My favorite "Pie" recipe.

My last post about coming up with a starchy meat casserole to please my carnivorous family mentioned Shepherd’s Pie, which I’ve been craving to make again (although I don’t have a massive quantity of people around to gobble it up this time). Hence I will share this recipe I came up with in college, which is a slight variation of the traditional English dish, which basically consists of ground lamb (hence the name “shepherd’s” pie), onions, carrots, peas, and a mashed potato topping that’s baked until crisp. I usually throw it some grated cheese into the mashed potato mixture and reserve some to sprinkle on top, which makes the dish crispier and more delicious.

I’ve never been a huge fan of peas, so I altered the traditional pea/onion/carrot veggie mixture by swapping them out and putting more (and more nutritious) veggies instead, which include red peppers and zucchini, giving the dish a brighter color (cause let’s face it, shepherd’s pie does not appear to be such an exciting dish) and bolder flavor as well. I honestly could have just eaten the vegetable layer as a dish (and I did end up reserving some of the mixture as I was making it in the skillet).

Another variation I did was the layering of the recipe. Traditionally, the veggies are mixed in and cooked with the beef, but I cooked them separately after the beef gets browned and removed from the skillet so that they sauté nicely in all those meaty leftover juices. Yummy! And then to arrange the dish, I first layered half of the beef mixture, thenthe shredded cheese (another variation) topped with the rest of the beef, then the vegetable mixture, and finally the mashed potatoes , which I spiked with a few spices like paprika and cayenne pepper. Oh my word… deliciousness!! The cheese becomes super gooey within the meat and absolutely wonderful. If you don’t like it, you’re going to hell.

Shepherd’s Pie

 

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds yukon gold potatoes, cut into chunks (peeled or unpeeled)

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 tbsp. oil

• 4-5 tbsp. butter

• 1/3 cup heavy cream

• 1 1/2 – 2 pounds ground beef or lamb

• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

• 2 tbsp. tomato paste

• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

• 1/2 cup beef stock

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 red bell pepper, julienned

• 2 zucchini, julienned

• 2 carrots, peeled and grated

• 1-2 tsp. Hungarian hot paprika

• 1 cup grated white cheddar cheese

• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

(1) Preheat oven to 375 F. In a pot, cover potatoes and one of the garlic cloves (crush it first) with enough water so that it covers them by an inch. Add some salt and bring to a boil, reducing eventually to a simmer and cooking until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the taters, return to the pot, and mash together with the heavy cream and 3 tbsp. of the butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

(2) In a large pan on medium-high heat, combine 1 tbsp. butter with 1 tbsp. oil. When the butter has melted, add the beef, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. When it begins to brown, add the worcestershire sauce. Stir in the tomato paste and saute for just a few more minutes, since you don’t want the meat to dry out (as it will also be cooking in the oven). Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Season and remove the mixture to a bowl using a slotted spoon.

(3) In the same pan, add another tbsp. butter and oil and sauté the onions until almost tender, then add the red bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, and 1 tsp. paprika. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes, and remove from heat.

(4) To assemble it all, take a 9 x 12 baking dish and first layer half the beef, pressing it down to pack it all in. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the cheese on top, then pour the rest of the beef mixture over it, sprinkling 1/4 cup of cheddar on this layer as well. Next, add the sautéed veggies and top with the mashed potatoes. “Rake” through the potatoes with either a fork or the back of a spoon to form decorative peaks. Sprinkle the remainder of the cheese and paprika over the top of the potatoes and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the edges on the potatoes turns golden brown and the cheese melts inside.

Pleasin’ my fellow Poles with a casserole.

Casseroles are fantastic. They are so easy to make in terms of monitoring cooking, since all you have to do is layer everything in a dish/baking pan of some sort and throw it in the oven until it gets all bubbly and delicious. And unless you’re making your own lasagna noodles or something, they’re difficult to mess up… even if it doesn’t always come out so nice and neat or it falls apart while cutting, who the hell cares!!? It’s a casserole for cryin’ out loud! The messier the better, in my opinion. Gives you proof that all those delicious flavor combos melded together quite well.I developed the following recipe last year while still living at my mom’s house. As you know, I love cooking and trying unusual foods/recipes, but my family does not share this same affinity. In fact, they probably have the blandest palettes ever, and this does not surprise me. Polish cuisine is not known for its spices and flavors, just heartiness. Everything is meat and potatoes, no surprises, and the only seasonings they use is salt and pepper (and occasionally paprika, if feeling a little adventurous). Most of the time delicious, but also pretty boring. Consequently if I ever made anything Mexican, Indian, or remotely spicy/complex, they would often turn their noses away at it. How rude! They seemed to like when I made shepherd’s pie, so I developed another recipe with the same basic food groups – meat and potatoes – with a little bit of spinach to sneak in a vegetable. I call it my “please the poles potato casserole.”

Please-the-Poles Potato Casserole

 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the dish

• 2 tsp. olive oil

• 8oz. fresh spinach, washed, dried, and stemmed

• 1/2 pound Italian sausage, broken out of casing into small pieces (you can use any combo here… I used 1/2 sweet and 1/2 hot Italian, and it came out awesome)

• 1 large vidalia onion, peeled and sliced thinly

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 and 1/2 pounds russet potatoes (about 3 medium ones), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

• 1/3 cup heavy cream

• 1 tbsp. cider vinegar

• dash of nutmeg (do not omit this… it does wonders)

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

• 1 cup of shredded Gruyere cheese

Directions:

(1) Preheat oven to 400F. Butter a 6×9 or 8×8 baking dish.(2) Heat one of the teaspoons of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, and add the spinach to cook, about 3 minutes or until just wilted. Transfer the spinach to a strainer and drain it. Let it cool, and then squeeze out remaining liquid and chop up a bit.

(3) Wipe the skillet clean, and then add the sausage chunks to it, cooking over medium high heat again until browned, about 6 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the sausage to a bowl so that all the juices remain in the pan. Add the other teaspoon of oil to the pan to heat, then add the onion, cooking until golden. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute. Scrape the mixture into the bowl with the sausage.

(4) Meanwhile, place the potatoes in a large pot and add enough water to cover them by an inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes depending on how big the chunks are. You may want to pierce them with a fork or just bite into one to check. Drain the potatoes, wipe the pot dry, and throw the potatoes back in along with the butter, heavy cream, vinegar, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Mash everything up, and then stir in the spinach and 1/2 cup of the cheese.

(5) Transfer the potato-spinach mixture into the prepared dish, then top it with the sausage-onion mixture. Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese. Bake until the potatoes are hot and the cheese is golden and bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool for a few minutes before serving or you might burn the roof of your mouth!

Smacznego!

sweet, sweet, chili.

I loooooooooove chili. All kinds too, whether it be the classic beef and black bean, turkey, white chili, Texas chili, etc, etc, etc… it’s all so delicious. The heartier the better too. I’ve recently been craving it a mean bowl of chili, and I’ve had a few sweet potatoes sitting around in my kitchen for a while now, so I figure why not throw them into a chili recipe? I had the black beans, canned tomatoes, onions, spices, and whatnot, so I whipped up my own version of a vegetarian chili (although since I used chicken stock I guess it wasn’t so vegetarian…). Awesome combination of sweet and spicy, although I went a little light on the heat level I think, so adjust the cayenne or add hot sauce to your own taste… I definitely added more at the end of the cooking process.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1 tbsp. chili powder

• 1 tsp. ground cumin

• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

• 1 cup vegetable broth

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes

• 1 19-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. dried oregano (or Italian seasoning with oregano in it)

**optional: I had about 1/2 cup of a mexican simmer sauce leftover in my fridge from making enchiladas a while ago, which I threw into the stew during the last 10 minutes of cooking. This gave it a nice kick and compliment to the sweetness because it was on the savory side, but the chili was perfectly good without it too!

Directions:

(1) Heat the oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven. Add the chopped onions and cook, stirring over medium heat until the onions soften – about 5 minutes. Add the chili, cayenne, and cumin, cooking for another minute or so.

(2) Add the vegetable broth and the sweet potatoes, stir, and reduce the heat to low. Cook the mixture covered, until the potatoes are almost tender but not quite – about 10 minutes.

(3) Add the tomatoes with all the juices from the can, the beans, salt, and oregano. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then let simmer until the potatoes are completely tender – about 20 minutes.

It’s soup and stew season. Hallelujah!

Soups and stews are my favorite meals to make during the winter season. They are so perfect for this lazy period of hibernation, as most of the time all you have to do is prep all your ingredients and throw them into a pot to simmer for an extended period of time, while your house not only warms up but saturates itself with the aroma of whatever you’ve been cooking. It’s amazing. One of my favorite stew recipes I tried out last year is a vegetarian one, actually, that’s filled with delicious veggies like squash and kale. It’s a little more involved, as you have to chop up everything and do a little roasting first, but it’s all definitely worth it in the end. And the beans make it oh so hearty too. I can’t wait to try it again with my new dutch oven I got for Christmas (I wouldget a dutch oven…)

Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup
adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:

• 3 medium carrots, peeled and quartered lengthwise

• 3 roma tomatoes, halved (or use 2 large tomatoes, quartered)

• 1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges

• 1/2 of a butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch thick wedges

• 6-7 garlic gloves

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• at least 6 cups of vegetable broth

• 4 cups of finely chopped kale

• 4 large fresh thyme sprigs

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 15 oz. can of Great Northern white beans, drained

Directions:

(1) Preheat oven to 400 F. Brush rimmed baking sheet with a thin coat of olive oil. Arrange squash, carrots, tomatoes, onion, and the garlic on the sheet. Drizzle with a little more olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, tossing to coat. Roast the veggies until they are tender and browned, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

(2) Cut squash and carrots into 1/2 inch pieces and set aside. Peel the garlic cloves and place them into a food processor, along with the tomatoes and onion. Puree until everything is smooth.(3) Pour 1/2 cup of the broth onto the baking sheet, scraping up any browned bits. Transfer broth and the veggie puree into a large pot. Add the rest of the broth, kale, bay leaf, and thyme to the pot, bringing everything to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer uncovered until the kale is tender, about 30 minutes.

(4) Add carrots, beans, and squash to the soup. Simmer about 8-10 minutes to blend all the flavors together, adding more broth or water to thin the soup if necessary or preferred. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf.

This soup is better over the next few days too, so ideally make it a day ahead!

New Year’s Resolution: EAT MORE BACON.

Ok, that title is a lie for me, but it shouldn’t be for people reading my blog (if any.. ha)! Seriously… if it wasn’t for the 8 pounds I gained since October than I would be making a resolution to eat more bacon too. I’m gonna calm down with the baking these days, but I figured I needed to have one last “hurrah” before I do, and what better day to do it than this first day of the new decade, when homes around the country are having their traditional duck feasts and pig roasts? Why not put the protein in my cookie instead? I think it’s only logical. I saw this recipe for Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies (yes, that’s right… BACON) on another blog not too long ago and have been dying to try it, so why keep putting it off any longer, especially if the new year is supposed to instill a sense of proaction?

The combination of salty and sweet is absolutely divine here… if it works for chocolate covered pretzels than why not bacon-infused cookies? I should bake bacon into things more often from now on…

My only beef (or should I say pork) with this recipe was that my cookies came out rather flat and not too soft… probably because I made them tiny in order to have a larger quantity of them. I will look for a better cookie dough recipe next time I make them, and I’m also gonna use REAL bacon too (since all I had on hand was turkey bacon)… the full fat makes a HUGE difference, especially in making it “candied” beforehand, as many of my strips burned and dried out very quickly…

Anyway, here is the recipe for what is perhaps my new favorite cookie recipe. Even if your New Year’s resolution entails laying off the sweets like mine, give yourself a little wiggle room and allow an exception just this once. Enjoy, and Happy 2011!

Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from Closet Cooking)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed, plus about 1/3 cup more for making the candied bacon

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 and 1/8 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 10 strips bacon*

• sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

(1) First, make the candied bacon: Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack in it. Lay out bacon strips on a flat surface and rub in some brown sugar on both sides, then transfer to the prepared pan, laying strips flat on the wire rack. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the bacon strips are very dark and caramelized. You may want to flip the strips over at some point in the middle of the baking time. They should look something like this:

(2) When the strips are done, immediately transfer them onto a sheet of parchment paper to dry so that they won’t stick to the wire rack. This may be a messy process. Once cooled off, chop the bacon into little “bits” or smaller strips and set them aside.

(3) Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until just incorporated.

(4) In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Combine this mixture with the wet ingredients, mixing gradually until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips and bacon until your batter looks something like this:

(5) Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet, and sprinkle a little sea salt over each one. Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden brown.

* If using turkey bacon, reduce the baking time during step 1 and keep a close watch on the bacon so that it doesn’t burn, as turkey has a much lower fat content.