I received the “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” books by Julia Child (and friends) for Christmas, and decided that it would be utilized in my 2024 goals for the year! I will attempt to make 12 recipes from the books. I have since made a pretty simple recipe for scrambled eggs, which I’m not going to write about here – mainly because I didn’t take pictures!
But I have also tried another set of recipes, twice now, and am ready to say…
I need to get better at this. Story after the two recipes I used!
Pâte Brisée (Short Pastry)
Equipment
- 1 8-inch tart tin with removable base
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 5 oz All-purpose flour chilled
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp sugar optional
- 3 oz butter cold, cut into ½-in cubes
- 1 oz vegetable shortening cold, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 3½ Tbsp water very cold (between 3-4½ Tbsp)
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. Add the butter and shortening, and using your fingertips, rapidly rub the flour and the fat together until the fat has broken into pieces about the size of oatmeal flakes. Be sure to not overdo it!
- Next add the water and blend it together quickly with your hands, until it begins to come together into a mass. If necessary, sprinkle in additional water to any dry pieces to add them to the main body of the dough. Press firmly into a roughly shaped ball. The dough should be pliable, but not sticky.
- Transfer dough to lightly floured surface. Using the heel of your hand, rapidly press the pastry down and away from you (only small portions of the ball). Do this about 6-7 times, bringing the dough together a bit more, then knead it briefly into a fairly smooth ball.
- Sprinkle with flour, flattening lightly, then wrap into cling wrap, and place into refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight.
- When ready to use, butter an 8-inch tart tin. Remove dough from refrigerator, and remove plastic wrap. Place dough onto floured surface. Using a rolling pin, knead quickly into a fairly flat circle, about ⅛-inch thick.
- Lay the dough into the tart tin, and press it lightly into the bottom. Gently work it down the inside edges of the tin with your fingers, pushing down a bit to make the sides just a little thicker. Trim off the excess dough by rolling the rolling pin over the top of the mold.
- Push the dough a bit above the edge of the mold, making an eve, rounded rim all around the inside circumference. Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork at ½-inch intervals.
- Line the pastry case with aluminum foil, and fill the foil with pie weights. Refrigerate.
- Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
- When oven is preheated, place the pastry shell, filled with pie weights and foil, into the oven and back for 9-10 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes.
Notes
Quiche au Fromage de Gruyére
Equipment
- 1 Tart Tin 8-inch, removable bottom
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 wire whisk
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1½ c heavy cream
- 2 oz grated Swiss cheese
- ½ tsp salt
- pinch ground black pepper
- pinch nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp butter cut into pea-sized pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Place pastry shell, in tin, on a cookie sheet.
- Beat eggs, cream and seasonings in a mixing bowl until blended. Stir in grated cheese. Pour mixture into pastry shell, and distribute butter pieces on top.
- Place onto oven rack located in the upper third of the oven, and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the quiche has puffed and browned on top.
- Remove quiche from tin, and slide onto a warmed platter to serve.
Notes
I was so excited to receive the books for Christmas, as they have been on list for a number of years! And when I started reading them, I was able to hear Julia Child’s voice that I remember from those PBS shows that we’d watch when I was a kid and couldn’t steal the remote away from my father.
There are so many instructions in the book, including methods, tools, and how to find ingredients in the US that would most closely mimic those in France.
As usual, I was far, far to excited to get started to follow the very first recipes in the book – Soups and Sauces. Instead, I went straight for something more complicated – pastry and quiche. I don’t fully regret it, but I’m a little disappointed in myself that I tried to run before I really had walking mastered. :)
To be fair, creating the dough for the pastry really isn’t difficult. It’s the par-baking that’s difficult to judge. And that’s where everything went wrong for me. I really think I should have left the pastry shell in the oven for a number of minutes longer – and I’m pretty sure it should have been after I took the pie weights out of it.
The filling was tasty, but mild – I might do what the book says and start to come up with my own inventions of filling to go along with the cream and eggs.
Overall, not a terrible first (and second attempt, as my first pastry shell was an incredible failure – used the wrong tin!) attempt from the books that I have wanted to use in so long. I just have to have faith that I’m going to get better at this!
