Boeuf Bourguignon

I made this about 3 weeks ago, it is another on of those recipes that I've been meaing to post.There isn't really much to say about this recipe,except that it looks intiminating at first but once you start breaking it down into sections it is pretty straight forward. Now I'm not a fan of beef at all, but Adam loves it. I made this more so for him and for the fact that I just wanted to try the recipe. If you are like me and your don't like beef, use pork or lamb. The use of red wine is pretty much unavoidable, I think this is the first recipe that I've posted where you really have to use red wine or it won't come out. I know some people are uncomfortable with using alchol when cooking, which is fine but in this case I would don't recommend making this without wine. However if you do I would subsitute the wine with more beef stock and maybe a tablespoon more of the tomato paste. Now it must be said that I am using Julia Child's recipe....yes I know I've been using a lot of her lately. But she is sooo good. Like all good Julia Child recipes this one had wine, mushrooms, onions and bacon, the only thing it is missing is lots of butter and cream. But trust me you won't miss it. Julia also says that you can serve this with buttered noodles, roasted potatos or green vegetables. I used noodles.

You will need:

For the base of the stew
6-ounce chunk of bacon, with the rind removed and the meat sliced into match sticks
1 tablespoon oil
3 pounds stewing beef or meat of your choice, cut into 1 1/2 - 2 inch peices
1 sliced and diced carrot
1 slice and diced onion
2 tablespoon flour
3 cups red wine
2-3 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves of mashed garlic
1/2 teaspoon tyme
1 bay leaf, crumbled
1/4 cup minced parsley
salt and pepper to taste

For the brown braised onions
about 24 peeled pearl onions
1/4 cup stock
salt and pepper to taste

For the sauteed mushrooms
1 pound quartered mushrooms
2 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste

For the stew
1) Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Place the pork rind and the bacon in 1 1/2 quarts boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain
2) Using a oven proof casserole dish, saute the bacon in the oil until browned. Remove from the pan. Dry the beef and place in the pan. Brown the beef on all sides. Make sure you don't over crowed the pan, if you do the meat won't brown. You may have to brown the meat in several batches. Remove the beef from the pan and add it to the bacon

3) Saute the onions and carrots in the saute pan. Pour out any remaining fat.
4) Put the beef and bacon sticks into the casserole, add the flour and mix to coat.
5) Place the casserole in oven and let cook for 4 minutes, remove from oven and toss place back in the oven for 4 minutes. Remove the casserole and lower the heat to 325 degrees. Add the wine and stock, then stir. Add the tomato paste, garlic, parsley, and bacon rind stir, cover and place in the oven for 2-2 1/2 hours.

For the Braised Onions
1) In a saute pan heat the stock.
2) Add the onions and cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Stiring every couple of minutes.
3) Season with salt and pepper
Set aside until beef is done

For the sauted mushrooms
1) In a saute pan heat the butter.
2) Add the mushroom and saute until wilted and golden brown.
3) Season with salt and pepper
Set aside until beef is done

Stew Cont'd

7) After 2 hours check the beef, if it is tender remove it from the oven. If not let cook another 20-30 minutes. Remove the meat and vegetables from the casserole. Strain the sauce and reserve the liquid. Discard the bacon rind
8) Wash out the casserole, put the meat and vegetable back in side it. Sprinkle the mushrooms and onion ontop.

9) In a saute pan simmer the sauce until there is about 2- 2 1/2 cups let and it coats the back of a spoon.
10) Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables, bring to the simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle some more parsley ontop if you want.
11) Serve

Enjoy!

Roast chicken steeped with Port wine, cream and mushrooms

I've been cooking a lot recently but not posting anything, so now I have a bit of a backlog of stuff. About 2 weeks ago my friend Boris came over for dinner. I've know Boris since I was 12 and we have lived together twice because of school and what not. It was the first time he had been to my apartment since Adam and I moved in together so I decided to make him something yummy. When we lived together he loved it when I made risotto, I also introduced him to asparagus....and goat cheese. Now I didn't make anything with goat cheese but I did make risotto and roasted asparagus. I also decided that it was a good time to try another Julia Child recipe. I made Poulet au Porto or in English  roast chicken steeped with port wine, cream and mushrooms. It was very yummy, so here it is Poulet au Porto!

You will need

For the brine(optional)
1/8 cup salt
2 tablespoon sugar
1 quart ( more maybe needed depending on the amount of chicken being brine and the size of your bowl)
3-4 Bay leaves
1 tablespoon juniper berries
1/2 tablespoon pepper corns
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1/2 medium onion, cut in half
2-3 pound raw whole chicken

1) Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl or a pot, add the chicken and let sit in the fridge overnight.

For the Chicken
2-3 pound chicken brined1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon butter

1) Remove the chicken from the brine and dry with paper towel
2) Heat a oven proof skillet (I used a cast iron pan), melt 2 tablespoon butter
3) Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken and add to the hot pan, breast side down
4) Cook for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned, turn over and cook another 2-3 minutes. Place in the oven for 1 hour or until juices run clear.
5) When chicken is cooked and out of the oven let rest.  Remove chicken from saute pan and allow it to rest on a board or plate.

For the Sauce
1lb fresh mushrooms sliced
1/4 cup water
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 tablespoon corn starch mixed together with 1 tablespoon cream
1 green onion diced
1/ 3 cup medium-dry port or a red wine of your choice
1/4 cup cognac (optional)

1) When the chicken is almost done, bring water, lemon juice, salt and butter to a boil. Add the mushrooms, cover and boil for 8 minutes. Drain the mushrooms, reserve the cooking liquid. Place the mushroom back into the sauce pan, add the cream and the cornstarch mixture. Simmer for 2 minutes, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
2) Remove all but 2 tablespoon of the fat and juices from the saute pan used to cook the chicken. Re-heat pan.
3) Saute green onions for 1 minute, add the port and the mushrooms cooking liquid. Boil the sauce down till there is about 1/4 cup of liquid left. Add the cream and mushrooms, cook for 2-3 minutes more. Salt and pepper to taste, add a few drops of lemon juice.

4) Carve the chicken in to serving pieces, place in a buttered casserole dish. Pour the cognac over top and place on the stove top. *When the cognac starts to sizzle light the cognac on fire using a match (be care not to burn yourself, have water or a fire extinguisher near by in case fire gets out of hand). When flame has gone out* pour the mushroom sauce over top, baste the chicken with the sauce. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
5) Serve

*optional, if you wish to skip this step just pour the sauce over the chicken and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

ENJOY!


Adam and I made sandwhiches out of the leftovers.

Mushrooms and Haloumi English Muffins

I have no idea what to call this. So I decided to call it mushrooms and haloumi English muffins. I ate it for breakfast but to me it looks like something that you could make for a brunch.Yesterday I was at the super market and stumbled on a package of Haloumi. I remember Nigella Lawson using it is several of her recipes. I had originally bought it to make some of her recipes. Haloumi is a hard cheese, it taste similar to feta cheese but is a little rubbery. Yesterday I pan fried it and ate it with a salad, it was so good. I'm hooked.

My mushrooms and holummi English muffins are very simple to make. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes to cook. Really it the hardest and longest thing to do it saute the mushrooms. In the past I've made something very similar to this. It was my mushrooms on toast, which I've also blogged about. Mushrooms on toast was my inspiration for making this. If you don't have Haloumi or can't find it don't worry, just try it with whatever cheese you have at home. The same goes for the beech mushrooms. I buy them in a package from the Asian super market. If you are going to use them I suggest just using the top part. I tend to put them into inch long pieces, I find the tops taste better then the bottoms. If you can't find them or don't want to use them just use a few more button mushrooms, or try shiitake mushrooms that are finally sliced.

You will need to serve one
3 button mushrooms sliced
1/4 cup beech mushrooms
1 English Muffin (cut, toasted and buttered)
1/8 cup parsley
1 piece haloumi cut in half
pinch of salt (optional)
1 tbs butter or oil

1) In a saute pan heat the butter or oil and add the mushrooms and salt (optional) Saute until soft and slightly browned.
2) Add the parsley and cook for 2 minutes.
3) On a plate, place the toasted and butter English muffins buttered side up. Remove the mushroom for the heat and place on top of the English muffins.
4) In the same saute pan put the sliced haloumi and brown on each side. This takes about a minutes per side.
5) Remove from heat and add on top of mushrooms

Enjoy!!

Tip
The addition of salt is optional because the Haloumi has some salt in it. I added the salt to this recipe, salt bring out the flavor of the mushrooms.

The picture below is of the mushrooms when I first put them in the pan. You can see the Beech mushrooms.

Mushroom and Eggs on Toast

Mushrooms and eggs on toast is basically what it sounds like. Saute mushrooms on buttered toast with a poached egg on top. It take about 15 minutes to cook, the longest thing is the mushrooms. The amount of mushrooms will vary depending on the amount of people you are feeding and the size of the mushrooms, but 5-6 person tend to be enough.
Just remember the mushrooms so wilt when cooked.

You will need, per person
5-6 button mushrooms- clean and sliced
2 slices of bread- toasted
1 clove of garlic- minced
1 tbs parsley
2 eggs
1 tbs vinegar
2 tsp butter or oil

1)In a saute pan over medium heat melt the butter. Once the butter is melted add the minced garlic and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are wilted and tender. About 10 minutes

2)In a pot with water and bring to a simmer. Add the vinegar then crack the two eggs into the pot. The proper way to poach a egg is to use a spoon and spoon the egg white over itself until it is a small ball. I tend not to do this, but your more then welcome to. Now I like to have my egg cooked so that is it a 50/50 ratio, by that I mean I like the egg yolk to be slightly cooked but so much undercooked that the yolk goes everywhere once pierced.

3) Add the parsley to the mushrooms and garlic, cook for a further minute.
4) Toast the bread and butter one side
5) Spoon half of the mushroom mixture onto each piece of toast. Then top with a poached egg.

Done!

Dried Mushrooms

So I've always wanted to make dried mushrooms. I was at the super market and there was a big bag of mushrooms on one of those 5o% off racks so I bought it.I ended up making a bunch of stuff from it. I haven't found a recipe that I want to try that used dried mushrooms but that's alright. I still enjoyed making these.

You will need
As many mushrooms as you like
Salt- varies depending on the amount of mushrooms
oil- varies depending on the amount of mushrooms
baking pan
wire cooling rack
bowl
Mason jar or a glass jar with a lid

1)Preheat the over to 150c or the lowest setting on your oven
2)Take the stems off the mushrooms.I think that taking the stems off make them dry faster. You can use the stems in stock or just throw them out, whatever you perfer.
3)Put mushrooms in a bowl and add a little salt and oil.
4)Place the wire rack on the baking pan.
5)Place the mushrooms in a single layer on the wire rack
6)Place in the over for about 6 hours or until dry
7)Let the mushroom dry completely and place inside a glass jar
8)Done!

If the mushrooms are not completely dried when they are out inside the jar you may find water droplets around the jar. If this happens all you have to do it shake the jar a bit and it will go away. I also find that depending on the size of the mushroom it may take a shorter time or a longer time to dry.