Julie & Julia

Check out Meryl Streep's amazing performance in this film about food and love

By Khalil Hymore

A year or two ago, I needed a good beach read for our vacation to Florida to visit Scott's grandmother in West Palm Beach (ah, the snowbirds--an East coast phenomenon this California boy will never fully understand), so being the studious chef that I am I snagged Julia Child's memoir My Life in France.
As I lay pool side at Scott's grandmother's condo, my mind was an ocean away in the narrow streets and alleyways of Paris. As I read about Julia Child's life, I was struck by how hers was a tale less about culinary delights and rather a good old-fashioned love story. Paul and Julia Child's love for adventure and each other is the central theme to the book, and the new film Julie & Julia (partially based on Child's memoir).

Leave it to Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail) to accurately bring the Childs' great (and humorous) love life to the big screen . I also applaud her ability to adapt not just one book for the big screen, but two! Interwoven into the tale of Julia's culinary awakening in France, is another about a different cooking neophyte's (Julie Powell) wake up call. Julie's tale, chronicled on her blog (The Julie/Julia Project) and in her book (Julie and Julia), mirrors Child's in more ways than Ms. Powell probably ever realized before she began her "deranged assignment" cooking her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Like both books, the movie is also less about food and more about love and finding oneself.

Much of the film's success, of course, goes to Meryl Streep for her brilliant and spot on performance as Julia Child. Streep has mastered all of Julia's mannerisms and inflections to perfection. She is not pretending to be Child, she is her!

This week I shared a recipe (inspired by France and Mrs. Child herself) for a one-pot Coq au Vin (chicken braised in wine). Personally, I like the leftovers, just as they are (cold, even, right from the fridge) but here are three fun ideas for using up the leftovers:

Chicken Noodle Soup - Take the left over Coq au Vin and separate the sauce and vegetables from the pieces of chicken. Place the sauce and vegetables  in a small pot with 3 to 4 cups of chicken broth (depending on the amount of sauce you have leftover) and bring to a boil. Add about a cup of egg noodles to the pot and reduce heat to a simmer; cook until the noodles ate tender. Remove the chicken from the bone and shred it. Add it to the pot and keep simmering a couple minutes more until the chicken is heated through.

Quiche - Pick out the chicken and vegetables from the the leftover Coq au Vin. Remove the chicken from the bone and shred it. Use the chicken and vegetables to flavor your favorite quiche recipe base--the eggs, cream, and crust. Might I suggest Julia's?

Cobbler or Pot Pie - Melt a tablespoon or two of butter in a small pot and add a couple of tablespoons of flour. Cook, stirring, until a paste forms and turns light brown, about 2 minutes. Whisk in 1 or 2 cups (depending on how much leftover sauce you have) of warm chicken broth until smooth. Add the left over sauce, vegetables, and chicken, removed from the bone and shredded. Place in a pie plate, and cover with store bought pie crust or biscuit dough. Bake at 400° until golden on top.

How excited are you for the new Julia Child movie, Julie and Julia, with Meryl Streep (together again with Stanley Tucci) and Amy Adams?