by Julia Child
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Shortly before serving, film frying pan with ⅛ inch of the clarified butter, heat to very hot but not browning, and arrange as many potato cakes in pan as will easily fit in one layer. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes on one side, until nicely browned and crusted, turn and sauté on the other side. Arrange on baking sheet and keep warm in oven while sautéing the rest, adding more butter to pan as necessary. The potato cakes may be kept warm for 15 minutes or more, but are at their best and freshest the sooner you serve them.
Galettes de Pommes de Terre Farcies
[Filled Potato Cakes]
With a stuffing of ham, mushrooms, and cheese, potato cakes become a main course. Serve them with a green vegetable or a salad. Rather than sautéing them, you may find baking easier.
For 8 cakes 3½ inches in diameter, serving 4 or more people
Ingredients for the preceding potato cakes plus:
¼ lb. (1 cup) finely diced fresh mushrooms
1 Tb minced shallots or scallions
Salt and pepper
⅓ cup finely minced ham
½ cup grated Swiss cheese
Sauté the mushrooms and shallots or scallions in a tablespoon of the butter in a small pan until mushroom pieces begin to separate from each other and to brown very lightly. Season with salt and pepper, add the minced ham, and sauté a minute more. Set aside. Form half of the potato mixture into 8 disks 3½ inches in diameter and about ¼ inch thick. Spread the ham and mushrooms in the center of each, and top with grated cheese. Cover with disks made from the remaining potatoes.
To cook, either dredge in bread crumbs and sauté in clarified butter as in preceding recipe, or arrange on a buttered baking sheet, sprinkle with bread crumbs and melted butter, and bake in upper third of a preheated 400-degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes until lightly browned.
A BEAN PURÉE, THREE TURNIP RECIPES, AND A CRÊPE
Any change from routine is a happy event, particularly when it is a substitute for the usual starchy vegetable choices. Here is a clever purée of beans and pumpkin, two purées involving turnips, plus a turnip sauté, and a new kind of crêpe made of green peppers and tomatoes.
GRATIN DE POTIRON D’ARPAJON
[Purée of Pumpkin or Winter Squash and White Beans]
A combination of pumpkin or squash and beans goes especially well with goose, duck, turkey, pork, or sausages. This is also one of the few vegetable recipes where you may successfully substitute canned or frozen ingredients for fresh, as noted near the end of the directions in Step 1, and in the ingredients for Step 2.
For 4 to 6 people
1) The pumpkin or squash
1¼ cups mirepoix vegetables (½ cup each of finely diced onions and celery; ¼ cup diced carrots)
3 Tb butter
A covered 2½- to 3-quart flameproof baking and serving dish 2½ to 3 inches deep
2 lbs. yellow-fleshed winter squash or pumpkin (6 cups peeled and roughly sliced)
Optional: 1 to 2 cloves mashed garlic
1 imported bay leaf
⅛ tsp thyme
½ tsp salt
½ cup water
Waxed paper cut to fit top of dish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the mirepoix vegetables in butter in the covered dish over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, until vegetables are tender but not browned. Stir in the squash or pumpkin, optional garlic, herbs, salt, and water. Bring to a simmer on top of stove, lay waxed paper over vegetables, cover, and bake in middle level of preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring up once or twice to be sure vegetables are not browning. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons more liquid if all has evaporated before squash or pumpkin is tender. (If using canned or frozen squash or pumpkin, cook mirepoix vegetables until tender, then add garlic, herbs, and ¼ cup water; cover and boil slowly for about 10 minutes until liquid has evaporated.) Remove bay leaf.
2) The beans; baking and serving
About 2½ cups cooked or canned white beans such as Great Northern, pea beans, or Italian cannellini beans (for quick soaking and pressure cooking of dried beans, see Volume I, page 400)
A food mill with medium disk
A large mixing bowl
A rubber spatula and wooden spoon
2 “large” eggs
½ cup heavy cream
2 ounces (½ cup) grated Swiss cheese
Salt and white pepper
3 Tb butter
Preheat oven to 425 degrees in time for baking. Purée the squash or pumpkin mixture along with the beans through food mill into bowl. Beat in the eggs, cream, all but 2 tablespoons of the cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Smear 1 tablespoon of the butter in the baking dish, spoon in the purée, sprinkle reserved cheese on top and dot with the remaining butter.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be completed a day ahead to this point. When cold, cover and refrigerate. Allow 10 to 15 minutes longer in oven if mixture is chilled.
About half an hour before serving, bake uncovered in upper third of preheated 425-degree oven until bubbling hot and top has browned nicely.
PURÉE FRENEUSE
[Purée of Rice and Turnips with Herbs and Garlic]
Unless your guests know that Freneuse is Turnipville, on one of the serpentine twists of the Seine northwest of Paris, they will have no other clue to identify this marvelous mixture. Serve it with red meats, pork, sausages, chops, goose, and ducklings.
For 4 to 6 people
2 cups milk, more if needed
A heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan (no-stick would be useful)
1 cup rice
½ tsp salt
2 Tb butter
2 to 3 large cloves of mashed garlic
¼ tsp Italian seasoning, or thyme and bay leaf
3 to 4 white turnips, about 3 inches in diameter, peeled and roughly chopped (2 to 3 cups)
A food mill
Bring the milk to the simmer, add the rice, salt, butter, garlic, and seasonings. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until rice is partially tender. Stir in the turnips, adding more milk, if necessary, to submerge the vegetables. Cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until turnips are tender. Liquid should be almost entirely absorbed; if not, uncover and boil, stirring, to evaporate it. Purée through food mill and return to pan.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be completed to this point.
Salt and white pepper to taste
2 to 3 Tb butter or heavy cream
A hot serving dish
Minced parsley
Shortly before serving, reheat, stirring. Carefully correct seasoning. Stir in the butter or cream by spoonfuls. Turn into a hot serving dish and decorate with the parsley.
LA PURÉE, CHTEAUX EN SUÈDE
[Purée of Yellow Turnips—Rutabagas]
Firm, fresh rutabagas with their crisp, moist flesh and fine, sweet flavor are every bit as good as the best white turnips, especially when they are simmered with butter and turned into a fragrant, yellow purée. Serve with a roast goose or duck, a loin of pork, a dinner of homemade sausages, or a lamb or beef stew.
HISTORICAL NOTE
Because rutabagas appear to have originated in Scandinavia, they are called swedes by the English and sometimes navets de Suède by the French. The rutabaga is a distinct species of vegetable, related to both the cabbage and the turnip, which accounts for one of its other French names, chou-rave à chair jaune. A number of varieties exist, some of which are animal fodder, and in France that type was often all one had to eat during two long world wars. Although modern improvements have created varieties to meet the taste of the most discriminating châtelaine, rutabagas are still a distasteful reminder of bitter days to many Frenchmen, which accounts for this recipe’s charmingly evasive title.
For 4 to 6 people
1½ to 2 lbs. firm, crisp rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (6 to 7 cups)
A heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan
About 2 cups water
1½ tsp salt
>
3 Tb butter
A cover for the pan
A food mill set over a mixing bowl
Place rutabaga chunks in saucepan with enough water to come ⅔ the way up the vegetables. Add salt and butter, bring to the boil, cover and boil slowly, tossing occasionally, for about 30 minutes or until tender. Drain, reserving cooking liquid, and purée rutabaga through food mill into bowl.
4 Tb rendered goose fat, pork fat, or butter
⅓ cup all-purpose flour (measure by scooping dry-measure cup into flour and sweeping off excess with a knife)
A wooden spoon and wire whip
The hot turnip-cooking juices
¼ cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper
A lightly buttered warm vegetable dish
Fresh parsley
Melt the fat or butter in the saucepan, blend in the flour, and stir over moderate heat until flour and fat foam together for 2 minutes without browning at all. Remove from heat, and when it has stopped bubbling blend in 1 cup of the cooking juices, beating vigorously with wire whip until mixture is perfectly smooth. Return over moderately high heat, stirring with whip as mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Boil, stirring, for 2 minutes. Sauce should be very thick, but not so thick that it will not combine with the puréed turnips: beat in more cooking liquid (or milk) by spoonfuls if you think it necessary. Finally beat the turnip purée and the cream into the sauce, and season carefully to taste.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES: May be prepared even a day in advance; cover and refrigerate when cool.
About 30 minutes before serving, cover and reheat over simmering water, stirring occasionally. To serve, turn into a hot vegetable dish and decorate with parsley.
PETITS NAVETS SAUTÉS, EN GARNITURE
[Fresh, Young White Turnips Sautéed in Butter]
Winter and early spring are the time for early crop turnips, which are tender enough to need no blanching and are at their best cooked simply in butter. Whether round, oval, or top-shaped and with or without their green leaves, buy them smooth, firm, small, clean, unblemished, and all of a size for even cutting and shaping. Their flesh, when you cut into them raw, must be moist, crisp, and sweetly turnipy. Serve sautéed turnips with duck, goose, turkey, pork, roast beef or lamb, steaks or chops. They are also attractive as part of a vegetable garnish in combination with such others as glazed carrots and sautéed mushrooms, or buttered fresh peas. The following recipe is for a small amount, but if you wish to cook more, do the preliminary sauté in batches, and finish them off all together in a covered casserole in a 325-degree oven.
For 4 to 6 servings
About 12 fresh, young white turnips 2 to 2½ inches in diameter (2½ lbs. without tops)
2 or more Tb butter
1 or more Tb olive oil or cooking oil
A large (11-inch) frying pan (no-stick recommended)
¼ tsp salt, more as necessary
Big pinch pepper
A cover for the pan
With a small, sharp knife, peel the turnips, removing outer skin and the white underskin that covers the moist flesh. You now want to cut them in the form of large garlic cloves, all pieces approximately the same size: if you have round turnips, for example, quarter them lengthwise, and round off the sharp edges, saving trimmings for turnip soup or adding them to one of the preceding purées.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 1 of oil in frying pan over moderately high heat. When butter foam is beginning to subside, indicating fat is hot enough, add as many turnips as will fit in one crowded layer. Toss and turn frequently, shaking and swirling the pan by its handle, for 4 to 5 minutes, until turnips are beginning to brown very lightly. (If you are sautéing in 2 batches, turn browned turnips into a side dish, add more butter and oil if needed, brown the second batch, then return all to the pan.) Toss turnips with the salt and pepper, cover pan, and cook over very low heat, tossing occasionally, for about 10 minutes more or until turnips are tender. Be careful turnips do not brown too much. Be sure also not to overcook them; they should be just tender but still hold their shape.
2 to 3 Tb more butter
Salt and pepper as needed
3 to 4 Tb fresh minced parsley
A hot vegetable dish or the meat platter
Just before serving, reheat to sizzling, toss with more salt and pepper as needed, then with the additional butter, and finally with the parsley. Turn into hot vegetable dish or onto platter and serve.
CRÊPES À LA PIPÉRADE
[Pepper, Onion, Tomato, and Cheese Pancakes]
Cooked bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, cheese, and herbs plus a light batter to bind them all together are the basic ingredients for this attractive vegetable combination, which is cooked like pancakes. Serve them with roasts, chops, or broiled chicken, and any leftovers are delicious with cold hors d’oeuvre or on a picnic. They are, in addition, a splendid background for diced poultry, veal, or pork leftovers, which you may include in the mixture; topped with a poached or fried egg and a tomato or cheese sauce, they are an ample main course for informal meals.
For 12 4-inch pancakes
1) The crêpe batter—for ¾ cup
⅓ cup flour, preferably “instant blending” (measure by scooping dry-measure cup into flour and leveling off with knife)
1 “large” egg
¼ tsp salt
1½ tsp cooking oil
⅓ cup milk, plus a little more if needed
An electric blender, or a bowl, whip, and sieve
Either whirl all ingredients in a blender; or place flour in bowl, beat in rest of ingredients, and strain through sieve. Batter should be like heavy cream; if too thick, thin out with drops of milk. You may use it immediately if you have instant-blending flour; otherwise let it rest for an hour at least.
2) The pipérade mixture—for 1½ cups
1½ cups sliced onions
3 Tb olive oil or cooking oil
An 8-inch frying pan with cover
1½ cups sliced green bell peppers
3 to 4 ripe, red tomatoes peeled, seeded, juiced, and sliced (1½ cups)
2 to 3 large cloves of garlic, mashed
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tb fresh minced parsley, plus 1 Tb fresh minced basil or ½ tsp of dried oregano
Cook the onions in the oil for 8 to 10 minutes, or until tender and translucent. Add the peppers and cook another 3 to 4 minutes to soften slightly. Then add the sliced tomato pulp and garlic; cover pan for several minutes until tomatoes have rendered their juice. Uncover, raise heat, and boil for several minutes, tossing pan by handle to blend ingredients, until liquid has almost completely evaporated. Season carefully to taste, and toss with the herbs.
3) Cooking the crêpes
(You may prefer several 8-inch crêpes cut into wedges; the following is for 4-inch crêpes cooked 3 at a time in a 10-inch pan.)
5 ounces Swiss cheese cut into ⅜-inch dice (about ¾ cup)
The pipérade turned into a 2-quart bowl
A rubber spatula
½ cup or more of the crêpe batter
Cooking oil
A heavy 10-inch frying pan (no-stick recommended)
A ¼-cup measure
1 or 2 oiled baking sheets
A pancake turner
Blend the cheese into the pipérade along with ½ cup of the batter. Brush frying pan with oil and set over moderately high heat. When hot but not quite smoking, ladle in ¼ cup of the crêpe mixture as a test. Cook about 2 minutes on one side, until little holes appear through the surface, at which time bottom should be nicely browned. Turn and cook about 1 minute on other side, then remove to a baking sheet. Crêpe should just hold together, with only enough batter in the mixture to enrobe the ingredients. Add a little more batter to bowl if you feel it necessary, but too much makes for doughy crêpes. Cook the rest of the crêpes and arrange on baking sheets.
Just before serving, reheat for 5 minutes or so in a preheated 425-degree oven.
Including leftovers
> For the same amount of batter, use:
1 cup each sliced onions, peppers, and tomatoes for the pipérade
⅓ cup diced cheese
1 cup diced cooked poultry, veal, pork, ham, sausages, or fish
THREE COLD VEGETABLES
PETITS OIGNONS AIGRE-DOUX
[Sweet and Sour Onions Braised with Raisins—Hot or Cold]
Serve these hot with roast pork, duck, goose, game, or cold along with hors d’oeuvre, and cold meat and poultry. They should be considered more as a garnish, relish, or condiment than a vegetable, and if you are using tiny pearl onions, 6 per serving should be sufficient.
For about 2 cups, serving 6 to 8
3 cups (10 ounces; 40 to 50) small, white pearl onions
A saucepan of boiling water
A heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan with cover
½ cup beef or chicken bouillon
½ cup water
1 tsp dry mustard blended with 1¼ Tb wine vinegar
2 Tb olive oil
1½ Tb sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 medium tomato, peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped
⅓ cup currants (small, black, seedless raisins)
1 large clove garlic, mashed
¼ tsp thyme
1 bay leaf