A Challenge: "Julia's Boeuf Bourguinon"

During the holidays, I often find myself longing to spend some quality time in the kitchen.With all the hustle and bustle, it is nice to slow down a little and prepare a special something for my family to enjoy. This year, in addition to the usual cookies and Christmas morning brunch, I experimented with a new appetizer, improved upon my French Onion Soup and took on the challenge of "Julia's Boeuf Bourguinon."

Surprisingly, up until last week I had never seen the movie Julie & Julia, nor read the book or the blog. I remember hearing about the blog several years back (before my blog reading days) and thinking, "Wow, she's crazy!" The movie was quite charming, the cast was excellent and the food looked good enough to eat off the screen. As the credits rolled, my husband and I looked at each other with the same hungry look...we had to try that Boeuf Bourguinon. 

The next morning I pulled out my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and started studying. It turns out, to make "Julia's Boeuf Bourguinon," you must also master two additional French cooking techniques: mushrooms sauteed in butter and brown-braised onions. Both processes call for a healthy (or, unhealthy?) amount of butter and result in pure yumminess (not a word, I realize, but if you ever tried it, you'd agree.)

Now, this is not a recipe you just whip up on a whim. Start to finish, I spent 5-plus hours in the kitchen that Sunday afternoon. Most of that time I was actively cooking. The meat takes 3 or 4 hours to cook in the oven. Having completed the dish once, I probably could complete the prep-work a little faster -- allowing for some time away from the stove.

As this dish gains much of it's flavor from the red wine used in preparation, I decided to go to the experts at Moore Brothers and let their knowledgeable staff steer me in the right direction. What a good decision! I bought two bottles from the same vineyard, one to cook with and the other a little higher quality for drinking. I wish I had thought to write down the name of the vineyard, but Moore Brothers keeps track of what you buy, so I should be able to figure it out and post back with that information.

The other ingredients were fairly easy to come by. My local grocery does not carry Rump Pot Roast, Julia's first choice, so I went with her second choice: Chuck Pot Roast. In addition, I needed: carrot, onion, beef stock, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, bacon, and the previously mentioned mushrooms and pearl onions. The recipe calls for a 6-oz chunk of bacon, which I could not find, so I improvised by making lardons out of regular, sliced bacon. The main difference was that I did not have a bacon rind to throw in with the cooking meat. 

So, was it worth it? For me, yes. I had a great afternoon in the kitchen with limited distractions from the kids. (Thank you Mark!) And the end result was delicious. The gravy was amazing and the meat was falling-apart tender. Am I going to make "Julia's Boeuf Bourguinon," again? Not any time soon. Next time I have a free afternoon for cooking, I think I'll try a new recipe. Part of the fun for me is experimenting with different cooking techniques and flavors. Of course, as I write this, all I can think about is that luscious gravy and how sad I am that there are no more leftovers...

Mark's Sticky Buns

Mark has been making these sticky buns since he was a kid -- once making them at school for a class project. It's the type of simple recipe that turns an ordinary morning into something special. They don't take a whole lot of prep work, so no need to save this treat for special occasions. Any occasion will do -- today we celebrated the short work/school week.

Just make sure you plan a bit in advance. These need to rise in the fridge over night.

Mark's Sticky Buns
10-12 frozen dough balls
1 package vanilla pudding mix (not instant!)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 stick butter, melted

Arrange dough balls (still frozen) in a greased bundt pan. Mix together in a small bowl pudding mix, brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture over dough balls and pour melted butter on top. Cover and let dough rise in the refrigerator over night. Take the pan out of the fridge in the morning and let rest on the counter while preheating the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Cocktail Party Food

Last night we had a great time visiting with old friends and getting to know some new ones. It's nice to feel connected to our neighbors and the parents of our kids' classmates.

Jessica put out quite a spread of delicious food and drinks and many of the guests brought tasty treats. I contributed two appetizers: pepperoni bread and crab empanadas.The pepperoni bread is quite easy to make (especially if you use frozen pizza dough). The empanadas take a little more work, but I found a few shortcuts that made a big difference in preparation time without sacrificing taste or presentation. The biggest shortcut is using frozen puff pastry, rather than making the traditional empanada dough (a combination of flour, salt, butter and water). My other trick is to doctor up jarred salsa in place of a from-scratch mango relish.

Pepperoni Bread
1 package frozen pizza dough, defrosted and risen
1/4 lb. sliced pepperoni
1/4 lb. sliced mozzerella (you can use shredded cheese)
1/4 lb. sliced provolone
2 Tbs. grated pecorino romano
egg wash

Roll out the dough to form a rectangle. Spread half of the pepperoni and cheeses over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Lightly wet the edges and roll up the bread into a loaf shape, folding under the ends to help seal in the cheese. Repeat with second dough. Place onto baking sheet, brush with egg wash and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, repeating the egg wash after 15 or 20 minutes.

(forgive me, the poor quality of this photo is because it's from my phone)


Crab Empanadas with Mango Salsa
2 packages frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
1 lb. picked lump crab meat
8 oz. goat cheese
big handful chopped Italian parsley
1 tsp. thyme
a few splashes of Tabasco (I used the garlic flavored version)
salt and pepper to taste
Mango Salsa*

Heat olive oil and saute onion and jalepeno over medium heat for about 5 minutes to soften, adding garlic in last minute. Set aside. In mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients (except salsa) with the onion and pepper mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Working with one sheet at a time, roll out puff pastry, sealing any tears with water. Using 3-inch cookie cutter, cut circles. (I was able to get 9 circles from each sheet of pastry). Fill each circle with approximately 1 Tbs. of filling. Moisten edge and fold over pastry to form a half-circle, pressing together edges to seal. Place on baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Bake for about 20 minutes, until starting to brown.

Serve with mango salsa.

* I purchased a mango-habanero salsa that was quite spicy. To sweeten it up a little, and play up the tropical flavors of this dish, I added some diced mango.

Note: This makes more filling than needed, even for 4 sheets of puff pastry. For a tasty treat, try tossing the remaining crab mixture with pasta.

Mom's Pot Roast

As long as I can remember, I've always loved my mom's pot roast. For some reason, mine never tastes quite as good. But, I try. And when it's cold and rainy, as it is today, my thoughts turn to a hearty meal of pot roast with a good french bread to dunk in the gravy.

Now, my mom always cooked her roast with a few simple additions: carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, water and onion soup mix. First she browned the meat, then added everything else and let it cook long at a low temperature in the electric fry pan. Before serving, she made a gravy using the cooking liquid and some Wondra gravy flour. Delicious.

In recent years, I have become a fan of omitting the potatoes and serving the roast and veggies over mashed potatoes. Sometimes I add half a bottle of beer to the cooking liquid or maybe a touch of red wine. Today I added a bay leaf, since I have some on hand, but it is fine without.

Mom's Pot Roast
2-3 lb. chuck roast
1 Tbs. olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper
2 or 3 onions, peeled and quartered
5 carrots, peeled and cut into 2" lengths (or approx. 25 baby carrots)
2 celery stalks, cut into 2" lengths (I often leave this out because Mark doesn't like celery)
4 or 5 potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks (again, you can omit these and serve with mashed potatoes)
2 c. water
1 package dry onion soup mix
flour and water to thicken gravy

Season the meat with salt and pepper. Heat oil in electric fry pan (or oven proof pot with lid) and brown meat on both sides. Add onions, celery, carrots, and potatoes. Cook for a few minutes to give the veggies a little color. Add water and soup mix. Reduce heat to 275 - 325 degrees. The temperature you pick will determine how soon dinner will be ready. If you have the time, start early and cook at 275 degrees for at least an hour and a half. When ready, remove the meat to rest and reserve the veggies in a separate bowl. Turn up the heat and reduce the cooking liquid for 5 or 10 minutes. Thicken with flour to make a gravy. Cut up the meat and return with the vegetables to the gravy to serve. Or, you can serve the meat and veggies on a platter and keep the gravy on the side.

Doughnuts...A Halloween Tradition Continues

Consider this...fresh, homemade doughnuts for a Halloween treat. I really should get the whole story about where this tradition started -- and why!?! I never would have had the inclination to start making these on the same day as outfitting everyone in costumes and rushing through dinner to get out the door for trick-or-treating. But, alas, it is a a fond memory for my husband (and his siblings, and their friends, and their neighbors) and I oblige, making this special treat every year on Halloween.

Once you get the hang of it, you really do get a big bang for your buck, here. The hardest part is figuring out the timing. You need to start the process at least 4 hours before you want to start frying up these little gems. And you need to plan it so that once you start frying, no one needs help with their costumes for a good 20 minutes. Hot grease and Halloween costumes can lead to a very messy (and dangerous) situation.

This particular recipe comes from my mother-in-law's Betty Crocker cookbook. I checked other cook books, out of curiosity, to see how much variation there is to doughnut recipes and was surprised by what I found. Some use shortening (like this one), others use butter in the dough. I found one recipe that uses two packages of yeast, while this only takes one.

I'm sticking with this recipe, though. Especially now that I've earned the generous praise from a neighbor that "these are better than the Amish Market's!"

Note: I always double this recipe. Carole was known to make up to 4 batches at a time.

Raised Doughnuts
1 package active dry yeast or 1 cake compressed yeast
1/4 cup water
*   *   *
3/4 cup milk, scalded
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Soften active dry yeast in warm water (110 deg.) or compressed yeast in lukewarm water (85 deg.). Combine milk, shortening, sugar and salt; cool to lukewarm. Add 1 cup of the flour; beat well. Add softened yeast and egg; mix. Add enough of remaining flour to make soft dough. Turn out on lightly floured surface; knead till smooth and satiny (about 8 minutes). Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise till double (about 1 1/4 hours). Punch down. Let rise again till double (about 55 minutes).

Roll out dough 1/3 inch thick. Cut with floured doughnut cutter. Let rise till very light (30 to 40 minutes).

Fry in deep hot fat (375 deg.) till browned. Drain on paper towels. While warm dip doughnuts in granulated sugar or glaze with Orange Glaze. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen.

Recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker.

Additional Notes:
1. This year I used peanut oil, with fantastic results. You need about 1 1/2 inches of oil in a high sided pot. Let one side cook to a light brown, then flip (just the one time!) to cook the other side.
2. You can re-roll the dough once, using up some of the scraps. Avoid doing this more than once, though, as the dough can get tough.
3. It really helps to have two people working during the final stages: one to fry and one to coat the finished, and still warm, doughnuts in sugar.
4. These really are best when eaten fresh (and still warm!) ...don't cook them too far in advance!

Easy Macaroni and Cheese

The title says it all. You really can't find an easier recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese. It's not extra creamy or topped with a fancy crumb topping, but this dish is consistently good. On top of that, it only takes one dish to prepare. No precooking noodles or sauce.

This recipe is courtesy of my mother-in-law, Carole. As the mother of four, I'm sure she loved the simplicity of the dish and the fact that it is agreeable to most tastes. She was known to have many more than her own four kids at the table -- friends were always welcome.

Easy Macaroni and Cheese
3 Tbs. butter
2 1/2 c. uncooked macaroni
1/2 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1/2 lb. sharp cheese grated
1 quart milk

Melt butter in the baking dish. Stir in the macaroni to coat with butter. Add the salt, pepper and cheese and stir. Then, add the milk and DO NOT STIR. Bake at 325 deg. for 1 hour.

Note: If you are cooking something else in the oven at a different temperature, just adjust the length of time you cook the macaroni and cheese as needed. It is done when top starts to brown.

Soupe a l'Oignon Gratinee

My husband is a big fan of French Onion Soup. And, really, what's not to like about sweet onions, broth, bread and cheese? It is featured on so many menus for a good reason.

A few years back, I decided to try my hand at making this tasty treat. Somewhere along the line, I came across a full page, fully illustrated McCall's "Cooking School" lesson on how to make French Onion Soup. The results were pretty good. In the intervening years, we've enjoyed this home-version of a restaurant favorite many times.

Earlier this week, I found I had all of the ingredients on hand for French Onion soup. The changing leaves and cooler fall weather has me longing for soup. As I went looking for my old standby recipe, though, it occurred to me that maybe McCall's isn't the way to go for this dish. On a whim, I opened up my copy of "The French Chef Cookbook," by Julia Child to see what she had to say on the subject. As it turns out, she devoted a whole episode of her show to this marvelous soup.

According to Julia, "to achieve true homemade taste, you'll need a homemade bouillon -- beef bones and shank meat simmered for several hours with the usual carrots, onions, celery, seasonings, and herbs. If your own bouillon is lacking, substitute canned beef bouillon."

Well, I admit, I don't have THOSE ingredients for making my soup. An already opened box of beef stock in the fridge is the real impetus for this particular soup-making adventure. So, guess I'm going to have to take the easy route this time. Maybe someday I'll get myself organized enough to have beef bones and shank meat on hand at the same time I'm craving French Onion Soup. I really like the idea of starting from scratch, but that's just not in the cards at this point in my life.

Julia uses a few more ingredients that McCall's, but I have most of what it takes so I decided to proceed with Julia's Soupe a l'Oignon Gratinee.

Note: I used gruyere cheese instead of swiss and omitted the cognac.

3 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. (5-6 cups) thinly sliced yellow onions
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
3 Tbs. flour
2 qts. hot beef bouillon (or dilute canned bouillon with 2 c. water)
1 c. red or white wine (I chose red)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. sage
salt and pepper to taste
sliced french bread
olive oil or melted butter
optional: 1/4 c. cognac
peeled, 2-in. raw onion
2 oz. piece of swiss cheese
1 1/2 c. grated swiss and parmesan cheese, mixed

pictured: onions at the start of cooking process.

Melt the butter with the oil in a heavy 4-quart saucepan; add the sliced onions and stir. Cover and cook over moderately low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender and translucent.

Uncover pan, raise heat, and stir in the salt and sugar. [I've never used sugar before, but according to Julia, "sugar, by caramelizing, helps onions to brown."] Cook, stirring, until onions are deep golden brown, at which point you need to lower the heat to medium and stir in the flour. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to brown the flour a bit, then remove from heat.

pictured: browned onions after whisking in flour.

Add a cup of hot bouillon, stirring with a whisk to blend. Add the rest of the bouillon and wine, bay leaf, sage and bring up to a simmer. Simmer over low heat for 30-40 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper.

At this point you can let the soup cool and store in the fridge until you are ready to put on the final touches for serving. Or, if you are ready for dinner (as I was, at this point I had already spent a couple of hours cooking), ladle the soup into a broiler-proof soup tureen, casserole, or individual soup bowls.

Grate a bit of raw onion into the soup, add a little shredded cheese (again, I used Gruyere, but Julia calls for Swiss), then top the soup with a few toasted pieces of French bread (brush the bread with olive oil before toasting). Top the bread with a generous mound of Swiss/Gruyere cheese and a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes (this really depends on whether you are starting with soup from the fridge or from the stove). When soup is hot, run it under the broiler for just a minute to brown cheese a bit.