the m/k project

like most women i know, i loved the movie "julie & julia".  not only is amy adams one of my favorite famous people, but meryl streep and stanley tucci are a couple of the best actors of our era.  meryl streep in particular is just...timeless.  the movie was extremely well made and, though i haven't read the book its based off of yet, i don't feel like a lot of short cuts were taken in the storyline.  from costuming to location to food imagery to script, i loved it all.

so it's no surprise really that when N. and his best friend asked that the lovely M. and i cook them dinner for a change this weekend, there really wasn't a question: we were going to go as julia child-esque as possible.

and so "the M./K. project" was born.

on the menu: tournedos sautes au poivre et champignons, petits choux au fromage, and reine de saba.  or, in plain english, filet mignon with a mushroom sauce, cheese puffs, and chocolate almond cake with chocolate butter icing.  we also served an antipasti platter and roasted vegetables.  and lots and lots of wine.  like, buckets of it.

so first of all, we started the evening off with a simple store-bought antipasti platter (salami, prosciutto, bread, havarti, brie, and something like a chorizo tapenade that, along with some guacamole, was provided by the boys), and the cheese puffs.  these cheese puffs are super simple to make and a complete crowd pleaser, unless you're me and soon figure out that you don't actually like cheese puffs.  but with the help of a kitchenaid mixer and about 20lbs of butter (it is julia, after all), they're a quick starter that impressed our guests when they realized we made them.  (tip: they're really good with the chorizo tapenade)

the roasted veggies are sort of self-explanatory, and even someone with me and M.'s limited kitchen abilities can make them.  we chose carrots, parsnips, potatoes and onions, drizzled them with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder, and just roasted until soft.  because we desperately needed a dish that wouldn't clog our arteries with lard.

also, and i don't know if i made it clear, but rockefeller was not bank rolling this shindig so those filet mignon's the tournedos recipe called for quickly became the much more affordable top sirloin.  unfortunately, as we later learned, there is actually a damn good reason that filet mignon is about a thousand times more expensive than our rather economic choice: because, apparently, economy = tough.  word to the wise my friends, unless you're planning on marinating those sirloins for hours (possibly days) on end, be prepared to work those jaw muscles a little more than usual.  a good rule of thumb to keep in mind when staring blankly into your grocer's meat counter is that price really does matter, and the buttery-ness of the meat is directly proportional to the price.

tough meat aside, the main dish wasn't that bad.  the steaks are covered in crushed peppercorns which made them sort of impossible for me to eat (i'm very sensitive to heat/spice -- though this near-disaster turned out okay when the boys showed up with a nice, fat piece of rib eye to grill!), but the mushroom sauce is to die for.  it requires quite a bit (and by bit i mean almost a stick) of butter and cream, and a huge ball of fire that erupts from the sauce pan once you pour in your brandy and set a match to it, but that just makes it all the more yummy.  careful though: we were quite a few bottles of wine into our evening and several hairs got singed in the process of burning off the alcohol.

speaking of alcohol, if it wasn't obvious from all of my previous references, drinking during the preparation of this meal is highly encouraged.  it makes it all the more fun!

and now for the crowing glory: the much-anticipated chocolate and almond cake.  ever since i saw that scene in "julie/julia" where julie and her husband are stuffing their faces with it, i wanted to make it and do the same.  while i'm used to the simpler, let-me-pour-this-cake-mix-out-of-the-box-add-water-eggs-and-oil-mix-and-put-in-the-over recipes, this recipe wasn't that hard.  the melted chocolate is really the part that sort of freaked me out at the beginning because well, who actually melts chocolate over a double boiler?  all i can say is that those years of watching the food network finally paid off when i knew what a double boiler was without googling it, and i knew how to fold in whipped egg whites with relative superiority.

the cake, my friends, was awesome.

in the end, M. and i only needed a little bit of help from our more kitchen-acquainted friends and overall we feel pretty proud of ourselves.  what i've learned about cooking in general is that it takes some time before you're comfortable enough to change recipes on the fly to suit your taste, but it's really something to look forward too.  what i've learned about french cooking though, is that no matter how that movie makes it seem, it is not easy.  but i'm up for practicing.

until then, bon appetit!