Julia Child Birthday Recipe - Crepes Suzette Video

Food lovers are celebrating Julia Child's birthday today. An in her honor the 99 Cent Chef's new palate-pleasing video, "Julian & Julia," introduces Julia Child's nephew, Julian Child. He's a real chip off the cutting board and a chef worthy of sauteing with Aunt Julia's copper-bottomed pot!

I had the good fortune to run into Julian Child at the Hollywood Farmers Market this last Sunday. We chatted about his "Aunt Julia" and the movie "Julie & Julia."

As we walked through fresh and fragrant stalls of produce Julian stopped at a stack of organic oranges and reminisced about his childhood summers in Paris, France, and how he would tug at Julia Child's apron and beg for his favorite dish: Crepe Suzette in an Orange Butter Sauce.

Aunt Julia eventually grew tired of always preparing it and soon taught it to her nephew, a budding chef. I seized the opportunity to invite Julian to The 99 Cent Chef's kitchen to cook his Aunt Julia's Crepe Suzette for everyone!

A delicious and decadent dessert made with loads of butter, this French classic is easy and of course, cheap to make. Flour, eggs, milk, orange juice, butter and a 99 cent airline bottle of cognac make up the main ingredients. (You can leave out half the butter, but then it would not be a true Julia Child culinary experience. Try it this way at least once!)

Julian & Julia - VIDEO

Play it here. The video runs 6 minutes, 20 seconds.

Click here to view or embed video from youtube.

Ingredients (about 6 crepes)

• 3/4 cup of milk
• 2 to 3 whole eggs
• 1/4 tsp. of vanilla - optional
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup of orange juice - fresh squeezed or carton pasteurize.
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 stick of butter - OK to use less
• 99 cent airline bottle of cognac (or brandy) - about 1/4 cup 

 Directions for Crepes
In a large bowl mix together flour, milk, water, salt, eggs and 1 tbsp. of melted or soft butter. Whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Heat your medium (about 8 inches) non-stick omelet pan and coat with 1 pat of butter or oil.

When butter is melted, add 1/4 cup of crepe batter - enough to just cover the bottom of the pan. Hold up pan and swirl to coat pan evenly. It is better to have too much batter than too little - a thin crepe will tear when turning.

Cook crepe for a minute, then loosen around the edges and continue cooking for another minute. Peek before turning to see if crepe is starting to brown. Carefully turn crepe over and cook for another half minute. As my video shows, the first crepe may stick and be unusable. Instead of throwing it away, you might as well taste it to see how tender the crepe turned out.
Don't worry, it takes a couple of crepes to get it right. Your crepes may not be perfect, but with a sweet Orange Butter Sauce no one will be complaining about the appearance. Set aside your cooked crepes to add to the Orange Butter Sauce.

Directions for Orange Butter Sauce
Use a large enough pan to dip a whole crepe into. Melt butter, then add orange juice, zest and sugar into pan, over a medium/high heat. Cook until sauce is reduced by half and thickened, about 5 minutes.

Reduce heat and add a crepe. Notice my use of a spoon and fork, in the video, to fold crepe into sauce. Fold in half once, then fold one more time and push crepe to the edge of the pan to make room for more.

I managed to fit about 3 crepes at a time to my pan. Allow crepes to heat through for a minute.


Now the fun part - cognac flambe! Have a long-handled match ready. This is when you want an audience. Your table should be set and the lights dimmed so you can serve the flaming Crepes Suzettes with a flourish!

When sauce and crepes are warm, pour in half the cognac and bring to the table. Place before your dazzled guest and strike a match, lighting the sauce.

Be careful: the cognac will flame up, so you don't want flammable items nearby (overhead curtains, paper, etc.) and your kids should not attempt this! Serve this first batch of crepes with a spoonful of sauce.

Finish saucing the other crepes, then flambe, and repeat. Bon Appetit!

If you are not familiar with the culinary icon, Julia Child, here is a scene from "Julie & Julia." Meryl Streep "chews" the scenery as larger-than-life Julia Child.

The other half of the movie is about Julie Powell blogging and cooking her way through, in one year, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" co-written by Julia Child. Both stories resonated with this Chef.

And the movie's Paris locale is intoxicating. You will find yourself leaving the theater with the booming voice of Julia Child in your head and your utterances will have her cadence. She is so fun to mimic you cannot help but bellow "Bon Appetit" every chance you get!

And 99 Thanks to Bob McGinness for his creative camerawork!

NBA Playoffs - Shooting Produce Video

Welcome to the NBA playoffs, 99 Cent Chef-style, that is. This is basketball played by the rulebook of the Cheap$kate Dribblier. The matchup this year is between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Great NBA All-Star match-ups have included Magic and Bird, Kobe and LeBron...and now: Pete versus The 99 Cent Chef! It's a triple-double of a basketball video event. One-on-one has never been so much fun.

Like in my baseball video from years before, playing with food is taken to surreal and fanciful extremes. What starts out as a simple 5 basket pickup game turns into a food free-for-all, and you can be sure things go splat when there is a drive to the hoop.

As you enjoy and cheer on your team, see if you can see some of classic basketball moves I've adapted into the video at the end of this post.

 First up is the Bell Pepper Bank Shot: a shot that hits the backboard before hitting the rim or going through the net.

Banana Cut: a wide, curving cut, as opposed to a cut that is a straight line. Also known as a 'C' cut.

Onion Over the Back: a foul committed by a player who tries to rebound the onion by pushing, moving or climbing on a player's back who is already in position to rebound the ball.

Apple Advance Step: a step in which the defender's lead foot steps toward their man and the back foot slides forward. 

Cucumber Chucker: a player who takes frequent, and often imprudent, shot attempts. The term was popularized by the television series Seinfeld.

Toilet Bowl Tomato: when the ball hits the rim at a certain angle and then circles around it, can go in or out.

During this week of the NBA playoffs, be a sport and join me for his outlandish halftime entertainment event.

Shooting Produce - Video 
Play it here. The video runs 4 minutes, 47 seconds.

99 thanks to neighbor Pete for a slam-dunkin' performance! 

And extra thanks to my fellow Culver City art gallery hopping buddy Bob McGinness for additional creative camerawork.

Click here to embed or view video on YouTube.

Thanksgiving Recipes Week - Mom's Pumpkin Pie

Check back for a daily dose of Thanksgiving recipes all this week - it's a digital all-you-can-eat holiday brunch at the Cheap$kate Chateau!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow so you have time to make my Mom's Pumpkin Pie. I was back in Gonzales, Louisiana a few years ago around Thanksgiving, and got her to cook it on camera. Boy, was it good -- so good that a lot of my Cajun cousins swung by. It was a fun and noisy day, as you will see, where everyone lines up for a slice after the pies cool down.

Mom made a wheat crust from scratch, but for the filling she went with the convenience of canned pumpkin. I know you are disappointed that we didn't find a free pumpkin in the wild, like we did for Mom's last dessert recipe of Mini Pecan Pies -- where we went pecan picking out in a field of pecan trees (click here for that video).

Even with canned pumpkin, Mom's extra ingredients of spices, eggs and evaporated milk, make a luscious  filling with a creamy flavored kick of cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and clove.

The rest of the pie filling was made with cheap ingredients. This week I went searching for a cheap can of pumpkin and found out how expensive it is. Almost $3 a can! 

Now, for this recipe I am following Mom's lead, and would not have her change a family recipe handed down to her, but I can offer a 99.99 cent substitution: canned sweet yams. They are almost the same color, and by the time you add sugar and all the spices to Mom's pumpkin filling, it almost tastes the same.

I've had Sweet Potato Pie (probably made with canned yams or sweet potatoes) at my local Soul Food restaurant and it's dang good. The consistency is similar to pumpkin and the flavor is sweeter. Usually canned yams are cooked chunks floating in liquid. So if you want to make a cheaper pie using yams, you should drain the can and mash the cooked yam flesh. And, I would use half the sugar that Mom uses for her Pumpkin Pie.

The best substitution would be to fork mash the orange flesh of fresh baked and peeled sweet potatoes -- they are almost  as cheap as russet potatoes. See, dear reader, I am always thinking of you, and how to make a cheaper, but still tasty twist on a typical expensive dessert!

For the heck of it, I priced premade pumpkin pies at my local grocery chain store and found them on sale for $6.99 each. That's way too One Percent for
The 99 Percenter Chef!

You could also buy an inexpensive pre-made pie crust -- but if you have time, do give Mom's homemade version a try. The whole pie came together quickly and easily. It's a two-for-one recipe. The video recipe is for 2 pies. Of course, it's easy to cut the ingredient amounts in half  to bake one pie.

I have to give a big 99 thanks to all my Cajun relatives -- I didn't have to twist their arms to give Mom's Pumpkin Pie a try -- and an extra 99 thanks to Mom for sharing her recipe with all my readers. And Happy Holidays to all!

Mom's Pumpkin Pie Recipe - VIDEO

Play it here. Video runs 8 minutes, 53 seconds.

To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Ingredients for Pie Crusts (2 Pies)

• 2 cups of flour - white or wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ice cold water
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup shortening

Directions for Pie Crusts
Add flour and salt to a large bowl for mixing. Scoop in a cup of shortening. Mix in with a fork until flour becomes pea sized lumps. Pour in a cup of cold water. Now you have to get your hands dirty. Mix the dough  by hand for about 3 minutes until it all comes together. Sprinkle flour over a work surface. Plop dough on it and form into a ball. Divide the ball in half.

With a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball until it is large enough to fit over your baking pie pan. Press dough into the pan and press together any cracks that split during the transfer. You can pinch dough ridges around the top if you want to.

Ingredients for Pumpkin Pie Filling

• 2 cups of canned pumpkin - okay to use cheaper canned sweet potatoes or yams (drain then mash with a fork or potato masher to smooth.
• 1 cup of sugar - use half a cup if you are using sweet potatoes or yams. Of course, best to use baked and peeled fresh orange colored yams - about 2-4, depending on the size.
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups of evaporated milk

Directions for Pumpkin Pie Filling
In a large bowl mix in dry ingredients and spices including: sugar, salt, ground cinnamon, cloves and ginger.

In another small bowl, add 4 eggs and lightly whisk the egg yolks and whites together for a minute. Pour  blended eggs into the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix it all together for a minute.

Spoon in 2 cups of canned pumpkin into the spices and egg mixture. Next pour in 2 cups of evaporated milk. Whisk it all together for a minute or two until well blended.

Okay to substitute cheaper sweet potatoes or yams, but first drain and mash with a fork or potato masher. They"re usually canned in liquid with large pieces.

Now it all comes together. Just pour the pie filling into both pie shells until pie shells are almost full.

Add pies to a 425 degree heated oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees and finish baking for 40 minutes.

Mom uses a toothpick test to see if a pie is cooked through. She inserts a toothpick into the center of the pie, then removes the pick to see if it's wet. If it comes out clean, it's ready. If it is still wet, she puts it back in the oven for another 5 - 10 minutes. I think if the toothpick is slightly damp, you can just leave the pie out to cool, as it will continue cooking anyway.

Pie is ready to serve when it reaches room temperature (after an hour of cooling on the counter.)

Of course, you could easily half all the ingredients to make just one pie.

You can also speed up the cooling by putting the pies in the refrigerator. Since the pie plates are hot, you need to allow them to cool for 10 minutes first. Then place potholders, or a kitchen towel, on the refrigerator surface and place the pies on it. Pies store well in the refrigerator, so you can make them a couple of days beforehand -- just cover with plastic wrap after they cool down.

Pie slices are delicious on their own, but you may want to top with whipped cream.

Hindsight
Of course, you can just buy a premade crust at the market for cheap. I thought it fun to show how Mom makes hers. As mentioned earlier, it is easy to cut the ingredients in half to make just one pie. You could shave off 10 minutes or so for a creamier pudding like filling, that's still enough time to cook the crust.

NBA Playoffs - Shooting Produce Video

Welcome to the NBA playoffs, 99 Cent Chef-style, that is. This is basketball played by the rulebook of the Cheap$kate Dribblier. The matchup this year is between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Great NBA All-Star match-ups have included Magic and Bird, Kobe and LeBron...and now: Pete vs. The 99 Cent Chef! It's a triple-double of a basketball video event. One-on-one has never been so much fun.

Like in my baseball video from years before, playing with food is taken to surreal and fanciful extremes. What starts out as a simple 5 basket pickup game turns into a food free-for-all, and you can be sure things go splat when there is a drive to the hoop.

As you enjoy and cheer on your team, see if you can see some of classic basketball moves I've adapted into the video at the end of this post.

 First up is the Bell Pepper Bank Shot: a shot that hits the backboard before hitting the rim or going through the net.

Banana Cut: a wide, curving cut, as opposed to a cut that is a straight line. Also known as a 'C' cut.

Onion Over the Back: a foul committed by a player who tries to rebound the onion by pushing, moving or climbing on a player's back who is already in position to rebound the ball.

Apple Advance Step: a step in which the defender's lead foot steps toward their man and the back foot slides forward. 

Cucumber Chucker: a player who takes frequent, and often imprudent, shot attempts. The term was popularized by the television series Seinfeld.

Toilet Bowl Tomato: when the ball hits the rim at a certain angle and then circles around it, can go in or out.

During this week of the NBA playoffs, be a sport and join me for his outlandish halftime entertainment event.

Shooting Produce - Video 

Play it here. The video runs 4 minutes, 47 seconds.

99 thanks to neighbor Pete for a slam-dunkin' performance! 

And extra thanks to my fellow Culver City art gallery hopping buddy Bob McGinness for additional creative camerawork.

Click here to embed or view video on YouTube.

Dining for Free in the Garden of Marina Del Rey - VIDEO

It's Spring and time to get your garden going! Last month I replaced my topsoil with fresh compost that I make from used coffee grounds and veggie scraps. And in the last two weeks I've made many trips to the Marina Del Rey Garden Center for tomato, lettuce and herb seedlings.

I've been going here for a few years now and always find great deals. They carry many varieties of tomato plants; from tiny but flavorful Cherry Tomatoes, to hefty and juicy Beef Steak.

And I especially like the variety of lettuce flats -- everything from Mesclun Mix to Red Buttercrunch and Gourmet Salad Blend. They also have a small orchard of budding fruit trees, some starting to bear fruit -- so you know your first crop is definitely on the way.

You can't get fresher produce than growing your own. And in my latest zany film foray, this green- thumbed budget horticulturist takes you on a tasty garden trek, with camera in hand. Now, you know this will not be a typical tour -- where The 99 Cent Chef goes, high jinx follow!

 The Marina Del Rey Garden Center's staff is knowledgeable and helpful, but they give you the space to explore on your own. And, you will see how the Cheapskate Forager takes full advantage of nature's bounty! It's hard to resist plucking and tasting a tart Kumquat from a branch weighed down with the colorful fruit, and I'm sure almost everyone has snagged a Strawberry, Blackberry, or a Grape or two, from budding bushes displayed for sale. But, no one has gone to the extremes the Chintzy Gardener goes in this latest docu-comedy video.

This time around I had some help from a couple of 99 Cent Players. Making her first appearance is Garden Master Elissa (a workmate & cool drummer); while the Omniscient Voice at the end is provided by my neighbor, and frequent contributor, Pete (aka Pedro Pe), a comedian and actor. Both Elissa and Pete provided additional camerawork, too. 99 thanks to them, and also to the Marina Del Rey Garden Center and all their nursery gardeners.

So sit back and let me give you a comedic tour of the Marina Del Rey Garden Center. It comes with a  warning though: don't try what you see here at your own local nursery -- I'd hate to have to bail you out of the slammer!

Dining in the Garden of Marina del Rey- VIDEO

Play it here. Video runs 4 minutes 45 seconds.

To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Marina Del Rey Garden Center

13198 Mindanao Way

Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

hours: 8am to about 5pm. Open 7 days.

phone: (310) 823-5956

website: marinagardencenter.com

Please Note: I brought my own fruit, veggies and props to the Marina Del Rey Garden Center. I did pluck a grapefruit from the tree there, but used my own to eat from (there were a lot of grapefruits that had fallen to the ground, so I didn't feel too guilty picking just one -- which I left behind.) Finally, I bought the flat of lettuce used in the video. Although, I must 'fess up to noshing a handful of kumquats during several visits to the nursery.

To make your own Wanted Poster like mine above, click here (and upload a photo.)

Mom's Pumpkin Pie - Christmas Dessert Video

Christmas is two days away so you have plenty of time to make my Mom's Pumpkin Pie. I was back in Gonzales, Louisiana around Thanksgiving and got her to cook it on camera. Boy, was it good -- so good that a lot of my Cajun cousins swung by. It was a fun and noisy day, as you will see, where everyone lines up for a slice after the pies cool down.

Mom made a wheat crust from scratch, but for the filling she went with the convenience of canned pumpkin. I know you are disappointed that we didn't find a free pumpkin in the wild, like we did a couple of weeks ago on Mom's last dessert recipe of Mini Pecan Pies -- where we went pecan picking out in a field of pecan trees (click here for that video).

Even with canned pumpkin, Mom's extra ingredients of spices, eggs and evaporated milk, make a luscious  filling with a creamy flavored kick of cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and clove.

The rest of the pie filling was made with cheap ingredients. This week I went searching for a cheap can of pumpkin and found out how expensive it is. Almost $3 a can! 

Now, for this recipe I am following Mom's lead, and would not have her change a family recipe handed down to her, but I can offer a 99.99 cent substitution: canned sweet yams. They are almost the same color, and by the time you add sugar and all the spices to Mom's pumpkin filling, it almost tastes the same. I've had Sweet Potato Pie (probably made with canned yams or sweet potatoes) at my local Soul Food restaurant and it's dang good. The consistency is similar to pumpkin and the flavor is sweeter. Usually canned yams are cooked chunks floating in liquid. So if you want to make a cheaper pie using yams, you should drain the can and mash the cooked yam flesh. And, I would use half the sugar that Mom uses for her Pumpkin Pie.

The best substitution would be to fork mash the orange flesh of fresh baked and peeled sweet potatoes -- they are almost  as cheap as russet potatoes. See, dear reader, I am always thinking of you, and how to make a cheaper, but still tasty twist on a typical expensive dessert!

For the heck of it, I priced premade pumpkin pies at my local grocery chain store and found them on sale for $6.99 each. That's way too One Percent for
The 99 Percenter Chef!

You could also buy an inexpensive pre-made pie crust -- but if you have time, do give Mom's homemade version a try. The whole pie came together quickly and easily. It's a two-for-one recipe. The video recipe is for 2 pies. Of course, it's easy to cut the ingredient amounts in half  to bake one pie.

I have to give a big 99 thanks to all my Cajun relatives -- I didn't have to twist their arms to give Mom's Pumpkin Pie a try -- and an extra 99 thanks to Mom for sharing her recipe with all my readers. And Merry Holidays to all! See you again in the new year.

Mom's Pumpkin Pie Recipe - VIDEO

Play it here. Video runs 8 minutes, 53 seconds.

To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Ingredients for Pie Crusts (2 Pies)

• 2 cups of flour - white or wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ice cold water
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup shortening

Directions for Pie Crusts
Add flour and salt to a large bowl for mixing. Scoop in a cup of shortening. Mix in with a fork until flour becomes pea sized lumps. Pour in a cup of cold water. Now you have to get your hands dirty. Mix the dough  by hand for about 3 minutes until it all comes together. Sprinkle flour over a work surface. Plop dough on it and form into a ball. Divide the ball in half.

With a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball until it is large enough to fit over your baking pie pan. Press dough into the pan and press together any cracks that split during the transfer. You can pinch dough ridges around the top if you want to.

Ingredients for Pumpkin Pie Filling

• 2 cups of canned pumpkin - okay to use cheaper canned sweet potatoes or yams (drain then mash with a fork or potato masher to smooth.
• 1 cup of sugar - use half a cup if you are using sweet potatoes or yams. Of course, best to use baked and peeled fresh orange colored yams - about 2-4, depending on the size.
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups of evaporated milk

Directions for Pumpkin Pie Filling
In a large bowl mix in dry ingredients and spices including: sugar, salt, ground cinnamon, cloves and ginger.

In another small bowl, add 4 eggs and lightly whisk the egg yolks and whites together for a minute. Pour  blended eggs into the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix it all together for a minute.

Spoon in 2 cups of canned pumpkin into the spices and egg mixture. Next pour in 2 cups of evaporated milk. Whisk it all together for a minute or two until well blended.

Okay to substitute cheaper sweet potatoes or yams, but first drain and mash with a fork or potato masher. They"re usually canned in liquid with large pieces.

Now it all comes together. Just pour the pie filling into both pie shells until pie shells are almost full.

Add pies to a 425 degree heated oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees and finish baking for 40 minutes.

Mom uses a toothpick test to see if a pie is cooked through. She inserts a toothpick into the center of the pie, then removes the pick to see if it's wet. If it comes out clean, it's ready. If it is still wet, she puts it back in the oven for another 5 - 10 minutes. I think if the toothpick is slightly damp, you can just leave the pie out to cool, as it will continue cooking anyway.

Pie is ready to serve when it reaches room temperature (after an hour of cooling on the counter.)

Of course, you could easily half all the ingredients to make just one pie.

You can also speed up the cooling by putting the pies in the refrigerator. Since the pie plates are hot, you need to allow them to cool for 10 minutes first. Then place potholders, or a kitchen towel, on the refrigerator surface and place the pies on it. Pies store well in the refrigerator, so you can make them a couple of days beforehand -- just cover with plastic wrap after they cool down.

Pie slices are delicious on their own, but you may want to top with whipped cream.

Hindsight
Of course, you can just buy a premade crust at the market for cheap. I thought it fun to show how Mom makes hers. As mentioned earlier, it is easy to cut the ingredients in half to make just one pie. You could shave off 10 minutes or so for a creamier pudding like filling, that's still enough time to cook the crust.