Remember Julia Child. Save PBS

No recipes today. Just an angry comment. A congressional committee has recommended slashing all funding for PBS and NPR within two years. Here's the story in Free Press. Without PBS we would never have enjoyed the Victory Garden, The French Chef, or Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. So write your congressman or woman. Tell them how much we all want and need PBS.

Ok.Now that I've ranted there's time for some Julia Child recipes. Julia wasn't too fond of vegetarianism, but she did try to occasionally have a recipe or two for vegetarians.


Soupe Au Pistou -- Provencal Vegetable Soup

3 quarts water
2 cups each: diced carrots, diced boiling potatoes, diced white of leek
1 Tb salt

Boil the water, vegetables and salt slowing in a 6 quart kettle for 40 minutes

2 cups diced green beans or 1 pack frozen cut beans
2 cups cooked or canned navy beans (I prefer the cooked beans)
1/2 cup broken spaghetti
1 slice stale white bread crumbled
1/8 tsp pepper

Twenty minutes before serving so the green vegetables will retain their freshness, add the beans, spaghetti, bread and seasonings to the boling soup.
Boil slowly for about 15 minutes or until the green beans are just cooked through.
Correct the seasoning again.

4 cloves mashed garlic
6 Tb tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil

Prepare the following pistou while the soup is cooking:
place the garlic, tomato paste, basil, and cheese in the soup tureen and blend to a paste with a wooden spoon.
Then, drop by drop, beat in the olive oil.

When the soup is ready for serving, beat a cup gradually into the pistou.
Pour in the rest of the soup.

Serve with hot French bread or hard-toasted bread rounds based with olive oil.

Julia's Notes On Cooking Green Beans

Cooked green vegetables should be beautifully green, and just cooked through. As the great Escoffier wrote, introducing green beans in his Guide culinaire, they are "the most exquisite of vegetables, but they must be prepared with the greatest care. They are best when a little firm to the tooth, but without exaggeration." Great care, certainly, but there is nothing difficult about cooking a bean. You may either steam green beans, which is fast and easy and works well for small quantities, or boil them-and you can cook them several hours in advance without losing their fresh quality.

To steam green beans and other green vegetables: Set a steamer basket with the vegetables into a saucepan just large enough to hold it tightly covered. Add an inch of water, bring to the boil, and cover the pan tightly. Regulate heat to moderate. Green beans will take only 3 to 5 minutes if really fresh -- watch attentively that you do not overcook, and taste a sample frequently until the beans are done. If you are not serving them at once, immediately refresh the beans in iced water to stop the cooking and set the color.

The Big Boil: This is more cumbersome than steaming, but it is recommended for large quantities. The immense amount of boiling water means the beans will come quickly to the boil, and the rapid cooling in ice water stops the cooking and sets the color. Bring a large kettle of water to the boil -- 6 quarts of water for 2 pounds of beans. Provide yourself with a colander and have two trays of ice cubes available. When the water is at the rolling boil, drop in the trimmed and washed beans. Add 2 tablespoons of salt (for 6 quarts of water), and cover the kettle for a minute or two until the boil is reached again. At once remove the cover and boil uncovered; after several minutes, begin tasting as a test, and keep tasting. They are done when they are just cooked through but still have the slightest crunch. Drain immediately, and either serve at once or immediately return the beans to the kettle and run cold water over them. When half full, drain again, add the ice to the kettle and cold water to cover. Drain in 5 minutes or so, when thoroughly chilled.
The finish: Whichever method you use, the drained and cooked beans are now ready to be reheated, or to be served cold in a salad.
Ahead-of-Time Note: The beans may be cooked several hours in advance, but to keep their freshly cooked taste, I always dry them thoroughly in clean towels, then refrigerate them in a covered bowl.

Julia Child's books include: Mastering the Art of French Cooking; The Way to Cook; The French Chef Cookbook; Baking with Julia; From Julia's Kitchen; Julia's Delicious Little Dinners; In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs; Julia's Casual Dinners; Julia's Menus for Special Occasions; Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home; Julia's Breakfasts, Lunches, and Suppers; and Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking.