Roasted Root Vegetables

1 lb carrots, medium dice
1/2 lb parsnips, medium dice
1/2 c onion, small dice
1/2 c leeks, sliced
1 tbsp fresh garlic, slivered
1/4 c medium quality olive oil for roasting
Salt and pepper to taste

3 tbsp high quality olive oil for finishing
3 tbsp parsley, chopped

Toss the vegetables with cooking grade olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 375 about 30 minutes or until nicely browned and tender. Drizzle with Lucini or other high-end olive oil, add parsley and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Beef Stroganoff

We have a holiday tradition at the Sherman's. The family goes up north to Iron Mountain the week before New Years and I stay home because its a very busy week for me at work. (New Years Eve is a huge day in Restaurants.) So I usually cook something for everyone the day they return. My mother-in-law, Joyce, one year suggested Beef Stroganoff but I ended up making something else. Next year she said the stroganoff was great and could I make it again? I don't know what I made but it wasn't stroganoff. Well, now its a running joke. If I ever did make beef stroganoff this is how I would do it:

Serves 8-10

3 lb round steak, cut into 1/2" strips

1/2 c salad oil (more if needed)

1 1/2 c flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

 2-3 c white wine for de-glazing

1 1/2 c onion, minced

1 lb mushrooms, quartered, stems removed

3-4 nice size cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp herbs provence

beef stock

2 tbsp butter1 pkg pearl onions () frozen

8 oz sour cream

1/2 c cornishons, sliced

Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Combine the flour, salt and pepper; dredge the meat to coat and shake off the excess. Saute the meat until nicely browned. Work in small batches so the meat sears properly and discard any oil that remains in the pot. Set the meat aside for a bit.*

Now sweat the onions over low heat in a small amount of butter until soft. Add mushrooms and raise the heat. Cook until mushrooms start to brown. Add the garlic and herbs and cook a couple minutes to let the beauty out. Add the reserved meat and beef stock. Cover and cook over low heat for an hour or so until the beef is pretty tender. Stir it every once in a while so it doesn't scorch.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan, melt the butter and cook the pearl onions over medium heat until soft and nicely  browned. Set aside.

By the time the meat is tender the liquid in the pot should be pretty dense. Finish by adding the rest of the cast- including the pearl onions. I like to reserve some cornishons and pearl onions to sprinkle on the top for style points.

*You're going to get a nice brown fond going on the bottom of the pot- be careful not to let it burn. For a recipe this size you'll likely want to de-glaze a couple times with wine and/or stock. After de-glazing I usually clean the kettle before proceeding.

Guinness Beef Stew w/ Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Root Vegetables

Serves 4-6

I've seen a lot of recipes for this- most of which call for demi-glace (who in Middle America has access to demi-glace- really) and something called a 'kilo' of meat. This recipe is written for the American cook in plain (American) English.

The Stew
3 tbsp butter
3 lb stew beef, 2" dice (Anything labeled 'chuck' or 'pot roast')*
1 c onion, small dice
1 c leeks, sliced
1 c carrot, small dice
1 c celery root, small dice (or celery if unavailable)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp herbs de Provence (or substitute parsley, sage, rosemary, and/or thyme)
2 c beef broth or water (if you can't get low sodium broth use water)
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp flour
1 cn Guinness beer (14.9 oz)
Salt and pepper to taste

Before beginning you might want to do a quality check on the beer. Select a can at random, pour into a heavy (stout) glass, and enjoy.

Melt butter in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat and add the beef. Cook until the meat gives up its juice and you get a nice caramel color. Add the onions and cook until they are browned, then add the leeks. Continue cooking until leeks are soft. Now add the carrots and celery root- again, cook until browned. ** If using celery, add it after the carrots have caramelized. Celery has very high moisture content and will prevent the other ingredients from browning.

Once the vegetables have caramelized add the garlic, herbs, broth, salt and pepper. (Careful with the salt- this broth is going to reduce by half  and concentrate all the flavors.) Bring to near boiling then reduce heat until it only just simmers. Cover and cook for an hour, maybe an hour and a half, until the meat is nice and tender. Check occasionally to see if you need to add water. There should be just enough liquid to barely cover the meat. The vegetables will probably melt into the broth- that's fine; they're still there in spirit.

Once the meat is pretty tender- but before it starts to fall apart- make a roux by combining the 2 tbsp melted butter and the flour in a separate pan and cook a few minutes under low heat until it has a nice "nutty" aroma. Bring the stew to a rolling simmer and add the roux until well thickened. Add the Guinness and cut the heat. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste.

Mashed Potatoes
5 or 6 good size Yukon Gold or other potatoes (about 4 lb)
1/2 c cream (or milk)
6 tbsp butter, cut in chunks
Salt and White pepper to taste
Dash of Nutmeg (optional)

Special Equipment: Ricer (if you don't have one, get one)

Peel the potatoes and slice about 1/2" thick. Place in cold water and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cook about 20 minutes or until potatoes are very soft; drain well.

Squeeze potatoes through a ricer. Place cream and butter in the pot and heat until butter is melted. (If using milk simply melt the butter by itself and barely warm the milk. Milk, unlike cream will scald if it gets too hot.)

Return the potatoes to the pot and fold into the cream mixture with a wire whisk or rubber spatula. Try not to smash all the volume out of your beautifully riced potatoes. Adjust with more cream and/or butter if desired. (Cream is for texture, butter is for flavor.) Add salt, white pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Roasted Root Vegetables
1 lb carrots, medium dice

1/2 lb parsnips, medium dice
1/2 c onion, small dice
1/2 c leeks, sliced
1 tbsp fresh garlic, slivered
1/4 c medium quality olive oil for roasting
Salt and pepper to taste

3 tbsp high quality olive oil for finishing
3 tbsp parsley, chopped

Toss the vegetables with cooking grade olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 375 about 30 minutes or until nicely browned and tender. Drizzle with Lucini or other high-end loive oil, add parsley and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

*Note: I suggest you get a chuck roast and dice it yourself rather than buy the 'stew meat' you find pre-cut in the supermarket, which is usually from the round. Chuck is from the shoulder of the animal and has more fat marbling and thus more flavor. (That's right- fat equals flavor.) Just trim it up to remove big chunks of fat, and leave the pieces pretty big- at least 2" square- they'll shrink up during cooking.

**This process is called 'caramelization'. You are extracting moisture from the ingredients and allowing the natural sugars to collect on the bottom of the pot. This produces what the French call 'fond' or 'base'.)

Pasties: an Unorthodox Recipe

It's unorthodox because it has bacon and fresh herbs, apparently unheard of in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. The original version is probably from my wife's Grandma Leah Paruleski, the crust is from Rita (Lulu) Paruleski, Bud's wife. It doesn't get more orthodox than that.


Crust
2 c crisco
2 c water, boiling
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp salt
6 c flour

Place shortening, boiling water, vinegar and salt in a mixing bowl; mix on low speed until shortening has melted. Add flour and mix until fully incorporated.

Filling
3 lb round steak, minced
3 lb potatoes, small dice (hold in water until ready to fill)
1 lb carrots, small dice
1/2 lb rutabega, small dice
12 oz Nueski Bacon
1 large onion (1 1/2 c)
1/2 bulb garlic (2 tbsp)minced
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 tbsp italian parsley, chopped
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp pepper
1/3 to 1/2 lb butter

Render bacon until soft and most of the fat is given up; drain.
Add onions and cook over medium heat until soft, about
5 minutes. Add garlic and
cook an additional 3 minutes; cool.
Drain potatoes and add all ingredients together.
*Preheat oven to 375.
Portion the dough into 10 equal pieces.
Roll out into a 9 1/2" circle. Place a 9" cake pan on top and cut. Place 1 c of filling in the bottom half of the dough circle, leaving about 1/4 inch space between the filling and the edge of the
pastry.
Place 3 pats of butter on the filling and fold the top over;
crimp to seal the edge. Don't forget to cut a couple steam vents in the top. Place on a sheet pan and bake for
about an hour.

*Unless you are going to freeze the pasties and reheat them later. In that case set the oven to 400. Bake 30 minutes, cool, wrap in foil and freeze. To reheat, unwrap and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until nicely browned

Savory Zucchini Bread- Part One

I decided to move this post to a whole new blog. See you there!

Dinner with the Kents

We had a great dinner w/ Jeff and Janell Saturday night. I got very excited when Linda called to tell me it was on. Its been too long.

We started out with an amuse bouche- savory zucchini bread crostini w/ goat cheese, salt cured kalamata olive stuffed with a tiny basil leaf. This is a keeper- big flavors that really opened things up. A perfect tease.


I baked a zucchini bread that had me a little worried at first because it was pretty wet but it rose up nicely and produced a beautiful flaky crust, even if the crumb was a little spongy. Janell loved the honey butter so I sent the second loaf home w/ them.

The first course was fried crab cakes remoulade and a salad of bibb lettuce, brandywine tomato from the garden , and fresh mozzarella w/ basil chiffonade. The tomato needed no help at all- just a drizzle of olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar on the plate. I used lump crab meat (3/4 lb) celery, orange bell pepper, scallions, old bay seasoning, mayo, and one egg to bind it all with the breadcrumbs. Jeff is a big fan of crab cakes in general and he really seemed to enjoy them. We served a 2008 Domaine du Roure de Paulin Macon-Fuisse ( a chardonnay from burgundy) with the first course. The salesman at Elm Grove Liquor- a guy who has been there forever and really knows his stuff- recommended it when I layed out the menu for him. I had been thinking of a savignon blanc but he steered us toward the chardonnay because it has more richness to stand with the fried crab cakes. It was a nice pairing and I learned a new trick.

Next up we served grilled flank steak with chimmichuri sauce, mashed potatoes, buttered carrots from the garden and a pile of onion straws. The flank steak was a disappointment (for me anyway) because I let it get away while we ate the first course. I tried to hold it in the oven when I should have just let it rest on the top of the stove. I guess that's what happens to cooks who get too far away from the line. But the sauce was a big hit- a little onion, some garlic I planted in the spring (which has a bit of a spicy edge) a boat-load of Italian parsley, lemon, cayenne, and Lucini olive oil. I rubbed the steak with garlic, lemon and a bit of rosemary but next time I think just salt, pepper and a little olive oil will be fine- there was a little too much going on. Jeff Grilled the steak to a perfect medium-rare while I fried the crab cakes. The timing was really pretty good, if only I wouldn't have put the meat in the oven. Everyone else seemed pretty happy though.

The best part of the second course was the wine, a 2007 Domaine LaFond Roc-Epine Lirac (similar to a Cotes du Rhone) which our salesman suggested has some smoky notes that work well with grilled red meats. I didn't get any of the smoke he was talking about- but I don't claim to have a wine palette. It was pretty fruity for me, I like the big Cabernet tannins with red meat, but it was a good value at $15.00.

Dessert was simple, fruit (red currants, Asian pear, and a tiny cantaloupe from the garden) and cheese (Stilton, St. Andre, and Carr Valley 5 year cheddar). We poured a Nivole Moscato d' Asti (Michele Chiarlo, 2007) that gave a very nice finish to the meal- airy and not too sweet, good balance of citrus and grape, and not too much alcohol.

We love getting together with the Kents. There is always plenty of good conversation and they have a real appreciation for the finer things in life without being showy or pretentious. I hope we don't have to wait so long before we do it again.