Julia

I did it! I made my first Julia Child recipe last night! Boeuf Bourguignon, which is actually a very famous recipe. It is supposedly the first recipe that the editor of her book made when deciding if it should be published or not. Obviously a hit! Like many people I have always know of Julia Child but never really thought about actually cooking her recipes, as I always thought they would be too complicated or way out of my culinary league. Then came the movie, Julie and Julia, and I was inspired! My sweet husband saw my excitement and went and bought me Julia Child's, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and I was intimidated! Then, as if it were fate a friend of ours brought us a roast and a copy of the recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon as a gift and I felt like there's no time like the present...that was about four weeks ago. So, last week when I went grocery shopping I decided it was time and I got all the fixings. Afterall, what was so hard about Boeuf Bourguignon? It looked so easy in the movie! Well, let me tell you...my mother's kitchen (we're house sitting) is apparently NOT a Hollywood set because my Boeuf Bourguingnon was not so effortless. First, I was TOTALLY unprepared and should have read the recipe all the way through before taking the roast out of the freezer...it's a stew, it takes 3 hours to cook...I should have know that! Then, I was using a knife that would have been safe for a child to use it was so dull, making prep very time consuming! However, things went kind of smoothly. I got the stew into the oven around 7 o'clock and let Greg know dinner would be served promplty at 10! Along with the acknowledgement that my parent's kitchen is not on a Hollywood set, I also acknowledge that I am not a Hollywood actress, because a Hollywood actress would NEVER have done what comes next...The stew is cooked in the oven for three hours "because its heat is more uniform" per Julia herself. I cooked it in the oven for 3 hours, I put on the oven mits and strained the meat and veggies to seperate from the sauce. I set the empty "caserole" (which is just a fancy word for dutch oven or oven safe sauce pan) on the stove and busied myself with mixing the veggies per the recipe. THEN I went back to the "caserole" and picked it up by the metal handle...YES, the metal handle that had just been in the oven for 3 hours @325!!! I am sad to say that I allowed several four letter words fly out of my non Hollywood mouth in my non Hollywood kitchen as my non Hollywood dog Sidney happily licked the floor, wagging her tail, completely unaware of my misfortune. Luckily the "caserole" was mostly empty so not a huge mess. Then, just as I promised Greg, dinner was ready at 10, and it was DELICIOUS!!! What a success!!! I didn't take pictures last night because my hand was on fire, so here are a few from this morning...post cooking!

The "non -Hollywood" kitchen

The aftermath of "Battle Boeuf Bourguignon"...this is only about 1/4 of it too! My husband will be mortified that I'm showing our dirty dishes!!!

The %$*&#*! "caserole" handle...luckily no blisters!

TADA!!! The finished product...I'm not actually sure this is even what it's supposed to look like. But who cares? It was SOOOO YUMMY! Perfect for a cold winter night!

The recipe is pretty long so I may post that another time or try to find a link for those of you wanting to try the recipe! When it comes down to it it's really about 3 recipes in one...Bon Apetite!