I'm Not Julia Child, But Who Is?

In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child writes, "As is the case with most famous dishes, there are more ways than one to arrive at a good bouef bourguigon." I've never actually cooked any of Julia's famous recipes nor do I own any of her famous cookbooks (though Christmas is coming up *wink*wink*) but I absolutely appreciate her approach.

You see, there isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to cook necessarily--many good dishes come out of different styles. If following a recipe exactly isn't for you (and trust me, it's not for me) then think of each recipe as more as a guideline. The changes you make, the ingredients you add or remove, the ideas you glean, these all make the dish your own by putting your very own personal stamp on it. (And for those of you who think you're hopeless cooks, following the recipe step-by-step does NOT make you a bad cook. Some follow rules, others like to break them.)

Beef Burgundy (or bouef bourguigon to Julia) is a rich dish of wine soaked beef, carrots, onions, noodles, carrots. Part stew, part pasta, it is an excellent cure for the winter blahs or to warm cold bones. It makes enough for a feast to feed a large crew or to freeze portions for later.

Beef Burgundy
--6 pieces of bacon
--1/2 cup flour
--salt & pepper
--1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat
--1/2 small onion, diced
--garlic, minced
--2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
--3 dry cups assorted sliced mushrooms
--bottle dry red wine
--1 heaping spoonful of tomato paste
--14.5oz can of diced tomatoes
--thyme
--oregano
--1 small bag of frozen peeled pearl onions
--egg noodles
--beef broth

Cook the bacon strips in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. I use scissors to cut mine up into smaller pieces before sautéing. Once the bacon is mostly cooked (crisp but not too crisp), use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan, leaving as much of the bacon grease/drippings in the pan as possible.

Season the flour with salt and pepper. Dry the beef with a paper towel and then toss in the flour to coat. You want the beef nice and dry so it will sear beautifully. Working in batches, sauté beef in the bacon grease until browned on all sides. Remove and set aside.

In the same pot, saute the onion and garlic for a minute or so until it is fragrant. Add the sliced carrots and saute a minute before adding the mushrooms. Saute until both are tender but not soggy. Add the meat back in to the pot. Dump in the bottle of wine, add some tomato paste, the diced tomatoes, and the spices. Cover and simmer for one hour, stirring only occasionally.

After one hour, add the pearl onions and egg noodles. Pour in enough beef broth to cover the noodles and stir all to combine. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 20 more minutes. Remove the cover and, if necessary, boil to the consistency of sauce you desire (though the noodles should soak up most of the added broth). Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 2 hours
Serves: 6
Estimated Calories: 780 per serving

Sick of Turkey? Pot-Pie It.

Ugh, I am so full. But there is still a LOT of food in the refrigerator and there comes a time when one simply cannot bear the thought of eating the same (albeit delicious) meal again. And that is the time when I remember the adage they taught us in elementary school, "Recycle-Reuse-Reduce." Mashed potatoes can become potato pancakes, but there are even more uses for leftover turkey.

If you're over the turkey sandwich and you aren't into the turkey tetrazzini or turkey noodle soup, how about turkey pot-pies without the pot? These single-serving pies are perhaps a little more like empanadas than pot-pies but are easy to make and create delicious individual portions that use up that turkey in no time.

 Mini Turkey Pot-Pies
--1 tbsp olive oil
--1 small onion, diced
--garlic, minced
--8oz. frozen peas and carrots
--1 cup shredded cooked turkey meat
--1 cup chicken broth
--1 tsp. flour (or corn starch, if needed to thicken)
--salt & pepper
--1 package of refrigerated pie crusts (contains two pie crusts)
--cooking spray

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Sautè the onion and garlic for a few minutes, until the garlic is fragrant and the onion is translucent. Add the frozen peas and carrots mixture and stir heartily to mix together.

Add the chicken broth and the shredded turkey and combine well. Season with a little bit of salt and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Depending upon the turkey (how it was cooked, how old it is, how much it has dried up), the mixture may soak up more or less broth. Use flour or corn starch to thicken the mixture so that it is less liquid.

Spray a baking sheet with the cooking spray. Lay out the pie crusts and cut into quarters (you can cut into halves if you want bigger pies). Place a large dollop of the filling onto the center of the pie crust quarter and fold up the edges to create a little purse or dumpling. You may need to wet your fingertips a little to create a good seal on the folds.

Cook at 325 degrees for 15 or so minutes or until the crusts are golden brown. Use a spatula to remove from the baking sheet so the bottoms do not continue to brown.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 8 mini pies
Calories: 297 per pie

Squash: Roasted and Stuffed

It's squash season and different squashes that I've never heard of before keep arriving from the farm. One got delivered yesterday called a Turban Squash. It looks more like the little toadstool guy from Super Mario Brothers, but I bet it tastes delicious... I haven't cooked that one up yet, but I did recently stuff some Carnival Squash with a tomato and spinach concoction...

This is hearty enough to serve on it's own as a vegetarian meal or will make a lovely companion to a slab of tasty meat.

Roasted Tomato Stuffed Squash
--4 tomatoes, whole
--2 TBSP olive oil
--dried oregano
--1 carnival squash, sliced in half and seeds removed
--cooking spray
--garlic, minced
--1/2 small onion, diced
--1 dry cup fresh spinach leaves, washed and dried

Using a paring knife, cut out the core of the tomatoes but only down about 1/2". Make x's on the bottom of each tomato. Coat with 1 TBSP of the olive oil and dash with oregano. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the skins are easy to remove.

In a separate baking dish, spray the squash halves with cooking spray and simultaneously roast cut side down.

Once the tomatoes are done, remove them from the oven. Flip the squash so that it is now cut side up and continue roasting until a fork slides easily into the thickest part of the squash.

Heat a medium skillet over medium-high and add the remaining 1 TBSP olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and saute to translucency, 2-ish minutes. While the garlic/onion mix cooks, remove the skins from the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes to the skillet and mash with a fork. Add the spinach and toss regularly so spinach gets warmed and wilted but not soggy. Remove pan from heat.

Remove the squash from the oven and place on a plate. Stuff each squash half with the tomato and spinach mixture and eat everything except the squash stem and skin.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 1 hour
Serves: 2
Calories: 272 per serving

Let's Get Baked...Zucchini

I try to eat healthy, really I do. And for a girl who loves bacon and could eat it with every meal this can sometimes be tricky. (Note: 2 slices of bacon are only 90 calories so shut it). Often, when I've been going out to eat a lot or eating a bunch of fried food or living on junk, I'll make myself some nice vegetarian meals that are chock full of veggies.

The trick with this veggie bake is the squash ribbons that mimic pasta in their texture and consistency. I also omitted many spices and seasonings because I used homemade breadcrumbs that are covered in delicious. If you use store bought or skip the breadcrumbs make sure you add in some of your favorite Italian seasonings.

Baked Squash Ribbons and Tomato

--butter
--1 onion, chopped
--3 medium sized zucchini or yellow squash, cut into small fries or ribbons (using a potato peeler or a mandolin)
--3 large tomatoes, cored, roughly chopped and mostly de-seeded
--shredded Swiss cheese
--1/3 cup sour cream
--1 egg, whisked
--paprika
--salt
--garlic powder
--pepper
--bread crumbs
--shredded Parmesan cheese


In a large skillet saute the onion in 1-ish TBSP butter until tender. Transfer to a large bowl and add in the zucchini, tomatoes, 1/2 cup of shredded Swiss, sour cream, egg, seasonings and 1/4 cup of fine breadcrumbs. Mix like crazy until all stirred up and cheese and cream are evenly distributed. (The egg in this case is merely acting as a binder to keep the casserole hanging out together).


Transfer to a large baking/casserole dish. Make sure you spray down the dish with cooking spray to allow for easy removal. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 cup of shredded swiss cheese and a few tablespoons of parmesan. I also like to mix in some chunkier, larger pieces of breadcrumbs.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until veggies are tender and cheese is melted and delicious.

Family, Friends and Cafe Berlin

Good morning and Merry Christmas Eve! I love this time of year. The lights, the music and especially the food! This is the time when everyone pulls out all the stops, forgets the diets and just eats for pure enjoyment.

That being said, last night we went out to CAFE BERLIN for dinner--a perfect place to go on a cold and snowy night. It is a small German restaurant in downtown Denver with good a atmosphere, good libations and definitely good food. I have eaten here before and I am never disappointed.




I sipped a glass of dry Riesling, as I perused the menu. I usually order something different whenever I am in there, but last night I went back to my favorite, the Jagerschnitzel. A classic German dish of breaded pork in a creamy mushroom sauce. A good hearty meal after a 2 block walk in the snow.

I started off with a bowl of White Bean and Bratwurst soup, which was very good. It was a solid broth base with a nice blend of beans. diced brats and spices. After a decent time interval ( I hate restaurants that bring your entree before you even finish you starter!!!) my Jagerschnitzel arrived.

It was exactly as I remembered. A perfect blend of pork, mushrooms and sauce, nothing over powering the rest of the ingredients. I chose spatzel and the green beans with bacon as my sides. I like my vegetables on the crisp side, so I thought the beans were a bit overcooked but still very good. There was just a bit of bacon in the beans but they must have been sauteed in bacon fat because they were very flavorful.

Everyone at the table ordered something different and of course there was a bit of sharing going on, which is the way family meals should be. We ordered the apple strudel and chocolate cake for dessert and 6 forks. Both were wonderful, but since the chocolate cake had a hint of cherry to it, I stuck to the cake.

As we left Cafe Berlin, we were treated to a shot of Apple Schnapps and a Fröhliche Weihnachten! Overall a great evening.

I am including a recipe for Jagerschnitzel that I make. It does not have a heavy cream sauce, so it is a bit healthier. You can always make a sauce for it if you prefer. This recipe will serve 4 to 16 people depending on if it is the whole meal or one of several courses.

Mise en Place:
Sauce pot, meat mallet, plastic wrap, nonstick frying pan, a large plate, a small mixing bowl and a serving platter

Jagerschnitzel:

--6 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided into 2 and 4 teaspoons
--3 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
--3 cups coarsely chopped red bell peppers
--2 cups coarsely chopped onions
--1 cup thinly sliced carrots
--2 minced garlic cloves
--1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes undrained
--1 tablespoon all purpose flour
--1 teaspoon paprika
--2 tablespoons water
--1 lb Pork tenderloin
--1/2 teaspoon coarsley ground pepper
--1/4 teaspoon salt

Trim fat off of pork and slice crosswise into about 16 pieces. Place between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and flatten into 1/4 inch thickness with the mallet. (If you do not have a mallet, use a rolling pin or the base of a drinking glass). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside on the large plate.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in the sauce pan over med-high heat. Add next 5 ingredients and saute for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.

While vegetables are cooking, Place the frying pan with 4 teaspoons oil on med-high heat. When hot ( splash a little water into pan, if it pops, the oil is hot) add pork in batches and cook 4 minutes per side. When each batch is done set it on to the serving platter, try not to overlap the cutlets.

In a small bowl, combine flour, paprika and water. Stir into tomato mixture cook 3 min until slightly thick. Do this while last batch of pork is cooking.

The serving of this meal is very versatile. I usually serve this with egg noodles, and either place the egg noodles, sauce and pork in different serving bowls and platters, or put the egg noodles in a bowl and the pork, with the sauce over it, on a separate platter. A third option is individual plates, egg noodles, pork then sauce.

Hope you enjoy!

Stew + Pie Crust = Pot Pie?

I love pie crusts, as you may have noticed. And I welcome any excuse to put dinner inside of one. So I decided I would make a cioppino-inspired stew but with less fish and baked inside a pie crust. So it was to be a seafood pot pie of sorts...

Seafood Pot Pie

--1/2 stick of butter
--minced garlic
--mushrooms, sliced
--asparagus, snapped into 1/2" to 1" pieces
--scallops and/or rock shrimp
--14.5oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained
--flour or corn starch
--2 pie crusts, rolled out

In a non-stick pan with deep sides, melt butter over medium heat. Saute garlic for one minute before adding the mushrooms and the asparagus. Cook in the butter until veggies are tender and mushrooms begin to brown. Remove from pan.


In the same pan, add the scallops/shrimp. I cooked mine in a "dry" pan (which means I didn't add any new butter or oil, and just used what little residue was left from the veggies).


Fish is often over cooked (and since this fish was added back into a stew) I seared the scallops for only about a minute.

Add the can of tomatoes and simmer on medium for a few minutes to allow the tomatoes to get warm. Add the mushroom/asparagus mix back into the pan and stir all together. If sauce is fairly liquid, add cornstarch or flour, 1 teaspoon at a time to make it a more sauce-like consistency.


Line a pie pan or bread loaf pan with the pie crusts, leaving enough edges hanging over to cover the top once filled. Scoop the seafood mix into the pan and cover completely with the pie crusts.


Bake at 425 until pie crust is delightfully golden brown on top.

Freezing Outside, Hearty & Warm Inside

It's been f-ing cold in Denver. Single digits, negative temperatures, wind. And to make this cold snap even more delightful, there is no heat in my house. Apparently there is a problem with the boiler and they're "working" to get it fixed. Meanwhile, I have nothing to do but freeze and cook to try to stay warm (the oven is an excellent space heater).

There's a dish over at Root Down that I quite fancy, and I decided to warm up by making my own version. This dish is completely different from theirs (which I crave constantly) but is inspired by it. I eat so much bacon that I keep bacon fat on hand but the recipe below assumes that you don't just have bacon fat hanging out in your fridge. (Sidenote: You really should have bacon fat hanging out in your fridge. It's the perfect flavoring for any kind of greens or beans).


Lamb Meatballs In Broth W/ Veggies

--olive oil
--1 lb. ground lamb
--several cloves of garlic, minced
--salt & pepper
--4 slices bacon
--small onion, chopped coarsely
--can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
--1 bunch of kale, stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
--chicken broth
Heat olive oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Mix garlic and ground lamb together and form into meatballs. Season with salt & pepper. Cook 2 minutes on each side, turning so all sides are brown. Remove from heat.

In the same skillet/dutch oven cook the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon but leave the fat in the pan. Feel free to eat the bacon!

Turn heat down to medium and toss the chopped onion in. Cook for 2 minutes until begins to brown on the edges. Remove pan from heat.

Now the "tricky" part. Take a bowl or measuring cup and place paper towels on top of it. Take the pan and strain the onion and bacon fat through the paper towels. You'll have a golden liquid of rendered bacon fat (with onion flavoring) in the bowl and all the funky stuff is caught in the paper towel.

Pour the rendered fat back into the skillet/dutch oven. (I added some of the onions back in but that is completely up to you!)

Add the chickpeas/garbanzo beans and kale. Cover beans and kale with chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Add the meatballs back to the pan. Add more chicken broth if you like and allow to simmer until broth has consistency/amount you desire!

A Cure for the Winter Blues

I love cold weather, but these past few days of single digit temps have got me reminiscing for warmer times. So last night I broke out the electric grill.

I know what you are thinking "What! grill indoors? and on a electric grill? What about the flavor?" Well I do admit, I don't get the charcoal-y taste that you get from an outdoor grill, but I live in a condo and have no place to put a grill anyway.

The model we have is the Krups Canyon Deluxe. It has a 1 - 5 temp setting on the side and on the top by the grill, there is a chart of food items, cook settings and cook times for a quick reference. It is a great piece of equipment. You get a bit of smoke but not enough to set off the fire alarm, and of course the grill lines.

I grilled off onion slices, mushroom caps and tri-tip steaks which I topped with some bleu cheese crumbles and chopped bacon. Yum!

The whole meal took about 5 minutes to prep, 15 minutes to cook and since the grill and drippings pan are dishwasher safe, 5 minutes to clean up. Perfect for these cold winter days when you don't want to spend too much time away from that someone special as well as the roaring fire.

P.S. Yes I know charcoal-y is not a word.

Everything Tastes Better In A Pie Crust

I had a pie crust left over from Thanksgiving living in my freezer. I used to make my own crusts from scratch, until I discovered that the ones I bought from the store tasted exactly the same. (What? Sometimes you have to cut corners).

I also had steak and chicken thawed in the refrigerator. And buttermilk left over from mashed potatoes and pancake making. I also had a very pregnant, very hungry, sister and her very tall, always hungry, husband to feed.


I decided to make some sort of version of Shepherd's Pie based on the ingredients we had handy. I'd never made one before and just sort of, well, was winging it based on what I remembered from dining at many a fine Irish establishment.

Upside Down Shephard's Pie:

--chicken, sliced into bite-sized chunks
--steak, sliced into bite-sized chunks
--olive oil
--1 onion, diced to your size preference
--garlic
--sliced mushrooms
--beef bouillon
--Worcestershire sauce
--1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
--tarragon
--parsley
--flour
--3 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks for mashing
--buttermilk
--1 stick butter
--1 pie crust

The Meat & Gravy:
Cook chicken in olive oil over medium to medium high heat until free of salmonella. Remove to plate. In same pan cook steak in olive oil over medium to medium high heat until outside is brown but inside is still mostly rare. Put with chicken.


In same pan, melt 1/3 of stick of butter. Add garlic and onion. Cook 2 minutes until fragrant and onion begins to get translucent. Add mushrooms and cook down. Add 2 spoonfuls of bouillon paste (or 1 bouillion cube). You do NOT need to melt the bouillon first. We are making gravy with it! Splash in some Worcestershire sauce and shake in parsley and tarragon.

(I'm terrible at measuring, so here's my tip: don't over do it! I just shake it a little at a time until it tastes like delicious).

Add the can of diced tomatoes and scrape all the bits together. Add the cooked chicken and cooked steak back into the mix. If mix seems too liquid, add a tsp of flour and stir it all up. The flour will thicken the gravy.


The Mashed Potatoes:
Cover the chopped potatoes in large pot with cold water. Heat on high heat until water is boiling. (I'm at altitude so I don't know how long it takes potatoes to cook at lower elevations). Let potatoes/water boil for a few minutes. Potatoes are ready to be mashed when you can easily stick a fork into them.

I used a hand held potato masher to smash up the potatoes. Then I added the other 2/3 stick of butter and a few splashes of buttermilk. Pregnant sister mashed her little heart out and added buttermilk as needed to make the potatoes fluffy but not too creamy.

Then I added it one TBSP of flour to make them thicker and sticky for the pie.

We put the potatoes in the bottom of the pie crust (or Shepherd's Pie was upside down, remember?!) and smoothed them around to make a nice potato bed for all the meat mix to live inside of. The meat/gravy mix went on top of the potato bed.


Bake in the oven at 350 until the pie crust is golden on the edges.