Not A Cooks Blog ... Mastering French Cuisine With Julia Child ... (Once A Week): Series Two: Part Fourteen

Music from Edith Piaf and food from Julia - it was a French dinner party in honour of my mother's 70th birthday. Scallops, Boeuf Bourguignon and Chocolate Mousse were the birthday food requests.

I had a day set aside to prepare... (very unlike me)

I took the opportunity to try "Coquilles St. Jacques a la Provencale" - scallops gratineed with wine, garlic and herbs. This recipe from Provence is handy in that it can be prepared in advance and gratineed just before serving. It involved mincing onions and sautéing the scallops in very hot butter, then adding the wine and herbs. I reluctantly snipped some fresh thyme as now with winter frosts in full flight this was looking a pitiful little plant. I added the bay leaf, reduced the sauce down and voila! The most difficult stage was finding equivalents to scallop shells to spoon this delicacy in to. It ended up being a mixed assortment of holding vessels but they all did the trick and no purchases required.

Boeuf Bourguignon has to be one of the most famous dishes - a beef stew in red wine, with bacon, onions and mushrooms. It was one of the signature meals in the Julie and Julia movie with the two handy tips being dry the beef in paper towels to make sure the meat browns and don't crowd the mushrooms in the pan whilst sautéing them. Boiled potatoes and beans with French bread to soak up that divine sauce, were served alongside the beef.

Mousseline au Chocolat was the dessert. Julia claims that the recipe they produce in "Mastering the art of French Cuisine" is the one of the best. It uses egg yolk, sugar, and butter. Instead of cream, beaten egg whites are used. The orange flavouring (I used Cointreau) is delicious with the chocolate. As I had polluted a chocolate dish with alcohol (yet again) I had a Hansells instant chocolate mousse prepared earlier that I could placate eldest daughter with. I did declare that if everyone tasted the $2 option and thought it better than Julia I was going to hang up my oven gloves - luckily no-one attempted the comparison. I felt somewhat relived when youngest daughter who had arrived late for dinner from netball in Wellington after a small tasting the night before felt the need to complete the rest after breakfast (bad mother!)

We were also spoilt that night by guests providing French cheeses, a fine HB Te Mata Estate Coleraine (perfect with the Boeuf Bourguignon) and a chocolate brownie ... and of course fine company to celebrate Mum's birthday (which it is really all about)

...as Edith sings - La Vie en rose - Life in rosy hues