COLD WEATHER COMFORT FOOD …. FRENCH STYLE BOEUF BOURGINGNON … beef bourgingnon

 

A little over ten years ago a popular French cookbook  was published in English. I KNOW HOW TO COOK by Ginette Mathiot’s has been the best-selling cookbook in France for three generations.  The book first published in l932 has been regularly revised and updated.   This book has been an essential fixture on the counters of French kitchens for over 75 years.  You could call it the definitive cookbook for French home cooking.

You’ll find the all the French basics, but what I appreciated was the unusual;  recipes for Barley Sugar,  Ash Leaf beer, Cuissot de Sanglier (hindquarter of wild boar)   and Becasse Rotie Sauce Crème (Roast woodcock in cream sauce).  It makes terrific bedside reading.

The recipes are brief and concise.  But here’s the codicil.    The author requires one to have enough general knowledge to navigate the recipes.     For example;  some of the cake recipes don’t give exact pan sizes. So be aware.  Be brave.     You won’t be disappointed.

When the cold winds of November have you longing for something hearty and deeply satisfying this so very French recipe from I KNOW HOW TO COOK  is absolutely perfect.

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON (Beef Bourguignon)

Preparation time: 20 minutes.  Cooking time: 2 ½ hours.   Serves 6

1 tablespoon oil,   3 oz. pearl onions or shallots.   3 ½ ounces small bacon cubes,   1 pound 8 ½ oz. stewing beef, cut into pieces,   Scant  ¼ cup flour.   1 ¼ cups any stock, hot.   1 ¼ cups red wine.   1 bouquet garni.   Salt and pepper.   3 ½ oz. mushrooms, peeled and chopped.

In a heavy pan over medium heat, heat the oil and pan-fry the onions and bacon cubes until browned.  Remove them, add the meat and brown it on all sides.  Sprinkle with the flour, stir until browned.  Scrap up the brown bits in the bottom of the pan  then add the hot stock.  Mix well to combine.   Add the bacon cubes, onions, wine and bouquet garni, and season with salt and pepper.  Simmer gently on low heat for 2 hours, then add the mushrooms (see chef’s note below) and cook for 30 minutes more.  Bon Appetit

Chef’s Note:  The recipe is according to the book.   I suggest when you add the hot stock you scrap up the brown bits in the pan.  Before I added the mushrooms I sautéed them in a little olive oil and butter.  Delicious

BLUE PLATE SPECIAL . . . MEATLOAF … classic comfort food!

Of all the reassuring comfort food  there is nothing better than a perfectly executed, divinely crusty- brown meatloaf.     Served with a generous pitcher of rich gravy  and mounds of creamy mashed potatoes it takes comfort food to dazzling new heights.

In cooking as in most things in life the simple dishes  done well  we appreciate,  enjoy  and remember.  We are bombarded by  magazines, newspapers,  cooking shows and books touting” the latest shout” in food.  Recipes that require endless shopping trips searching for exotic ingredients.  We’re exhausted before we even begin to prepare the meal.

Serve this generous meatloaf  proudly to family and friends.  It is a treasure that garners raves and second helpings.   The combination of ground meat and pork, and sauteing the vegetables gives this meat loaf  its rich, depth of flavour.  Don’t be tempted to skip the sauteing  step.

This old favorite is even better the next day.     Meatloaf cold makes great sandwiches.

Join me in  MRS BUTTERFINGERS kitchen for this classic meat loaf recipe.

PANANG CURRY BEEF WITH BASIL

 

BEL’OCCHIO   …   the beautiful eye

PANANG CURRY BEEF WITH BASIL

It’s about this time of year I start craving something different for dinner.  I want to set my taste buds to dancing and Thai food is the answer.

The secret to creating delicious Thai dishes are the various curry pastes.  Certainly you can make these pastes yourself but not everyone has the time or access to the required   exotic ingredients such as Kaffer Lime peel and skin, Galangal and lemon grass.  Substitutions  are a pale imitation of that wonderful Thai flavours we crave.  Check the labels on the various curry pastes available in the Asian section of your grocery store.   Generally they will contain no additives or preservatives.

This quick,  easy-to-make dinner uses Panang curry paste which is milder than red curry paste and usually includes peanuts.  The recipe ingredient list is short.  You should have most of the pantry ingredients.  Panang curry can be found  in the Asian section of the supermarket but you can use  red curry paste.  Slip away to tropical Thailand.  Click on PANANG CURRY BEEF WITH BASIL for the recipe.

 

 

SMOKING TWO MEAT CHILI

I don’t always go to the market with a specific menu in mind.  I look around to see what looks good.  What’s new on the shelves.  I spotted these jalapeno peppers.   They were a generous size, and so very fresh.  They whispered, with their hot, little breath – chili, make chili.  I picked the fattest, greenest peppers.  I added the biggest red pepper to the basket.  Smoking Two Meat Chili was going on the plate tonight.  My chili recipe has a long history that dates back more than fifty years.  The recipe has evolved through the years.  I seldom make it the exact way twice, and that’s what you should do too. The recipe is on my food blog.

MARINATED FLANK STEAK … melt in your mouth tender

 

Chefs have always known the steaks with the best flavour are not the expensive tenderloins but  cuts like flank steak.    Flank steak  requires a marinade and then a quick, hot grill.

Summer has drifted into fall but the days continue to have that hazy, lazy summer feeling.   Sunday was a perfect barbecue day.  Early in the morning I marinated a flank steak.  They were harvesting green beans in the field outside my kitchen window.  The air was heavy with the smell of beans.  Green bean salad would be perfect with the steak so out to the big field to glean green beans left over  after the harvesting.

Marinade for flank steak:  serves 4

3 fat garlic cloves finely minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup brown sugar,

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 generous tablespoons red wine vinegar or red wine if you have some handy

1 generous teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 generous teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

A sprinkling of kosher salt

(1/2 cup  water, beef stock,  or chicken stock.  This is for making the sauce.  Do not add it to the marinade)

1 1/2 flank steak

Cross hatch both sides of the steak.  Put it into a ziplock plastic bag or shallow bowl and cover with the marinade.  Refrigerate overnight – all day  – or at least 6 hours.  Turn several times.

When you are ready to grill scrap the marinade off the steak and put it into a small sauce pan.  Add the 1/2 cup of liquid and bring to the boil.  Reduce the liquid by around half.  Be sure to cook at a high heat for at least 5 minutes.

Grill the steak over high heat for 2 minutes 30 seconds each side.  Plate the steak and cover with foil to rest for around 5 minutes.  Slice on the diagonal.  1/4 inch slices makes a nice presentation.   The steak will be beautifully browned on the outside and  melt-in-your- mouth pink and juicy as you slice into it.  The thinner end of the flank  steak is excellent for those faint at heart.

You can also grill this steak in your oven.  Just be sure to have the broiler really hot.

This marinated flank steak is so delicious you’ll never go back to outrageously priced steak again.

HOW TO MAKE SOUTH AFRICAN SAUSAGE (Boerewors)

Great excitement!  We are going Toronto for several days to attend our granddaughter A J’s wedding.  The wedding of A J and Sean will take place in a Northern summer camp.  The lake will be a beautiful setting for this summer wedding.    I’m packing the wedding gift and another special gift for our son-in-law Michael, Boerewors sausage.

Michael has a great affection for  South African sausages.    He gave me the  recipe from a friend in South African.  Take one cow,  one pig, etc.      Just a little more Boerewors than I want to deal with.      In our little French bistro we made sausages with a machine that has been in The Good Husband’s family for years.    A hundred years later and it still works.

SOUTH AFRICAN SAUSAGE  – BOEREWORS

2 pounds regular ground beef (not extra lean)

1 pound ground pork

5 generous tsp of whole coriander seeds

1/2 tsp whole cloves

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 tsp ground allspice

1  tbs. brown sugar

1/4 cup red wine or dark vinegar

pork sausage casings, soaked in water (Ask your butcher for enough for 3 pounds of sausage.)

METHOD:

In a small dry sauce pan, over medium heat, toast the coriander seeds and cloves until brown.  Grind them in a spice grinder, or use a mortar and pestle.  Strain into a bowl (to remove the husks etc) and add the rest of the seasonings and sugar.

Put the meat in a very large mixing bowl.  Mix it together lightly with your hands.  Sprinkle the wine over the meat, then sprinkle the seasonings on the mixture.  Lightly mix with your hands and chill, covered, for at least eight hours or overnight.  (Be sure to scrub your hands and all bowls well with hot, soapy water.  Do no  cross-containment anything in your kitchen.  You are dealing with raw meat and you should be careful not to touch kitchen cupboard drawer pulls, fridge handles etc unless your hands are scrupulously clean)

If you’re making these sausages you obviously have a sausage machine.  Follow  your machines directions carefully.  Tie the sausages together in links as it comes out the machine.  Work bubbles out as you do this.  Now all you have to do is fire up the BBQ and be sure to cook the sausages completely.

BOLOGNESE SAUCE … and the butcher at the end of the street.

BOLOGNESE SAUCE

The  day was brilliant sunshine,  crisp and February cold.    Son-in-law Michael and I were discussing what to make for supper.     Toronto’s chilly  temperature called for comfort food.  Michael had a craving for  big bowl of pasta with Bolognese Sauce.    Michael, is a oenologist with more than forty years in the business.  We joke  he knows where the bodies are buried in vineyards around the world.  In fact, he probably helped bury them.    We discuss what wine we’ll cook with today, and what wine to drink with pasta dish.   The lovely thing about Michael, and his encyclopedic knowledge of wine,  he is NOT a wine-weenie.    We headed out into the cold to shop for  cooking ingredients and wine.

Our beautiful and talented grand-daughter,  Cait,  is a lawyer, working long hours.  She is also  mother-hen to her siblings, Greg, Andrew and A.J.   She and her  partner, internationally famous photographer Angus Rowe MacPherson,  conjure up family suppers with a blink of an eye.  They have a butcher at the end of their street.   Gasparro Quality Meats.    Oh that every cook should be so lucky.

Walk through the doors of Gasparro Quality Meats, and you walk into the past.  A shop where little has changed for more than fifty years.   The two Gasparro brothers work behind the big meat display cooler,  flirting outrageously with every women no matter what her age.  Papa  Gasparro, wearing very dark glasses, a rakish black cap, and discussing football scores,  scoops up just the right amount of veal and beef to grind and mix for our Bolognese sauce.

Minutes later we are in the kitchen and I ‘m  sautéing  meat,  loosing its  pink and adding it to the stock  pot of simmering San Marco tomatoes.  (the recipe is on the right, as usual).  The aroma of freshly ground meat is completely different from the supermarket variety.   It’s fragrant and sweet.  This will be the finest Bolognese sauce I have ever made.    I make a triple batch, and when I return to Vancouver Michael will have  Bolognese sauce in his freezer.   Bellissimo!

Oh by and by.  If I have given you the impression I am rather proud of my Grandchildren you are  absolutely right.  They and their amazing partners bring much joy into our life.  The  icing on the cake is our Great Grand Son Max.

It’s a chilly, gray Tuesday.  The kind of day you want a big pot of Bolognese sauce simmering away in your kitchen.    This recipe is rich with many flavours, a complex sauce that is a reputation maker.

The secret is the addition of Hoisen sauce.   Any beef dish (stew, casserole) will benefit from just adding a tablespoon or so of Hoisen sauce.  For a Bolognese sauce with a deep tomato flavour always use Italian tomatoes.  Peeled whole tomatoes are best.  If you can find San Marco tomatoes these are really splendid.  The addition of a couple of cubes of Mushroom bouillon cubes is another secret flavour enhancer.  Taste your sauce as it simmers away, add more seasoning if necessary.  Be generous and you won’t be disappointed with the results, I promise.

BOLOGNESE MEAT SAUCE  – enough to find the multitudes!

4 tbs olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground lean pork

1 onion chopped

4 nice fat garlic cloves

1 celery stalk

l carrot chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper

2 cans Italian whole peeled tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Hoisen

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 tbsp dried oregano

2 mushroom bouillon cubes

1-3 tsp sugar

1/2 cup beef stock

Saute the beef and pork in a little of the olive oil until  the meat changes colour.  Drain off the liquid and fat and discard.  Put the meat mixture into  a large stock pot.  You are making a big batch of sauce.

The best way to chop your vegetables is using a food processor.  You want them finely chopped.  First chop the onion and garlic  and saute in a little olive oil.  Sprinkle with some salt and the onion flakes.  When the onions are translucent add them to your stock pot.

Now process the carrots and celery until finely chopped, and saute  in a little olive oil for a few minutes.  Add to the stock pot.

Add the two cans of tomatoes and smoosh the whole tomatoes to break them up.  Add the tomato paste, the Hoisen sauce, oregano and thyme, and the beef stock.  Sprinkle with a little sugar (tomatoes become quite acidic when they cook for more than 30 minutes).

Simmer for at least an hour or so uncovered.  Your sauce will be come rich and thick.

The quantities makes a lot of sauce so you can freeze portions for later use. This sauce tastes better the next day so do try and make it a head.

RAGU ALLA BOLOGNESE … secret ingredient revealed

It’s a chilly, gray Tuesday.  The kind of day you want a big pot of Bolognese sauce simmering away in your kitchen.    This recipe is rich with many flavours, a complex sauce that is a reputation maker.

The secret is the addition of Hoisen sauce.   Any beef dish (stew, casserole) will benefit from just adding a tablespoon or so of Hoisen sauce.  For a Bolognese sauce with a deep tomato flavour always use Italian tomatoes.  Peeled whole tomatoes are best.  If you can find San Marco tomatoes these are really splendid.  The addition of a couple of cubes of Mushroom bouillon cubes is another secret flavour enhancer.  Taste your sauce as it simmers away, add more seasoning if necessary.  Be generous and you won’t be disappointed with the results, I promise.

BOLOGNESE MEAT SAUCE  – enough to find the multitudes!

4 tbs olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground lean pork

1 onion chopped

4 nice fat garlic cloves

1 celery stalk

l carrot chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper

2 cans Italian whole peeled tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Hoisen

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 tbsp dried oregano

2 mushroom bouillon cubes

1-3 tsp sugar

1/2 cup beef stock

Saute the beef and pork in a little of the olive oil until  the meat changes colour.  Drain off the liquid and fat and discard.  Put the meat mixture into  a large stock pot.  You are making a big batch of sauce.

The best way to chop your vegetables is using a food processor.  You want them finely chopped.  First chop the onion and garlic  and saute in a little olive oil.  Sprinkle with some salt and the onion flakes.  When the onions are translucent add them to your stock pot.

Now process the carrots and celery until finely chopped, and saute  in a little olive oil for a few minutes.  Add to the stock pot.

Add the two cans of tomatoes and smoosh the whole tomatoes to break them up.  Add the tomato paste, the Hoisen sauce, oregano and thyme, and the beef stock.  Sprinkle with a little sugar (tomatoes become quite acidic when they cook for more than 30 minutes).

Simmer for at least an hour or so uncovered.  Your sauce will be come rich and thick.

The quantities makes a lot of sauce so you can freeze portions for later use. This sauce tastes better the next day so do try and make it ahead of time.