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funny, I've never actually looked at a Julia Child book.
Loved her on tv when I was a kid though!

When faced with a kilo of good butter, I learned to make tart crust. I learned a sicilian version from Mario Batali's tv show, ha! Super short eggy sweet/savory crust, using melty butter. It's hot in Sicily, so no chance are you cutting butter into pea-sized bits.
It was a super unintimidating and super delicious way to go, and worked well for both a savory vegetable and a sweet fruit tart.
Batali even showed a cute trick to get the ring off the tart pan, using a small bowl as a stand so the ring has an easy way to be knocked off.
Perfetto!

The recipe was
4 cups AP flour, I used a mix of whole wheat and white
1 cup sugar (less for a veg tart)
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional for veg version)
1 1/3 cups unsalted butter, melted, then brought back to room temperature. Or just used in summer heat.

The only trick is to not overmix/overwork, and to let the dough cool down in the fridge for an hour (or 10 hours, or freeze it) before you roll it out. And do a freeform rustic tart on a cookie sheet if you don't have a tart pan. But the tart pan with fluted edges makes the thing look sooooo much more impressive!

I did one with sour cherries and wildly fresh goat ricotta from the farmer's market. The recipe gives you enough dough for two tarts, so each time I make one savory and one sweet, using half the sugar only in the savory dough. The original recipe was for artichokes in bechemal, but I started with carmelized onions and bitter greens with ricotta and parmiganno instead. Artichokes and ricotta was even better.
350 oven for 45 minutes
yum! easy! julia would be proud!

the rest of the butter, I'd just melt and serve with crab on toast . . . perfection in luxurious ingredients minimally messed with . . .
:)

Dinner for Four (one of my favorite meals, but it sure uses a lot of butter): Rouladin, Spatzle, asparagus and artichoke, with baked pears for dessert.

ROULADIN: German/Polish/French Dish:
Pounded flat thin (1/4" thick, if not thinner) beef slices (each at least 3" x 6"), usually rump or round roast, rolled up with a pickle, some yellow onion slices, and a piece of bacon (use a spear of some sort to hold together).
Spread mustard (original yellow) on each beef slice, add some salt and pepper. Put in strip of bacon, a few yellow onion julliened strips, and a small strip of pickle.
Take 10 tbs of butter (gradually), some bacon fat pieces, and brine from the pickle jar, and put all in a frying pan. First darken each side of the rolled concoction, then add more of the butter, bacon fat, and brine and bring to a simmering boil. Add a little red wine to the mix too for taste. Then put the entire group, liquids and all, in a pot to stew in the oven for at least 30 minutes. Add more liquid (wine, brine, bacon grease, butter) so that all the rouladin rolls are covered. Serve with spatzle, and the liquid can be used as gravy/sauce.

SPATZLE: Homemade egg noodles. Many recipes, I've used this one (you can also buy them at some specialty markets in dried form, but they aren't as good, in my opinion. These noodles, once made, can also be frozen for months and thawed & fried):
6 whole eggs, beaten frothy
3 cups of sifted flour
1 cup of milk
3 tablespoons of butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg (opt.)
Salt to taste
Boiling salt water
With electric mixer beat flour a little at a time into the egg mixture. Add salt and nutmeg. Or nutmeg can be left out and sprinkled on after mixture is cooled. Beat in milk a little at a time. Beat until well blended, about 5 minutes. Mixture can be put into a pastry bag and dropped into boiling water. Cook and stir about 5 minutes; drain. Can be sprinkled with melted butter or put cream and sugar with it. Tastes extra good if you quickly add some butter (2 tbs) to a frying pan and brown some of the fresh noodles.

ASPARAGUS:
Take a cup of pasta noodles (any kind), and pound them until they are in little, rice-size or smaller pieces. You can use multi-colored noodles for extra color. :) Take pan, add 2 tsb of butter, and toast them/cook them. Add salt, chicken boullion, and pepper to taste. Meanwhile, steam the asparagus until desired consistency is reached. Take asparagus out of water and dry. Arrange on baking tray/pan. Spread pasta noodle concoction over the asparagus and cook in the oven until tops are browned. To serve, heat up some butter in microwave and drizzle over the top (about 2 tbs).

ARTICHOKE:
Keep in the center of the table for everyone to use. Great centerpiece!
FInd big artichoke at the store. Trim stem so it's only protruding for 1/2 inch or so. Use scissors to trim each leaf so no guest cuts themself on the thorns (just snip off the top 1/4" or so). Take bowl about the size of the artichoke and fill halfway with water. Place artichoke inside, and wrap two layers of saran wrap over the top of the artichoke. Cook in microwave for 7-10 minutes. Be careful when taking artichoke out and removing saran wrap; steam is extremely hot!! Test to see if artichoke is done by removing a leaf. It shoudl easily tug out. If not, put back into micro for an additional few minutes. Put artichoke in middle of table on plate. Put 1 tbs of melted butter in small bowls at each guest's seat (assuming 4 guests, this is 4 tbs). Dip end of artichoke leaf into butter and enjoy.

BAKED PEARS:
One of the easiest and yummiest desserts. You'll likely get a lot of leftover juice too, which can be frozen and used on ice cream for months to come.
Take 4 pears (bosc works well, and they don't have to be ripe) and slice in half. Hollow out each pear half so there are no seeds. Try to remove most of the stem section too. You should end up with a nice 1"-1.5" diameter pit, probably about 0.5" deep. Mix up 10 tbs of butter with at least 10 tbs of brown sugar and 2 tbs of cinnamon. You can melt the butter to make this easier, but room temp butter is easiest to work with. Put this mixture in each pear half. Mix up more if need be. The mixture should be flush with the top of the pear half (filling the entire bowl/pit), if not protruding by 1/4" or so. Use 1' of foil per pear half, and make a little bowl out of foil for each pear half. Put pear half inside, and add about 1/4- 1/2 cup of orange juice (with pulp or fresh works best) over the top of the pear (you've placed the pear pit-side-up, by the way, and you'll keep it that way). Wrap and cover the rest of the pear with the foil. Put in oven on tray (350 degrees) for 20-30 minutes.
Take pears out, and open each little foil packet carefully. Remember, you've kept each pear half pit-side-up, so that the pear has the pool of sugar/butter/etc to bake all the way through it. Add dried cranberries or cherries (optional-- you can really use any fruit) into the pits of the pears (which should now be pools of sugary butter). I also like to add a drop or two of vanilla extract. If a pear is getting dry, add a bit more butter and orange juice. Wrap each one up again, and stick back in the oven for another 20-30 minutes. The pears are ready when you are able to easily cut through one with the side of a fork. Serve with ice cream or whip cream (or both!).

Not the healthiest of meals, but if you want it healthier you can drain oil before serving, or choose to steam instead of fry (though this won't work with the rouladin). But, I believe this absolutely delicious meal (I can't take all the credit-- these are my grandmother's recipes, with the exception of the pears which are mine) uses right at a pound of butter. Yumm.....

I would make chocolate truffles:
using 1.5 lbs of a good french chocolate (Valrhona)
3/4 c. heavy cream
1 lb. butter
good cocoa for coating

-Make ganache: Place 16 ounces of chocolate and the cream in the top of a double boiler....stir until melted; remove from heat. Add butter, and stir until combined.

-Pour into a baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until mixture is cold and semi-firm (approx 2 hours)

-Melt remaining chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Stir until melted; remove from heat. Let cool to room temperature.

-cover 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a small scoop or melon baller, drop truffle mixture onto sheets. Place in fridge to chill for 15 minutes.

-Put cocoa powder in bowl.

-(The messy part) Using your hands, coat each truffle with about 1 tablespoon of the melted chocolate and then roll in cocoa powder to coat. Place on sheet. Repeat with remaining balls.

-Chill. Can be stored, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 2 weeks.

This recipe makes a lot of truffles (probably 5 dozen), so you can share chocolate happiness with your friends! I think I originally got it from Martha over five years ago--I rewrote it in my own shorthand......I use it every christmas to make fancy yummy gifts.

I would walk into my backyard, pick a mixture of fresh herbs (thyme, parsley, rosemary, basil, perhaps some sage or dill), soften the butter and then mix in all of the herbs. I would then roll it into parchment paper, put it into the refrigerator and use for spreading on bread, seasoning meat, fish or vegetables, or even freezing some pats for use later on in colder weather. It makes me hungry just thinking about it!

I would just make croissants ("just make" as if it were simple...). I'd say a baguette, but even i don't think I could go through a lb of butter on a baguette.

I don't know of any purer showcase for great butter. Especially in this country, where croissants made with any butter at all are so hard to find.

Four Words.

Julia Childs Butter Sculpture.

Akbuilt-- Fantastic idea, just not in a hot kitchen. :)

Quick addition to my submission above: I just wanted to add that, with the possible exception of the spatzle (though an argument could be made on that too... and by the way, there's supposed to be an umlaut over the "a" on spatzle), the better the butter the better these dishes. The items aren't being merely fried or roasted; the butter is integral to the taste of each one of these dishes. The pears especially (being one of the symbols of French cooking... or perhaps I've just watched too much Iron Chef :-), which is entirely possible) really soak in the flavors of the butter and sugar.

Ok, now I'm getting really hungry. Boo still being at work and only having access to a stale, giganto bag of pretzels.

I would use one stick of butter to make Marcella Hazan's classic tomato sauce requiring only tomatoes, half an onion, and, of course, the butter. You blanch 2 lbs of tomatoes in boiling water for 20 seconds, peel, and cut the tomatoes into chunky pieces. Throw that into a pot with the butter, onion, and a little salt, and let it simmer for about an hour.

Why use a stick of butter when you could make a fast, fresh tomato sauce without much fat? Because it's a completely different thing. The tomatoes still taste fresh and vibrant but the butter provides a mellow sweetness and dresses up any pedestrian pasta you have on hand with a silky, rich mouthfeel.

The other three sticks I would melt with lots of garlic and some parsley thrown in at the end. I would pour that over classic Maryland blue crabs, steamed with good old Budweiser and a healthy heaping of Old Bay seasoning. Most of the butter ends up on your hands as you open the crabs, but you still get the flavor.

http://www.howtoeatlikeabird.com/

Baguette. Butter spread on it. Eat. Enjoy.
Variations:
Flaky croissant, with butter spread on it. Homemade muffin, sliced and (you guessed it) buttered.
Or: freshly picked & cooked corn, add butter!
I want to enjoy the taste of the butter, so I'm going for a straightforward way to enjoy it!
With leftover butter-- I'd use it generously on squash for roasting: acorn squash cut into wedges, coated with butter, sprinkled with a bit of nutmeg & cinnamon, baked. On top of each wedge add a few granny smith apples slices which have been sauteed in butter & brown sugar. Add some raisins which have soaked in cognac and serve, one wedge per guest.

I would do as my grandmother did when we were little: cut the butter to chunks, and place them in a plate with a bowl of crystaline sugar in the middle, for us to dip the butter in and eat like bananas.

(we were skinny children....)

I'd make shortbread cookies. I don't have a recipe, because I've never actually tried to make them, but if I ended up with a pound of really good butter, I'd want to turn them into buttery, flaky cookies. Yum!

Although, I have to say that the tomato sauce sounds really good as well.

btw,the squash dish is something I saw chef Georges Laurier cook on foodtv.ca & it's definitely something I want to make!

zoesmom, if you add some cream cheese and a bit of white pepper to your mixture, that spread will be even better. I also whip it in the kitchenaid so that it is nice and fluffy. I make my version only for parties, because if I keep it around I will put it on everything.

If I had a pound of really great tasting butter, I'd make my simple butter pound cake. A pound of butter, a pound of 10xx sugar, 6 large eggs, 3 cups cake flour. That's it--doesn't need any other flavoring or leavening. Much buttery goodness plain, but of course you can serve with berries or peaches or whatever you like.

Soften butter and beat well. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Fold in flour. Bake in tube/bundt pan at 325°F for about 75 minutes or so.

The only trick is to be sure eggs and butter are at the same temperature when you begin (room temp). Batter should be the consistency of a big bowl of frosting when you're done mixing.

Ahhh...the original pound cake : a pound of butter, a pound of flour, a pound of eggs, and a pound of sugar. The only ingredients not measured to a pound are the leavening and and added flavor (vanilla, for my purist tendencies). Aw shucks, Now I'm hungry and lunch is a couple of hours away.

flourless chocolate cake!

I used to keep some constantly when I lived where I could get it.

Whenever I wandered past the fridge, I would just cut a bit off and eat it right out of the foil.

Delightful.

Spread the Wealth...

1. Cut block of butter into 4 equally-sized "sticks"
2. Wrap carefully in plastic wrap, then parchment paper
3. Tie each package with decorative bow - butcher's twine will do in a pinch
4. Print out 4 copies of the recipes found in this comment section and fold into envelopes
5. Give one "stick" of butter and recipe packet to four friends.
6. Make sure to say "Happy Julia Child's Birthday!" when you hand over the goods.
7. Better yet, bring a fresh baguette along as well (see Leeds above) so they have an excuse to invite you in and share.

I would make Simple Puff Pastry from Baking with Julia. From there the possibilities are endless.

Sol: Your grandma rocks. Mine just tried to slip bourbon in our cups.

Spread on a freshly baked crusty bread or classic jambon-beurre, ham on a buttered baguette - one of my favorite sandwiches.
The best croissants, puff pastry, pate brisee made with the best butter.
Poaching lobster in butter and eating it with more melted butter.

And last but certainly not least, Julia Child's first French (and forever life changing) meal in 1948 in Rouen of sole meuniere with browned butter.

I'd figure out a way to surreptitiously sneak the one pound of French butter into the packaging of one pound of vegan fake butter. And I'd dream of the look of epiphany on the face of the vegan who bought it, as every cell and tissue in their body snapped and tingled with Julia's spirit. They would stare in wonder at the package of what was once a watery soy product and wonder why it tasted uncommonly tasty that morning.

And the rest of the day, they would hear people speaking French, just catching little snippets of hearing it, on the subway, in the library, and on TV. They would think it a strangely occurring coincidence at the end of a strange feeling day but WE would all who it really was, with her hand on the shoulder of the bewildered vegan just for that day.

(Mind you, I'm not ripping on vegans, and would feel terrible if this little fantasy scenario actually made someone sick, but poetic license and all)

Bx, you would most likely cause that vegan a violent stomach ache. When people dont eat dairy for a while, they can have a difficult time adjusting to it again.

I'd make 'tablet'. Its a VERY sweet type of hard fudge made in Scotland.

I don't want to detract from the contest or Julie Child, but I believe her birthday was August 15th, not the 16th

Yes, we just keep bumping the contest post up to keep it at the top of the page. We'll adjust the text to reflect that...

The sexy and luxurious qualities of a pound of the best French butter would best be articulated in one of two recipes.

The first would be puff pastry. In the hands of a skilled artisan, the millefeuille of golden, buttery pastry shaped into a melting chocolate croissant is enough to plan an entire leisurely afternoon around. Yes, the bittersweet chocolate is sweet and gooey, yes the delicate crackling of the pastry at every bite is enticing but it is that golden block of the purest butterfat that makes this blissful marriage of merely a handful of ingredients sing.

The second best representative of the most flavorful butter would have to be the soft and golden loaf of brioche. Once again, simple in ingredients yet undeniably ethereal when these ingredients transform themselves into a loaf of bread unlike any other. Flour, yeast, sugar, milk and the best pound of French butter you can find. Slicing through the amber crust showcases the butter's body having left the world that it knew to let it's spirit shine as the golden hue that is hallmark of brioche.

How to enjoy this fresh baked delicacy? A toasted slice buttered with the finest French butter and sweetened with last season's preserves.

".....as the golden hue that is *the* hallmark of brioche."

editing.

Since Julia was the Queen of cooking; this is a cake recipe from Victorian times:

QUEEN CAKE
Mix one pound of dried flour, the same of sifted sugar and of washed currants; wash ONE POND OF BUTTER in rose water, beat it well, then mix with it eight eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately, and put in the dry ingredients by degrees; beat the whole an hour; butter little tins, teacups, or saucers, filling them only half full; sift a little fine sugar over just as you put them into the oven.

Make sure your butter is quite soft but not melty. Grease cake pan with a bit of the butter. Put down a layer of brioche, really slather it with some of the soft butter, and sprinkle generously with sugar. Keep adding layers of brioche, butter, and sugar. The brioche peices should be small enough that the butter can ooze through, and permeate all the cracks in and between the layers, but not so small that you end up with brioche bits suspended in sugary butter rather than a cake-like confection. The last layer should be just the brioche. Cover the cake with a layer of plastic wrap, weight the top of the cake to esure that all of the layers get smooshed together, and refrigerate for several hours.

You can also add your favorite fruit preserves to the layers. Just remember to adjust the amount of sugar sprinkled between the layers depending on the sugar content of the preserves, and the limits of your sweet tooth.

Recipe adapted from a vague memory I have of something I saw on a cooking show ("Great Chefs," maybe?) many years ago.

A pound of french butter would make for an excellent brioche. I can't really share my brioche recipe because I don't use one (I make it up on the fly every time), but it usually involves around at least a quarter pound of butter and at least three or four eggs in each loaf. So a pound of butter would be good for three loaves with some for spreading. :-)

Well, first you begin with a pound of St. Mere Isigny butter, straight from Normandie. It costs $4.50, but it is the only butter the French boyfriend will eat. You buy a fresh loaf of peasant bread from the bakery and then you've got to head straight home. Dig out the first-flush darjeeling you've been neglecting like all the rest of your life. Set the water to boil. You tear off a handful of bread, one for you and one to share. Impress him by spreading the butter on just like it's cream cheese. Add some peach preserves too, if that's what you like. Steep the tea, watch the leaves bleed. Drink and eat. All the sudden feel hopeful when the butter, sugar, and the theophylline start to wash over you.

Pear, where are you that a pound of butter (French at that) is only $4.50?

To celebrate Julia's big day, we would take the 1 lb. of butter and make the delectable 'brioche tart with caramel-poached fruit and white secret sauce' from Baking with Julia -- the same recipe that was so good, Julia cried. Yes, she cried!! On national tv! The story goes that she was so overwhelmed by eating the tart (she was on air with Nancy Silverton), it struck an emotion deep inside. You will see this recipe and story throughout the blogosphere and internet, better known as the "Brioche that made Julia Child Cry!" And trust me, it is absolutely delicious!

Hold on there, contestants! The judges are attempting to be in radio contact, which for a Friday in August isn't easy. We may have to be posting the winner tomorrow (Saturday) morning... rest assured we will let you know. And thank you all for participating; this was great fun!

Winners now posted here!

http://kitchen.apartmenttherapy.com/food/contests/happy-birthday-julia-contest-winners-030110

Congratulations to everyone, and thank you! This was fun!