Some of us are Sunday sports fans cheering from our comfy chair; others claim to watch just to see the commercials; and then there are those of us who sit cooling our heels, waiting to eat the post-game meal we've prepared for the crowd.  Everyone wins, especially if you serve a rich beef stew covered with mashed potatoes.... It's a dressy version of the French  Hachis Parmentier.    

Here's the link to the recipe; http://www.chezm.com/welcome-to-recipes/53-stews/394-hachis-parmentier

The photos below show: 1. Basic ingredients; 2. The stew ready for braising; 3. Completed  stew ready for a blanket of mashed potatoes



4.Running cooked potatoes through the food mill   5, Hachis Parmentier ready to serve

“One of the most delicious dishes concocted by man.” That’s how Julia Child describes Boeuf Bourgnignon in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I whole-heartedly agree. That’s why the sight of Julie Pearson’s incinerated version in Julie and Julia” was so distressing.  There was only one way to get past that bad memory. I had to make it myself.

 

After two decades of waiting patiently in the shadow of the Food Network’s drop-and-stir programming, Julia Child is back!  Americans can once more tune in to Julia’s ground-breaking black and white TV series from the 60’s.  There she is, showing her audience how to buy a chicken, posing with a lineup of raw suspects and fearlessly whacking at soup bones to make  stock.  After years of watching chefs grill chicken stuffed with a can of beer, will viewers remember what a real chicken stock is?

 

Ahhh, summertime, when cooking with fresh ingredients is easy. One’s only quandary is picking the best place to buy them. How do you choose? Here are my thoughts on where to shop and why.

 Whatever she professes, every shopper wants it all: the freshest product at the lowest price. Her local farm stand is the hands-down winner. But even though the produce is just picked, choice is limited to whatever is ripe at the moment. It’s no wonder our August diets are heavy on the corn, tomatoes and beans.