Test Recipe: Souffle Aux Epinards (Spinach Souffle) pg. 165

I am having a dinner party on Saturday night for 18, mostly family members. Most of the recipes are from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child. I wanted to test out the "Souffle Aux Epinards" (Spinach Souffle) before including it on Saturday's menu.
I was terrified , of course, because of the whole egg whites deflating thing that threatens to occur in so many of Julia's recipes.
My egg whites were perfect. The recipe was actually pretty simple, as Julia's recipes go. It is also absolutely delicious and is on the menu for my dinner. I will make this recipe often from now on, I think. This recipe is also on the "official" list to make in a couple of weeks.

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is having a dinner party on Saturday night for 18. Most of the recipes are from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child. I wanted to test out the "Souffle Aux Epinards" (Spinach Souffle) before including it on Saturday's menu. It was absolutely delicious and is on the menu for my dinner.

Week 7: September 27-10/3, Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons (Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream), pg. 269 (KPH)

This is the recipe for the week. Being adventurous, maybe a little crazy, and all together at the end of the week, we are going to make this recipe on Saturday night at the farm. This will be for a dinner for 18! We are insane! Stay tuned...

10/18 Sorry. A little behind on my blogging. Dinner was amazing but I do not think I will ever try to do so many Julia dishes for so many people again. At lunch time I made the Potage Parmentier, which was served with "fix your own" Panini sandwiches. For the big dinner we served Supremes de Volaille aux Champions, Gratin Dauphinois, Souffle Aux Epinards, fresh broccoli and cauliflower from my garden, homemade applesause, and homemade rolls. For dessert we served Reine De Saba, Plum Torte, and Peach Pudding. Everything was delicious and seemed to be liked and appreciated. Dishes took forever. I think it ended up being 4 or 5 dishwasher loads and a hand load.

Taste: 5
Ease of Preparation: 3
Presentation: 4
Price: 3
Would I make it again? Yes. But it is a very rich, calorie laden main course.

Bonus Recipe: Tarte Aux Abricots

Connor asked me to make another tart because he loved it and our first one was gone in a day. I wanted to try to make an apricot tarte this time. Since apricots are not in season right now, I used canned apricot halves and drained off the syrup. I made the dough for the crust last night and rolled it out and baked it today. We will have the tart for dinner tonight; it looks delicious! Hope it tastes as good as it looks. I will write more about the taste later! Later: Yup! It is very good. Connor liked the peach tart better, only because he prefers peaches over apricots, but he liked it and I liked it.

Week 6: September 20-26, Biscuits A La Cuiller (Ladyfingers), pg. 667 (MOM)

This is the recipe for this week. I am a little intimidated by Ladyfingers! Stay tuned for a full report! 9/20-Step 2: Went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and bought pastry bags and nozzles to use for the Ladyfingers. I am still intimidated-not by the actual recipe, it is the fussy baking I am concerned with. I will keep you posted!

Kimberley:
I got all of my ingredients out and measured, ready to be used. I whipped the batter together until it formed "the ribbon." Then, I beat the egg whites until they formed soft peaks, added the sugar, beat until it formed stiff peaks. Lastly, you had to fold and combine flour, egg and sugar mixture, and egg white mixture. It had to be folded just enough to be mixed, but not deflate the egg whites. I then pushed it into the disposable pastry bag and made my ladyfingers. I could not find a half inch tip so I had to make two lines of batter. If I were to make ladyfingers again, I would want a larger pastry bag, with a larger tip, and a helper to hold the bag while I put the batter into it. It is a very difficult job by yourself.

In the recipe Julia mentions that if the cookies are under baked, they will be soggy, and over baked they will be hard. So they need to be just right. They actually turned out okay. They are not as pretty as commercial, perfectly sized Ladyfingers, but for a first attempt I am pretty happy with them. I put an apricot glaze in the middle of them. Dad and I tasted a couple of them plain and they are very tasty. Later- I tasted the Ladyfingers with the glaze in the middle and they are totally delicious! Later still -Connor just got home from a Cross Country Invitational and ate two. He thought they were really, really good!

Taste: 5
Ease of Preparation: 4 (fussy, with LOTS of dishes, as usual)
Presentation: 4
Price: 1
Would I make the recipe again? Hmmmmm. Well, they are a lot of work and create a lot of dirty dishes, but they are very good. The recipe does not make very many though and it would be hard to double it because of the whole egg white not deflating problem. My guess is probably not, but who knows!

Week 5 September 13-19, Potage Parmentier (Onion and Potato Soup), pg. 37 (SAR)

Kimberley: (picture on the left)
"Leek and potato soup smells good, tastes good, and is simplicity itself to make." This is what the master, Julia Child, wrote in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Well, she was right. I made this soup last week, on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It was super easy and very delicious. I served it for dinner with a loaf of fresh Italian bread (sorry Julia!) that I got at Tops on sale for 99 cents. A salad or a vegetable would have been good also. I ate the rest of the soup for lunch at work most of that week. You can also add vegetables to the soup which I might do next time I make it, but I wanted to make the original recipe first before I started monkeying around with it.

Taste: 5
Ease of Prep: 1 (SO EASY!)
Presentation: 3-4
Price: 1 (SO CHEAP!)
Would I make it again? Absolutely! I am planning to make it again early this next week so I have it when Dad comes to pick the apples, and I plan to make a double batch of it the first weekend of October for the big family apple picking weekend.

Sar: (picture on the right)

Taste: 5

Easy of prep: 1 (The easiest recipe yet.)

Presentation: 4 (An extra point for the good china.)

Price: 1 (very cheap)

Would I make it again: Yes, definitely

This recipe was very easy. We both thought that it was delicious and had two helpings. I used leeks not onions. Julia suggests cream or butter at the end.

I used half cream and half butter which gave it a nice flavor. Also, I drained the liquid out and mashed the vegetables with a potato masher and then added the liquid

back in before serving. This made them easier to mash.

Bonus Recipe: Gratin Dauphinois (Scalloped Potatoes with Milk, Cheese, and a Pinch of Garlic ), pg. 523

I had potatoes to use up, and I am a big fan of Au Gratin Potatoes so I decided to try this recipe. This recipe was easy to make and is very delicious. I also added a little chopped onion to my recipe. I have now made this recipe twice in the last couple of weeks and I will continue to make it on a regular basis since everyone has loved it and it is quick and simple. Prep time is no more than 15-20 minutes. Hayley took all of the leftover back to school with her in freezer dinners with meatloaf, Gratin Dauphinois, and sweet corn. I will have to make it again soon. One single batch was enough for three meals for Connor and me.

09/27: I have now made this recipe three times. It is a new staple dish. I made it last night and used Cheddar cheese because I was out of Swiss. Still delicious and still easy!

Week 4: September 6-12,Tarte Aux Abricots or Peches (Apricot or Peach Tart), pg. 639 (KPH)

Kimberley: (left picture)
I was nervous to start this week's recipe because of my experience with last week's recipe which was, in my eyes, less than successful. I called Mom in the morning to review the recipe with her and see if she was going to use apricots or peaches. Neither one of us were able to find fresh apricots and peaches are in season, so the decision was made for us.

There are actually three recipes involved in this week's recipe. First you have to make a Pate Brisee Sucree (Sweet Short Paste) on pg. 533. This recipe was pretty confusing because it lists the ingredients for 1 cup ratios, but then the recipe is based on 2/3 cup, and I needed 1 1/2 cups. Fortunately, Dad was around and figured out the new units of measure for us. I made the pastry in the mixer which worked fine and put it in the freezer to cool down for rolling. The first time I tried to roll it out, it was a sticky mess even though I followed the right amount of time in the freezer. I put it back in the freezer for another hour and the second time it rolled out just fine.

Slicing and arranging the peaches went fine, except that the recipe does not state how thick the slices should be. I had to bake the tarte for longer than the recipe said, in order to get syrupy juices. I had to modify the apricot glaze recipe on page 593 because I started with homemade apricot jam, not preserves. My jam would not go through a sieve. My modified recipe seemed to work fine.

For dinner we had grilled pork chops, baked potatoes, and roasted summer squash and zucchini. We had the tarte for dessert. It is half gone. We each had two servings. It is very good. Connor really liked it, especially the crust which he thought tasted more like a cookie. The recipe was a success!

Taste: 5
Ease of preparation: 3 (lots of time in-between steps)
Presentation: 4 (nice looking dessert)
Price: 1-2 (especially with my own fruit)
Would make it again? Yes, I would. It is a very tasty, pretty dessert. I would also like to try an apricot tarte and an apple tarte.

Sar: (Picture on the right)
I enjoyed making the peach tart. As you can see, my crust was not too pretty. Next time, I’ll use the sweet paste amounts for two cups.

That will give me plenty to cover the pie pan and maybe some for cookies. I also used your homemade apricot jam with the recipe as is except for the straining.

Rating:

Taste: 5 - It was better cold than hot, but both were delicious.

Ease of preparation: 3 – It was fun to roll out the dough and it was nice to have a recipe that did not involve whipping egg whites or cream..

Presentation: 2

Price: 1-2

I would definitely make it again and would like to try the apricot version.