"Julie and Julia" Movie Inspired Potato Leek Soup

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend with a wedding and a few other occasions to attend, and yesterday my husband took a day off so we could catch a movie. One of the movie previews we saw was for a new movie expected to be released in August of 2009 called "Julie and Julia."

The movie is produced by Nora Ephron and stars Meryl Streep as the iconic French chef Julia Child, and Amy Andrews in the role of Julie Powell, a blogger who was inspired to cook every recipe in Julia Child's first cookbook "Mastering The Art of French Cooking." The movie is based on two true stories.

The first theme of the movie is about Julie Powell, an American author best known for the book "Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen" which was published in 2005.
Living in Queens, New York, and feeling trapped in a dead end job, Powell began her blog called The Julie/Julia Project in August of 2002, chronicling her attempt to cook all the 524 recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year. The blog quickly gained a large following, and Powell eventually signed a deal with Little, Brown and Company to turn her blog into a book.

The other theme of the movie is based on Julia Child's autobiographical book My Life in France, where she was the wife to a US diplomat in France in the 1950's, and while there attended the prestigious French cooking school Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. It goes on to show her being a cowriter of the cookbook "Mastering The Art of French Cooking," which demystified French recipes for an American audience, which lead to her of immensely popular cooking TV shows, beginning in the 60's, called "The French Chef."


You can watch the official movie trailer at this YouTube link
(I'm sorry that it does not allow it to be embedded, so I can't display the video clip here.)



The movie appears to be absolutely charming, with Ms. Streep acting in her usual superb way as Julia Child, and Amy Adams portraying a cleaned up version of the sometimes expletive speaking Julie Powell. Adams, as an actress, reminds me a lot of a young version of Meg Ryan, the ingenue type that quickly wins your heart.

I especially laughed at the lines spoken by the Powell character in the trailer: "I can blog --I have thoughts!" and Julia's line when her husband asked what she was good at, and she replied exuberantly: "Eat!" I can identify with both of these sentiments 100%!

My version of "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking" is a book club edition I bought second hand, but it has always been a pleasurable cookbook for me to peruse and learn from. I was a fan of those 1960's "The French Chef" shows when I was a young girl and I followed Julia Child's more recent appearances in the 1990's with chef Jacques Pépin. Ms. Child died two days shy of her 92nd birthday, on August 13,2004.

I loved how Ms. Child always made everything she cooked look so easy to do, and how she bantered along in her unusual, high pitched warbly voice, with her unpatronising and unaffected manner. I think she influenced me to believe I could cook anything, as long as I could read and follow a recipe, and she also inspired me to not be afraid to try substituting, or adding to, ingredients in a recipe. To Julia, a cooking disaster was only a learning experience, and one which sometimes lead to a better composition of the recipe the next time she made it.

One of the staple recipes I use frequently from her cookbook is for -

Potage Parmentier -- Leek and Potato Soup.

For two quarts, serving 6 -8 people

Ingredients:

1 lb potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cups leeks, thinly sliced (white and tender green parts only)
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon salt
4-6 tablespoons whipping cream or 2-3 tablespoons softened butter
2-3 tablespoons minced parsley or chives

Directions:

1} Simmer vegetables, water and salt together, partially covered, 40-50 minutes until vegetables are tender.

2) Mash the vegetables in the soup with a fork, or puree in blender. Taste and correct the seasoning to your preference.

3) Off heat and just before serving, stir in cream or butter by spoonfuls. Pour into a tureen or soup cups and decorate with the herbs.

4) Good hot, cold or room temperature. Served cold it is often referred to as Vichyssoise.

I use an immersion blender -- a wonderful gadget to use if you like to make pureed or creamed soups.

Look how smooth and thick the final results are!

There are many variations that can be added to this soup, and you can use a chicken or vegetable stock in place of the water if you desire a richer base.

The following ingredients may be simmered along with the potatoes and leeks at the start:

Sliced or diced carrots or turnips or cauliflower
Peeled, seeded or chopped tomatoes or strained, canned tomatoes.
Half-cooked dried beans, peas, or lentils, including their cooking liquid.

The following may be simmered for 10-15 minutes with the soup after it has been pureed:

Fresh or frozen diced cauliflower, cucumbers, broccoli, Lima beans, peas, string beans, okra or zucchini.
Shredded lettuce, spinach, water-cress, sorrel, or cabbage.
Diced, cooked leftovers of any of the preceding vegetables.
Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced and diced.

As Ms. Child says in the cookbook: "Proportions are not important and you can use your imagination to the full. Many of the delicious soups you eat in French homes and little restaurants are made this way, with a leek-and potato base to which leftover vegetables or sauces and a few fresh items are added."

As Julia would also say with gusto: "Bon appetit!"

Edited on 8/13/09 --I am adding this blog post to the Julia Child birthday event going on at Lisa's blog Champagne Taste that will take place on August 15, 2009. Thank you Lisa for remembering Julia in such a nice way! Be sure to check Lisa's blog for links of all the blogs participating in the event on August 15.