Gateau de Crepes a la Florentine

Translation: Mound of French Pancakes Filled with Cream Cheese, Spinach, and Mushrooms

The first thing I did upon opening Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking on Christmas day was flip to the chapter marked Crepes. I had enjoyed these delicious French pancakes many times at The Flat on The Downtown Mall, and I was eager to try them for my self. A few months later on my birthday, my mom got me an official crepe pan. Ever since then, I have been experimenting will all sorts of dessert crepe fillings. However, this is one of the first times that I have tried making dinner crepes. Although more challenging, they proved to be delicious! This recipe consists of three components: a spinach filling, a cheese sauce, and a mushroom-cheese filling.

The Crepe Batter 

The batter consists of water, milk, four eggs, salt, flour, and melted butter. I just used a blender to mix the ingredients because it saves dishes and it makes it easier to mix. After the ingredients were mixed, I put it in the refrigerator for about an hour (or just while I was making the fillings).

Cheese Sauce: Step 1

In a sauce pan, I melted butter in with flour, forming an interesting consistency.

Cheese Sauce: Step 2 

After the Butter and flour were fully combined, I added the rest of the ingredients: Milk, nutmeg, whipping cream, swiss cheese, and salt and pepper. The mixture was rather thick and flavorful.

The Spinach Filling 

For the spinach filling, I started by sautéing minced shallots, spinach, and salt in butter . After the spinach had wilted, I added a few spoonfuls of the cheese sauce.

Mushroom-Cheese Filling 

The mushroom-cheese filling consisted of cream cheese, an egg, minced shallots, butter, oil, minced mushrooms, salt, pepper, and some of the cheese mixture. First, I beat the cream cheese in with the egg, salt, and pepper. Once this was smooth, I added the rest of the ingredients.

Crepe making: Step 1

The first thing to do was to coat the bottom of the pan with a substantial amount of butter, and let it heat until a stream of smoke ascended from the surface of the iron into the emptiness of the room, vanishing. After this, using a ladle, I added a somewhat generous amount of batter, immediately tilting the pan in every direction in order to facilitate an even distribution. Very carefully, I flipped the thin pancake (failing many times), repeating this process until the batter was no more.

Crepe making: Step 2 

Once the Crepe lay flat on a plate, I started forming them into their final product. I began with the mushroom-cheese sauce, evenly spreading it onto the right side. After that, I added a little of the cheese sauce, and finally, the spinach.

Finished Product 

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I chose this recipe. Most of the crepes that I'd had in the past were sweet. However, these were, without a doubt, absolutely exquisite! The three flavors, although very different, form this unity that is indescribable. Yet, at the same time, each flavor is very prominently displayed. The cheese sauce (present in all three fillings) unifies the components of this impeccable creation. I definitely recommend this recipe to anyone looking for both a delicious meal, and a bit of a challenge.

Sauté De Boef Á La Parisienne

Translation: Beef Sauté with Cream and Mushroom sauce.
In other words exquisite; this recipe marks the first in my study of European cuisine and I have to say, it puts things to a good start. Julia Child recommends serving the dish with steamed rice or potato balls sautéed in butter, but instead I served it with egg noodles.

Ingredients 

The Ingredients for this recipe were pretty basic, I could find everything that I needed at Whole Foods. However since the meat is cooked very rare, she suggests buying two and a half pounds of fillet mignon. Instead of paying $75 for it, we bought one fillet mignon (probably about half a pound) and the rest was a less expensive (still very high quality) steak.

Mushrooms and Shallots

The first step is to prepare a mushroom and shallot sauté, seasoned with salt and pepper.

Mushrooms and Shallots 

Once the butter and oil were melted, and the foam was gone, I added the mushrooms. Once they began to have good color, I added the shallots and cooked for a minute longer. After they were seasoned, I put them on a side dish.

Preparing the Beef 

I started by removing the outside fat, and then I cut the beef in to 2 by 1/2 inch pieces. After that I patted them dry with paper towels then began heating the oil and butter.

Cooking the Beef 

The beef is supposed to be very rare, so it was cooked at high heat for only a couple minutes on each side. I had never cooked meat like this before, and the process was very stressful. At first it was hard to keep it from being over cooked, but with a few trials and about a million grease burns, I was able to get it right.

Cooked 

The Sauce

The Sauce was very simple yet delicious. Beef stock was added to the same pan that the beef cooked in before so that it could intake the drippings from the meat. I waited for the stock to boil down, and then added the cream. After that I added a cream and cornstarch mixture and then a dry wine, and let it all simmer for about a minute.

Incorporated

After the sauce was ready, I removed it from the heat and added the beef and mushrooms.

Finished Product

The meal was wonderful, the sauce complemented the meat and mushrooms well, and the taste of wine was very prominent. The sauce was creamy while the meat was tender and rare. I garnished it with fresh parsley and seasoned as needed. I recommend this recipe to anyone in the mood for an exquisite French dish.

France

A few years ago, I got Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child for Christmas. Over time I have been looking through and trying out different recipes (the crepes are amazing). I have not gone into nearly as much depth as I would have liked to, and that is why I am choosing this to be my first county in my European cuisine study.

Europe

I want to start with apologizing for not posting for several months. As I moved deeper into my exploration of Asian cuisine, the ingredients started to become harder and harder to find. Over time I drifted away from the blog and for that I feel the most sincere regret. I have decided to put a pause on my Asian cooking endeavors for now and move on to Europe. I have always been fascinated by the vast cultural differences that exist in a land mass that is a fraction of the size of Asia. Ever since the start of my blog, I have been looking forward to exploring European cuisine. From the schnitzel of Germany to the Gnocchi of Italy, I am excited to try it all.

Arabian Nights Grilled Herbed Chicken

This is the main course to the middle eastern feast, Arabian Nights Grilled Herbed Chicken. When I found it on my search I thought it was a good recipe to experience Arabian herbs and cooking style. I found this recipe on http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Arabian_Nights_Grilled_Herbed_Chicken. I was very exited to begin.

Assembled Ingredients 

The ingredients were fairly basic and in small quantity. I was pleased when I found that I wouldn't have to go to twenty stores to find the right spices.

Butterflied Chicken 

I have never butterflied a chicken before and it was not an experience that I found entertaining. Using sharp kitchen scissors, I cut the spine and breast bone out of the chicken. It was a very messy and strange process.

Rub 

The rub was very simple, consisting of plain yogurt, fennel, flat leaf parsley, and black pepper. It did not have much of a smell but it tasted rather fresh.

Prepared Chicken

The rub was spread through out the chicken and in the skin as well. I have experimented with rubbing butter in spices and massaging it inside the skin, this allowed the butter to carry the spices through the chicken. I think a similar concept is happening here.

Cooked Chicken 

The recipe did not specify actually cooking the chicken so I put it in at 350 for 30 minuets and then checked it and raised it to 375 for another 30 minuets.

Dinner is Served 

The chicken was cooked well and it had a good moisture. My only criticism is that it had very little taste from the rub. It felt like it was missing something. I would've added salt and paprika, just something to give it an extra kick. I do think that the yogurt and herbs added great moisture to the chicken. I still think that this is a great recipe, just taste the rub and add your preference.

Tabbouleh

I have had tabbouleh a few times before and loved it. The flavors in it come together quite well, I thought it a perfect dish to display classic Middle Eastern cuisine. I served this dish as a side to Arabian Nights Grilled Herbed Chicken. The recipe I used can be found at this address: http://www.food.com/recipe/tabbouleh-91403

Ingredients 

All of the ingredients were very common, the only slightly uncommon ingredient was the bulgar wheat, but it can be found at any local market.

Bugler Wheat Cooking

Cooking bulgar wheat is much like cooking rice. I put it in about 2 cups of water with about 1 cup of bulgar until the water was completely absorbed.

Minced Vegetables (parsley and tomato)

All of the vegetables in the recipe were minced which made it very different from all of the other salads I've made.

Mixed Vegetables 

Along with the minced tomatoes and parsley, I also added minced red onion. The mixture smelled very fragrant and fresh.

Finished project 

In the last step I added a dressing comprised of lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. I also added the  finished bulgar wheat. The overall taste was very satisfying and light;  exactly what I was expecting. This dish is very easy make and can be served on pita bread, tortilla chips, or just eaten plain.

The Middle East

Instead of focusing on the individual countries of the Middle East, I decided to focus on the region as a whole. Although I do plan on exploring the cuisine of countries such as Turkey before I move on to European cooking. I could not find a good Middle eastern cookbook at the library so I had to look up some on the internet. This is a very broad topic for an entry I know but I just wanted to get a broad idea for the taste before moving on to specific countries in the region of asia.