Better with butter

I always thought that Julia Child was a big fan of butter, and like Paula Deen, had said any number of great things about it. But apparently not. 

True enough, many of her recipes feature a fair amount of the wondrous fat, but nothing scandalous.

Well, not in my opinion. 

I also thought that Julia Child was known for making sole à la meunière. But apparently not. I looked through her classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, made famous (for some) in the 2009 film Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, among others, and the closest recipe I found to it is fish filets in white wine sauce. 

I just looked up the original publishing date of said book and it is 1961, by Knopf. The edition I have, bought for me by my father, is also 1961, by Knopf. Does this mean it's a first edition?

Anyhow, back to my soul. I mean my sole. I finally found the recipe in question in Martha Stewart's Cooking School, bought for me by my cousin.

Hey, Wait a sec. I'm detecting a pattern here. Does the fact that various members of my family purchase cookbooks for me mean that I am a bad cook or  a budding chef?

Let's be positive and assume the answer is the latter.

A la meunière means in the manner of the miller's wife and it involves salting and peppering the fish before dredging it in flour and cooking it in clarified butter. A sauce is then made of (more) butter and lemon and the dish is finished with parsley.

I served mine on "a bed" of arugula with balsamic dressing next to sliced avocados and tomatoes. With a smidge of basil. Mmm.

On a butter roll (and soon-to-be sugar high), I also decided to make egg-free peanut butter cookies. Not because I'm vegan (not that there's anything wrong with that) but because I was out of eggs. I also had to substitute the granulated sugar and brown sugar for regular sugar and the vanilla for lemon (thanks mom!).

And guess what? The result was deen-licious!

I enjoyed mine with a refreshing glass of pink lemonade.