Happy Birthday, Julia Child!

I’m chastened to say that I would not have known that yesterday was Julia Child’s 100th birthday if Google hadn’t told me so with their fun Doodle in her honor. I revere Julia highly, despite having only worked my way through a mere handful of her recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 

I admire her dedication to–and love of–good food and home cooking, and the manner in which she shared that love with her audience. Although I’d been cooking for a while, and had made countless number of tasty dishes, when I made her Beef Bourguignon for the first time five years ago or so, it was a revelation of just how good home cooking could be.

Beef Bourguignon was not in the cards last night (too hot out, didn’t have any beef chuck defrosted, and it’s really a fall-into-winter dish, anyway), but thanks to Saveur Magazine, was able to pluck a recipe for grated carrot salad off their suggested “Dinner with Julia” menu. I had to substitute olive oil, because I was out of peanut oil, but it was simply and simply tasty. I don’t know why I don’t make grated carrot salads more often. They are, of course, nutritious, and open to so much variation. I know that Jamie Oliver has a bunch of variations in his Food Revolution Cookbook that I keep meaning to try.

Considering that my zucchini plants are threatening to take over my garden, I think I need to make Julia’s recipe for Zucchini Tian, offered forth by Food 52 as a “genius recipe.” Indeed!

PBS NewsHour had a nice little video celebration of Julia’s birthday, including a short interview with her nephew Alex Prud’homme, who co-authored her memoir “My Life In France.”