How Julia Child Became the Story of Red Algae

More from her legend than having watched her on TV, I have respected greatly Julia Child. My family was in the "Today Show" side of early morning shows, so I never saw her clips on "Good Morning America."

Sadly, my first real glimpse of Julia Child's life was in the movie Julia & Julia. I say sadly, only because it seems odd to become familiar with such a culinary giant third hand. However, with all the inclement weather we have been experiencing thus far during this peculiar winter, I was finally able to settle down with her book My Life in France.

I adore My Life in France! If given the chance, I would love to travel to all the locations she mentioned in the books. More than her sentimental descriptions of Paris and the French country side, I adored her attitude towards cooking. Though, once again, I have returned the book to the library and cannot quote the correct page, I remember very clearly she wrote "I detest cooks who apologize for their food." In a nutshell, in cooking, as in most things, we are going to make mistakes. Do the best you can to correct them, and if nothing can be done, accept it for what it is. Use the wisdom from that situation to learn how to do things better in the future.

And, of course, I was enchanted by the food and recipes mentioned in the book! Eventually, I will pick up a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, however, I don't feel that I have the time to devote to it while school is in session. Cooking from Child's masterpiece will probably be a summer project. I'm particularly looking forward to cooking her different sauces and fish dishes. In the meantime, I've been experimenting with quiches and tarts.

It should be noted, that very rarely do I ever cook a recipe as written. In fact, I'm hard pressed to think of a recipe that I have not tinkered with. One of my most frequent changes is using whole wheat or whole grain flour. It does have a different consistency, and when baked can denser than traditional flour.

I began with quiches. I used the this recipe for a whole wheat crust. I must say, this is my favorite new recipe. It was easy to make, came out beautifully, and required minimal labor. I opted for an asparagus quiche. I adapted this Roquefort and Asparagus quiche recipe. Some years ago, I had a fantastic asparagus and goat cheese omelet for brunch at a hotel while traveling. Using the recipe as a guide, I substituted extra egg and goat cheese for the Roquefort and cream cheese. All in all, I was pleased. In fact, this week, I'm making the same dish, but adding some pumpkin, herbs, and tart plain Greek yogurt.

After my success with the quiche, I happen to run into this awesome recipe for a Berry Cream Tart with Coco Olive Oil Crust by the Post Punk Kitchen. Vegan baking fascinates me. I'm more of a cook than a baker. Bakers are scientific in their measurements and so much of the success of the recipe comes down to a deep understanding of the underlying chemistry of a dish. To be able to bake without using any animal products is quite a feat.

Isa Chandra is quite clever. In order to mimic the effects of cold butter in the recipe, she uses semi-frozen olive oil. Semi-frozen olive oil! It's such a simple solution, but not an obvious one. Let me add, that both recipes for tart/pie/quiche crust that have used olive oil have worked beautifully with whole grain pastry flour. Whereas, recipes that use cold butter often turn out so dense and unyielding they could be used as hockey pucks or door stops.

One of the thickening agents that Chandra used was agar agar. I'm familiar with agar from high school biology class. I remember that it was a gelatin substance that grew bacteria. Obviously, it couldn't be pure gelatin, as gelatin is made from bone marrow. I decided that it must be a type of fruit pectin. So after looking at Ellwood Thompson, a fantastic local store, I wound up in Whole Foods. After not seeing in the baking aisle, I finally asked the most helpful clerk there. He proceeded to the food guide, then to the international aisle, where he handed me seaweed flakes! Seaweed flakes! For me, this recipe just became all that much cooler.

After some investigation, I found out that agar agar was not exactly seaweed- in fact, it's red algae. It's often used as a texturizer and thickening agent in different cuisine. Best of all, no seaweed taste.

Though the filling did not have the intense berry flavor I was hoping for, I think they were a success. Thanks, Julia Child, for leading me to toy with tarts and seaweed!