The Spinach Twins

Recently, I became rather interested in re-creating a particular recipe. I had seen it first on a DVD of The French Chef with Julia Child. The episode started in the kitchen with Julia. Julia demonstrated the Turnover dough then, the shot switched to France where Simaca filled the dough with spinach ham and mushrooms. The Turnover was then baked in the oven.

I thought perhaps this would be a great dish to bring to a wine tasting being held by a friend. I set out to find the recipe and it was not in any of my Julia Child cookbooks. Distressed, I went to the local Library to see if I had missed a Julia cookbook in my collection. It turned out that I had. I was missing what some say is one of her best books called From Julia Child’s Kitchen. The section called Pastry turnovers and covered tarts contained just what I was looking for.

Once home, I started on the sauce called Sauce Soubise au Gruyere. Things went rather well and I felt quite confident.

I then drained and cooked the chopped spinach. Sautéed the mushrooms and the ham and set it all aside.

Rolling out the pastry dough was easy enough since I had chosen to use puff pastry rather than the dough suggested in the book. Assembly was my next step.
The puff pastry was then filled with layers of filling and decorative touches were added to my creation. Then it dawned on me. I had rolled out the dough a bit larger that Julia instructed and the Turnover would just barely fit into my oven. Plus, since I was bringing it to someone else’s house it would be best if freshly baked- in my friend’s oven! I cleared out the top of my refrigerator then baked the turnover at my friend’s house the following day. I cannot wait to re- create my own version of the turnover on a smaller scale. Who else but Julia could inspire all of this work.