Fellow foodies have undoubtedly heard the news about the great, but now late, Julia Child.
She was a kitchen goddess, some would say. A one-of-a-kind-er. A here’s-how-to-make-it-in-style, you-can-do-it rarity the likes of which won’t soon be seen again.
On the bright side, for countless years many of us cashed in on her expertise by catching the occasional television show or poring over her cookbooks.
Now that I think of it, the best – bar none – mushroom soup I’ve ever eaten was made by a friend following one of Julia’s recipes. A simple thing, it consisted of nothing more, I don’t think, than fresh mushroom slices, cream, butter, maybe some shallots, and probably a pinch or two of thyme. Splendid.
Alas, I’ve somehow never managed to connect with this particular recipe.
Ah, but I do have another Julia specialty, one that dates back more years than some of you readers are old. Back to the April 5, 1981, Forum column, to be precise, wherein I passed along to you a recipe handed down to me by Jeanne Edwards, Herald features editor at that time.
It seems that, lunching with food editors here several years previously, the French chef had shared her then-unpublished recipe for oeufs interallies, saying it was something she made a lot because she liked it so well.
Simple, ordinary scrambled eggs, with a few French-inspired flourishes, become simply extraordinary in her recipe for:
Oeufs interallies
1 pound fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 tablespoon cooking oil
2 tablespoons minced shallots or scallions
Salt and pepper
51/2 tablespoons butter
8 tablespoons flour
3 cups simmering milk
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch pepper
1 cup heavy cream
Drops of lemon juice
12 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch pepper
3 tablespoons softened butter
2 tablespoons softened butter
7 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter
Wash mushrooms, dry and cut into quarters. Saute in hot butter and oil over high heat, 5 to 6 minutes, or until barely browned. Stir in shallots or scallions and toss over moderate heat for 1 or 2 minutes. Season to taste and set aside.
Melt the 51/2 tablespoons butter in saucepan. Blend in flour and stir over moderate heat until butter and flour froth for 2 minutes without coloring. Remove from heat and vigorously beat in milk with wire whip. Beat in half the cream, and the salt and pepper. Boil slowly, stirring, for 4 to 5 minutes. Thin sauce with additional cream, beaten in by drops. (Sauce should coat a spoon, but not be too thick.) Beat in a few drops of lemon juice to taste. Correct seasoning. Float a tablespoon of cream on top to keep a skin from forming. Set aside.
Beat eggs and seasonings in bowl until blended. Smear 3 tablespoons butter in skillet or saucepan with a rubber spatula. Pour in eggs and stir over moderately low heat. When eggs slowly thicken, stir rapidly until they scramble into soft curds.
Do not overcook.
Remove from heat and stir in additional 2 tablespoons butter.
Putting it together: Spoon a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a lightly buttered, oval, fireproof baking dish about 12 inches long and 2 inches deep. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese. Spread on half the eggs. Fold a cup of sauce into the mushrooms and spoon over eggs. Sprinkle on 3 more tablespoons of cheese. Cover with the rest of the eggs, then remaining sauce. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese and dot with 1 tablespoon butter. Shortly before serving, preheat broiler and place dish so that surface is an inch from heating element for a minute or so, until lightly browned. Serve at once.
The next Forum will appear in Friday’s Time Out section.
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