Finally! A new post!

So it is now Tuesday, August 3, 2010 and I am just posting to this blog again. There is no real reason for my absence other than I just didn't feel like posting anything. Sometimes I just can't think of anything that others might find interesting. With that in mind something I do want to talk about is cooking.

I have been seriously neglectful of my cooking duties for some time now and I don't really know why other than to say that I just get tired of my own cooking all the time. Eating out is nice but it really gets very expensive after awhile so it's back to the kitchen for me. This leads me to the area of food I want to get into. French cooking.

Yes indeed. Now I could say that watching the movie, "Julie and Julia" inspired me but that wouldn't be the whole truth. I did enjoy the movie and loved learning about Julia Child's life in France which guided her into the French chef that she became. I also admire Julie's accomplishment with her book etc, but I have little thanks for her in regard to French cooking. I have however long admired Julia Child's style and thoroughness and the sheer joy she always seemed to exude when cooking her beloved French dishes. Not to mention the fact that the food is positively heavenly.

It is with those thoughts in mind that my husband bought me both volumes I and II of Julia Child's "Mastering the art of french cooking". Volume I was co-authored by Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. Volume II was only Julia Child and Simone Beck. From what I understand Julia tested all, or at least most all the recipes herself to make sure they came out as they should. Now that's dedication to a love of great food.

Anyway, I plan to choose a few recipes and have a go myself. I'm not going to set up a counter or try to make a recipe everyday but I will make a real effort to post a note on what I cook and how it comes out. There is such a wealth of information to go through first - all the areas that are so crucial to good cooking. Learning to do things the right way with the proper equipment. Those are areas I'll be tackling first. Hopefully that will help me learn a bit more patience since normally I have little.

I have cooked only one real French recipe that I've had for years but don't make very often. Scallops with wine and cream. I did make this dish some time back and Pete loved it. And this is someone that doesn't even like scallops that much. Well, he likes scallops but they certainly aren't his favorite seafood dish. So it made me feel great to know they came out so delicious that someone that would ordinarily pass on the scallops loved them and even wanted me to make the dish again. Ahh yes!

I made this dish early last year but I'll tell you what I recall about it. So, what you have are big ocean scallops. I suppose you could use bay scallops but the small ones just don't cut for me with this dish. The large ocean scallops are perfect plus since their so big you can count on three or maybe four scallops per shell.

Incidentally, I use clean genuine scallop shells to cook and serve these in. They look great and make the dish so appetizing when served with a seafood meal. Actually no matter what you serve these with the shells sure make the scallops stand out!

I used a slightly dry white wine which I thought was nice. Of course I didn't really experiment with any other wine so there may be others that would work well. I used garlic, shallots and a small amount of celery. The sauce began with some lovely fresh cream and the whole thing was topped with a nice crunchy topping of panko, potato buds along with a few choice seasonings and some Kerrygold butter which is positively heavenly and browns so nicely under the grill. It gave the dish a toasty, buttery, crunchy contrast to the succulent just-done scallops in their creamy wine sauce.

That's such an important element too - don't over cook the scallops or you're done for! It just totally ruins not only the taste but the texture as well. And the butter.

I guess people will think I'm a snob but I don't care. Taste is everything when you want the flavor of butter actually in your dish and to me, what we normally get here in the USA just doesn't cut it. I'm afraid I was spoiled on English and Irish butter when I was in the UK. The difference is such that even a slice of toast for breakfast with a little smear of butter is a real treat because the taste is so much better. Maybe they have happier cows over there but whatever it is, it shows in the taste every time.

Since this post is a bit longer than I'd planned I'll end it here. Hopefully I'll have cooked something nice to talk about next time. Fingers crossed.