Julia Child Recipes

Eggplant And Cheese Quiche Julia Child Recipe

Serves 1
1/2 pound firm eggplant
1/2 teaspoon salt
Olive oil
2 tablespoons minced shallots -- or
green part of scallions
1 clove garlic -- finely minced
1/3 cup grated Parmesan and Swiss -- combined
1 pinch pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 partially baked 8 or 9 inch pie shell
1 1/2 tablespoons butter cut in 1/4? bits
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon thyme or herb mixture
3 eggs
1 pinch of nutmeg
Salt to taste

Peel eggplant and cut in 3/4 inch dice. In bowl, toss eggplant with salt and le
t stand 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and pat dry with towel. In large skillet, heat
1/8 inch layer of olive oil. When very hot, but not smoking, add the eggplant.
Toss and turn frequently for 4-8 minutes until tender, but not mushy, just ligh
tly browned. Toss in the shallots or scallions and garlic, shaking pan over hea
t for a minute to cook them. Turn eggplant mixture into a large sieve set over
a bowl to drain off excess oil. Carefully mix the eggplant with the parsley, he
rbs and 1/2 the cheese. Pour over pastry shell. In small bowl, beat together th
e eggs, pepper, nutmeg and cream. Salt mixture if the cooked eggplant doesn't a
lready have enough salt. Pour this mixture over the eggplant in the pastry shell. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and dot with butter. Bake in a preheated 375
degree oven about 30 minutes or until puffed and brown.
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Julia Child's Lobster Thermidor
SERVES 6

Step 1 ingredients

* 3 cups dry white wine
* 1 large onion, thinly sliced
* 1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
* 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
* 6 sprigs fresh parsley
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/4 teaspoon thyme
* 6 peppercorns
* 1 tablespoon dried tarragon

* 3 (2 lb) live lobsters

Step 2

* 1/2 lb sliced fresh mushrooms
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Step 3 the sauce

* 5 tablespoons butter
* 6 tablespoons flour
* 1 tablespoon cream

Step 4

* 1 tablespoon dry mustard
* 2 egg yolks
* 1/2 cup whipping cream
* 1 pinch cayenne pepper

* 4-6 tablespoons additional whipping cream

* 4 tablespoons butter
* 1/3 cup cognac

* 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese or swiss cheese
* 2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

Simmer all of the ingredients under Step 1 (except the lobsters!) in a large enameled or stainless steel pot for 15 minutes.
Bring to a rolling boil and then add the live lobsters.
You can tell when they are done because they are bright red and the long head-feelers can be pulled out pretty easily.
While the lobsters are steaming, stew the mushrooms over low to medium low heat in a covered saucepan with all of the other ingredients from Step 2 for 10 minutes.
When the lobsters are cooked, remove them from the kettle.
Pour the mushroom juices in the kettle (not the mushrooms!) lobster-juices pot and boil down rapidly until it is reduced to about 2 1/4 cups liquid.
Strain the liquid into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer.
Cook the first 2 ingredients from Step 3 slowly together in another saucepan.
Be sure not to brown it!
Remove from heat, and beat in the lobster-mushroom liquid.
Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
Drizzle the cream from step 3 on top of the sauce.

Discard 'sand sacks' in the heads and intestines.
Rub 'lobster coral' and 'green matter' through a fine sieve into a 3 quart mixing bowl, and blend it into the mixrure from step 4.

Beat the lobster-mushroom sauce into this mixture in small spats.
Return the sauce to the pan, and, stirring with a wooden spoon, bring it to a boil.
Boil slowly for 2 minutes.

By now the sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon pretty heavily.
Set aside, top filmed with a spoonful of cream.
Remove the meat from the lobster tails and claws, cut into 3/8 inch cubes.
Set the skillet with the butter from step 6 over medium heat.
When butter foam begins to dissipate, stir in the lobster meat and saute, stirring slowly, for 5 minutes, until the meat has turned a rosy color.
Pour the cognac in and boil for a minute or two, shaking the skillet, until the liquid has been reduced by half.
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Fold cooked mushrooms and 2/3 of the sauce into the skillet with the lobster meat.
Arrange the split lobster shells on a shallow roasting pan or fireproof serving platter.
Heap the lobster mixture into the shells, and cover with the remaining sauce.
Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter (you can refrigerate it at this point to finish up later on).
Place in upper 1/3 of the oven for 10-15 minutes, until lobster is bubbling and sauce is a nice brown.
Serve immediately!
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Julia Child Bourguignonne

Serves 6
6-ounce chunk of bacon
9- to 10-inch casserole dish, 3 inches deep
1 tablespoon olive oil or cooking oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef cut into 2-inch cubes
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups of a full-bodied, young red wine such as one of those suggested for serving, or a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 teaspoon thyme
Crumbled bay leaf
Blanched bacon rind
18 to 24 small white onions, brown-braised in stock
1 pound quartered fresh mushrooms sautéed in butter
Parsley sprigs

Remove rind and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, ¼-inch thick and 1½ inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1½ quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450º. Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly.

Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in the wine and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2½ to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.
Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2½ cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.

Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.

For immediate serving: Cover the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.

For later serving: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to a simmer, cover and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce