Day 77: Prince Albert Filet

Menu:

Filet De Boeuf Brais'e Prince Albert JC
(Braised Filet of Beef Stuffed w/Foie Gras (which is pate) and Truffles)

Marinade, for Filet of Beef JC

Greek Spinach Pie (Olga's Restaurant Recipe)

Fried Eggplant ME

It took 5 hours but I finally got the stuffed beef in the oven and baked. I put pate and truffles in with the other ingredients for the stuffing. It gives the beef an earthy flavor. Truffles are a flavor all it's own. I got a feeling it is one of those things that you either really like it or you don't like it all. I loved it! I spent a good portion of my day chopping up vegetables. In total I spent 9 hours in the kitchen. The one thing that has come from me cooking these French recipes, I can chop with a big knife now very quickly and accurately. I've never used the butcher knives and such because I always feared losing a finger. But cooking with the Julia cookbook, you nearly have to get used to chopping vegetables this way.

I love Greek food, I think I've mentioned that before. I bought the phyllo leaves awhile back and had them in the freezer. I finally picked up the rest of the ingredients today so that I could make a spinach pie. If you really like it and want to make it at home, the Olga's recipe is by far the best one and the easiest as far as spinach pie recipes go. Working with the phyllo leaves takes patience. This is not a quick and easy recipe. Once you have it all put together it bakes for an hour. Phyllo leaves may be called phyllo dough too.

Since I have made about every type of potato recipe one can imagine, I decided to skip the potatoes tonight and make eggplant in it's stead. I battered and fried it in olive oil. I would tell you how great it tasted but anyone who eats anything battered and fried knows that just about anything tastes great when you slather it in egg and flour and then drop it in hot oil or grease. It's just wonderful, absolutely wonderful!

Michael went back for seconds, that's when I know the meal was superb. It always makes me happy to see him go back for seconds, he couldn't possibly give me a bigger compliment. Dixie got some of the pate with her dinner tonight so she was a happy, happy girl too.

This recipe called for truffles. While truffles are extremely difficult to find, they are also very expensive. But, I went on a hunt for them anyway. I couldn't find the actual truffles but I did find white truffle oil. The store worker that walked me over to the aisle was amazed I was asking for that because he has never known it to sell. Well, right when we were standing there talking about it, a young man came up and grabbed a bottle off of the shelf. The store worker looked at me in shock. I asked him if he was Julia Child cooking and he said yes. I told him I was too. We both agreed that if you are going to cook her recipes you need plenty of butter, heavy cream, truffles, wine and bacon fat. We both were in a hurry to get back to our cooking so I didn't have time to see what recipe he was making. It did my heart good to see a person in their twenties actually making a Julia Child recipe. If his recipe called for truffles it was probably a challenging recipe. I'm impressed.

Facts:
Day 77 of 100 (365 days Absolutely not!)

Pounds Lost: I hate the scales. I'm not even going to get on them at the doctor's office anymore.
Pounds Gained: I've banned scales from my life, permanently.
Happines Level: 100% (Now that I no longer have a contraption in my life that tracks my weight, I am exceedingly happy. Happier than I have ever been.)
Missing My Kids: 100% (Keep Brandon and all the troops in your prayers.)
Cooking Enjoyment: 100% (It was a lot of work but I enjoyed.)
Eating Enjoyment: 100% (Just ask pudgy Mike, it really was good.)
Meal Presentation: 100% (The black plate looks better in photos.)