Dinner for Friday, June 1, 2007

Today I made dinner all by myself (usually Paul helps with deep prep or stirring/ watching/ getting out of the oven, he's my sous-chef). Paul had to work late setting up for Monday. It was storming and the lights were flickering and I was thinking, please please don't let the power go out before I get this steak finished (we are not so lucky as to have a gas stove). Fortunately, we didn't lose our power at all. Dinner really was simple. I was fine handling the steak, because raw beef is A-OK, just not raw chicken (ew). The technique for Bifteck Sauté Bercy (1) is the same as for Merlot Filet Mignon. The steaks only cook for 3-4 minutes on each side and come out a perfect medium-rare. The peas and carrots were just as simple. For the carottes à la crème (2), I just used the leftover carottes étuvées au beurre from when I made chicken fricassée, so basically all I had to do was pour cream over them and let them simmer. The peas were frozen so I used the frozen pea recipe (3). I was quite surprised by them, they are just boiled in chicken stock and butter with some shallots and they turned out really well. They were sweet and tender. Overall, I was really proud of myself for this one.

1. "Bifteck Sauté Bercy" in Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 ed. Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), 294.
2. "Carottes à la Crème" in ibid, 478.
3. "Frozen Peas" in ibid, 466.