An autumn meal - Beef Bourguignon

Where have I been might you wonder, well, France, Ireland, US road trip, all this has kept me very busy and not afforded me a lot of time for blogging. So while autumn is upon us, here is a very easy and delicious recipe to make and share in these cooler days.
You start the marinade on day one, cook on day 2 and serve on day 3.

Boeuf Bourguignon
For 6 people
Ingredients
3 lbs Beef stew (preferably chuck) (5 to 7 oz of meat per person)
1 Carrot (peeled and cut in small sticks)
2 Shallots (chopped) 
2 Bay leaves (French laurel rather than California)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
1 bottle of red wine (preferably pinot noir)

5 Slices of bacon thinly diced 
1 clove of garlic chopped
2 Tbsp Brandy
2 to 3 Tbsp All purpose flour
1 to 2 tsp Coarse sea salt

Method
Day 1
Place meat in container, pour wine over the meat to cover, add 1 carrot in stick, 1 chopped shallot, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme and pepper, cover and place in refrigerator overnight (best if marinated up to 24h).
Day 2
Brown the sliced bacon with remaining shallot and garlic, reserve in cast iron pot on very low heat.
Pan fry the meat (preferably in non stick pan), do not crowd the pan, place only a few pieces at a time, otherwise they will sweat and release all their juice.
Place the fried pieces in the cast iron pot as they get browned.
When all pieces have been fried deglaze the pan with a little water, reserve.
Pour the brandy over the hot meat pieces and flambé.
Sprinkle the flour and turn the meat over, then pour the liquid in the frying pan over the meat, add the marinade.
Sprinkle some salt, salt may be adjusted after cooking.
Bring all to a gentle simmer and let cook for 3 hours stirring occasionally. 
The next day warm up on low heat a couple of hours before serving, all the flavours will have developped.
 
For reference: this dish is from the Burgundy region famous for its fine pinot noir wines thus making it a perfect choice of wine to drink with.
This dish may be served with pasta or steamed potatoes, or for a distinctive experience puréed Jerusalem artichoke.

What's for dinner?...

For the past couple of month with the good weather I have spent so much time outside that my inspiration for cooking has taken a back seat, yesterday we finally had substantial rain fall (which is great for my garden and for my creativity in the kitchen) so we spent a few hours at the Seattle center for the Bastille day celebration and when we returned home I wanted to have a nice but easy dinner and after looking in the fridge inspiration finally struck me and I created this very nice and super quick meal.

Roasted chicken with mango sauce
For 2
Ingredients
2 skinless chicken breasts
1 ripe mango
1/2 lemon (zest and juice)
2 Tbsp honey
1 rosemary twig
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 390 F / 200 C
Place the chicken breast in an oven proof dish.
Peel the mango, reserve a few strips for serving and using a knife scrape all the "flesh" and juice surrounding the pit, cover the chicken with it.
Zest and juice the lemon over the chicken & mango.
Pour 1/2 Tbsp honey over each chicken breast and the remaining 1 Tbsp in the dish, add a little water (approx. 1/2 to 1 cup - 125 to 250 ml), sprinkle salt and pepper to taste, keep in mind that pepper gets stronger as it cooks/bakes. Cut rosemary twig in half and place each piece on the chicken.
Place dish in pre-heated oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes untill juices run transparent.
You want the top of the chicken to be a little browned and the mango/honey/lemon to be slightly caramelised. By that time the water should have partially evaporated and form a sauce.

Tip
I served this with quinoa, it is a very versatile gluten free grain that I have been using recently. A nice alternative to rice, cooks in 15mns.

Last minute "steak" and Guinness pie

Last Tuesday I got home at 17h and given that it was St Patrick's day and my history with Ireland we had to have something Irish for dinner, so I put together a last minute Guinness pie with what I had in the fridge.

Last minute "steak" and Guinness pie
For 6 (or 4 very hungry appetites!)
Ingredients
3 slices Bacon, chopped
1 big yellow Onion
1 TBSP brown sugar
6 Mushrooms, sliced
1 bottle Guinness 12 fl oz
1 TBSP flour
1 Pound ground beef (since this is last minute I had no time to simmer the steak for hours and ground beef worked just as well)
2 Carrots, peeled and diced
1 Courgette, small and diced
1/2 cup to 1 cup Green peas
1 small head Broccoli
Thyme, Rosemary, Pepper, salt, Worcestershire sauce, to taste
Flaky pastry dough (see separate recipe)

Method
In a large frying pan sauté the chopped bacon, then after a couple of minutes add the thinly sliced onion and sauté till it get a slightly caramelised colour, add 1 TBSP brown sugar then the sliced mushrooms.
After 5mn pour some of the Guinness over the mixture and let it simmer on low heat for 10 to 15mn, half way through add the TBSP of flour to thicken the sauce, pour more Guinness and continue simmering, adding salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary (don't put too much salt as the Worcestershire sauce has still to be added later).
When the sauce/gravy is thick enough add the ground beef and let everything simmer, add more Guinness when necessary, the mixture should not be too wet or too dry.
Then add the carrots, courgette, green peas and broccoli and stir all.
By this time the entire bottle of Guinness should have been poured and sufficiently evaporated so the mix is just moist enough.
Add a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, make sure you taste.
Pour all in an oven proof dish (Pyrex in my case), spread evenly and cover with rolled out flaky dough, tucking it in the sides of the dish, make a few holes for the steam to escape.
Place in pre-heated oven at 400 F for 30mn or so (until the dough is baked).
When baked remove from the oven, and for a personal touch add a few drops of Jameson Irish Whiskey in each of the steam holes and place in the oven for a further 5mn then take out and let stand for 5mn and serve... with a pint of Guinness, of course ;-)
Slánte! (Irish for "to your health")

Veal roast with honey

After almost 2 months out and about it's time to settle back into life in the PNW and start publishing again! I have some real nice and easy recipes to share. Today it will be the main course I served at my Mom's party back in May:





Veal roast with honey
For 8
Ingredients
1.5 kg Veal Roast (count 180 to 200 gr per person)
4 tomatoes
2 shallots thinly sliced
200 ml of white wine
3 Tbsp honey
Salt, pepper to taste

Method
Brown well the roast in a large frying pan, then place in a roasting pan.
Degalze the pan with white wine and pour over roast, gently fry the shallots and place in roasting pan.
Wash and quarter the tomatoes and place in the roasting pan alongside the veal roast.
Salt and pepper then baste the top of the roast with honey.
Cover with lid or tin foil (seal well) and bake in pre-heated oven at 200 C for about 45mn (count half an hour per pound)
When cooked turn of the oven and leave the unopened roasting pan in for a further 15mn.
Take out, slice and serve hot with baking juices.

Secret Ingredient: Lemon - Part 2

After the velvety asparagus soup I made a very French dish called Blanquette de Veau, it's a veal stew with a lemon twist.
This is my Mom's recipe who has it from her own Mother.



Blanquette de Veau
For 6
Ingredients
2 to 2.5 pounds veal stew (it will depend on the crowd you entertain, whether they are big eaters or not...)
2 TBSP all purpose unbleached flour
3 sliced carrots
1 bunch of fresh Parsley
Salt, pepper
2 TBSP sour cream
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Method
Soak the veal pieces in cold water for 30 mn.
When ready drain the water, dry the meat with paper towel and place it in a hot pan with a bit of oil, do not brown the meat.
When all the meat has taken a white color sprinkle 2 TBSP of flour over it, stir and add a bit of water.
Then pour over the sliced carrots, half of the parsley thinly cut, salt and pepper then add more water, enough to cover the meat and stir.
Close your pot (I use a cast iron pot) and let it simmer on low heat for 1 h to 1.5 hour, stirring occasionally.
When you are ready to serve add at the last minute 2 TBSP of sour cream and the juice of half a lemon and stir.
Serve hot with white rice or as I did with fingerling potatoes.

Spring is upon us!

Finally Spring is officially here! Nature has been awakening in the past few weeks with flowers blooming and trees blossoming.

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With a group of French friends "Les gourmandes" we celebrated Spring and Easter with a traditional Easter meal. For this occasion I baked a "Gigot Brayaude" (leg of lamb) this recipe comes from the part of France where I grew up "Le Bourbonnais" (in the center of France). Here is the recipe I saw my Mom make many a time as I grew up.

Gigot Brayaude/Leg of lamb (for 12)
Ingredients

3kg/just under 7 lbs leg of lamb
2 kg firm potatoes (I used Yukon gold)
8 cloves of garlic
Coarse sea salt
Pepper
Fresh rosemary
Thyme
Edible lavender (this is my personal touch)
1 large roasting dish

.

Method
Place roasting dish on heated stove, pour approx. 1 inch/2.5cm water, coarse salt, pepper, 4 cloves of garlic thinly sliced and bring to boil.
While water mix is on the stove peal, wash and thinly slice the potatoes, place them in the boiling water on the stove.
Let it boil away for 15Mn or so while you prepare the meat.
Trim as much fat as possible from the leg of lamb, then insert small slices of garlic in the meat all over by making small incisions with a sharp knife, use up the last 4 cloves.

Then baste the lamb with olive oil and rub on it fresh rosemary, thyme and lavender and sprinkle some pepper and coarse salt.

Place lamb on top of the potatoes and put dish in the pre-heated oven at 440 F (do not cover).

Cooking time is 15 Mn per pound to obtain a rosy not overcooked lamb.

Half way through the cooking time turn meat over.

Two thirds of the way turn oven down to 400 F.

When cooking time has been reached (for the piece I had I cooked it for 1h30Mn), turn off the oven and open the door slightly, leave the dish in the oven to rest for another 15Mn or so.

Then slice and serve with the potatoes, another vegetable that compliment this dish are green beans.

Bon appétit

Low Gluten dinner

Last night we hosted a gluten free dinner since one of our friend is coeliac.
Being French we had to have cheese before dessert, and one can not have cheese without bread, so I started by making low gluten bread of my own inspiration, a citrus cake which I adapted in order to be gluten free and rabbit with mustard.


Low Gluten bread/Pain avec peu de gluten
Ingredients

450 cc luke warm water
3 tsp dry yeast
1 big teaspoon honey
100 gr buckwheat flour
350 gr white spelt flour
100 gr wholemeal spelt flour
50 gr corn flour (not corn startch)
This makes a total of 600 gr of flours
1 teaspoon salt

Method
Mix water, honey and yeast and let it rest for 10 mn.
Prepare your flours in a mixing bowl (I recommend the use of a standup mixer as this dough is very sticky and liquidy) and add the salt.
After 10mn or so the liquid should resemble a chemistry project and start bubbling away and doubling in volume, stir and pour over the flours and knead on speed 1 for 5 mn till all water has been absorbed, then put on speed 2 for another 10 mn.
Cover the bowl and leave to rest at room temperature (around 20-22 C/68-71.6 F) for aprox. 1 hour
After that time punch the dough down and knead for 1mn, cover and let it rest for a further 30mn.
After that time punch the dough down and knead for 1 mn, then pour it into a parchment paper lined baking tin 29 cm (11.5 inches) long, cover and let it rise for 20mn.
Turn on the oven to 205 C/400 F and place a small pan of water.
Bake for 35 to 45 mn (depending on oven) till bread sounds hollow when tapped.
Let it cool for 15 or 20 mn.
It's a very dense and dark bread, since it is also very moist it will not keep more than 4 days (it will start molding after that).
It freezes very well.


Low Gluten steamed Citrus cake/Gâteau au citron cuit à la vapeur
(adapted from Nigela Lawson's Steamed syrup sponge from the book "How to be a domestic goddess")
About this cake I loved the idea of steaming it, I had never tried before and though it could be fun, also if one has no oven it's a great recipe.
I am totally against corn syrup so I had to find an alternative for the syrup and used a mix of home made bitter orange marmalade, lemon juice and honey. If I was to do it again I might use a little less bitter orange marmalade and more honey to get a more lemony taste as the bitter orange marmalade can be overpowering.

Ingredients
for the cake
2.5 tsp baking powder
84 gr / 3/4 cup soft unsalted butter
55 gr spelt flour
55 gr corn flour
25 gr almond powder (grinded blanched almonds)
120 gr sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 lemon juice + zest
3 TBSP milk
1/2 tsp lemon powder (optional)

for the syrup
1/2 cup sevilla (bitter) orange mamalade
2 TBSP honey
1/2 lemon juice

Method
In her recipe Nigela Lawson uses a plastic pudding basin, I used a well buttered springform (24 cm/9") tighly covered with tin foil (it gives a fairly flat and dense -yet light- cake due to the lack of gluten).
Prepare the syrup first by mixing all ingredients together, let it sit till you have the cake mixture ready.
For the cake mixture pour all ingredients in the stand up mixer bowl and mix well using the wisk head.
Pour syrup in bottom of springform and pour the cake mixture over it. Seal with tin foil and place in steam cooker on top of steaming tray, I used a Le Creuset cast iron round oven dish (which prevents evaporation), water should be boiling when you place your springform on top of the tray.
Let the water boil and bake covered for 2 hours.

When it's cooked remove, let rest only for a couple of minutes (otherwise your syrup will start solidifying) , then turn upside down on a serving dish with enough space for the syrup to flow on the sides.
Serve cold with cointreau flavoured whipped cream.


Rabbit with mustard/Lapin à la moutarde
I got this recipe from my Mom
Ingredients For 6 people
1 rabbit 3.7 pounds / 1.6 kg
2 shallots
2 big garlic cloves
Thyme, salt, pepper
Mustard
White wine

Method
3 hours before cooking time
Cut rabbit in 12 pieces or less if you want bigger pieces
Baste the rabbit pieces with french Dijon mustard (I used Maille)
Let it rest in a cool place but not in the fridge for 3 hours.

2 hours before serving peel and chop the shallots and garlic, soften in frying pan on low heat (do not brown), add thyme, when softened reserve.
Brown each pieces of rabbit in frying pan then place in Le Creuset round oven dish, cover with the shallots, garlic and thyme, deglaze frying pan with white wine (don't be shy) and pour over the rabbit, if not enough wine pour some water till it comes almost to level with the top of the rabbit.
Season with salt and pepper to taste and let it simmer for 1h30mn.
At the moment of serving if your sauce is too liquidy you can reduce it by boiling it or mix a couple of teaspoons of corn startch in little cold water and let it boil for 5mn.
Serve with fingerlings and green beans, or rice or fresh pasta.

Bon appétit!

Spring is in the air

For the past 3 days I have been fighting a bad cold and it seems I am not winning!
Despite this I still cooked a nice veal stew last night and it was enjoyed bay all.
This recipe is of my creation.

Veal stew with carrots
Ingredients
1 pound of veal stew meat diced
2 shallots
4 carrots
1 glass or so of dry white wine
1 tomato
salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, parsley

Method
Slightly brown the veal dices in a non stick frying pan over high heat, then place the veal pieces in a pot (ie. cast iron pot) over medium heat (until it boils then reduce to a simmer).
Deglaze your frying pan with the white wine and pour it over the veal pieces
Peal and thinly slice the shallots and place in pot
Peal and slice the carrots and place in pot
Clean and cut tomato and place in pot
Season with salt, pepper and herbs to taste, add a glass of water
Close pot and let simmer for an hour or so (veal being a tender meat by nature the cooking time can be reduced compared with beef).
Before serving if sauce is too liquidy dissolve a couple of spoons of corn starch in 2 table spoon of cold water and pour the mix in the sauce and boil for 3 or 4 mn.
Serve with steamed fingerling potatoes or broiled fennel bulb (this recipe will be for another day).

Bon appétit