Me, Julie & Julia

Eggplant parmesan - inside out version. Olive oil and mozzarella, not two sticks of butter!

Call me behind the times.  I just watched Julie & Julia.  An enjoyable story with a few surprisingly moving scenes.  I think its that both Julia and Julie were both such likable people that their ups and downs were very affecting.  I have to admit I cried in the middle of the film when the original editor who brought out “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” for Alfred Knopf canceled her dinner at Julie’s because of the rain.  And that wasn’t the only time!   But it was also a very inspiring story – in parallel for both women.  To see  Julia Child – who we only really know from her TV appearances – get her start against tough odds (Mme Brassard!)  and not knowing anything about French cuisine until rather late in life – well, we saw how driven she was to do something – something.

As for Julie – it was disappointing that Julia Child considered her not serious (or whatever – it wasn’t spelled out) – she was no Julia Child, but the leap she took was to experience Julia by actually doing her book.  And the cookbook is created to do and to teach – but how many owners or borrowers of that cookbook have ever done every recipe?  From the film, one gets the distinct impression that the “Trois Gourmands” and particularly Julia and Simone Beck actually tested every one.  As contrasted with Irma Rombauer.

I learned more than about Julie and Julia from the film.   I also learned that the Kabuki advertises their ticket price as $8.5o but actually charges $10.25 – your receipt explains there is a $1.75 “amenity fee”.  Makes we want to go watch Michael Moore’s new film – in a different theatre!

Finally I learned that my copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” was “borrowed” by a friend now living on the other coast of the country – something she admitted as we discussed the film.  So educational!

Foodyssey

Okay, the headline is an opaque play on “Food Odyssey” so consider yourself ’splained to. It’s time to catch up here.

Before I left for Chillmington last week, Shmoopy and I invited two friends over from Berkeley to dine with us at Mission Street Food on Saturday night. It was “Meat Night” for the ever-changing menu, which this night meant charcuterie as well as good ol’ South Carolina barbeque pork and slaw. So we had all starved our lil ’selves in advance so we could eat as much as we wanted and not have to throw up afterwards.

You know that means the whole affair ended tragically. We had wine at our place first then went over to Lung Shan at 18th and Mission to put our names in. It was maybe 7:15pm, and raining. While I drove around to park, the others went in and found that the wait was said to be at least two hours. And since we had all starved ourselves, what could have been an excuse to wander up and down Mission and Valencia on a Saturday night didn’t sound too good, we decided we had to change plans and eat elsewhere.

Since I had parked nearly back in the Castro and we didn’t want to walk all the way back just yet, we decided to stick with the Mission for dinner. Plus the variety of restaurants is better. So we hiked up 18th and asked at Farina, the new-ish genovese spot. They could only seat the four of us on the sidewalk (too cool that evening) or at the pasta counter. The counter would have been great for two, but four can’t converse. So we continued looking. Regalito was ruled out because someone had already had a lot of Mexican recently. We went back to Valencia and asked at Luna Park, but they couldn’t take us either. We looked at Fritjz’s menu – but nice as it is for breakfast or brunch no one wanted the crepes for dinner.

We ended up at an anonymous Vietnamese joint nearby instead, and ordered way too much. And it was okay but if we had known we couldn’t get into MSF that evening we could have gone to Tao Cafe which is a nice higher-end Vietnamese place on Guerrero.

We did have a fun evening after all the drama, and we got to catch up with our friends. MIssion Street Food – we’ll try you again later!

My Coq au Vin

We had guests over for dinner this past Sunday. Craig runs an Antiques business in San Jose and we have known him for years – his old location on San Carlos Avenue was only blocks from our home in Hanchett Park. His partner Travis lives here in SF, just a few blocks from us. They split time between here and the South Bay. I had talked with Craig about going down to his new place in Campbell, but it transpired that they were going to be here instead so I said we’d have them over for dinner. Which then left me with the conundrum of what to cook.

At least with Craig and Travis I didn’t have to worry about gay food phobias – you know, the ‘I don’t eat fat or anything with sugar or refined carbs’ bunch. Not because they aren’t health conscious, but Travis is a gourmet chef and they are used to the ‘everything in moderation’ approach to meals. When we made the plans the weather was dreary and cool, so I thought I wanted something that would be hearty and would take the edge of the chilly dampness of a Queeristan evening. I love doing casseroles (who doesn’t?) and I searched around for a promising Coq au Vin recipe.

Getting the mis en place

I always check Epicurious as well as Foodnetwork and then do a google to see what else looks interesting. But just between the first two sites I usually end up with at least a dozen alternate recipes to consider. Epicurious often has reviews that can add insight and help me select recipes I will like.

Coq au Vin of course is a classic recipe, so one doesn’t want to fool around too much – unless you’re creating something inspired by but not Coq au Vin. In my search I read enough recipes to get a feel for what ingredients and methods were more or less common at all. What differed most was in the preparation of the mushrooms and pearl onions and the roux. Basically, whether they would be sauteed in butter separately and the roux prepared or alternately whether they would be sauteed in the bacon and chicken drippings. I also had to consider the chicken. Classically the dish is prepared when the rooster gets too old – so the bird is on the skinny side, but tough and in need of slow cooking. Today I can get a free-range bird but it’s still going to be meatier – and especially it will be breast-heavy if I went with a whole chicken (as all the recipes call for). I’ve also been told that even the birds that are ‘free-range’ are not necessarily raised strutting around a pen and pecking for food. They can be raised in cages but the cages are opened a certain amount of time per day. What I’ve heard is that since the birds are used to the cages, they end up not going out for exercise anyway – but they can still be labelled free-range. I opted for a mix of organic bone-in thighs and legs and boneless-skinless thighs, purchased at Whole Foods.

Browning the chiecken parts in batches

I used Emeril Legasse’s recipe as my basis and changed little – basically just not using chicken breasts, only the dark meat parts – and I used a mix of crimini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms rather than just crimini. It was a hit! I served it with lemon parsely green beans, and roasted potatoes.