Family Dinner with JP

Pepper Steak. Literally this means pepper steak. And, with all apologies to the French and to Mssr. Escoffier , the prototypical French cuisine (in the realm of steaks) follows a pretty basic formula: Good steak and rich sauce. Steak au poivre is no exception, though contemporary chefs often take a slight bent to the traditional style in order to jazz up this traditional fare. Steak in heavy sauce. NOW I've got your attention, eh? Barely, but I'm kind of awake. Steak what now? As usual, I start with my spirit animal, Julia Child. Not only is her base recipe for anything fantastic, but her instruction are incredibly explanatory and easy to follow. With all apologies to Mrs. Child, I also perused some other recipes online, and I discovered that these days, many steak au poivre recipes call for an amount of heavy cream in addition to the base sauce of cognac, broth, and butter. I still followed her instructions for the peppering and the cooking of the steaks though. ...

See ... if I call it that, it sounds so simple, right? Real Recipe Name (or; How to Use Words to Impress Your Friends): Oven Roasted Chicken with a White Wine Dijon Mushroom Sauce, served with Pan-Seared Pancetta Brussels Sprouts and Crispy Potato Gratin. You can totally cook this. Est. Cook Time: 2 hours Serves 4 Just a few tricks to keep in mind when you're cooking this meal: Do not overcook your chicken! There is nothing more heinous than that overcooked, dry chicken where you need a glass of water to get down every bite. Its like the Saltine Challenge, only less fun because someone was trying to make something delicious. Crispy skin on the outside, juices running clear. The timing on this recipe worked perfectly, so just relax. Unless you are making a risotto, STIRRING IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. You don't win friends with salad, and you don't brown surfaces with stirring. Keep this in mind with the mushrooms and the sprouts. In a similar vein (and my fa...