Monday, October 12, 2015

Julia Child Night #7

Greetings and happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Mine was awesome as it was full of good food and time spent with family and friends. We celebrated our 7th Julia Child Night on Saturday and it was so much fun!  It was really fun to make some New Orleans-inspired dishes.  I'll let the pictures (mostly) do the talking!

My aunt, uncle, brother and I spent 5 hours on Friday doing prep work for the big meal!  It's a lot of work to put on an event like this but it's so much fun and it's good to have excuse to gather the family together!  We had 26 guests this year so quite the big group! My brother and his family came from Chicago as they had to see what it was all about; I have a feeling they'll be back for future events!

Even Anna, one of our youngest guest, donned an apron for the event!
Before the event got started, though, we had a curve ball thrown at us. My brother, who was one of the main cooks for the event, coaches my nephew's football team and they had a game on Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately, my nephew got tackled from behind, which was a total cheap shot, and broke his wrist badly. He is such a tough kid, though, and handled the pain really well. He ended up getting a temporary cast and will go back for a full consultation this week.


The event went on as planned, though!  We started off with our usual cheese course. This year I purchased a Minnesota-shaped slate cheeseboard because when you love Minnesota as much as I do, it's something you need!


Spiced nuts, crackers and cheese all lined up for our guests

Our signature drink was a hurricane, which was dangerously good!!
While the food is amazing, the people at the event are what really makes it special!

Phil and I!

My mom, aunt Barb (aka Julia Child aunt) and I

My sister-in-law Emily and I!
Before we knew it, it was time to sit down and eat!  Our 'amuse bouche' was a small serving of an oyster po'boy.  My brothers have made these several times and they are so good!

Po'boys assembled and ready to cut.

The servings were small as we had so much other food ahead!
Our next course was a gumbo-style soup. The recipe called for Turtle (!!!) but we used beef instead. We used Julia Child's recipe for the beef broth that was the foundation of the soup.  The soup was served with corn bread.

The main course was a boudin-stuffed turkey breast, rice & beans, and collard greens. I had never heard of boudin but it's a sausage that is made with rice in it.  And just in case there wasn't enough food on that plate, we also included a serving of andouille sausage that was also in the beans. My brother made both the boudin and andouille sausage, with the help of my aunt and uncle, and it was so good!  I had never had collard greens before but they reminded me of a cabbage dish my mom made when we were growing up.


After the main course, we took a bit of a break before serving dessert as everyone was so stuffed at this point. That break gave us the perfect opportunity to take our annual "apron photo."  My brother is the guy in the chef's outfit!

So many cool aprons!
Then it was time for dessert! My Chicago brother took the lead on this and made his recipe for bananas foster. He flambed it which was neat to see.


We served the bananas foster on buckwheat crepes that my cousin's girlfriend's mom had made.  She's a retired French teacher so knows a thing or two about French cooking!  We topped the dessert off with my sister-in-law's homemade vanilla ice cream.  It was soooo good!!


And there you have it!  Another successful event! I wonder where Julia will go next year?  Only time will tell! 

24 comments:

katielookingforward said...

YUM!!! What a fun event!

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

I love that you guys did a "twist" on Julia this year. Also, New Orleans has a special place in my heart, so I really enjoyed that you picked that city for Julia to travel to. The only thing missing is a cup of chicory coffee at the end of the meal!

It's so fun too that the guys came this year and helped to cook. It seems like this event really is getting big! Everyone wants a piece of the action!

Marlys said...

Kyria, We did indeed have chicory coffee with the dessert! And the sausage is on the plate nestled in beside the red beans & rice which also had sausage in it! With the ham hock in the collard greens, there were 5 meats on the entree plate. The whole meal was totally delicious! "Let the Good Times Roll"!

Nora said...

All I can say is that oh my gosh, I'm hungry right now. So much yummy looking food. I love that your whole family really got into it this year! So sorry to hear about your nephew's wrist; what a strong little man he is. I can't imagine how painful that must have been for him. Love the apron shot and of course the picture of you + phil. You guys make such a cute couple!

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

I love what a team effort this all is! It must be so fun to be a guest :) Glad you guys have continued to keep this tradition alive!

missris said...

This sounds like SUCH a fun tradition! And I love the apron pic--priceless!

Carolina John said...

All the yum's! Another smashing apron night in the books. Well done, that all looks fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Seriously one of these years I am totally stealing this idea. I love tradition and this one is SO FUN!

Jenny said...

Your Julia Child nights all look so fun and this one is no exception! I love the annual apron shot too. That dessert looks so delicious!

Stacey Minter said...

Yum. All the food you had looked amazing. I loved all the aprons, you guys had. Looked like you guys had a fun time. Have a great week.

Abby said...

Wow this looks amazing! Every dish!!! I almost fell out of my chair when I read the part about turtle, so am very glad you used beef instead. (Since I've gotten into scuba diving, I've become sort of nutty about consuming exotic marine life ie octopus, turtle, shark)

Don't worry - I still eat shrimp, salmon, tuna (if they are substainably farmed/caught).

Wish we could have been there! Looks like such a fun event! That's a great picture of you and Phil - you're such a great looking couple :). Maybe next year I can escape from Del Rio to attend?!

San said...

Your Julia Child nights always sound delicious and like so much fun! It reminds me of the Christmas dinners at my parents' house (just with less people! ;)). I am sorry to hear that your nephew broke his wrist, though. That truly sucks.

Lauren @ Sassy Molassy said...

Ah, you guys are all so cute! I've never had a hurricane but will have to look up the recipe. :) There is a place in Eugene that does crepes and I have been wanting to go. Mmm

J and A said...

I love this, every year, I love seeing this post! Looks SO delicious!! I hope you nephew heals soon too!

Gracie said...

Great sampling of Louisiana food!

Linda said...

I went to brennan's restaurant in NOLA and was tempted to try their turtle soup but was put off slightly since they had live turtles in their courtyard. EEP.

I love this tradition of yours! I think I tell you every year!

Jeanie said...

Oh, to die for! It all looks delicious! And it reminds me of Paul Prudhomme who died this past weekend -- all that andouille and nolA food! The Hurricane seems rather perfect for this time of year! It's all so much fun and you all look terrific -- what a time!

Charis Faith said...

So amazing, so so so amazing!!!! I'm so sorry about your nephew!!! When did he get old enough to start playing tackle football??? Time flies!!! That dessert, oh my word!!!! I LOVE collards! A lot of the restaurants down here offer them and we always have them on New Years Day because it's a Southern tradition.

Leigh said...

Oh my goodness, everything looks so delicious! This is such a fabulous idea and love that your family continues to do it! Hope your nephew is feeling better :)

Amber said...

Holy man you guys eat so well at these Julia Child nights. That dessert seriously looks to die for good!! I'm so glad you had another successful Julia Child night and I think it's kind of fun she traveled somewhere new this year. Awesome to hear this has just grown bigger and bigger each year and your whole family has gotten so involved in the meal planning and the cooking.

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

yum!!!! looks like such a great time!

Becky said...

So sorry to hear about your nephew - hope he's recovering well! OMG Julia Child night just keeps getting better and better!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

Oh my gosh!! What an epic meal! Also, so many guests - I would be scared to cook for that many people. Po boy ... YES!!!!!!

Shoshanah said...

This post is almost 2 months old, so I realize I'm late in posting, but I had to, because first of all it's Julia Child night. And second it's New Orleans food! Funny enough last night at my father-in-law's birthday dinner I had boudin, except as an appetizer, and an oyster poboy, except as my main dish! Everything looks delicious and like so much fun! Of course if you ever do decide to visit New Orleans in person to check it out, you'll have to let me know!!