Dinner, Courtesy of Farmer Paul and Julia Child

I recently read a bit about Julia Child. She wasn’t a natural-born cook. It took a lot of determination, learning and effort before she became The French Chef we have grown to love and admire. Realizing this has made me appreciate her even more because I certainly didn’t start off very well either.

My big disasters were your common “rice carefully scooped out of the pan so as not to disturb the burned layer stuck to the bottom”, the “chicken that was oh, so carefully roasted and then served half-raw”, and the ever-popular “nutmeg-instead-of-chili-powder tacos” (OK, maybe that one’s not so common). But these disasters have over the years turned into the remember-when stories that, apparently, can be used to enhance any conversation that Farmer Paul’s involved in. But when I growl as he starts relating the stories, it’s mostly in good humor because they really don’t bother me anymore. First, I figure he’s earned the right-after all, he did stick with me (In a couple of weeks it’ll be 17 years!) through all those meals, even encouraging me to keep trying until eventually I got it figured out. And second, anyone who has eaten my food lately KNOWS that I’ve got it figured out!

And this takes me back to Julia Child. She also started out as a poor-to-average cook. But through determination and trial and error she got it figured out. However, while she was classically trained in France which probably helped her learn much quicker than I did, my lessons have been a little less formal. My training has consisted of soaking in multitudes of techniques, explanations and tips such as those offered by Jacques Pepin, Alton Brown, Bobby Flay, Joanne Weir, the America’s Test Kitchen staff and of course, Julia Child. And reading cookbooks. Lots of them.

One truth that I have discovered as I cook and share my food, is that the truly great meals always start with truly great ingredients. And that’s where Farmer Paul enters the picture. Everything you see in the picture above (except the butter & herbs, but we’re working on that!) was grown on our land. It’s all from here. Not an hour ago, the salad ingredients and carrots were growing contentedly in our garden, enjoying the sunshine and light breeze until Nick picked several handfuls of the crisp, sweet, fresh lettuce, spinach and peas. And while he was there he grabbed a few carrots for me to steam and dress with browned butter.

And then the chicken. Our chicken. All-natural, pasture-raised, soy-free, organic chicken. We got the birds when they were just a day old and nurtured them until they were big and healthy. Then they were…processed…and just two days later, here they are, gracing our dinner table.

While great food is great food, it is with Julia’s inspiration that tonight’s dinner became amazing. So with a grateful heart and thoroughly satisfied tastebuds, I dedicate this glorious meal to Julia, a master teacher whose recipe for Sauteed Chicken guided me tonight. Julia’s ability to break the meal down into understandable, rational steps gives nervous cooks confidence. Her inspiration for teaching came from a desire to take the mystery and exclusiveness out of cooking and make it accessible so that home cooks would be successful cooks and be inspired to keep trying.

Here is Julia’s Sauteed Chicken recipe from the Julia and Jacques, Cooking at Home cookbook. Thanks Julia for sharing your passion and gifts with the world. And thanks Farmer Paul for planting the garden and raising the chickens (with help from our young farmers, Nick, Austin and Ryan) and giving me such amazingly perfect ingredients to work with. And thanks to Lisa over at Champaign Taste for hosting a Happy Birthday roundup honoring Julia. Be sure to check out her blog to see others who participated.

Julia’s Simple Saute of Chicken with Herbs
4 pounds fresh, top-quality chicken parts (thanks, Farmer Paul!)
3 Tbs or more unsalted butter plus 1 Tbs oil
1/4 c dry white wine or dry vermouth
1 cup chicken stock
salt & pepper
2 cloves of garlic, crushed (you don’t even need to peel them, just hit ‘em hard & toss ‘em in)
Several springs of fresh herbs (I used thyme), but she also suggest tarragon or sage
2 Tbs minced shallots or scallions (I didn’t have any, so I used just a bit of finely chopped onion)
1 Tbs butter to enrich the sauce

1. Browning the Chicken: This will take a good 20 minutes of careful cooking. Have a clean tray or platter ready. Set the pan over moderately high heat, swirl 2 Tbsp of butter inside with the 1 Tbsp oil When the butter foam starts to subside, lay in as many pieces of chicken as will fit comfortably without crowding. Turn the chicken every minute or so, letting all surfaces brown a nice walnut color.
2. Interlude: Pour out and discard all the browning fat, leaving the crusty browned bits in the pan. Pour the wine into the pan and scrape up the browned bits, adding a bit of the chicken stock if needed. Pour this liquid out of the pan and into the remaining chicken stock. Set aside.
3. Finishing the Saute: This step will take 20-30 minutes. Lightly season the chicken with salt and pepper. Set the pan over moderate heat, adding the remaining tablespoon of butter. When melted, return the dark meat to the pan. Cover and cook slowly for 7-8 minutes. Then turn the dark meat over and add the white meat, which needs less cooking. Baste the chicken with accumulated pan sauces, add the crushed garlic cloves and the herbs. Cover and continue cooking at a low sizzle, turning the chicken and basting with pan juices several times for 12-15 more minutes. Start testing for doneness when chicken juices begin appearing in the pan. The chicken is done when the meat is tender when pressed and its juices run clear yellow when the meat is pierced deeply.
4. Deglazing sauce: Remove chicken to a platter, cover and keep warm for the few minutes it will take to make the sauce. Spoon out and discard excess fat, herbs and garlic from the pan juices. Set the pan over heat, stir in the shallots or scallions and boil rapidly for a minute. Pour in the reserved wine and stock and boil over high heat, scraping up the browned bits. When reduced to a light syrup, swish in the optional butter and spoon over the chicken to serve.