BEEF BOURGUIGNON

This is not the Julia Child's recipe but just a typical french braise. The recipe is out of the Food and Drink Autumn fall LCBO book (Liquor Control Board of Ontario). Saturday's are busy days in most households mine included. Weather permitting there is still some last minute yard work that needs to be done, groceries to be shopped and unloaded, cars that need washing and the ever endless house cleaning. When I have such a day I like to prepare some type of stew or casserole in the morning so that at the end of the busy day I am faced with a ready meal as opposed to still having to prepare one. This beef bourguignon is the perfect meal to prepare ahead and serve later.





Recipe;



2-1/2lbs of stewing meat cut into 2" cubes


Salt and freshly ground pepper


3T olive oil


4oz sliced double smoked bacon diced.


18 pearl onions, skinned


8oz small cremini mushrooms.


1 cup chopped onions


1/2 cup chopped carrots


1/2 cup chopped celery


2 cups red wine


2 cups beef stock

1 head garlic, dry papery layers brushed off, top third of bulb cut off.

1 bay leaf

2 stalks thyme

4 sprigs parsley

BEURRE MANIE

3 T softened butter

3T Flour

1. Preheat oven to 300F (150C)
2. Season meat with salt and pepper.
3. Heat 1T of oil in Dutch Oven over medium high heat. Add bacon and saute until slightly crisp. Remove from pan and reserve.
4. Add pearl onions and saute for 5mins. Add mushrooms and saute for another 5 minutes or until onions are tender and mushrooms are browned. Remove onions and mushrooms and reserve. Wipe pan out.
5. Add another 1T of oil to pot and working in batches, add meat in single layers without crowding and brown on both sides about 1 minute per side. Remove meat and place in a strainer over a bowl to allow fat to drip out.
6. Reduce heat to medium and add the remaining 1T of oil to the pot. Add the chopped onions, carrots and celery and saute for 5mins or until softened. Add wine scraping up any brown bits from the base of the pan. Bring to boil and boil for 1min, then add stock. bay leaf, thyme and parsley sprigs. Bring back to a boil and skim off any foam that rises to the top. Stir in the meat.
7. Cover and bake for 2 - 21/2 hrs or until meat is tender. Add reserved bacon, onions and mushrooms, return pot to oven and bake another 15mins or until meat is very tender and sauce is rich.
8. To make Beurre Manie, combine butter and flour to make a paste.
9. If sauce is npt thick enough strain into a separate pot and add the beurre manie a bit at a time until it is thickened to your satisfaction. This should not be a very thick sauce. Season to taste and return to pot.

Serves 4-6

BLACK LENTIL SOUP

I really don't know why it is called Black Lentil Soup,other than it does call for black lentils. I have never seen black lentils, I used brown ones, I have seen orange lentils and green ones, but regardless of the colour, all I do know is that this is a different version from the German lentil soup (My Mom's recipe) that I usually make.
I am always on the look-out for a good hearty soup recipe , as Ron and I often enjoy just a soup for an evening meal. We love it's simplicity, comfort and many times, we just don't feel like thinking about what to make. A soup is easy, it usually requires no special ingredients, just clean out the fridge's vegetable drawer usually works for me, soup is easy to freeze or to keep in the fridge for a few days.
This soup actually has a story attached to it, I found it in the November issue of the Food and Wine magazine that I subscribe to. I love Indian food, and the magazine had an excellent article about a chef/sommelier Rajat Parr who puts an Indian twist on some of his dishes, the Lentil soup, was one of the lovely dishes highlighted, and the one that I had decided to make . Lentils are something that my family enjoys eating. either as a main meal or an a accompaniment to a meal. The soup turned out to be a huge hit and as I was raving about it to my girlfriend Seeta, telling her about this article and the chef's spin on food, doesn't she say that she knows of this young fellow (Rajat Parr and his family and his success in California) needless to say I am now saving the article for her and enchanted to once again learn how small our world is and how we are all connected.
But back to the soup. This earthy soup is Parr's take on an Indian dal .

BLACK LENTIL SOUP
1 cup lentils (about 6 ounces)
2 cardamom pods
One 1-inch piece of ginger peeled and thinly sliced plus
2T. minced ginger
6 T. unsalted butter
1 diced onion
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. garam masala
2 quarts vegetable broth
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
Salt

1. In a pot, cover the lentils, cardamom and sliced ginger with 1" of water. Bring to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the lentils start to soften. Approx 10 mins. Drain the lentils and transfer to a bowl, discard the cardamom and ginger.
2. Melt 3T of butter in the pot. Add the onion, garlic and minced ginger and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened (8 mins). Reduce the heat to low. Add the coriander, cumin, cayenne and garam masala and cook stirring until fragrant (approx 4 mins).
3. Add the stock, tomatoes and lentils and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer over moderate heat until the lentils are softened and soup has thickened (approx 1 hr). Stir in the remaining 2T of butter and season with salt. Ladle into bowls and serve.

(As a slight variation and because I add carrots to my mothers lentil soup recipe I also add 2 chopped carrots to this version.)

PEROGIES Part II

It's the first of November and it is beautiful outside. The sun is shinning and Ron and I should have taken a drive in the country, but last night I boiled and got my potatoes ready for my annual perogie making session , so I stuck to my original plan and got on with the work.

This is actually my second post on making perogies, I posted last year on the 9th of December on a wintry snowy day, but I fear that I may have scared some of you off from attempting these delicious little dough filled pastas. Last year I roughly made 15 dozen, as I did today , mainly because they freeze so beautifully and it is great to have a bag of these that you can easily defrost and presto a great home-cooked meal. I know that you can just as easily go to your local supermarket and pick up a bag of machine made perogies, but trust me they don't even come close to the REAL thing. So today I took particular care about counting, and measuring and have figured out for you a one batch recipe that will easily yield 36 or more perogies depending on the size of your cut-out. I usually make a double batch times two and I can easily get over 150 of them. But working solo to make that amount takes at least 6 hours and I realize that many young moms work and would rather do other things on a Sunday morning with their families that make perogies!

So, to give you some encouragement, here is a recipe that will take just a fraction of the time, yield at least 3 dozen and you can probably even freeze some for another meal.

FILLING

I made a Potato, cheddar ,onion filling today, but fillings are endless so use your imagination. Cheeses can range from Quark, Ricotta , to Cheese Whiz or Kraft Singles. You can add onions, bacon bits, parsley or whatever spice, herb that you like in your potatoes. I make perogies with a mushroom filling and a sauerkraut filling and even a ground meat filling. Like i said use your imagination.

Boil around 6-8 potatoes of medium size.

Drain and Mash potatoes with 250 Gr. of grated cheddar cheese. I used medium cheddar.

Saute 1 diced onion in some butter until translucent and add to mashed potato.

Set aside and let cool.

Take a soup spoon and scoop the mixture and form into little balls , this will be your filling. I do these balls in stages as I fill the perogies

SOFT RICH DOUGH

You will need to boil 1 potato in some water before you start the dough. Take out the potato and mash it while it still warm, save the potato water as you will need it, let it cool to lukewarm.

IN YOUR FOOD PROCESSOR

Add 1/2 cup of mashed potato ( that you boiled and set aside, not the filling)

Add 1/2 cup of lukewarm potato water

2 egg yolks

2 T. of oil,or shortening

Add 2 cups of flour mixed with 1 tsp. cream of tarter

Pulse until a ball forms.

Remove from Processor and place in a bowl to knead lightly,add 2 T. of flour at a time just until dough does not stick to your hands. Roughly 1/4 cup rarely more. This is a lovely rich soft dough. Let rest for 10 minutes in the bowl covered with a cloth.

Split the dough in 3 sections and roll out on a lightly floured board . The dough will roll out easily use a round cookie cutter, glass rim or even an empty cleaned soup can as a cutter, as this is a good size for the rounds. Naturally the bigger your circle the more filling you will need and then you also end up with less than 3 dozen. But by all means if a bigger circle is easier to work with then use it till you get the hang of making smaller ones.

Take one of your circles , stretch it out a bit like a pizza, the dough is elastic and will stretch easily, fill it with the filling, wet half of the edge with some water fold it in half and pinch the dough together. Make sure you pinch it closed as otherwise it will open when you boil them.

Place pinched and filled perogies on a clean towel. When hey are all complete, Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. Place around 8-10 of your perogies into the boiling salted water. When they rise to the top they are done. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in cold water if you are planning on freezing them. Them remove from cold water ,pat dry , freeze on an oiled tray for 20 minutes then bag them for later use.

OTHERWISE, continue boiling the batches, remove from boiling water, OMIT cold water bath , place on tray and when ALL perogies are boiled, in a clean frying pan melt some butter and saute about 1/2 a diced onion. When lightly browned add your boiled perogies to frying pan, just to reheat them and serve immediately with a dollop of sour cream.

I know it sounds long but it truly isn't if you make a batch. Get the kids to help pinch and your hubbie to do the boiling. It really is easy and delish..... and then again you can double the recipe and really go to town !

Roast Loin of Pork with Sage

The mornings are quite frosty, we even have to scrape off the car windows, but believe it or not, the sage in the herb garden is still growing strongly.
Actually besides being an extremely hardy herb it also multiplied and grew like a weed! Ron had a great idea of using a bunch of this lovely herb on the pork roast. He started by seasoning the pork roast his usual way, by studding it with garlic and cloves, covering it with Dijon mustard and seasoning it very well with just freshly ground pepper and kosher salt.
The new twist then was to utilize the abundant sage.
Voila.




He covered the entire roast with the sage leaves and then roasted it in the oven at 375 degrees. For about a titch over an hour. (You will have to adjust the cooking time to the size of your pork roast). What a wonderful juicy roast this turned out to be! Seriously I can't rave enough about how great this tasted, absolutely fantastic! We usually have left over pork roast for sandwiches but this time everybody had seconds.( Sorry no pictures of the finished roast we were all too anxious and hungry to take photos, it smelled so good we just wanted to EAT!)

MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA

Naturally if you are lucky enough to have a wood burning stone oven, you have it made for making pizza's. However, most of us don't, so the next best thing would be a PIZZA STONE that can be found at most kitchen specialty stores. The trick is to make sure that your stone is very hot before you use it. ( Again, this recipe is from the Random House ,"Earth To Table" book that I previewed a few weeks ago.

When I know the kids are coming home for dinner, or even a great party idea, I like to set out a bowl of ingredients both fresh from the market and store bought (mostly organic if you can get it.) and let every one make their own pizza.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. and heat a pizza stone for at least 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured cutting board roll out one batch of pizza dough into 4 eight(8) inch circles, letting it rest about 3 minutes if it is too elastic to work.

Working quickly remove hot stone from oven and slide dough on to stone. Arrange toppings on dough. Brush edges of dough with extra virgin olive oil. Return stone to oven and bake until edges are golden and crispy, 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the choice of topping ( the more topping the longer it will take).

TOPPINGS

TOMATOES: Use this versatile fruit to give inspiration. Try tomato confit( will blog this recipe at a later date) or sliced cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes. sun-dried tomatoes , smoked tomatoes or spicy tomato sauce.

CHEESES:local cheese not only makes delicious pizza, but you can introduce your guests and family to interesting flavours right on their doorstep. Try mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, gruyere,hard cheeses such as pecorino, or cheddar and cream cheeses.

MEATS: Aside from ham and pepperoni, all forms of charcuterie make excellent pizza toppings. Try smoked fish, salami, prosciutto, sausage, smoked turkey and smoked chicken.

EXTRAS:Add even more flavours with capers, lemon zest, chili peppers, hot sauce, anchovies, olives, and condiments such as La Bomba( recipe to follow in future blog , similar to an an anti pasto).

HERBS: Fresh herbs and lettuces add a real zing to even an ordinary pizza, We like arugula, Thai basil, tarragon and lemony sorrel. Add fresh herbs after the pizza comes out of the oven.

PIZZA DOUGH

MAKES 4 , 6 OUNCE PIZZA BALLS OR 1 LARGE BALL

3 CUPS FLOUR

2 tsp. DRY INSTANT YEAST

1 tsp. KOSHER SALT

1 1/2 CUPS WATER

1 T. EXTRA VIRGIN OIL

1 tsp. HONEY

Combine flour , yeast and salt in a standing mixer bowl.

Add 1 cup of the water oil and honey.

Attach the flat beater and mix on low speed until all is combined.

Remove the flat beater and attach the dough hook Gradually add the remaining water, mixing on low speed, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes.

Turn onto lightly floured surface knead until dough is smooth and elastic , about 3 minutes.

Place in a large greased bowl, turning dough to grease all over. Cover with a clean damp towel and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour or so.

Dive dough into 4 balls. Work each ball by pulling down the sides and tucking them under the bottom of the ball. Repeat about 4 or 5 times.

On a clean surface, roll each ball under the palm of your hands until smooth and firm.

Cover with a damp towel and let rise until dough has relaxed and started to rise again , 15-20 minutes.

The recipe says that you should be able to fit 4 small pizzas on one stone, but to tell you the truth, my stone only really holds 1 large pizza, and no matter how I placed it I couldn't get even 2 small doughs on it, so I don't know how big of a stone they are using, but I could only fit 1 on it small or large!

( see top of blog for further instructions for finishing and baking the pizza. )

MULLED CIDER and CRANBERRY

I have been feeling a little under the weather, it seems that everybody is either sick already or like me feeling achy . I am not a big tea drinker but felt like I wanted something warm and soothing.

Last month I was asked to preview the book by Random House Canada called "EARTH TO TABLE" Seasonal Recipes from an Organic Farm, by Jeff Crump and Bettia Schurmann. In their Fall Section of recipes was this lovely Mulled Cider recipe. Having just recently purchased some apples and cider from the Market , it was practically a no brainer that I would make this at some point.

Not only did this drink soothe , but as an added bonus it filled my kitchen with a lovely aromatic.

Mulled Cider and Cranberry

makes 6 cups

4 cups pure organic apple cider

1 cup cranberry juice

2 tablespoons of brandy, I used more

1/2 cup sugar (I used 1/4)

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 whole cloves (I used 4)

1 cinnamon stick

grated zest of 1 lemon and orange

apples slices and fresh cranberries to garnish

In a saucepan combine all the ingredients over medium heat just to combine the flavours do not boil. Strain and serve warm, add a few apple slices and cranberries to garnish.

WIENER SCHNITZEL/Bratkatoffel(Fried Potatoes)

Here is a late Octoberfest menu that offers you an alternative to the standard sausage and sauerkraut meal. Sometimes I get a yen for a good schnitzel and potato salad, and so today i thought I would post a common German or Austrian meal. Schnitzel can be made from both pork or veal cutlets that are pounded as thin as you can and then breaded in the trilogy(flour,egg, and bread crumb mixture) and then fried. I prepared veal cutlets early this morning, seasoned them with salt/pepper , breaded then and then fried them up.I placed them on a sheet that I later covered with foil and placed in the oven for a quick reheat at 350degrees for about 20-30 minutes.

Instead of the potato salad i made some pan fried potatoes or bratkatoffel in German. I also get some double- smoked bacon from the Polish Deli (where I get most of my meats, cold-cuts, bacon and sausages) In Ottawa that would be Adams Sausages off St. Laurent Blvd. (They are the best!!) I sliced about 6 slices of bacon, add a diced onion, scrubbed and sliced potatoes and a little oil (if necessary) and fry the potatoes up. This to can be prepared early in the day and then rehated. Season with salt, pepper and chopped parsley.

Yes , this meal has a lot of fried components (not for heart patients) I had some left over cucumber salad and thought this would be a nice refreshing addition.

The husband thought a cold beer was more refreshing and a better addition to an Octoberfest meal. After all, what would an Octoberfest be without the beer? So "Bitte ein Bitt". Which is a great German beer to try if you haven't done so yet.