Simple is delicious! I don't think I have ever had a meat dish that was any simpler than this! It is sweet and smokey and wonderful. Like Julia Child once said, "turn the lonely super market ham steak into something delicious." I first had this at a restaurant in my hometown called "D'Atris". I then proceeded to go home and recreate it. All you simply have to do is melt some butter with brown sugar and vanilla. Then, in an oven proof saute pan, place the ham in it and pour over the sauce to coat it. Then, bake it until the sugar caramelizes and the ham is hot and crispy. Be careful when eating because you are dealing with molten sugar. That is all there is to it. Like I said, it is that easy. As for side dishes it is up to you. At the restaurant I usually order french fries with gravy. If you want a less fattening option you can go with some green beans and maybe a baked potato. This recipe can also be found on page 46. Bon Appetit!
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Forget that so called onion dip you get next to the yogurt in the market! This is a sweet delicious real homemade dip. it has all the essentials that an onion dip requires: sweet yellow onions, mayonnaise, sour cream, and cream cheese. Ina Garten as usual has done it again. Made a delicious twist on a classic dip. You start out with two large sweet onions and thinly slice them. Then, you saute them for 10 minutes on medium-high heat in butter and vegetable oil until slightly tender. While they are cooking you season them with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper for a little heat. The, you turn down the heat and cook them very slowly until they are sweet and caramelized. They go from a large mound of onions to very little. Meanwhile, in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, you mix mayonnaise, sour cream, and softened cream cheese. When the onions are done, Ina doesn't mention this but if I were you I would drain the onions through a sieve or colander. This eliminates any excess grease so you won't have a greasy dip. You then must let the onions cool and then mix them into the mayo mixture. Check for seasonings and serve chilled or at room temperature. I would suggest serving with chip or mixed vegetables. This is particularly good on burgers or sandwiches. It doesn't matter which way you serve it, it is absolutely delicious! Bon Appetit!
I love French Bread, in my opinion it is the best bread you can make/buy. The texture is wonderful and the taste is very flavorful. I cannot stand those vendors and stores that try and pass off that soft crust crap they call French bread. True French bread has a hard crust with a soft and textural interior. These recipes are the absolute best I have found for making French bread. They come from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume Two. The whole recipe for bread is about 12 pages long. I have typed up a one page summary that is much easier to understand. I have made a recipe for both the Baguettes and Boules. Baguettes are of course the long loaves and the Boules (pronounced like "bulls") are the classic round loaves. Both recipes are exactly the same except for the forming of the loaves. The forming of the Boules is pretty simple to understand. However, the method for forming of the baguettes is very challenging to try to explain on one page. As a matter of fact in the book it is like three pages. So I think the best way to describe it is to let Julia Child show you herself. DO NOT DISREGARD THIS STEP, IT IS CRUCIAL TO MAKING BAGUETTES. Below, if you click on the picture, you will be taken to YouTube where I have found the French Bread episode of her show "The French Chef". I will warn you, the recipes I have provided below are made using a stand mixer and dough hook which is faster and more efficient, but, in the video, Julia mixes and kneads the dough by hand which is how it is described in the book as well. I have made the bread this way and it has an entirely different texture if you do it in a stand mixer. So, when you watch the video, if you want to just see the forming of the loaves, skip ahead to 12:30 in the show, that way you are not confused about kneading the dough by hand. So just follow the directions in the recipes I have provided and then if you are making the baguettes watch the video and skip ahead to 12:30. Also, another thing I want to clarify is that these breads are baked using a "simulated baker's oven". This is achieved by lining your oven rack with square red stone quarry/floor tiles. You bake the bread directly one these tiles. It provides the extreme heat needed to harden the crust and give it a nice color and taste. You can buy these tiles at a hardware or home improvement store like Lowe's or Home Depot. In fact, I lucked out and bought some at a yard sale. For a standard oven I can only fit about 6. But ovens vary so I would buy about 9 or 10. Please try these breads out. They are delicious and they give you the satisfaction of knowing you can make something as elegant as homemade crusty French Bread. Bon Appetit!
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