If you haven't yet seen the movie JULIE AND JULIA, turn off the computer, stand up, and proceed directly to the nearest movie theater. Just make sure you eat something first, because this movie is not one to see when you are hungry. We saw it the weekend it opened, late Sunday afternoon, and it was pretty much 2 hours and 15 minutes of sheer heaven for me. Julia Child, Meryl Streep, food blogging, cooking, pounds and pounds and pounds of butter. I think now I understand what my tolerant Southern husband means when he rhapsodizes over Star Wars. THIS is a culinary Star Wars, and if Meryl Streep doesn't win her millionth Oscar for this, the Academy is going to have to answer to ME. (That should scare them.)
Anyway, the only thing I wanted to do when I walked out of the theater was make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. And because it was 7pm on Sunday, and I didn't have Julia Child's recipe, nor any of the ingredients, nor the five hours needed to make it, we went out to eat instead. And I pouted all week long until the weekend rolled around again and I had a clear window of time to shop, and cook, and cook, and cook.
Anyway, the only thing I wanted to do when I walked out of the theater was make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. And because it was 7pm on Sunday, and I didn't have Julia Child's recipe, nor any of the ingredients, nor the five hours needed to make it, we went out to eat instead. And I pouted all week long until the weekend rolled around again and I had a clear window of time to shop, and cook, and cook, and cook.
Which is good, because this recipe takes FIVE HOURS. Which always injects just a teeny bit of pressure, because you really, really, really want to come out with something great at the end if you are going to spend FIVE HOURS making it. Not to mention the huge laundry list of ingredients that we needed to assemble first, including a chunk of unsliced bacon with which to make the "lardons" that go in this dish. Yes, I now know what "lardons" are. So there. And by the way, you can get a chunk of unsliced bacon at the deli counter. I think ever since this movie came out the deli counter guy is used to doling out unsliced bacon chunks.
Anyway. This is now the time where I have to admit that I did make one major departure from Julia's recipe, because one of the major ingredients in Boeuf Bourguignon is mushrooms. And, for me, mushrooms are the enemy. You may be friends with them, and I wish I could be, but I just...can't. And this recipe calls for a pound of them, and for all I know Boeuf Bourguignon translates into "beef dish that absolutely must be made with mushrooms," but there is only so far I can go, even for Julia, and mushrooms are not one of those places. So I am so sorry, Julia, but I substituted baby peas. Mea culpa, but there you have it.
OK, so I had my chunk of bacon, and my baby peas, and my bottle of Burgundy, and my five hours, and off I went. I even had some more dough from my baguette-making experiment of the day before, so in the midst of the Boeuf Bourguignon I also made another one of these to go with it:
Because that is just the kind of all-around French chef that I am.
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