Julia's Roasted Chicken and Charlotte Chantilly, Aux Framboises JC100

Roasted chicken and Charlotte Chantilly, recipes eight and nine for the great JC100 Julia Child blogger event! This incredible cooking icon would have turned 100 in August. These two dishes were made during the fourth of July week. The roasted chicken followed by Charlotte Chantilly were both a hit on a relaxing summer day with friends and family.  

Julia's Roasted Chicken

Being a popular comfort food, there are many variations on seasoning, and cooking a whole chicken. Roasted with a little butter and light seasoning is delicious. This chicken was served with wine, brussels sprouts, roasted peaches and potatoes. Julia recommends seasoning the bird on the inside as well as the outside with lemon slices, salt and pepper, a small onion, and a handful of celery leaves. Rub the outside with soft butter. I kept it simple and just seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter. Tie the drumsticks together, and set the breast up in an oiled V-shaped rack. After 15minutes of browning in a 425 degree oven, reduce heat to 350, basting "rapidly" with pan juices. After 1/2hr, strew 1/2 cup each of carrots and onions into the pan, basting them. If you chose to make a gravy from the pan juices, there is an excellent master recipe in Julia's Cooking with Wisdom book. The chicken is done when thermometer inserted between the thigh and breast reads 165-170. The juices should run clear when pricked with a fork. 

*The brussels sprouts were sauteed in a little olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and just at the end of cooking, two tablespoons of apricot jam was added for a little extra sweetness.

Charlotte Chantilly, Aux Framboises 
Light, delicious and full of raspberry flavor, this dessert tops the charts for me this summer! Make your own lady fingers or buy them like I did. Traditionally, this dessert is molded as seen here. I layered with blueberries and whipped topping as a parfait which made for a beautiful presentation! 

The preparation is time consuming. Much like the Julia's chocolate mousse recipe, this requires a great deal of patience. The end result and enjoyment of watching this dessert come together makes it worth the time effort.

Ingredients
1 pint strawberries
1 pint raspberries
1 pint blueberries for garnish
2/3 cup granulated sugar
8 egg yolks
21/2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
ladyfingers

Rinse and drain raspberries and strawberries. Force berries through a sieve and into a bowl (You can also blend the berries in a food processor like I did to keep the natural textures of the berries) Reserve 1/4 cup of purée and chill. 

Beat the sugar into the egg yolks until the mixture is pale yellow and ribbon-like. From here, the mixture is placed in a bowl over not-quite-simmering water and beaten with an electric mixer until thickened and hot to the touch. This will take at least 30-45min. Be patient! I enjoy patiently watching the transformation from yolk to custard, but this seemed to take a bit longer than usual. 

Next, set the bowl in ice water and beat until mixture is cold and forms a slowly dissolving ribbon when falling back on itself. When the egg yolk mixture is completely chilled, beat the cream until it has doubled and forms stiff peaks. Fold the berry purée into the chilled egg yolk mixture, followed by the whipped cream. Place in serving dishes and chill for at least 6hrs. 

Recipes adapted from Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Child. Copyright © 2000 by Julia Child.  Reprinted with permission from the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
Bon Appétit!