Today I was once again watching my absolute favorite movie, Julie and Julia. Mind you, I have seen this movie a few times before. This time around however, the similarities between myself and both Julie Powell and Julia Child seem to scream at me. Diving back into this blog, I also have been spending a good portion of my small paycheck to create new dishes. Like Julia Child, my knife skills also sucked until I took class at ICE 2years ago. Now cutting veggies which took FOREVER, take a few minutes at the most!
The best part of this movie is it re-affirmed to me how much I LOVE cooking. I believe the dietary issues have made me even better since I have to now think outside the recipe box. Revising a recipe has truly become easier for me. I get inspired now just from looking at a picture of a dish in a magazine which feels wonderful given the fact that I seemed to have lost my spark in the past 3 years due to work and health issues which sidelined me completely. I had even gotten to the point where I believed I wasn’t deserving of this beautiful pearl necklace that my dear hairstylist, whom I have been going to since grade school, gave to me when I was going to pastry school. She proudly said to me that I reminded her of “La muchacha en la pelicula de comida” (the girl in the food movie). I was truly honored then and I am proud to wear it again now. I may not be able to go back to the restaurant anytime soon due to the intense physical demands, but I will continue to fight to cook at home at least, and get my creations out there via this blog.
I hope to inspire those who always wanted to cook and those who have dietary issues like myself. I know firsthand what its like to not eat my old favorites like Onion Soup, or Penne a la Vodka or the authentic version of Panzanella. However, now I create dishes with my own twist to them, keeping as much to the original version as possible. This makes me feel triumphant! It gives you a wonderful sense of accomplishment and it feels great!
Last week for example we were having a lunch as a goodbye to our co-worker, who although was still going to be within our department, was moving to LA. They were ordering Chinese food along with several people bringing in fruits, cheeses and cake. I was not going to miss out on this as I have once before. Snacking on a piece of fruit and cake and starving till dinner so I made my quick and easy Cassoulet.
On todays menu, will be a recipe i saw from Bon Appetit Magazine.
My version will be Meat, Beans and Vegetable Soup
Prep time 10minutes
Cooking Time 50-55minutes
Serves 4
1 1/2 lb of cubed meat
6 Collard green leaves cut in strips
2 cans Turkey Broth
2 cans of Chicken Broth
3 Carrots (cut into rounds)
3 stalks of celery (sliced or chopped)
2 Bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh Tarragon leaves
1 teaspoon of dried Oregano
1/8 tsp of Celery Seed powder (you can use the same amount of coriander powder if you don’t have this)
In a pot on medium heat, put in the meat and brown all over. About 8 minutes.
Now add all the ingredients listed above and cook for 50-55 minutes or until the meat is tender.
*NOTE*
1) The collard greens are a tough leaf but they should be cooked within 20minutes which is well within the time frame listed above.
2) If you don’t eat beef, you can always substitute 1 chicken breast cubed. If using chicken, reduce cooking time to 40-45minutes or until the chicken is tender and no longer pink.
3) If you do NOT eat beef or chicken, you can add sliced Portobello mushrooms for a beefy flavor and reduce cooking time here to 30minutes.
