my last visit to the creperie, I had a butternut squash-apple cider soup, pictured right, topped with a delicate, flower-patterned drizzle of creme fraiche.  It was just sweet. Not cloyingly so, but sweet all the same.  While it was tasty and innovative (cider was a great complement to the squash), I would have loved something more acidic in it than just the cider or the creme. 

My entree was a quiche with goat cheese, spinach, and tomato (shown left.  The crust was flaky and muted in flavor.  It wasn't there so much as a carb-laden star of the dish, but rather as a little something to hold the structure of the quiche together.  And I liked that idea.  When it comes to crust, I am a decided minimalist.

Each entree is served with a small green salad, a mesclun mix with a touch of red onion, dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette.  Believe me, this is probably the tastiest garnish you will ever consume.  Maybe it looks blah...but eat it.  Just stop complaining and eat it.  You'll like it.

The true food epiphany for me occurred at the very end of the meal.  I had heard of French macarons, but had never tried them.  For those who may not know, they are essentially sandwich cookies, usually light wafers with some sort of glaze-like frosting in between.  And as I found out, they are delicious.

Suzette's macarons are not necessarily the most authentic ones in town.  The cookies are a little cakier and chewier than a so-called "proper" macaron.  But this is hardly a pitfall.  It gives them a little more substance. 

The featured flavors were chocolate, pistachio, and raspberry.  The chocolate cookie was most macaron-like in nature; the cookie was almost crumbly, and the frosting was a ganache.  The pistachio was cakey, the filling was fluffy and light, and the flavor was spot on. 

Both were tasty, but my absolute favorite was the raspberry (that's the one with a bite out of it).  The cookie was chewy, and, though I don't know why, this made it totally awesome.  It also allowed the cookie to stand up better to the (hold your applause) raspberry jam that the baker smeared inside, along with the fluffy, creamy, almost marshmallowy frosting.

And so my first bistro post draws to a close.  Enjoy the pictures of pretty food, and check out Suzette's if you're so inclined.  C'est magnifique.