Perfect Pairing – Julia Child Recipes
For our one year anniversary my boyfriend gave me a cooking class at The Chopping Block at the Merchandise Mart. The Chopping Block is a well known cooking school in Chicago that offers interactive cooking classes. I was so excited when I found out that we were going to do this together. I had been to a class a few years ago at their other location in Lincoln Square, and had always wanted to try the location at the Mart. He signed us up for the “Celebrating Julia Child” session. It was so much fun to make some of Julia’s classic recipes, and let someone else clean up the mess. The menu included Petits Choux au Fromage (Cheese Puffs), Lobster Thermidor with Terragon Béchamel Sauce, Beef Bourguignon, and Apple Tarte Tatin.
When we arrived the teacher/chef had already made the Petits Choux au Fromage since it was such an aggressive menu to complete in the 3 hours. I included the recipe below for the cheese puffs but since I did not make them I cannot provide much commentary. I can tell you that they were very tasty with our wine!
First up was the Beef Bourguignon. We started by seasoning the meat, dredging it in flour and browning in a pot. As soon as the mean was browned on all sides we transferred it to the lid and started cooking the bacon, as seen below.
Please note… all of the pictures were taken on my phone so the quality is not great, but you get the idea!
Once the bacon was done we added the pearl onions, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, and tomato paste.
Next into the pot goes the cognac, stock, and red wine. We also added a bouquet garni, which is a bundle of celery, parsley, thyme, and bay leaves. Everything is tied up with kitchen string and submersed in the pot to add flavor.
Now you just let it cook for a couple of hours. The chef told us that at this point you could transfer everything to a crock pot and put it on low for about 6 hours, which would make the meat really tender. I am totally going to try that sometime.
A couple of hours later…..
Time for Lobster Thermidor! I was really excited about this dish because I am not likely to make anything with live lobsters at home. Start by boiling a big pot of water with lemons, onion, peppercorns and another bouquet garni.
While the water was heating up we made the Tarragon Béchamel Sauce. Chopped shallots are cooked in butter….
Then you make a roux with flour, and add wine and whole milk. Simmer until it is a la nappe. I learned that is a fancy term for the ideal sauce consistency. It should coat the surface and stay put if you drag a line through it.
We used live lobsters!
Into the pot they go until they are bright red and the protein starts to push out (the white stuff).
Plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process.
Then we received a lobster chopping lesson. Pull off the claws, cut down the back, remove the tomalley (AKA, yucky stuff), and pull the meat out of the tails.
The tail meat is coarsely chopped and folded into the béchamel, with some parmesan.
The mixture is spooned back into the tails and garnished with the claw meat and more parmesan. Then they go into the oven for about 10 minutes. YUM.
The dessert for the evening was an Apple Tarte Tatin made with granny smith apples and puff pastry. The apples are sliced and combined with lemon juice and sugar for one hour. You drain off the sugary liquid into a skillet and make a caramel sauce.
Once the caramel has browned you arrange the apples in the skillet in a lovely pattern.
When you get tired of doing that, you just toss them in.
Cover everything with puff pastry.
Into the oven it goes for 30 minutes, flip onto a plate and enjoy!
The Chopping Block happened to have some leftover tiramisu base from a party the night before… it didn’t suck on top of the tatin.
We had SUCH a fun time at the Chopping Block and I hope to go back very soon. Best gift ever!
Keep reading for the recipes....
