Taking On A Famous American Chef Thanks To The BKD Cookbook Club!
Jo Tracy has another great challenge for her BKD cookbook club: make a recipe from a Chef who is from the same country as you – and I decided to take on the greatest US Chef of them all!
While Julia Child became famous for bringing French cooking to America, that is also where she was born – 113 years ago!
Julia Child was born Julia Carolyn McWilliams on August 15, 1912, in Pasadena, California, and died on August 13, 2004, in Montecito, California. The timing of this cookbook challenge landed right between those two dates!
So let’s remember her on the 21st anniversary of her passing, and get ready to celebrate her 113th birthday on Friday…
Julia became famous in 1961 for this cookbook: “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” co-authored with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. She cemented her fame with her television program, “The French Chef”.
Sole Meunière (pronounced “sol mon-YARE”) is a renowned and iconic French dish featuring pan-fried sole fillets served with a buttery, lemony sauce and fresh parsley
. The name itself, “à la meunière,” translates to “miller’s wife style,” referencing the flouring of the fish before it’s cooked.
Julia loved the dish and served it with baby boiled potatoes, but I am going to make my sole to serve over very. very creamy “pomme puree!”
OK, this recipe is really easy: but will it taste good? Here are your ingredients!
- 4 sole fillets, 1/2 inch thick
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 minced shallot
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoons fine flour
- Lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 lb. potatoes
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup whole milk or cream
Note: I have included the ingredients for the potato puree as well – and you can also include capers in the sole dish but I do not like them so I omitted them
First, let’s make the potatoes:
Dice the potatoes and boil them….then, let’s make the garlic butter sauce that goes into them:
I LOVE GARLIC.
So I include a lot of it…here’s a short video that shows the process – so easy and you can use this for anything:
It’s easy of course: mince the garlic, add butter, and let it cook on low heat from 8-10 minutes, stirring to make sure it doesn’t burn….then set it aside – when the potatoes are done, add the mixture, the milk and puree….so easy.
Next, make the sauce, which is simply butter and lemon, but I added a bit of minced shallot as well – here’s how easy it is to make and set aside:
Now, let’s make the sole!
Season fish with salt and pepper and turn over in flour, shaking off excess. Heat 1 teaspoon of butter with 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan until the butter foam begins to subside, add fillets and saute for about a minute on each side. Cook only until fish begins to take a light springiness to the touch. Be careful not to overcook; if the fish flakes, it is overdone.
Here’s how easy it is!
The dish is fast, easy and delicious: the flavor of the sole comes out well, while the thin flour coating gives it a bit of crispness on the outside while holding in all of the moist interior of the fish – and the butter lemon sauce gives it a nice kick to finish it off!
I served Julia’s Sole Meunière with a salad of greens and a dressing of French mustard, red wine vinegar and olive oil…a light side dish. I also added some Avocado and Radish because I love them!
As for those “pomme puree” that the Sole rests magnificently on, here is the recipe from the iconic Chef Joel Robuchon – make them as decadent as the recipe calls for and live life!
I have shared many recipes from Julia before, as well as a look at her kitchen – because you can see it now in a museum! Take a look:
Yes, the next time you are in Washington DC, see it up close! Here’s where you can find her actual kitchen – the Smithsonian Museum of American History – and it’s free!
I had the chance to see Julia’s original provencal stove, and my wife Alex and I had the chance to cook on it as well!
We attended a week-long cooking class with Author/Chef Patricia Wells…and Patricia’s good friend Julia gave her the stove when she left Provence…and Patrica keeps it looking meticulous! Read all about our Julia / Patricia “Chanteduc” adventure here!
I have made many of Julia’s best recipes, even tackling her time-consuming but worthwhile Boeuf Bourguignon dish!
And here is Julia’s famous recipe for “boeuf bourguignon” to make at home!
And if you really want to tackle some of Julia’s most unique dishes – like the time she cooked with brains!
You can see it here – if you dare!
“Bite! Eat! Repeat! is your site for all things food – if you like what you see, please click on my link and follow this blog as well!
Thanks again to Jo for the terrific cookbook club – see all of the submissions here, including her recipe from an Australian Chef:!
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Travel, Food Writing, Recipes, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
It’s a great kitchen, but I sure wouldn’t want people eating in my kitchen when I’m cooking! I swear too much!!!
HA! True words indeed!
A perfect choice, John.
Thanks, it was so easy but fun!
What a perfect recipe and perfect book for this challenge. Oh, that garlic….and the butter…
Thanks as always for putting it on – I linked as always to your site for people to see more
Thanks John…
Coming from Europe and living in very ‘foody’ Australia perchance we may not know as much about American ways of cooking and eating as you naturally do – BUT I well know the lady and actually owned this particular book – a special little reminder for which a ‘thank you’ !
Yes I think many think of her as French as that was what she cooked AND lived there for so man-years…but I loved the challenge Jo gave us!
I think I remember Julia saying this was the dish that had her hooked on French food, very simple and very delicious
Thanks for that!
this looks very delicious John. She was an odd bod that Julia Child :=) Her recipes seem very … fussy … for an average cook like myself. I’ve been watching the Anti-chef on YouTube; he makes a lot of her recipes, which quite often fail for him. I will stick to the easy verions which are easy and straightforward to make.
cheers
sherry https://sherryspickings.blogspot.com/
That’s a terrific point: she did embrace all aspects of French cooking, which at the time was indeed fussy, and quite complicated. I have made her boeuf bourguignon dish from scratch and with all of the various ingredients it took hours…delciious, but HOURS! I will look for the anti-chef segments as I love the idea! Thanks for the comment, it is always great to hear from you!
I had never heard of her before the 2009 film, ‘Julie and Julia’. Then I learned more from folllowing your blog after 2012.
Best wishes, Pete.
She is an icon here in the US Pete, hosting that PBS show for decades…I love the Julia part of that film but found “Julie” to be incredibly self-centered and whiny….
I didn’t actually like the film, John. I was watching it on TV and turned it off long before the end.
Such a classic recipe!
Like you John I always add more garlic…this dish is a classic and a great choice for this challenge it looks delicious 🙂
I love garlic and I do believe strongly in its health benefits…thanks as always for your support!
Likewise,John 😀
This looks like a great fish dish, John. Julia Child has delicious recipes. I have one of her books.
Robbie, it was almost too easy, but delicious indeed! thanks for commenting!
😄
That looks really good…I love garlic too. I haven’t ever made a recipe by Julia but have seen a few that sounded good…what a great experience to take that cooking class and cook on her stove.
Thanks for reading and commenting ting, great to hear from you! This is so easy but Julia has some complicated ones as well! And yes it was really fun to cook on her stove!