Gastronomie

Party Potatoes Make a Nifty Shepherd's Pie

When I first wrote about Colin's grandmother's "Party Potatoes" a few years ago, it was without much expectation. It's true that they really are the most amazing mashed potatoes I've ever eaten, but how many times has someone said that? Potatoes, dairy, more dairy and butter (What?! Butter is its own food group, you know.)  -- "There must be a dozen similar recipes," I thought. 

Evidently not. Na's potatoes have developed a nearly cult-like following amongst my friends and family since I've made them for every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, whether we were hosting or not. This year, in fact, there were no fewer than half a dozen Tweets and emails exchanged about them. Don't believe me? Check it out:

See? Legendary. 

The only problem with them, really, is the leftovers. By the time we've polished off the other leftovers, we usually have at least a serving or two of Party Potatoes left. This year, I finally figured out the best way to use them, and I'd be a jerk not to share my new Shepherd's Pie recipe with you.

Nannie's Shepherd's Pie

• 1 large onion (or 2 medium onions), chopped
• 1 c. carrot, chopped
• 2 T dark beer 
• 1.5 lbs lamb sirloin or lamb chuck, minced fine*
• 5 ounces beef chuck, minced fine*
• 2.5 T Worcestershire sauce (or more to taste)
• 1.5 T tomato paste
• 1 c. peas (frozen is fine)
• 1 t garlic powder
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1.5 - 2 c. Nannie's Party Potatoes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large pan, brown half the onions and all the carrots in a bit of vegetable oil. Allow them to char a bit. Remove to a bowl.
3. Sweat the remaining onions lightly in the beer, allowing the alcohol to cook off. Remove to the bowl.
4. Brown the lamb and beef in the same pan, seasoning with the Worcestershire, salt & pepper. Make sure the meat doesn't "steam" by browning everything in small batches. Remove each batch to the bowl with the onions & carrots.
5. In the same bowl, mix in the tomato paste, any leftover Worcestershire, and the frozen peas.
6. In a casserole or baking dish, layer the meat-vegetable mixture, sprinkle with garlic powder, a bit more pepper, and finally the potatoes.
7. Bake, covered, for 25-30 minutes. Serve.

* I used my Cuisinart to mince the meat after trimming it of most of the fat. I prefer this method to buying ground lamb as I think it cuts down on the gaminess, which is why I also add a bit of beef to round out the flavor.

Menu For Hope -- A Beautiful Way to Close the Year -- Prize #UW38

Do you guys remember that little grass roots effort that a bunch of food bloggers participated in last year? The one that raised some $17,000 towards the relief effort in Northern Pakistan and India?

Well, not only is it back, but it's got structure, visibility and a great deal of excitement around it this year. And, it's benefitting the United Nations' World Food Programme

Here at Gastronomie, we have not one, not two, but THREE gifts for you this year. However, we are only releasing information on the first prize today, and not because we don't love you. No, we just aren't READY to release everything at once. So, once you've read about our cool Persian Pantry, and checked out the amazing prizes on offer by other bloggers -- West Coast bloggers' donations are here; the rest of them are most easily found here.

Gastronomie Prize #1: The Persian Pantry, retail value = $75+

• 4.6 grams of pure Khorasan saffron threads, hand-carried from Iran by my aunt
• A bundle of cleaned, chopped and dried herbs for Ghormeh Sabzi, enough for 4-6 servings
• A bag of leemoo-omani, dehydrated persian limes, critical for many Persian dishes
• Kashk (dried or a jar of fresh, depending on winner's location) - most of you have told me this is the single most difficult thing for you to find, and it's so important.
• Resht-e, Persian noodles used to make Aash 
• Rob-e Anaar, or pomegranate paste. This is different from the pomegranate molasses you fine in most markets. You'll see why when you receive it
• Sumac, the dried and crushed berries of the poisonous plant. Sprinkle it on Basmati rice, fry up a few kabab, and you have a perfect Chelo Kabab
• Finally, I'll be putting together a selection of sweets and other goodies based on the winner's requests

If you want to bid on this item, PLEASE go to the donation page and bid a minimum of $10 for one raffle ticket. Specify prize number UW38 for the Persian Pantry in the "Personal Message" section of the form, and PLEASE make sure to allow us to see your email address so we can contact you if you win.

Raffle winners will be announced on January 15, 2007 (big "woot-woot" to Derrick, here, as we actually wrote all y'all's names on slips of paper and did drawings last year. He's taking us into the 20th century with a randomizer application.)

So, really, head on over and make a donation. Good things will happen, and you'll feel good about doing it, too!

Tags: Food, Food & Drink, Persian, Iran, Menu For Hope, Charity, Donation, Holidays, First Giving, United Nations, World Food, San Francisco, Oakland

Help Me Get Nourishment. Please!

Last week, I had a root canal on one of my bottom left molars.

Turns out, I'm a bit of a genetic anomaly -- my tooth developed with FIVE roots, instead of four. This made for a more difficult and longer procedure (by about an hour), and a whole extra set of radiographs.

As a result, I now have three small canker sores which have merged into one large one. Every touch (whether by my tongue or a bit of food) causes excruciating, searing pain all the way into my jawbone. I sound completely dorky when I speak (try explaining this to your clients!), but my greatest issue right now is that I haven't been able to eat anything solid in a couple of days.

Does anyone have any suggestions for foods that are easy to eat, aren't particularly salty or sour, but not horribly bland, either? Grainy or mealy stuff like oatmeal or cream of wheat won't work, either. And really, I'm all tapped out on chicken broth!

Tags: Food & Drink, Food, Root Canal, Dentist

Powered by Qumana

Chicken Under A Brick

I've long been intrigued by the idea of cooking chicken "under a brick". I was never inspired to try my hand at it, however, until I realized last night that it was 6:30pm, we were both starving, and roasting that Rocky Jr. in the fridge wouldn't get us to the table until at least 8pm.

Necessity being the mother of invention and all that, I proceeded to rummage around the kitchen and deck looking for a weight heavy enough to pull this off. The two pieces from my Le Creuset Multi-Pot, nestled inside my 4.5 quart Dutch oven, worked nicely.

As I was pulling the chicken out of the oven (40 minutes, people, 40 minutes!), the doorbell rang, and my awesome, wonderful neighbor J was standing there with a bowl full of tomatoes and peaches she'd picked earlier in Brentwood. As the bird rested, I threw together what turned out to be an incredibly delicious salad -- wedges of peach and heirloom tomato, chopped basil, good sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper, drizzled lightly with olive oil.

Summer never tasted so good.

Chicken Under a Brick

• 1 3lb bird, the fresher the better, and free-range is best
• 4T + 2T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, slivered
• 1 clove garlic, minced fine
• 1t sweet paprika
• Several sprigs fresh rosemary, half of them de-stemmed & chopped fine
• Several springs fresh thyme, half of them de-stemmed & chopped fine
• Salt & pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees*.
2. Butterfly the bird by removing the backbone, and pressing flat. Cut off the first two joints of the wings, and the last joint of both drumsticks to prevent burning.
3. In a large, flat pan, heat the first 4 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add the onion. Allow to cook a few minutes as you season the chicken.
4. Make a paste of the remaining olive oil, garlic, paprika, chopped rosemary, chopped thyme, and salt & pepper.
5. Rub all over the bird, on both sides, coating well.
6. Tuck the remaining sprigs of rosemary and thyme under the skin, being careful not to tear it.
7. Turn the stove up to medium-high, and when good and hot, set the chicken, breast-down, in the pan. Set a heavy weight atop the chicken to press it flat.
8. Cook for 10-12 minutes -- you'll know when it's ready because the smell from the kitchen will cause your husband to begin drooling.
9. Move the pan (with weights) to the lower rack of the oven, and allow to cook for another 15 or so minutes.
10. Carefully remove the weights from the chicken, and gently turn it over.
11. Continue cooking for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the thigh registers 160 degrees. Alternately, look for the juices to run completely clear. The skin at this point should be a gorgeous golden-brown, and exceedingly crispy.
12. Remove chicken from the oven, tent with foil for 5 minutes, and cut into quarters (this will be very easy to do).
13. Serve with salad or roasted potatoes, as you choose.

Tags: Recipes, Chicken, Summer, Food, Food & Drink, Salad, Oakland, San Francisco

Powered by Qumana

Summer, How Do I Love Thee?

This evening my wonderful neighbor, JA, brought us a basket of the season's last Blenheim apricots, along with some simply delicious Flavorcrest peaches and half a dozen beautiful heirloom tomatoes.

When C got home, I wanted to make something flavorful and brimming with the bounty of this beautiful summer.  This Farmer's Market Penne was just the thing, and could be easily modified with your favorite summer squashes. This dish was on the table in under 30 minutes.

Help Me With My Rancho Gordo Purchase!

Some cooks like to braise and stew and confit. Others have little patience for things that require advance planning and long cooktimes. Me? Squarely in the latter camp.

Which means, of course, that working with dried beans is definitely outside my repertoire. So far, my only experience with the soak-and-soak-then-cook-forever dried bean has been with Persian Aash-e-Resht-e, made from bulk bin beans.

So, after lots of nervous consideration and totally ignorant questions, I have finally made my first purchase from the King of Heirloom Beans, Steve Sando.

The pretty white beans on the right are Cellini Runner Beans which I can't wait to cook up and have on hand for my lunchtime salads - Steve said these are very rich and hold together better for salads than regular Runner beans.

On the left are Red Nightfall Beans which I'm not sure what to do with. From the RG website, "They hold their shape but almost melt in your mouth when you bite into them."

So tell me, what do YOU with your dried beans? Oh, and how long can I keep simply-cooked beans in the fridge?h

 

Technorati Tags: Food | Food & Drink | Recipes | San Francisco | Oakland

Taylor & Toponia, How Do We Love Thee?

I've written about Fatted Calf a couple of times before. But for some reason, I've never actually sung the praises of the pirate's booty we bring home from their stand at the Farmer's Market once a month.

Unlike so many more forward-thinking folks, I never place my order prior to market day, primarily because I am kinda wishy-washy, and not very good at planning meals that far in advance. Plus, I like walking up and taking my pick of what sounds best to me at that moment.

And so it was that a couple of weeks ago, I found myself giddily asking Taylor to pack up a pair of Lamb Crepinettes with Cumin, Persian Mint & Orange for me. I had visions of using the fat from the crepinette to make a warm vinaigrette for a pungent greens salad...

Of course, after getting home, I realized I'd failed to PURCHASE any pungent greens, and all I had in the fridge was a sad, slightly wilted bunch of baby arugula. So I set about frying up these bad boys (using Biggles' suggestion to use a dutch oven to minimize oil spatter), and rooting around the crisper to find something suitable to accompany such delectable charcuterie.

A Bass-Ackwards Way to Risotto

So, it's November 20th, and there are STILL delicious Early Girl tomatoes available at the Farmer's Market. While Bautista Farms' toms aren't dry-farmed like Dirty Girl's, they are still incredibly delicious for this late in the season. After scoring 18lbs of soft Girls for $5, I headed home, ready to make an enormous batch of my revelatory Tomato Soup to freeze.

Course, since I haven't cooked in WEEKS, I got home to find that I had no chicken stock. Fortunately, there was a nice little 4lb bird in the freezer, along with plenty of onions, carrots and celery from today's visit to the market, and so I set about making a big pot of stock.

I should mention that I've never made stock from a whole bird before; for me, the roasted chicken is the primary product, and the carcass becomes fodder for stock. So I've never had the achingly moist, tender chicken meat that results when a whole chicken goes into the stockpot.

After using what I needed for my tomato soup, I was inspired to make something with the chicken and remaining stock.  I checked the pantry and found a bag of arborio rice I hadn't touched in a few months, and a Delicata squash that I wanted to play with.

Thirty minutes later, I served up one of the most delicious risottos I've ever made.

Plune Brogging... I mean, Prune Blogging!

No, this isn't some weird fetish post about staying in the bath so long your skin turns pruney.

Rather, it's one man's (neurotic) quest to "Give Prunes Their Due!"  I don't really know what prunes are due... maybe a better name? I did notice that the nice folks over at Sunkist are calling them "Dried Plums" now. Anyway.

Of course, because I love and adore David, and think he's the neatest thing since Pierre Herme macarons, I couldn't pass up the chance to partake in this neat event. Then, a funny thing happened.

I rediscovered one of my very favorite Persian recipes: Toss Kabab (or Tas Kebab, as you wish). My nanny used to make this dish many moons ago, and the taste of it is utterly comforting to me. C put this on the "top 10 dishes" list, so I hope it's not just my childhood memories.

My Tomato Soup Revelation

Oh my God.

I just made homemade Cream of Tomato soup. And I may NEVER buy tomato soup from a store again.

Who knew that Tomato Soup was so freaking easy to make? And who knew it was such a revelation. But holy cow. I'm buying 20 lbs of culled tomatoes this weekend and making several batches of soup to freeze for the winter months.