Ree and Julia's Birthday

Saturday, August 15th was Julia Child's birthday. Wednesday, August 19th is my sister Jeannette's birthday. So we decided to celebrate both with a Julia Child themed party on Sunday. The idea was to cook a meal from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I did not come up with the idea - it was in last month's Bon Appetit magazine, along with a suggested menu. We liked the menu enough that we cooked it without modification. Since this was also a birthday party, we invited all the family we have in town to participate:

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

That is Jared, Josienne, Doreen, Me, Alex LeBlanc, Rex, and Ree. Quinn had not yet arrived, but he would show up shortly after this photo was taken.

You may notice that we are all wearing identical aprons, with the flag of France boldly emblazoned on them. We thought it would be nice if we all had an apron in honor of Julia Child. Cute, eh?

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

Doreen and I volunteered to cook the chicken - Poulet Sauté aux Herbes de Provence. We generally like to cook with bone in, skin on thighs. I think that they are more flavorful, and their consistent size makes them easy to cook. So we made the dish with 16 thighs for 8 people.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

This recipe (you can reach it by clicking on the link above) calls for browning the chicken in butter. You can see how delicious it looks. You then use the butter and chicken fat to braise the bird, and add some wine to make a nice reduction sauce. It was quite delicious.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

We also cooked the Pissaladière Niçoise, which was sort of an onion tart with anchovies and black olives. I had baked the crust and caramelized the onions earlier in the day, and assembled it right before dinner. You will see another photo below, but I sort of burned it. It was still good, though. Julia would have been proud of how we recovered!

Alex brought the makings of a salad with a vinaigrette dressing. I can tell you one thing - that boy can cook! He has just recently moved to Houston (he is working as an engineer for Exxon. Sound familiar?) and I was not familiar with his culinary acumen. I think that I would have asked him to do something more complicated had I known. He is getting married in a week, and was the calmest groom I believe that I have ever seen. We served the salad with the
Pissaladière Niçoise as our first course. (Well, after some Marcona Almonds, peanuts, and goat brie cheese)

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

Ree and Rex (well, I think it was mostly Ree) made the Ratatouille in this great old enameled cast iron pot Ree got on e-bay. She has never made it before (neither have I) and it turned out great! It made me think of that movie.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

You can see how I burned the Pissaladière Niçoise. I was very sad.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

Here are Ree and Rex celebrating her birthday.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

That is the sauce in its final reduction. Those little yellow dots are yet more butter. You can never have too much butter in a dish.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

As per usual at our house, everyone serves themselves. You can now see Quinn - he is the one closest to the camera.

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

There is the main course, plated. Wonderful!

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

Too busy eating to look at the camera!

From Julia Child Dinner, as well as DomiNate's Visit

And there is the piece de resistance - a Reine de Saba that Josienne made. She said it was the first cake she had made from scratch. It was so good - there was not one crumb left over.

It was a great meal - thanks to everyone to help make it:

Alex
Josienne and Jared
Ree and Rex
Quinn (I think he mostly helped eat!)
And of course, my sweet ever lovin'