Beef Bourguignon

I got a new pot! After recently cooking Poule au Pot in a poor substitute for a something that works in stove-to-oven recipes, I have been keeping an eye out for an enameled cast iron pot at TJ Maxx, and pleased to see some options from Le Creuset, Chantal, Cuisinart and others. Then came the question on size. I really didn't want to own/store two of these, especially since I've survived this long without even one, so it made sense to get a big pot that would hold a whole chicken or cook a large pot of stew. I did my research on whether it is worth it to spring the hundreds of dollars for Le Creuset (it's not) and then pulled the trigger on a beautiful green 7 1/2 qt. Chantal from their Talavera collection.

So, the night I brought this home I decided to try it out right away with a beef bourguignon. Yes, I read Julie & Julia (and no, I'm not planning to read Julie Powell's new book) and was excited to try this classic recipe for the first time.

I was surprised to discover that it isn't truly a one pot meal, as the mushrooms and onions are cooked separately and then added in at the end. Or, in the case of our family, the onions are added in and the mushrooms are served to those who like them. And, I confess I was planning to take a shortcut and purchase frozen pearl onions, but when I couldn't find any at the grocery store, I ended up buying fresh ones instead. I'm not sure how the others would have compared, but these fresh ones tasted fantastic!

And, one more snag to best laid plans... our oven died! Instead of preheating, the oven just spun the fan for a little bit and then displayed an error code. Argh! But, I felt confident in the quality of this new pot purchase and was pleased to be able to finish cooking this for the remaining few hours on the stove without any issues. Results? I thought it was fantastic. Though, the kids weren't enamored. Perhaps, Jim suggested, the full bottle of wine was a bit much for their tastes. Ah well.

Beef Bourguignon
Inspired by Julia Child

1/4 pound bacon

1 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking oil
3 1/2 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 (750mL) bottle full-bodied, young red wine , such as a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
3-4 parsley stems
4" section of celery stalk
1 pound small white (boiler) onions
1 pound whole or halved fresh mushrooms

Directions:
 Cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long) and simmer for 5 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In large Dutch oven, sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the stewing beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Remove and put aside with the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced carrots and sliced onion. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Allow flour to cook through.


Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon. Make a bouquet garni by nesting thyme sprigs, parsley stems and bay leaf in celery stalk and tie with kitchen twine. Add to the pot, and bring everything to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
 While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Fill a medium pot with water an bring to boil. Saute mushrooms in wide skillet with butter and allow each side to cook undistrubed for several minutes to brown nicely. Set them aside until needed. Add the boiler onions to the boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove from water and remove outer skins. After mushrooms have sauteed, place peeled boiler onions in the skillet with butter and sautee on all sides to carmelize.

When the meat is tender, remove the bouquet garni from the pot. Add sauteed mushrooms and pearl onions and stir gently to combine. Serve over egg noddles or potato.

Mushroom Crepes

Crepes! Of course we must have crepes while Jim is in Paris! Though, it dawned on me last night that our attempt to have dinners which match Jim’s trip to Europe is actually off by a day. We had our first meal, Croque Monsieur, when he was actually still on the plane en route across the Atlantic. And last night as the kids and I sat down to eat our crepes, Jim had actually departed Paris at the end of his workday and was already in bed for the night in another country. Ah well.

I made the batter for the crepes and the mushroom filling after dinner on Monday, and have to be honest when I say how little effort the prep work required. When Tuesday rolled around to actually cook the crepes, I was fully prepared to ditch the first several as I learned how to get the right technique, but after this first one which didn’t have enough batter to coat the pan, the rest of them came out perfect. PERFECT. I’m still a bit awed. Some lessons I learned along the way: 1) my 1oz scoop was the perfect size for measuring the right amount of batter into the pan. 2) If I watched closely, I could see exactly when it was time to turn the crepe because it is so thin, the shiny batter became matte when it was ready.

Now comes the funny part. Spencer climbed into his seat while I buckled Charlotte in the high chair. On the table was a lovely pile of crepes alongside a fragrant filling of shiitake mushrooms. I looked at the two plates, and realized that I was not actually sure the proper way to combine them! I could only remember eating a crepe one time before - at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas after taking break from playing craps, which was actually taking a break from playing hockey, and that crepe was a monstrous size, filled with gooey chocolate, folded in quarters on the plate and topped with whipped cream and more chocolate. But, thinking more about it, I don’t believe I’d ever order savory crepes in my life. Now that I have lived more than half of my years in Texas (gasp) I did what came naturally – placed the filling down the middle of a crepe, rolled it up, and handed one to each kid to eat with their hands like a taco. Spencer took a bite and commented “Oh mom! Did you realize it was going to taste this good?”

For dessert, simple chocolate crepes were made by zapping mini chocolate chips on a crepe in the microwave for a few seconds before spreading with a butter knife and rolling up. Shortly, I realized that the spreading step is not necessary as rolling them mashes the warm chips just fine. I had planned to convert the remaining batter specifically for dessert purposes by adding a little sugar and vanilla, but I mistakenly mentioned that it would be for chocolate crepes, and once I said the word “chocolate” I needed to deliver the goods to the table asap!

So, it turns out that crepes are easy to make. Who knew??

Mushroom Crepes
Crepe batter recipe followed exactly, and filling inspired from Mushroom Crepe Cakes

2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
Butter, or spray, for coating the pan

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients (excepting the butter for coating the pan) and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.


Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months. When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling.

Mushroom filling:
2 tablespoon butter
1/2 lb shiitake mushroom, cleaned & chopped
1 large onion, diced
1/3 C milk
3-4 oz shredded Gruyere
salt and pepper

In a large saute pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and sweat the onion. Add the mushrooms and additional 1 tablespoon of butter. Season with salt and pepper and cook until mushrooms are soft. Add the milk and reduce by half. Add the cheese and melt. The consistency we're looking for is similar to that of a potpie.

Note: The crepe batter recipe will yield about 20 crepes, and the amount of mushroom filling will fill about 10. Increase filling if desired, or use remaining crepes for a dessert application.

French Green Bean Salad

Seriously, this title would mean absolutely nothing to me if I stumbled across it in a recipe list. Laughably, I found a recipe with a (very) similar title on a site which shall remain nameless that had two ingredients: green beans and salt. And the directions said to briefly simmer the green beans in salted boiling water. That's it. Hmmm.

My inspiration for making this dish came from some truly awesome-looking green beans at the market. Awesome enough to entice me put back the asparagus from my basket (that was on sale!) and the fact that Jim is still in Paris. After making Poule au Pot and Potatoes Lyonnaise on Sunday, I wanted to add something new to the table when serving leftovers for dinner on Monday.

I kept this somewhat simple so the green beans were the star, and included a few of my favorite ingredients commonly found in a green bean salad. For me, this meant shallots soaked in red wine vinegar for an hour or so beforehand to help mellow the bite (a technique I learned from my sister,) chopped walnuts (didn't get around to toasting them, which would have been preferable,) and some amazing artisanal hand-made herb chevre I found at the grocery story, called "Femme Fatale" from Austin-based Cheesy Girl. Who would have guessed that the shallots turned out to be the start ingredient? I must say, even though yelling at the table is generally not a good thing, it made me smile inside to hear not quite two-year old Charlotte demanding more "Shallots! Shallots!"

French Green Bean Salad
Adapted from a lot of similar recipes

1 pound green beans, or haricot verts if you want to play up the French theme
2 large shallots, sliced extremely thin
2 oz of your favorite chevre, crumbled
1/4 C roughly chopped walnuts, toasted
red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt & pepper

Mix thinly sliced shallots with enough vinegar to cover, 2-3 tablespoons, and set aside. Wash green bean and trim ends. Steam (or boil) until crisp-tender, then plunge into ice water bath to stop cooking and set the bright color. Dry beans (salad spinner or towel) and toss with shallots, vinegar & oil (to taste) and plenty of salt & pepper. Top with toasted nuts and crumbled chevre.

Potatoes Lyonnaise

I love making tasty food from staples I find in the pantry! When trying to figure out a side to have with our Poule au Pot, I decided upon trying Potatoes Lyonnaise for the first time. Yum! And I had everything on hand to make it (except for parsley, which I ought to remember to keep in the fridge as a staple, because I find that when I buy a bunch I always use it for much more than I think I will.) Not wanting to put a(nother) pot in the oven that is not listed as oven-safe, I changed the approach slightly for this recipe. First sauteeing onions on the stove, then the potatoes, and transferring to a different dish for time in the over. There isn't much that smells better than onions cooking down and getting all carmelized. Spencer appeared in the kitchen a few times just to tell me "mom, it smells DELICIOUS in here!"


Related, does anyone have experience with the new 'green' non-stick cookware that has emerged in the last year or so??


I bounced around between two recipes to arrive at my own combination, driven by quantities of ingredients on hand (a little less than 1/2 a 5 lb. bag of potatoes, and two large onions in the pantry) and trying to not use an entire stick of butter in a single side dish. The end result could have been more heavily salted, which also makes me lean towards trying a version of this with bacon next time! One recipe called for thick (1/2") sliced potatoes and the other for shredded. I met in the middle with thin (4mm) slices but whichever approach you choose, I highly recommend using a food processor. I've had my Cuisinart for 15 years and love it.


Potatoes Lyonnaise
Adapted from Classic Lyonnaise Potatoes Recipe and Pan-Fried Potato Cake with Onions and Bacon

2 pounds baking potatoes, like russets, peeled and sliced
2 onions, julienne
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the potatoes in a pot of salted water. Bring the potatoes up to a boil and blanch for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, drain, and cool. Skip this step if you are using shredded potatoes.

In a large ovenproof saute pan, heat 2T butter. When the butter is hot, add the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Saute the onions until caramelized, about 10 minutes. Move the onions into a bowl.

Place the pan back on the stove and melt 2T butter. When the butter has melted, cover the bottom of the pan with 1/3 of the potatoes. Season with plenty of salt and pepper. Cover the first layer of potatoes with 1/2 of the onions. Cover the onions with 1/3 of the potatoes. Season with more salt and pepper. Repeat the layering with final 1/2 of the onions and 1/3 of potatoes. Sautee 10 - 12 minutes until to bottoms are golden brown. If you are feeling adventurous, slide the potatoes and onions onto a platter, then place the inverted skillet (or oven-safe dish) on top and flip so the crispy side is on top. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown.

Using a spatula, gently lift the potatoes out of the pan and place on a platter. Garnish with parsley.

Poule au Pot

Spencer thinks this is funny to say out loud. I'm sure I'm not saying it quite so accurately myself, as I never formally studied French (though I was in the French Club in high school - trips to see French films in NYC and eating chocolate croissants!) Translated, it is referred to as French Chicken in a Pot. Jim is still in Paris, complaining about the number of steps in the Eiffel Tower (really, you're complaining sweetie? while I'm home with a barfing toddler?) so we are continuing our culinary tour of Europe each night.

I'm a huge fan of America's Test Kitchen. A few years ago, my sister and I surprised each other with a gift subscription to Cook's Illustrated for Hannukah. I love their attention to detail, and how they make so many iterations of each recipe to get it absolutely perfect. Though, I let my subscription lapse after that year because, as much as I enjoyed reading it each month, I never found myself actually cooking anything from the issues and the black & white sketches just didn't inspire me. Not long after, I discovered that America's Test Kitchen airs on PBS on weekend mornings. Seeing these exact same recipes in color on the big tv screen has got me hooked. I've tried so many and they are always, of course, perfect!

Recently aired was an episode entitled "French Classics, Reimagined" and I saved it on the DVR because I knew I'd be making their French Chicken in a Pot. And, I happened to have a whole chicken in my freezer from a local poultry farm I purchased at a meat co-op. I've prepared plenty of whole roasted chickens before, but this technique was new to me. So new, in fact, I didn't actually have a "pot" to cook it in and ended up using a lidded deep sautee pan. Nonetheless, this chicken tasted AMAZING. So moist, so delicious - two little kids and I put away half of a 3 1/2 lb bird, and both kids were begging for more of the jus. Seriously. It's that good. Whole chickens are inexpensive, even tasty organic ones.

Poule au Pot

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen French Chicken in a Pot

1 whole roasting chicken, best available you can find. Giblets removed and discarded, wings tucked under back
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion , chopped medium (about 1/2 cup)
1 small stalk celery , chopped medium (about 1/4 cup)
5 medium garlic cloves , peeled and trimmed
1 bay leaf
1 medium sprig fresh rosemary (optional)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon juice from 1 lemon

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 250 degrees. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until just smoking. Add chicken breast-side down; scatter onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and rosemary (if using) around chicken. Cook until breast is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Using a wooden spoon inserted into cavity of bird, flip chicken breast-side up and cook until chicken and vegetables are well browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove Dutch oven from heat; place large sheet of foil over pot and cover tightly with lid. Transfer pot to oven and cook until instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees when inserted in thickest part of breast and 175 degrees in thickest part of thigh, about an hour for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 lb bird, closer to 2 hours for a 5 to 6 lb bird.

2. Transfer chicken to carving board, tent with foil, and rest 20 minutes. Meanwhile, strain chicken juices from pot through fine-mesh strainer into fat separator, pressing on solids to extract liquid; discard solids or save to return to the strained liquid (you should have about 3/4 cup juices). Allow liquid to settle 5 minutes, then pour into saucepan and set over low heat. Carve chicken, adding any accumulated juices to saucepan. Stir lemon juice into jus to taste (about 3/4t for every 3/4C.) Serve chicken, passing jus at table.

Croque Monsieur & Croque Provencal

Jim is affectionately referring to this week as his European Death March. After two days in Paris, he'll end up traveling every night and working in four cities in four days. Ugh. Last time he was out of town for a week, the kids and I had a "Seafood Extravaganza" as that does not rank high on Jim's list of food prefences. I thought about doing S.E. Part II, as we didn't get around to linguini vongole or cioppino last month. But instead, decided that this time the kids and I would follow his travels through Western Europe via the culinary spectrum.

Paris, a city I've never visited as a tourist (and have avoided international routing through CDG) is almost too easy a location to begin with. So many choices for great French food. How to pick? Two main factors drove Saturday night's selection: 1) Charlotte attended a birthday party that wouldn't get us home until 4:00 and 2) leftover baby swiss cheese and applewood smoked ham from making chicken cordon bleu earlier this week. I have no idea why chicken cordon bleu has become my 'go to' meal for friends with new babies. I think the cheesiness and the wine, & just being happy to eat a meal that one wouldn't have time to prepare with a new infant around.

A quick dinner, that uses ham and cheese... Croque Monsiuer! Which is really just a hot ham and cheese sandwich. Doesn't get much easier than that. And, Croque Provencal has some sliced tomatoes, which, surprisingly takes the flavor combination to an entirely different level. The kids and I all vastly preferred this version.

Everyone has their own way of making grilled cheese. Here are three things I rely on to make mine awesome.

1. Butter the bread, rather than putting butter in the pan itself.
2. Use a big pan to make all of the sandwiches at once. I LOVE my big Calphalon griddle Jim bought for me about five years ago. I really have no idea how I made it so long without it.
3. Dome it, baby.

What? Dome what?? A while back I saw an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay and the 'masters' making Philly cheese steaks said the only way to do it right was to put one of those ubiquitous metal bowls from commercial kitchens on top of the sandwich after the cheese was added. This guaranteed awesome melting every time. In our house, I improvise with something to serve as a lid, but the result is the same. Cheesey! (Ironically, these pictures show no oozing cheese because it took far too long to round up the kids for dinner before they were cut & ready for pictures!)

Croque Monsieur (& Croque Provencal)
Too basic to site a source

6 slices whole wheat bread
6 slices baby swiss cheese
6 slices your favorite ham
sliced Campari tomatoes
spreadable butter

Spread butter on three slices of bread and place on the griddle. Layer on a slice of cheese, two slices of ham, then tomato (if making Croque Provencal, which we highly recommend) and another slice of cheese. Put medium heat under the griddle and prepare the tops by buttering the remaining three pieces of bread and capping off the sandwiches. When bottoms are grilled golden brown, turn them over. Put a dome on top (skillet lids, metal bowl, whatever works to keep the heat in) until sandwich bottoms are golden brown and cheese is melted.