Happy 101th Birthday, Julia Child

Julia Carolyn Child, August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering The Art of French Cooking and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef,which premiered in 1963. She brought humor and enthusiasm to her cooking shows.

Julia's late career start is legendary. As a bored military wife in Paris she signed up for a cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu. That changed her life. From that time forward she became a master of French cuisine. She inspired millions to cook better and try French cooking in their homes. It hard for me not to look at a recipe that calls for a stick of butter and not think of Julia.  

This is one quote attributed to Julia that sums up her unforgettable spirit: "Best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded, then whack the hell out of the chicken."

 Bon Appetit

In honor of her birthday I decided to make apple crisp.  

This is Julia's recipe from the cookbook The Joy of Cooking

Ingredients:

• 4 cups sliced apples – use 4 medium tart apples
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup all-purpose flour (you can also use self-rising flour if you want)
• ½ cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
• ⅓ cup melted butter or margarine
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• Juice and zest of one lemon

Directions:

• Heat your oven to 375 F. Then take an 8-inch square pan and grease it
• with shortening.
• Slice apples, toss with lemon juice and zest.
• Spread sliced apples in the pan.
• Then take a medium sized bowl and mix in all the remaining ingredients – packed brown sugar, all-purpose flour, oats, melted butter or margarine, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and ground allspice. When it is well mixed, sprinkle them over the apples.
• Put the baking pan into the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes. When done the topping should be golden brown and apples should be tender when you pierce them with a knife or a fork.
• When your apple crisp is done you can top it with ice cream, whipped cream or whatever you like. We prefer it unadorned.

And this is my recipe but I have yet to publish a cookbook!

I recently received this pottery dish from a friend. I am intrigued that something as artistic looking can also be microwaved and baked in. So I took the plunge and decided to bake my apple crisp in it hoping this dish really does what the directions says it can do. I had to cut the following recipe in half because the dish is smaller than a 13 x 9 pan. 

even the bottom of the dish is quite lovely

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

• 8 large apples (tart baking apples) or 10 cups of sliced apples
• 1-¼ cup of sugar
• 2-1/2 TB. flour
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 3 TB. cinnamon

Topping Ingredients:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups of quick cooking dry oatmeal
• ¼ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1-2 TB. cinnamon
• ¾ stick of butter (6TB.)
• optional- add in chopped walnuts

Directions:

• In a large bowl mix sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon
• Add in apples and mix well
• Place apple mixture in a 13 x 9 pan
• In a Cuisinart add all the ingredients and mix well
• Sprinkle over apple mixture bake at 350 for one hour uncovered