Mongolian Beef...

The Year of the Tiger began Sunday, February 14th and was brought in with fireworks shows around the world. While I am not Chinese, I have an appreciation for the variety of styles and flavors that Chinese cooking encompasses. I recently received a copy of Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking for my birthday.

Eileen’s book is filled with specialty recipes that range from the familiar to the completely new: Wuxi Braised Pork Ribs, Fujian Red Rice Wor Bah, XO Sauce, Mu Shu Pork, and Beijing Baked Breads, to name a few. What is helpful, each section is accompanied by its own shopping list, techniques, and basic recipes.

For the ultimate payoff of delicious food, you'll need patience and perseverance; the book demands dedication. Then again, if Chinese cuisine were so easy to master, would Lo have devoted more than 300 pages to the topic? In the words of James Beard, who is quoted in the book: "In all the world there is only two really great cuisines: the Chinese and the French. China's…is the most complicated cuisine; it uses ingredients no other employs; and it is distinctive in that, for the most part, it is cuisine à la minute."

My challenge is to try a wide variety of her recipes and see if my taste buds can handle some of the hotter dishes. I decided last night to start in Mongolia with a modest spicy taste. It turned out quite delicious and an easy recipe to follow.

Here's wishing everyone a prosperous new year: Gong Xi Fa Cai!



Mongolian Beef

Ingredients:
1 pound flank steak
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon Oyster sauce
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
4 garlic cloves; finely minced
6 whole green onions
12 small dried red chilies, crushed
¼ cup Peanut oil

Wok Sauce
1 teaspoon minced tangerine zest
⅓ cup freshly-squeezed tangerine juice
¼ cup Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoons Oyster sauce
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Cut the flank steak lengthwise into ¼ -inch-wide strips. Cut the strips in half. In a small bowl, combine the flank steak with the hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, and garlic. Mix thoroughly to coat flank steak. Cover and refrigerate the flank steak for at least 15 minutes but not longer than 8 hours.

Cut the green onions on a sharp diagonal into 1½ -inch lengths. Combine and set aside the green onions and the dried chilies.

Set aside the peanut oil.

In a small bowl, combine the wok sauce ingredients and set aside.

All advance preparation may be completed up to 8 hours before you begin the final cooking steps.

Place a wok over the highest heat. When the wok is very hot, add half the cooking oil. Roll the oil around to coat the inside, and when the oil gives off just a wisp of smoke, add the flank steak. Stir and toss the flank steak until it loses its raw exterior color, about 1 minute. Immediately transfer the flank steak to a plate.

Immediately return the wok to the highest heat. Add the remaining peanut oil and, when the oil is hot, add the green onions and chilies. Stir and toss until the green onions brighten, about 2 minutes.

Stir the wok sauce, and pour into the wok. Return the flank steak to the wok, stir and toss until all the ingredients are glazed with sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Immediately transfer the stir-fry to a heated platter or 4 heated dinner plates and serve.

Serves 4

__________

George’s notes:

• Mongolian cuisine refers to the local culinary traditions of Mongolia and styled dishes. The extreme continental climate has affected the traditional diet, so the Mongolian cuisine primarily consists of dairy products, meat, and animal fats. Use of vegetables and spices is limited. Due to geographic proximity and deep historic ties with China and Russia, Mongolian cuisine is also influenced by Chinese and Russian cuisine.
• With the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Mongolia under the Bogd Khaan declared independence in 1911. However, the equally newly established Republic of China claimed Mongolia as part of its own territory.
• Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.

Moroccan Ground Beef Casserole...

Recent I posted a dissertation on revisiting the casserole. And during my short time here blogging; I have had a chance to experience foods, cultures and spices from around the world. One such cuisine I have been introduced to are dishes from North Africa ~ mainly Morocco. So it got me thinking that maybe I should meld the two together, because some of the traditional casseroles that are simple to prepare can be somewhat bland. This is my adaptation of the standard ground beef casserole with a Moroccan twist. People may be shy about putting olives or raisins in the recipe, but they really do add a special tang and sweetness to the dish. You can also, add more red pepper flakes if you like your casseroles spicier.

Bon appétit in Moroccan is شهية طيبة!



Moroccan Ground Beef Casserole

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup milk, preferably whole milk
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
Zest of a lemon
¾ cup green olives, chopped roughly
½ cup golden raisins
1 can (14-ounce) diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup mild cheese (Gouda, Swiss, mild cheddar), shredded
8 ounces macaroni, cooked and drained

Crumb Topping:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko or bread crumbs
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
½ cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray an 8-by-8-inch casserole dish with nonstick spray.

Cook ground beef over medium-high heat in large deep skillet until fully browned. Remove meat from pan and drain juices. Lower heat to medium and add olive oil, onion and carrots, stirring until tender and translucent, 5 to 6 minutes. Add garlic, stir a minute longer.

Add flour and butter, and stir until fully absorbed. Slowly add stock and milk, stirring until fully incorporated with no lumps.

Add all spices, lemon zest, olives and raisins. Stirring, add tomatoes and tomato paste.

Stir until sauce thickens. Turn off heat. Add cheese and cooked ground beef, macaroni and stir until fully mixed. Pour into baking dish and spread evenly. Top with topping.

Bake for 25 minutes, until top is golden brown.

Serves 4 to 6

__________

George’s notes:

• The official language of Morocco is Arabic; but with the long protectorate of France, many speak French. But their cuisine is a very diverse, with many influences from around the world.
• For more about Moroccan cuisine, checkout Wikipedia.

Beef Tenderloin...

My go to entrée when I am having a few friends in for dinner is a beef tenderloin. It can also be the star of the buffet menu for your holiday cocktail party. It's delicious whether served hot, at room temperature, or cold. Thinly sliced, it can serve a great many people. Even though a whole beef tenderloin is expensive, it is worth it for a special occasion.
Go to your local butcher and ask him to dress the tenderloin. That way you are cooking all beef without the waste, since he has trimmed it way; this will also brings down the cost.

It is doubtful that you will be adding beef tenderloin to your weekly meal rotation; but the holidays are a special time and, of course, special food. A beef tenderloin also gives you an opportunity for culinary creativity. I sometimes will marinate it overnight. An especially nice marinade for this purpose is ¼ cup olive oil, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon dried thyme. Or if I am grilling the tenderloin, I coat it with your favorite southwestern dry rub ~ 2 tablespoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, and ½ teaspoon dried oregano ~ and I roast as described below. The method I am using in this recipe gives you a beautifully rare middle.



Beef Tenderloin with Chili-Cured Onions & Yukon Gold Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 (24-ounce) beef tenderloin, seasoned with garlic & fresh ground black pepper

Onions:
2 cups vertically sliced red onions
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
2 teaspoons chili powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper

Potatoes:
4 Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

To prepare onions, combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl; toss well. Let stand 2 hours, stirring occasionally. In a microwave proof dish, place onions and microwave for 5 minutes. Drain and spray with cooking spray and microwave for an additional 5 minutes or until tender.

To prepare potatoes, combine potatoes, oil, salt and pepper; toss well. Arrange potato slices in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes. Turn potato slices over and bake an additional 20 minutes or until tender and lightly brown.

Rub tenderloin with olive oil and rub pepper and minced garlic over surface. In a preheated oven set at 450 degrees F and bake for 20 minutes medium-rare. Let stand for 5 minutes and slice into ½ -inch slices.

On each plate, place slices of tenderloin and potatoes.
Top beef with onions.

Serves 4

__________

George’s notes:

• Holiday entertaining should be a delight and never a chore; if it is the latter, you may as well be partying with Scrooge.
• Whether your get-together is spontaneous and casual ~ good friends devouring a potluck supper around the kitchen table or more structured, like a Saturday afternoon cocktail party or you are having a formal black-tie midnight New Years party ~ Your party should bear your personal touch; just remember, the fancier and more detailed the event, the more you'll need to do...

Yorkshire Pudding...

are not just with beef any more…

Similar to popovers, Yorkshire Pudding is actually a bread. It is light, spongy and fluffy… perfect for soaking up gravy, sauces or dessert creams. Traditionally, Yorkshire Pudding is cooked in a large tin underneath a roasting joint of meat, in order to catch the fat and juices that drip down, and then cut appropriately. Nowadays though, individual round puddings ~ baked in muffin trays or small skillets ~ are increasingly popular. I like to make them in muffin tins, so there is usually a dip in the center of the top, where the pudding refuses to rise and I can pour gravy into the “hole” or fill it with various sauces, much like a puff pastry shell.

All good cooks have their own favorite Yorkshire Pudding recipe, and this is mine! The recipe is actually very easy to make. It will produce the best, light and crisp pudding that you have ever tasted! I always use this recipe when I'm cooking roast beef and I find that it also goes perfectly with roast chicken or pork.

But, I like to fix them for breakfast or as a delicious dessert, too. That way I can serve them with a drizzle of melted butter & honey or fill them with sweet dessert creams & fruits.

Yorkshire Pudding

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (roughly) of beef drippings.
Substitute melted butter or bacon drippings, if you have no beef drippings

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Then stir in the milk, flour, and salt. Cover the batter with a towel and let it rest for a while to become bubbly. A while can be 2 minutes or half an hour… whichever you have.

Put about a tablespoon of drippings or melted butter into the bottom of each muffin cup and put just the drippings into the oven. Let the pan and drippings get hot (about 3-5 minutes).

Remove the pan, and quickly fill each muffin cup about halfway with the batter. Return the pan to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until toasted and “set”.

Makes 12

__________

George’s notes:

• In 1737 a recipe for 'A dripping pudding' was published in "The Whole Duty of a Woman" ~ Make a good batter as for pancakes; put in a hot toss-pan over the fire with a bit of butter to fry the bottom a little then put the pan and butter under a shoulder of mutton, instead of a dripping pan, keeping frequently shaking it by the handle and it will be light and savoury, and fit to take up when your mutton is enough; then turn it in a dish and serve it hot.
• Similar instructions were published in America eight years later by Hannah Glasse under the title of 'Yorkshire pudding'.
• Here is the recipe card given to me by a dear friend Helen Smythe from Wales, who called them ‘pudding breads’ and served them at every meal, as her bread serving.

Just Good Old Beef Stew...

This past week, beef chuck roasts were on sale and I immediately thought of making my good old beef stew. I grabbed some onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms and headed home to make a big pot of just good old beef stew. This classic stew is full of vitamin-rich winter vegetables and chunks of lean meat in a warming broth.

I didn't follow any specific recipe as I put this stew together. Instead, I fall back on techniques like searing and braising to get flavorful and tender meat, and then I taste as I go, until the stew was just right. To give the beef enough time to stew, I cook the meat first and then add the vegetables closer to the end of cooking. A beef chuck roast is the best choice of stew meat for this dish because it can hold up to long, slow cooking and has enough marbling to baste itself as it cooks. Don't be alarmed by the layers of fat within each cube of chuck; the fat melts out, leaving behind flavorful, fork-tender meat. After the dish is cooked, you will have an opportunity to remove the grease; it's easiest to do this after chilling the dish overnight in the refrigerator.

Leaner cuts of stew meat will not be as tender or flavorful, so resign yourself to degreasing after you cook the dish, rather than avoiding the fat on the front end. And consider this pearl of wisdom from Julia Child's The Way to Cook ~ "Cuts like the rib and rump will fall apart, and something like the eye of round will shred." That's not a pretty prospect, so stick with the chuck.

The secret to the best stew is making it a day (or even two days) ahead. A day in the fridge gives the flavors a chance to meld and develop. Working ahead has other advantages too ~ you can degrease the stew easily when the chilled fat solidifies on the surface and you can dish out the amount you need for that meal. I usually serve my stew with white rice, lots of crusty bread and a good Merlot. Enjoy!

Just Good Old Beef Stew

Ingredients:
4 pounds boneless beef roast, cut into 1½ -inch cubes
Vegetable oil for browning the meat
2 cups sliced onions
¾ cup sliced carrots
¾ cup sliced celery
1 bottle of medium-body, fruity, young red wine (divided)
4 large unpeeled garlic cloves, smashed
3 cups beef broth
3 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, drained
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
24 small frozen pearl onions, defrosted
3 cups quartered fresh mushrooms
5 tablespoons softened butter (divided)
3 tablespoons flour

Dry the meat thoroughly with paper towels – damp meat won't brown well. Film a frying pan with oil and set over moderately high heat. When very hot but not smoking, brown as many pieces of meat as will fit in one layer without crowding. Turn frequently to brown on all sides – 3 to 5 minutes; this is a very important flavor step, so don't take shortcuts. Transfer the pieces as they are done to a 3-quart, heavy-bottom, flameproof casserole or Dutch oven.
Preheat oven to 325 F.

Skim all but a spoonful of fat out of the frying pan. (If burned, discard all the fat and add fresh oil.) Add the sliced vegetables, stirring and tossing for 3 to 4 minutes to brown lightly before scraping them out over the beef. Pour a cup of the wine into the frying pan, swishing and scraping up any browned bits and coagulated juices. Pour the liquid into the casserole. Add the garlic, the remaining wine, and beef broth to the casserole to cover. Fold in the tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme and salt to taste. You should have enough liquid almost to cover the beef; add more beef broth if needed.

Bring the mixture to a simmer on top of the stove. Cover and transfer to the preheated oven and cook for about 3 hours, turning and basting the meat several times, until just fork-tender. Check the dish after 15 minutes to make sure it is not boiling; reduce oven temperature if it is bubbling too vigorously; it should maintain a simmer.

While the dish simmers, prepare the pearl onions and mushrooms. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy saucepan or skillet over moderately high heat until the foam subsides, then sauté onions, stirring occasionally, until browned in patches. Season with salt and pepper. Add water to come halfway up the sides, then simmer, partially covered, until onions are tender, about 15 minutes. Boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to a glaze, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside.

Heat the 1 tablespoon butter in a large, nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides. Add mushrooms and sauté, stirring, until brown and any liquid that the mushrooms give off is evaporated, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

When beef is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a colander set over a saucepan to collect all the liquid. Wash out the casserole and return the pieces of beef to it. Press the juices from the solids in the colander into the saucepan. Degrease the cooking liquid and taste very carefully for seasoning. You should have about 3 cups of liquid. Boil it down rapidly if its flavor needs concentrating. Remove from heat.

Using clean hands, blend flour and remaining 3 tablespoons of the butter into a paste with your fingers. Whisk the butter-flour paste into the degreased sauce. When thoroughly incorporated, bring the sauce to a boil to thicken. If not thick enough, repeat the process using ½ tablespoon each of flour and butter.

Add the sauce, prepared onions and sautéed mushrooms to the beef in the casserole and simmer for 2 minutes to blend the flavors. This dish is best if made a day or two ahead of serving, as its flavors meld and develop overnight. Cool, uncovered, before chilling, covered. If making ahead, it's easier to remove fat from the surface after chilling. If you can't make it a day or two before serving, at least time the preparation so that it sits at room temperature for 1 hour before serving. The dish may be reheated, covered, in a 350 F oven. For faster reheating, remove stew from the refrigerator an hour before putting in the oven.

Serves 8

__________

George’s notes:

• I usually divide the leftovers into portions that can be frozen for up to 2 months for later meals.

Shepherd’s Pie...

Some thirty odd years ago, I first had this very English dish in a country pub outside London and immediately fell in love with its simple, yet distinctive savory taste. Shepherd’s Pie, also called ‘cottage pie’, is comfort food at it’s finest. Flavorful ground meat is mixed with a simple blend of peas and carrots then topped with a creamy layer of buttery mashed potatoes. Once you’ve tasted the smooth texture and rich flavor of the potatoes whipped with butter you’ll want to start eating it straight out of bowl with a spoon. But for this recipe in particular, it’s worth waiting to experience the whole dish. Alone, ground meat and frozen vegetables may not seem like anything special. But when combined with the mashed potatoes into a Shepherd’s Pie, the result is the type of home cooked meal all of us wish was waiting for us at the end of a long day. I don’t know any one who doesn’t like shepherd’s pie and it makes a terrific impromptu dinner.


Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef or lamb
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup of wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 cup beef stock
1 cup English peas (can be frozen)
3 large potatoes
2½ tablespoons butter
½ cup milk
Salt & pepper to taste

Sauté the onions over a low heat in the olive oil until soft and translucent. Add the carrot, celery, garlic and sauté for five minutes. Turn up the heat and add the meat, breaking up the lumps and cooking until it has just lost the redness. Don’t over cook it at this point. Add the cup of wine, (white or red, whatever you have opened. If you don’t have any it’s not essential) and stir till it has evaporated the alcohol. Now put in the rest of the seasonings and pour in enough beef stock to only just cover the meat. Bring to a simmer, put on a lid and leave to cook at a simmer for 1-2 hours. The last 10 minutes, add the English peas.

The quantity of potatoes depends on how many you have to feed; you can have a thin layer of potato topping or a thick layer of potato. Peel the potatoes and boil them till soft. Then drain and mash them with the butter, milk and salt and pepper until they are soft, but not runny, mashed potatoes.



In a roasting dish or any ovenproof but not too shallow dish, put the cooked meat mixture in a thick layer, top with the mashed potatoes and smooth them out with a fork, so there are lines and swirls and peaks of potato that will brown nicely.

At this point, you can place in the refrigerator until needed. Just place the baking dish into a preheated oven set at 400 degree F for thirty minutes or until heated through and the top is browned and golden.

If you are planning on serving at the time you have assembled and the meat & potatoes have only just finished cooking and are still hot; you can just brown the top under the broiler and serve.

Serve with a tossed green salad.

Serves 6

Meatloaf with a twist…

With the economy still tight, we are all trying to finds ways to make ends meet and bring a little bit of panache to jazz up the dinner menu. What better idea, than an old family classic like meatloaf to satisfy the pocket book and serve the comfort of a homemade meal. Here is Paula Deen’s meatloaf recipe with a twist that will get them to the table. I serve it with roasted potato strips and a garden fresh salad; you’ll have ‘em asking for more.



Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf
"A hamburger lover’s meatloaf"

Ingredients:
1 pound ground chuck
10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 (8-ounce) package sharp Cheddar, grated
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup bread crumbs, toasted
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 (3-ounce) can French fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the ground chuck and next 8 ingredients, mixing well.

In a small bowl, combine the ketchup and mustard. Stir ¼ cup ketchup mixture into meat mixture, reserving remaining ketchup mixture.

Press meat mixture into a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan, or shape into a loaf and place on a rack in a broiler pan. Spread remaining ketchup mixture over loaf. Bake 40 minutes. Top with French fried onions; bake another 10 to 15 minutes, or until meat is no longer pink.

Serves 4 to 6

What’s for dinner tonight?

It’s always a challenge to come up with what to have for dinner night after night. I go through stages of what I like and dislike. Right now, for example, I love grilled steak and light simple fare. But with the cold nights and shorter day, one does not want to be outside grilling. So I need to come up with meals that are simple, fast, nutritious and hearty.

The recipe below is one I have made on several occasions and it can be made in advance. So, when I get home dinner is just minutes away from the table. Whatever I don't eat is another meal for another day.

Enjoy, and remember that the secret to good meatballs is top-quality ingredients, from the meat to the garlic, cheeses and herbs. If you like spicy foods just add more chili flakes.

Spaghetti and Meatballs with meat sauce

Ingredients:
For the meatballs
1 pound lean ground pork
1 pound lean ground beef
3 garlic cloves crushed and chopped finely
½ cup chopped Italian parsley
½ cup chopped basil and sage
⅔ cup bread crumbs
½ cup parmesan
½ cup ricotta
Zest of one lemon
One whole egg
1 teaspoon chili flakes
Salt
⅓ cup of olive oil

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients and add a touch of salt. Mix together and let rest in the fridge for up to one hour.

When ready to go, preheat oven to 375 degree F. Roll 2 tablespoon of mixture into balls. Heat olive oil in a large skillet and over med high heat. Add balls and brown on both sides. Transfer to the oven and cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Hold until ready to serve.
________
For the meat sauce
½ cup of olive oil
½ pound lean ground pork
½ pound lean ground veal
¼ teaspoon White pepper
½ teaspoon Salt
1 medium carrot peeled and diced
1 celery stalk diced
½ white onion diced
2 garlic cloves crushed and chopped
¼ cup of white wine
4½ cups chicken stock
¼ cup of tomato paste
One can of peeled plum tomatoes
¼ cup of sage leaves finely chopped
¼ cup of basil leaves finely chopped
1 lb of spaghetti (whole wheat if you prefer) cooked al dente
¼ cup of grated Parmesan
¼ cup of pancetta diced

In a large heavy pot heat half of the olive oil over a med high flame. Add the pork and the veal, season with white pepper and salt. Cook until browned, using a wooden spoon to break up the lumps. Remove from the heat and drain all fat through sieve. Reserve meat and discard the fat. Place the same pot over a medium high flame once again; you do not have to clean it as there is a lot of flavor still in there. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil in and place the carrot, celery, onion, pancetta and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the cooked meat, wine, chicken stock, tomato paste, canned tomatoes and herbs and simmer for one hour.

When ready to serve take warm pasta in a large pan add sauce and toss over a low flame with the parmesan. Place on a large plate put the warm meatballs on top, add some more basil, more cheese if you wish and drizzle with a touch of olive oil.

Steak au Poivre...

A classic French dish for which no two recipes are the same. Steak au Poivre ~ steak, coated with loosely cracked peppercorns and then cooked ~ uses peppercorns to form a crust on the steak when cooked and to provide a pungent but complementary counterpoint to the rich flavor of the high-quality beef. The peppercorn crust itself is made by placing the steak a bed of cracked black (or mixed) peppercorns. Typically, the steak is seared in a hot skillet with a small amount of butter and oil to cook it. The steak is seared at a high temperature to cook the outside quickly and form the crust while leaving the interior rare to medium rare. I use flavorful New York strip streaks, because their juices mingle so well with the coarse spicy pepper. The steak is then left to rest for several minutes and then served.
Steak au poivre is accompanied by a pan sauce consisting of reduced cognac, heavy cream, and the charded peppercorn bits from the bottom of the pan. I like to serve this steak with a salad and various types of potatoes, like Jason Cooks’ Oven Fries or Deb’s fingerling potatoes at Kahakai Kitchen. However you decided to serve it, Steak au Poivre will be a memorable and delicious dinner.

Steak au Poivre

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons black peppercorns, crushed
2 teaspoons white peppercorns, crushed
4 New York strip or sirloin steaks (6 to 8 oz. each), ¾ inch thick
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
⅓ cup minced shallots
1 tablespoon flour
¼ cup cognac or brandy
1 cup beef stock or canned broth
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Press peppercorns into both sides of the fillets; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Season with salt.

Using a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil until hot. Add steaks and cook on each side for 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Discard the fat wiping the skillet clean.

Add 1 tablespoon butter and shallots to skillet and cook for 2 minutes over medium-high heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the cognac and reduce, stirring for 1 minute.

Add stock, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Swirl in remaining butter and parsley.

Serve immediately with the sauce poured over the steak.

Slow-cooked Beef Stew...

In this day and age, when life seems to be controlled by many demands from all sides, here is a really great recipe you can use on those days when you need ease in the kitchen! It is very savory hearty slow-cooked beef stew. Just place all the ingredients in the slow-cooker and go about your day. Not only is it easy, the smells from your kitchen will have the family asking over & over, “When is dinner?”

Slow-cooked Beef Stew

Ingredients:
2 pounds lean beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes
⅓ cup dried bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, cut into thick bit size slices
6 medium red skinned new potatoes, quartered
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 teaspoon dried marjoram
⅓ cup quick-cooking tapioca
1 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup
1 cup beef broth
¾ cup frozen green peas, thawed

Combine bread crumbs with salt and pepper and toss with beef. Place coated beef cubes into a slow cooker and add onion, carrots, potatoes, celery, basil, tapioca, mushrooms, soy sauce, tomato soup and broth. Stir well, cover and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours or on high for 3 to 5 hours. About 20 minutes before serving, add peas.

Serve with a slice of crusty sourdough bread and a green leafy salad.

Serves 6