Will and I have decided to make special dinners on Sunday nights. We spend a nice chunk on Saturday planning and shopping and sometimes prepping. Then Sunday we invite guests over for a nice, long, leisurely dinner.

This week’s dinner is highly inspired by our recent trip to Paris. We’re majorly digging French food right now, y’all.

Escargots de Bourgogne

Our big souvenir from Paris was an escargot set with all of the accoutrements (see below) that we bought at a store called Guy DeRenne. I would liken it to the kitchen/tableware department of Crate & Barrel but with all things French. We ordered our snail shells and canned escargots from Amazon.com and Will whipped up a traditional Bourgogne compound butter.

Roast Chicken with White Wine, Lemon & Herbs de Provence

Will used our beer can chicken rack to make this roast chicken. Instead of beer in the can, we put dry white wine and some slices of lemon. Then he stuffed butter and Herbs de Provence under the chicken skin and generously all over the outside and roasted it in the oven. It was seriously the most flavorful, moist chicken ever. And so beautiful!

Gateau de Crepes

I’m a huge fan of crepes. While we were in Paris, I vowed to learn how to make them. Thanks to my fantastic birthday gift of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and Simone Beck, I had all of the instruction I needed. I made up the crepes yesterday and kept them in the fridge until today. Then I carefully followed Julia’s instructions to make a Mornay sauce, a spinach filling and a mushroom filling. Then the crepes get layered with alternating fillings, covered with the Mornay and a bit of extra Swiss, and baked in the oven like a cake. Amazing!

Orange Almond Cake

I saw this Orange Almond Cake on Laura Calder’s French Food at Home and decided I needed to steal the recipe. It only contains eggs, orange zest, orange juice, sugar, almond flour, Grand Marnier, and candied orange rind. I used orange marmalade instead of candied orange rind and it was too bitter – do not recommend. But the cake itself was delicious and seriously as easy as making cake out of a box – no joke.

We are moving into a new era of food adoration in our house. This also means we need to move into a new era of gym attendance. But it’s sure fun to plan a menu that’s not so everyday, work together in the kitchen to bring it to the table and then enjoy it with people we love.

You dump it all into the pan*, it bubbles when you take it out**, and then just like that it’s deliciously golden brown***.

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I suggest that you march yourself to the nearest Farmer’s Market, buy a bushel of peaches, rush to eat them before they get wrinkly, and the ones that inevitably do get wrinkly you must cobblerize immediately. It’s my most favorite taste of summer.

xo,
Julia

This recipe started with me eyeing a bag of Uncle Ben’s 90 Second Wild Rice in the pantry. I’ve got to say, the stuff is pretty darn decent, especially if you are going to dress it up with some other goodies like I have. I was tempted to eat just the rice for lunch (it’s me in the home office, what can I say, sometimes I eat wierd stuff) but then I remembered that Will had put some left over grilled chicken in the fridge. This prompted me to do a little fridge search where I found …

- aforementioned grilled chicken left-overs, generously seasoned with Italian seasoning
- portobell0 mushroom halves
- flat-leaf parsley
- uncorked bottle of white wine; probably open too long to enjoy drinking
- parmesan cheese

The recipe goes like this:

1.) Put a little olive oil in the bottom of a saute pan; drop in mushrooms.

2.) Chop up left-over chicken into small cubes, add to saute pan.

3.) Pour in just a titch of white wine, enough to flavor and re-hydrate the chicken.

4.) Tear the top of your Uncle Ben’s bag, put it in the microwave for 90 seconds.

5.) Pour cooked rice onto a plate. About now, your chicken and mushroom concoction will be warmed through so pour that over top the rice.

6.) Sprinkle parmesan cheese and roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley over top.

7.) Remember to chew each bite 30 times. Otherwise you’ll be like me and gobble the whole thing in about as long as it took to make it … 4-5 minutes?

Enjoy!

Since Will and I have epitomized the phrase “fat and happy” here during our first year of marriage, we resolved to curb our caloric intake and boost our caloric burn in 2010.  We started early and have kept daily calories way down from our norms AND we’ve been to the gym for 5 consecutive days in a row!!  WOOTS all around!

Here’s what Will whipped up for our lunch today (plus the kitchen notes he took as he worked) … Potato Leek Soup with Turkey Meatballs.  It was warm and comforting on a cold day without being fattening.

Per serving this soup lays down just 210 calories, 2.25g fat (0g saturated fat), 19.75g carbohydrates, and a whopping 31.75g protein.  Say hello to a soon-to-be-skinny idea thief.

Will’s Potato Leek Soup with Turkey Meatballs

1 lb. 99% fat free ground turkey
4 cups chicken stock (one 32 oz. container)
1 leek, chopped
1 onion, diced & divided in half
2 potatoes, peeled & diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
cracked pepper, to taste

Combine 1/2 the olive oil, 1/2 the onion, 2 cloves of garlic, curry powder, onion powder, garlic salt, salt and pepper in a saute pan.  Heat over medium heat until onions become translucent.  Remove from heat and combine with ground turkey in a mixing bowl.  Meanwhile, add remaining olive oil, leeks, potatoes, remaining garlic, and the other half of the onion to a dutch oven.  Saute until onions and leeks are tender.  Add chicken stock and simmer until potatoes become tender.  Form into meatballs and drop into the soup mixture.  Continue to simmer until meatballs are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Delicious!  Way to go, smart hubby of mine!

As I mentioned in that post, I served Eggs Benedict Souffle, Banana Breakfast Cake, Fruit Salad, Biscuits, Tea, Coffee, Bloody Marys and Pomegranate Mimosas.  To keep things easy, I bought pre-cut fruit salad and frozen biscuits.  At the bar, I served things DIY style.  For Bloody Marys I offered Zing Zang, celery, garlic-stuffed olives, pickled okra, lemon wedges, celery salt, prepared horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper.  For the Pomegranate Mimosas, I set out chilled champagne and a small pitcher of POM Wonderful juice.  The guests knew what to do!

I prepared the Eggs Benedict Souffle the night before and let it set in the refrigerator overnight.  The faux-hollandaise that accompanies the souffle had to be made the morning of the party but that was no big deal.  Here’s the recipe, shared without permission but with gratitude to my husband’s cousin who owns and operates a fabulous ranch in Colorado.  This guy knows how to entertain and this casserole is always a HUGE hit!  Click the image for a printable 4×6.

I also prepared the Banana Breakfast Cake the night before.  This cake is more like a breakfast bread that is made in a bundt pan.  I used a Williams-Sonoma Heritage Bundt pan that I mention here only because my cake totally stuck!  I don’t know if it was the recipe or my oven or the pan but it sure did!  But taking Julia Child’s advice to never apologize for a culinary mistake, I put that cake on my cake stand and out on the table.  It tasted great so who cares.  Here’s a shot of what was left of the cake after the party …

And now that your mouth is watering, here’s the recipe.  Provided without permission but with gratitude to Lynn Christman.  Lynn gave me this recipe at one of my bridal showers and I can tell it’s going to become a family favorite!  I used dried cranberries but I think dried cherries would be A-MAY-ZING.  I’ll be using those next time.  Click the image for a printable 4×6.