Pre-Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving is a time of gathering your family close and remembering all that we have and how very blessed we are. And how much we as Americans love to eat.

This year, thanks to my sister running the Philly 1/2 marathon, we decided to gather the family a few days early to gorge ourselves on a non traditional feast of caprese salad, braised beef, carrots, green beans, sweet potato casserole, lush and breads. I figured everyone would be having turkey in a few days time so I didn't want to over do it. Sadly I forgot to take pictures in the rush to get everything to the table.

Normally I tell people to never make something that you've never tried before for a dinner party but I never follow my own rules and this was no exception. Luckily everything turned out well and I know why. Julia Child and Ruth, owner of Ruth's Chris Steak House (actually I'm sure it's not Ruth's recipe but some awesome chef who works or worked there).

Most of what we made was simple. The green beans were steamed and I poured butter over them. The carrots were braised in beef broth.I left the breads and lush to my mother-in-law and my sister.

The major challenge, as is with every meal, was the main course of braised beef.The only reason I didn't miss something was by reading the recipe 4 times. The meat marinated over night in red wine, onion, and spices. The major dilemma was the size. I had 10 lbs of meat to cook. 2 stock pots worked nicely, however my refrigerator was a tad over stuffed the evening before. Julia Child wrote her recipes without much regard for how long things take. Good food takes time, how much times appears to be a mystery. Had I not read the recipe almost obsessively I would have missed how long it takes to brown the meat, and not had the beef on the table in time. Or I might have missed the carrots and onions, which are actually not necessary, and she calls for WAY too much carrot. 2 lbs of carrots is a lot. Even for 20 people. Everything turned out great, the gravy made from the marinade was amazing.

Disclaimer: If you're not confident with your recipe reading and following abilities don't try this at home! Make the recipe once first to make sure you don't miss something. I like to live on the edge a little. And I know I can make Julia's recipes, I understand them; but they're not for the feint of heart.

The real winner of the day had to be the Sweet Potato Casserole. It was like eating dessert made with a vegetable. Really it could be passed off as a dessert.
I can't take any responsibility for this recipe. It was pulled from the internet.

Ruth's Chris Sweet Potato Casserole:

Sweet Potato Mix:
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs (well beaten)
1/4 cup butter melted

Crust ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans preferred)
1/2 cup butter (melted)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs, and butter.
3. Pour misture into a buttered baking dish (I used a 10 inch cast iron skillet)
4. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. While that bakes mix brown sugar, flour, chopped nuts and 1/2 cup butter together.
6. After 30 minutes sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture with the crust mixture
7. Bake for 10 minutes.
8. Allow casserole to set for 30 minutes before serving.

If you want the casserole to be hot you can put it back in the oven right before you put it on the table for a minute or 2, but the cast iron should hold the heat pretty well.

French Cooking

I promised a few months ago when we got married that I would use everything our friends and family gave us for the wedding. I'm doing my best to live up to that and I finally cracked open my Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking" and pulled a recipe, not really at random.

I have a brand new cast iron pot (thanks Mom and Dad!) so I definitely needed to break it in. Since I had some time I figured why not take my cooking up a notch.  Coc au Vin- roughly translated Rooster in Wine. Gosh those French people are creative with their food names. Basically it's chicken cooked in a bottle of wine and some brandy (of course they call for Cognac, expensive French brandy).

While I won't give you the whole recipe here I'll give you the run down, this is more about the experience of working from one of the great masters of the culinary world.

I've decided French cooking has three main ingredients; butter, booze, and fire.

Julia was not afraid of fat or salt so this isn't something you want to try if you have a heart condition. But if you don't dig in, it's delicious. It was like nibbling on a tiny bit of heaven.

Basically you start with bacon and end with butter. Cook the bacon, brown the chicken in the bacon fat, then cover and cook the chicken for 10 minutes. THEN (can you tell this is my favorite part?) you add the cognac and set the whole thing on fire! It burns a bright blue. My husband turned the lights off so we could see when the flames burned out.
Now add the wine (a "full bodied red" like a Chianti or a Beaujolais) chicken stock, tomato paste, garlic thyme and bay leaf. Allow that to cook for about 1/2 hour. While that cooks you saute mushrooms in butter and oil, and saute two onions in butter and oil until they start to brown a little bit, then you add beef stock and cook in the oven for 40 minutes (they turn out amazing). This is actually where I deviated from Julia a little bit. I discovered that my husband does not like pearl onions (luckily before I bought any). I decided to go with a sweet onion instead. The difference is that you never get a full bite of onion which I find can be distracting from the overall meaty deliciousness of the meal.
Finally when the chicken is cooked and the onions and mushrooms are ready remove the chicken from the pot and put it aside. Allow the sauce to come to a boil and reduce until it is approximately 1/2 the original liquid. Create a roux with flour and butter. Mix that into the sauce until it's smooth. Allow it to simmer a minute or two more. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. Now everything is ready, add the chicken back to the pot, also add the mushrooms and onions. Mix and allow the sauce to cover everything.

Now eat!

It really was one of the most delicious meals I have ever eaten. The sauce was velvety smooth and the seasonings were right on. There is no improving Coc Au Vin for me. I'm going to continue to make this meal for my friends and family that come over (wink wink come visit).

What I really took away from this particular preparation is that chicken does not have to be boring, or the star of the meal. The true winner were the onions. They were a sweet, bright tickle in the middle of a very savory and hearty and heart warming meal.

I loved it. My husband gave it the "husband stamp of approval". He actually said "two spoons up".

Julia Child is my hero.