Friday, July 31, 2009

Chicago chefs take on Julia Child

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In homage to the late, great Julia Child, who's portrayed on the big screen in the upcoming Julie & Julia, the chefs over at BOKA and Perennial have recreated recipes right out of one of her cookbooks.

The Milanese-born Giuseppe Tentori (BOKA) met Child while working at Charlie Trotter's, and was enamored with her passion for cooking. Through Aug. 7, he's serving the recipe for Steak au Poivre, which comes from her Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook. He says, "She took what was once viewed as hoity toity French cuisine, and made it palatable to 'meat and potatoes' Americans." The dish costs $31.

Perennial's Ryan Poli first experienced the Cherry Clafouti Tart when he was working pastries at the famed Le Francais in Wheeling, Ill. When legendary chef Jean Banchet came to Poli one day with cherries, requesting he make a clafouti as a special the next evening, Poli had no idea what the dish was. So he immediately hit the cookbooks searching for clafouti. "It was Julia Child who had the recipe for me," he said, "so I thought a great way to honor her was to run a dessert she basically taught me." The cherry clafouti tart, at $8, also comes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking and is on the menu until Aug. 7.

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