Way back in April...it seems like a century ago...Mike of Mel's Diner invited a few friends to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Julia Child's seminal cookbook - Mastering the Art of French Cooking
by recreating some of her great dishes. He calls these get togethers "That Cookbook Thing II" - after all "Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking" is quite a mouthful. Last time out we all made her Soupe a l'Oignon Gratinee des Trois Gourmandes and it was an awesome choice.This time, in addition to Mike and myself, Sara of I Like to Cook, Breadchick Marye, Deborah of What's in My Kitchen?, Mary of Cooking for Five, and a few newcomers (to this event, anyway) Elle of New England Kitchen, Shaun of Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow and Kittie of Kittens in the Kitchen (I hope I didn't leave anyone out) had to make her Sauce au Cari - or for those of us who need a translation...light curry sauce.
And although Our Fearless Leader recommended using Julia's Roast Chicken recipe, I dared to tempt his awesome wrath (just kidding, Mike) and use my own Roasted Chicken recipe instead. There's only so much butter this body can stand).
Poulet au Sauce Cari
(Chicken in Light Curry Sauce)
Truth be told, this was not my favorite dish. Perhaps my curry powder was too mild. But it tasted spicy when there was just butter, onion and curry powder. Somehow by the time the dish was done, it was quite bland but I wasn't sure if I could just add more curry powder to the finished dish which was very rich with tons's of butter, milk and whipping cream (let's face it, Julia did nothing without tons of butter). I also found the sauce continued to thicken once on the table and was not very attractive. It just looked like I tossed the dish with a ton of mayo. I'm just glad we had some hot Indian pickles to spice things up.
I wonder what my friends thought of their versions....
Up next, on the other hand...is Rapee Morvandelle - a gratin of shredded potatoes with ham, eggs & onions...and I'm drooling in anticipation.
My personal opinion...like it matters!...Julia's really French recipes work best.
Thanks Mike for dreaming up this ongoing experiment. It certainly gets me to make things I normally wouldn't try.
