Dinner! 2007

[The Blissful Glutton]

You guys are making some great-looking food. Perfectly-cooked roast beef, crisp fried chicken, and now, beef pot pies? I am swooning. I am munching on some empanadas I brought back from Miami, but those pot pies are calling my name. Could you post the recipe?

Edited February 14, 2007 by The Blissful Glutton (log)

[Marlene]

I will work out exact quantities and post them here, but basically I made a cross between a beef stew and beef bourguignon, made a pate brisee for the pastry shells, filled them with the stew and topped with a crust. I happened to have individual pie pans but tart pans or one large pie pan would work as well!

[Kim Shook]

Marlene - please, please do! Those meat pies look amazing!

Did everyone see the incredible meal that Daniel and Alicia put together (on a work night yet) for Megan on her blog? Wow.

Tonight was a romaine lettuce salad w/ cukes, granny smith apples, candied pecans and currants, Lamb Stew w/ potatoes and cipolline onions and Brussels sprouts sautéed with pancetta:

The stew was fantastic and I am so glad to be cooking again!!

Edited February 14, 2007 by Kim Shook (log)

[little ms foodie]

great looking pies! i love those individual pie pans!!

I had fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner last night as well, with some kale on the side. Mine didn't look anywhere near as good as yours, though. Do you use buttermilk? I was VERY disappointed in my fried chicken and I think I need to try again soon.

←

no buttermilk- just coated with flour/cornmeal/s&p and fried in the cast iron. 6 mins covered, 6 uncovered, 3 & 3 (flipped each time)

[The Blissful Glutton]

I will work out exact quantities and post them here, but basically I made  a cross between a beef stew and beef bourguignon, made a pate brisee for the pastry shells, filled them with the stew and topped with a crust.  I happened to have individual pie pans but tart pans or one large pie pan would work as well!

←

Thanks!

[Marlene]

I took a recipe from the food network and played around with it a lot, so it took me a few minutes to remember the quantities I used. Here's my version:

Veggies

1/2 cup frozen green peas

2 carrots , small dice

2 small red potatoes, small dice

For the stew:

3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into small cubes

1/2 lb bacon

2 medium carrots, minced

1 onion, minced

1 stalk celery, minced

6 tablespoons clarified butter

6 tablespoons flour

Pinch cayenne

3 cups red wine (chianti or burgundy are good choices) I used a chianti.

3 cups beef stock

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 garlic cloves, minced

Herbs tied in cheesecloth: 3 to 4 parsley sprigs, 2 bay leaves, 2

teaspoons thyme

Brown bacon slowly in a heavy pot. Remove the bacon and set aside, and turn the heat to high.

Brown the beef quickly in the bacon fat. Add olive oil if necessary. Brown the beef in small batches to prevent steaming the meat.

Remove the beef from the pot and set aside with the bacon. Add the minced carrots, onions and celery and brown on medium high heat in the remaining fat. Remove the mirepoix from the pot and add to the reserved beef and bacon. Add the clarified butter to the pot and sprinkle in the flour. Stirring constantly, brown the flour on medium high heat until it is a dark, brown. Return the bacon, beef and vegetables to the pot. Stir to coat them with the browned flour and cook for a minute or two on edium-high heat. Lower the heat, add the cayenne, wine, stock, the tomato paste, the garlic and the herb bouquet tied in a cheesecloth. Stir to mix well and simmer for 3hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender.

Remove the meat from the gravy with a slotted spoon and set aside. Remove and discard the herb bouquet. Degrease the gravy and reserve in a separate container.

Make pie pastry. I use Keller's Pate Brisee, but any pie pastry you are comfortable with will work.

Butter one large pie plate or 6 individual ones. Roll out dough and put into pie plates. Using parchment paper and pie weights or beans, bake the shells at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Set them aside.

Blanch the diced potatoes and carrots and cool in ice bath. When cool, mix with the meat.

Roll out more dough to make discs big enough to fit over the pie plates. Stick the discs in the fridge until you're ready for them.

Reheat beef and gravy separately. Add enough gravy to the meat to moisten the meat but not enough to make it really soupy. Add the frozen peas now, if using. Fill each pie dish to the top. Cover with the top crust, crimp crust and cut a couple of slits in the top to let steam escape.

Bake on a cookie sheet at 400 for 25 minutes if using convection or 40 minutes using a regular oven. They'll be done when the top is golden brown and the pie is bubbling.

Let them stand for 5 or 10 minutes before carefully sliding out onto a plate. Serve with any extra gravy on the side.

[Marlene]

Little Miss Foodie, the pie plates are Emile Henry and they come in a set

Kim, it's great to see you cooking again.

The filling can be made ahead or you could use leftover stew to do them. If you're using leftover stew though, make sure your pieces of meat, potatoes etc are bite size and either way, store the meat and veggies and the gravy separately until you want to make them.

Edited February 14, 2007 by Marlene (log)

[The Blissful Glutton]

Speaking of beef pies--I want to make these: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/dining/1...ing&oref=slogin

Edited February 14, 2007 by The Blissful Glutton (log)

[Priscilla]

Last evening, couple little ducklings, roasted. Apricot preserves for those who like that sort of thing. Redleaf salade w/mustardy shalloty vinaigrette. Ciabatta from the Japanese French baker. Old vines Garnarcha, very good. Couple more eps of Extras, very good.

[Forest]

Usually I just voyeuristically drool over everyone's dinners, but tonight I've decided it might be fun to join in.

I (purposely) had a lot of mashed potatoes left over from a dinner party last night, so tonight I made myself a plate of mashed potatoes, some brats, and greens with yummy chunks of blue cheese.

I'm not as good as the rest of you at taking nice food pics, but you get the idea!

Edited February 14, 2007 by Forest (log)

[GTO]

Very flavoursome looking mash, forest. I'm loving the sausages too, they are just made for mustard!

[glennbech]

This is my first atemt ever at tempura. I made a tempura batter with egg, water, heavy cream, corn starch and AP flour. For this batch, pieces of Wolffish went into the make-shift deep frier :-) Yum!

Closeup

Edited February 14, 2007 by glennbech (log)

[monavano]

Wow, Glennbech, they look perfect! Crisp and not greasy. What oil did you use?

[GTO]

I love seeing Tempura being made, when they flick little flecks of batter in too, to make those little crispy frills.

[Jan Primus]

Nice Glenn, what did you use for your make-shift deep fryer?

[suzilightning]

wow forest - you can cook brats for me any day. they looked exactly like i like them - dark and crispy

lousy, icy night here so luckily it was my day off - and johnnybird took today as his scheduled day off.

shrimps are marinating in olive oil, chardonnay(2004 raven ridge), garlic, lemon juice, basil, oregano, salt & pepper. will broil them and serve with some rice fettuccini and green beans with shallot and olive oil and the rest of the chardonnay.

i made some miniature crab cakes - heavy on the crab and light on the mayo. will saute lightly and serve with some asian slaw i made with some lemongrass ginger dressing.

dessert for johnnybird will be some of the godiva truffles and amaretto i got him for a present. for me - another glass of champagne, please(don't know what kind he got me yet but i hope it is the duval-leroy)

edited to say the dessert became the appetizer for john and i and how come when you spend time cooking something you don't want to eat it? dinner for me was three heels of portugese sweet bread - did not want to touch the shrimp, pasta or beans. the crab cakes have been regulated to dinner for someother night...

have a good dinner all....

Edited February 15, 2007 by suzilightning (log)

[glennbech]

Wow, Glennbech, they look perfect! Crisp and not greasy. What oil did you use?

←

Thanks! They were real crunchy. I was also amazed by how well the taste of th fish gets preserved when you prepare it this way.

I used grape seed oil for the deep fry. It has an interesting greenish colour. I don't think it really makes a difference for the result, but I guess a non-aromatic oil does best ?

Edited February 14, 2007 by glennbech (log)

[glennbech]

Nice Glenn, what did you use for your make-shift deep fryer?

←

Thanks Jan. I didn't use anything special for my deep frying. Just a sautè pan, and digital thermometer to keep the oil at an apoximate 170 C.

[little ms foodie]

oh no forest, now you are going to become addicted to taking pictures of your food like the rest of us!!!

great photo and great looking dinner!! yummmm

[glennbech]

I (purposely) had a lot of mashed potatoes left over from a dinner party last night, so tonight I made myself a plate of mashed potatoes, some brats, and greens with yummy chunks of blue cheese. 

I really love the green salad leaves in the picture, but I cant seem to remember their name. Anyone?

[Kim Shook]

I (purposely) had a lot of mashed potatoes left over from a dinner party last night, so tonight I made myself a plate of mashed potatoes, some brats, and greens with yummy chunks of blue cheese. 

I really love the green salad leaves in the picture, but I cant seem to remember their name. Anyone?

←

Is it mache?

Edited February 14, 2007 by Kim Shook (log)

[Forest]

I (purposely) had a lot of mashed potatoes left over from a dinner party last night, so tonight I made myself a plate of mashed potatoes, some brats, and greens with yummy chunks of blue cheese. 

I really love the green salad leaves in the picture, but I cant seem to remember their name. Anyone?

←

Is it mache?

←

It is mache - well definitely mache in French, but someone just told me the other day it's called lambs lettuce in English. Not sure if that's true or not - I always just call it mache.

And, thanks everyone for nice words - feels good to get some positive feedback on my first picture post in this thread!

Oh, god, Wendy, you're right! I have tons of work to do this week and this has been my major form of procrastination and avoidance!! (by the way, your chicken a few posts back looked fab!)

[GTO]

It absolutely is Mache. Also known as 'Lambs lettuce', 'corn salad' and 'field lettuce'.

[The Hersch]

It is mache - well definitely mache in French, but someone just told me the other day it's called lambs lettuce in English.  Not sure if that's true or not - I always just call it mache.

In the US, it is unfortunately being called by its french name mâche more and more. This is part of a seeming trend to call things which have perfectly serviceable English names by foreign ones. Other examples: arugula (rocket), cilantro (coriander). Anyway, this particular leafy green has a whole raft of English-language names: Lamb's lettuce, lamb's tongue, field salad, field lettuce, corn salad.

[Forest]

It is mache - well definitely mache in French, but someone just told me the other day it's called lambs lettuce in English.  Not sure if that's true or not - I always just call it mache.

In the US, it is unfortunately being called by its french name mâche more and more. This is part of a seeming trend to call things which have perfectly serviceable English names by foreign ones. Other examples: arugula (rocket), cilantro (coriander). Anyway, this particular leafy green has a whole raft of English-language names: Lamb's lettuce, lamb's tongue, field salad, field lettuce, corn salad.

←

It's pretty cute whatever you call it! I like those little green leaves.

The thing is - I never remember seeing it or eating it in the states (been living away for five years). Is it somethig that's common in the US and just somehow slipped under my radar my whole life? It's so common here, but I just never remember eating it there.

Ah and the cilantro/coriander thing...I call it cilantro but everyone always corrects me and says it's coriander. But, I do remember hearing that there's technically some difference - one is the leaves and one is the seeds. Or one is dried or something. Okay, I'll stop now because I'm drifting off topic and still simply just avoiding getting some work done!

Edited February 14, 2007 by Forest (log)