Cat Food

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Well, as some of you know I haven't posted in quite awhile.  It's been a trying time here at Cat Food central let me tell you.   We moved into a new house - our very first - and it has been quite the learning experience. First there was no DSL service back at the end of October.  Then we had to have the electricians and the plumbers and the painters in because everything was on their last legs! I won't go into details but it wasn't until last night that I could cook my first meal in this house!

Last night was one of the first really cold wintry nights and it was wonderful to have a big pot of beef stew bubbling away on the stove - that is on the one burner that still works!  The house finally smelled like home. I've tried lots of recipes for beef stew.  It wasn't something my mom made when I was growing up so I had to find my way around it.  I've found that when I just wing it together - no measuring - using what's at hand - not timing the cooking - it always seems to come out best.

I threw what I had in the house - beef - veggies - stock & wine into my grandmother's cast iron stew pot, covered it and left it alone on the stove to make it's magic.  A couple hours later when we had finished bringing in the Christmas tree and putting on the lights, we sat down to a really hearty and soul satisfying bowl of stew.  Nothing more needed really just some nice crusty bread and a glass of red wine.

Here's last night's recipe but feel free to improvise with what ever you have in the pantry!

Beef Stew
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 ½ lbs. stew beef
Olive oil
1 large onion -peeled & cut into large chunks
4 cloves garlic - peeled and smashed
2 russet potatoes - peeled & cut into large chunks
2 large carrots - peeled & cut into large chunks again
1 medium sized bulb celeriac (celery root) - once more, peeled & cut into large chunks
1 large box of mushrooms - small ones left whole and large ones cut in half
3 bay leaves
2 tsp. rosemary - crushed if using dried and minced if using fresh
½ bottle of a full bodied red wine - last night I used a 2002 Le Grange Clinet
2 - 4 cups stock - you can use a good low sodium beef stock but I use mushroom stock
1 - 2 tsp. of tomato paste
2 - 4 Tbs. flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method
1) Sear the meat in a little olive oil in the pot so it gets nice and caramelized and remove it.
2) Add the onions and garlic to the same olive oil and sauté till they get a little color.
3) Add the meat back in with all the veggies, the bay leaves, rosemary, wine and stock. The whole wine /stock thing is this - you want to fill the pot with enough liquid to cover everything. It's not an exact measurement here. You can use more stock then wine or vice versa.
4) Cover and bring to a full boil and then reduce the heat and let it simmer at least an hour. I let it go for about three hours last night.
5) Season with salt and pepper to taste
6) About 5 - 10 minutes before you're ready to eat mix the flour and the tomato paste together in a small bowl and ladle in some of the hot broth. Whisk this together till there are no lumps and the consistency is more liquidy then dry. Pour this mixture back into the stew and stir till it starts to thicken. Again, the best way to figure this out is to start with a little of this mixture and keep adding more till the stew is the consistency you like. The flour is cooked by mixing it with the hot liquid before you add it to the stew pot, so make sure you do it this way. If you add raw flour directly to the pot it will taste nasty.

Hope you give this a try. It's great to do on the weekend when you have a bit more time to putter in the kitchen and it only gets better with age!

Now to go wait for the plumber to come and make it stop raining in my kitchen!

Printer Friendly Beef Stew Recipe

Photo courtesy of Martha Stewart Living

Wishing you all a Happy & Healthy Thanksgiving!

Check back starting next week as I start to roll out all kinds of new recipes for the rest of the holiday season.

Cheers-

Cat

"You must have the courage of your convictions"

Today is a sad day and I will miss Julia Child dearly. I remember watching "The French Chef" as a little kid on a black & white TV. Her funny accent ... the way she would drop food on the floor and then put it back in the pan. She made me laugh but I loved how she made cooking and working around the kitchen seem so easy and fun. I was a tomboy and never had an easy bake oven. I didn't really learn how to cook or come to a food profession till much later in life but I always remembered her style and her gusto and the fact that she liked McDonald's french fries. She was a real human being and she made food accessible. All Food.
"We'd go to the market, and she'd buy Wonder Bread. She had no snobbism about food whatsoever. She loved iceberg lettuce." - Jacques Pepin.

"Bon Apetite!"

Chicken Broiled with Mustard, Herbs, and Bread Crumbs
Poulets Grilles A La Diable

Here is a fine method for broiled chicken which is good either hot or cold. The chicken is partially cooked under the broiler, then smeared with mustard and herbs, rolled in fresh bread crumbs, and returned to the broiler to brown and finish cooking. A practical attribute is that it can be almost entirely cooked ahead of time, set aside or refrigerated, and then finished off in the oven. With the mustard dip, a sauce is not a necessity. But if you want one, serve melted butter mixed with lemon juice and minced herbs, or sauce diable (herbal brown sauce with shallots and wine), Baked, whole tomatoes and green beans would go well with it, and a chilled rose wine.

Serving: 4 to 8 people
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
Two ready-to-cook, 2 1/2 pound broilers, halved or quartered
Basting fat: 6 tablespoons of melted butter blended with 2 tablespoons oil
Salt
6 tablespoons prepared mustard of the strong Dijon type
3 tablespoons finely minced shallots or green onions
1/2 tsp thyme, basil, or tarragon
1/8 tsp pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
4 cups fresh, white crumbs from homemade-type of bread (make the crumbs in an electric blender, 3 or 4 slices of bread at a time)

Equipment
A saucepan (to make the basting fat)
A pastry brush
A broiling pan minus rack
A broiling pan with rack

1. Preheat oven broiler to moderately hot.
2. Dry the chicken thoroughly, paint it with the butter and oil and arrange it skin side down in the bottom of the broiling pan. Place it so that the surface of the chicken is 5 to 6 inches from the hot broiling element and broil 10 minutes on each side, basting every 5 minutes. The chicken should be very lightly browned. Salt it lightly.

3. Blend the mustard with the shallots or onions, herbs, and seasonings in a bowl. Drop by drop, beat in half the basting fat to make a mayonnaise-like cream. Reserve the rest of the basting fat for later. Paint the chicken pieces with the mustard mixture.

4. Pour the crumbs into a big plate, then roll the chicken in the crumbs, patting them on so they will adhere.

5. Arrange the chicken pieces skin-side down on the rack in the broiling pan and dribble half the remaining basting fat over them. Brown slowly for 10 minutes under a moderately hot broiler. Turn, baste with the last if the fat, and brown 10 minutes more on the other side. The chicken is done when the thickest part of the drumstick is tender, and, when the meat is pricked with a fork, the juices run clear yellow.

Transfer to a hot platter and serve.

Ahead-of-Time Notes: If you wish to do most of the cooking in advance, brown the crumbed chicken under the broiler for 5 minutes only on each side. It then may be finished off several hours later, placed in a preheated 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Do not allow it to overcook.

Defrosting Frozen Chicken
The best method for defrosting frozen chicken, according to those in the business, is the slowest: leave it in its transparent wrapper and let it thaw in the refrigerator. It will lose much less of its juice and flavor. The best alternative is to unwrap it and thaw it in a basin of cold, running water, removing the package of giblets from the cavity as soon as it can be pried loose, and pulling the legs and wings away from the body as soon as they will move.

Source: Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

Sugar Plums

No Fairies Sighted!

This week’s find at the Montclair Farmer's Market: sugar plums. No fairies spotted … you’ll have to wait till Christmas for them!

Ginger from Tree-Licious Orchards told us that their farm has been involved with the Montclair Farmer’s Market since its inception – that’s over 10 years. They specialize in fruit and grow it on 100+ acres in Port Murray NJ. Ginger runs the market, her mom Carol runs their bakery and her brother John grows the fruit. Quite a family affair.

Sugarplums should be eaten by themselves when they’re in season – there’s nothing quite as sweet. Nature's candy to be sure, but they make a really interesting base for a Southeast Asian-inspired sauce to use when grilling chicken, pork or fish. The sweetness, mixed with fiery chilies, really perks up a milder flavored meat. Serve a cooling cucumber salad with this barbeque and you can’t go wrong.

Sugar Plum Barbeque Sauce
2½ cups water
½ large red onion or 1 medium - minced
3 cloves garlic - minced
1” piece of fresh ginger – grated or finely minced
1 ½ tsp. Chinese 5-spice powder**
2-3 Tbs. Canola oil
4 + Tbs. Light brown sugar
2 sticks cinnamon
1-½ cups pureed sugarplums*
1 Tbs. Asian sambal paste (chili garlic paste)**
Salt & pepper to taste

Sautee onion, garlic & ginger in oil till fragrant
Add 5-spice powder and toast lightly
Add cinnamon sticks
Add water and simmer till reduced by half
Add brown sugar, sambal and sugar plum puree and simmer till thickened and glossy

You can adjust the heat and the sweetness to your taste.

* To puree sugar plums, place in bowl of food processor and pulse a few times until the pits separate from the fruit. Turn off and remove pits. Take fruit and strain through sieve or colander.
** Available at Asian food markets such as East-West in Bloomfield and often at Whole Foods in Montclair.

Asian Inspired Cucumber Salad
(Serves 4)

Salad
4 cucumbers peeled, seeded and diced to ½ inch size pieces
1 red onion – ½ inch dice
4 scapes or 2 cloves garlic – minced
½ cup cilantro – washed and chopped roughly
1 tsp. Each of black and white sesame seeds

Dressing
½ cup Thai fish sauce (Nuoc mam pha san)**
2 tsp. Honey
Sprinkling of toasted sesame oil
¼ - ½ cup canola oil
Juice from one lime
Salt & pepper to taste

Toss salad ingredients together
In a separate bowl, combine fish sauce & honey and warm till the honey melts
Add the lime juice and sesame oil and then whisk in the canola oil
Add salt & pepper to taste
Pour over salad and allow to marinate for ½ hour at room temperature

Garnish with additional sesame seeds and cilantro leaves