Shepherd's Pie

Whilst in the U.K. I picked up a little of the lingo as you may have noticed, but I also had the opportunity to do a bit of cooking.

One evening I prepared a Puttanesca sauce and served it over pasta for the entire group of about 20 that had come to Wales. The group included us, Nick and Kate, Liz and Ray Abbott, Nick's folks, a number of Kate's Peace Corps friends, and a few of Nick's friends. After a strenous day of hiking along the Pembrookeshire coast, they had returned with quite an appetite. I'd made two large pots of sauce and it was nearly all eaten with only a few servings leftover.

On New Year's Eve, Nick and I had planned to make Shepherd's Pie, a classic English dish consisting of minced lamb (English for ground lamb)and mashed potatoes. We purchased the ingredients in Bristol before leaving for Wales.

That evening we chopped onions and garlic and browned them off along with the lamb. At the end I needed to add some Worchestershire, but we'd forgotten it. I suggested a sauce called Daddies sauce popular in England. It tastes a bit like HP sauce which is available in the States, but has a bit more BBQ flavor to it. It doesn't really matter as it turned out. Nick declared my idea brilliant and so a few squirts of Daddies went into the lamb mixture. As I stirred it in I also poured a cup of red wine in with it and stirred until it was reduced to a thick mixture.

In another pot we boiled peeled potatoes until ready for mashing. Adding butter we mashed the potatoes until smooth. We spread the potatoes over the lamb mixture as if frosting a cake. Into a very warm oven it went, the Shepherd's Pie is already cooked so it just needs to be kept warm until serving. However, I think it would have been helpful to broil the Pie a few minutes until the potatoes were golden brown.

Shepherd's Pie

2 lbs ground lamb
1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic--minced
2 cups carrots - chopped Or add in some peas as well
2 lbs potatoes--peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)

2 T Olive Oil
4 beef boullion cubes
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup red wine
Salt and pepper

1. Peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch chunks, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).
2. Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil until tender over medium heat (10 mins).

3. Add in lamb, crumble in boullion cubes and cook until browned off. Add carrots and or peas into mixture and cook until tender. Add worchestershire sauce and wine to mix and cook until reduced add mixture begins to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Mash potatoes in bowl with butter, season to taste.
5. Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.
7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.
Serves four to six.

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Shepherd's Pie, a big salad and 15 bottles of wine later, the group was ready to step out to the pub and an evening of New Years revelry. The pub was stuffed with revellers all with one thing on their minds--making their way to the bar to get a pint! At the stroke of midnight Auld Lang Syne was heard about the pub and a great deal of hugging and kissing with friends and strangers alike.

Happy New Year to one and all!

A Fairytale Wedding

Your mother and father read them to you from the time you were a little tyke sitting in their lap. You read about them yourself when you were finally able to read on your own. But did you ever think you would be suddenly pulled into the pages of one and experience it first hand? Of course not! They're only fairytales and they never actually happen to anyone unless they are royalty or exceedingly rich.

But last Saturday, January 3, 2009, my wife and I not only experienced it first hand, but were part of it; a fairytale wedding with our own daughter as the princess.

The Ashton Court Manor House needed no help to look the part of a royal palace and our daughter looked every bit the princess as I escorted her down the aisle while the choir sang My Spirit Sang All Day. Handing her off to her beloved Prince Nick, was a bittersweet moment for me despite having absolutely no reservations to their marriage. This was my little girl all grown up and heading off into life on her own with the love of her life, arm and arm.

The ceremony lasted about a half hour and included poetry readings, scripture, more beautiful singing by Exultate, the choir with which both Nick and Kate sing.

The wedding party and guests retired to another beautifully appointed room of the manor for champagne, gin and tonics, appetizers and jazz. The wedding party also drifted outdoors long enough to have lots of photos taken. The pub was open and everyone mingled.

A British tradition of a Wedding Breakfast was served after a bit. Though it in no way resembled a breakfast, roast beef with veggies and Yorkshire Pudding was served. Speeches were made by the bride's father (me), the Best Man, the Maid of Honor and the Bride and Groom. I had agonized for months over this speech, what to say, not to say, etc. It was so important to me that it said what I wanted said, needed to say at that moment and that it would be said well. Apparently, based on the comments I received anyway, the speech was a hit. The Best Man roasted Nick with hilarious stories, the Maid of Honor said sweet things about the bride and the bride and groom expressed thanks to those who helped make the wedding happen and to their parents who made them happen!

More jazz, this time a Gypsy Jazz band and then back into the Music Room where the day had started for dancing to DJ Pat.

The bride and groom flew off to Sicily for a 10 day honeymoon and everyone else headed back to their lives of mundane normalcy. We too were pulled out of the storybook and back to our lives at school and pulling our pants on one leg at a time. For our bride and groom, the fairytale continues and the princess and her prince ride off into the sunset living happily ever after.

Kate and Nick's Ashton Court Wedding--2009

Green Beans and Bacon

My recent review of The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan set me to thinking about the Okie influences in my upbringing. Of course, whenever I get to thinking about that I inevitably find my way to the topic of food. The table, or "the board"as Gramma Willie referred to it, was the focal point of the home. It was where the family always gathered twice a day weekdays and three times on the weekends.

My Okie Gramma Willie served up simple great food and plenty of it whenever we would visit her ramshackle home in Bakersfield, California in the 50's and 60's. Fried chicken, black-eyed peas, home-made biscuits and gravy. The traditions of her table also influenced the food that went on my mother's table.

As I was preparing a Christmas dinner menu for Christmas 2008, I thought of my Gramma Willie's grean beans with bacon. So simple and about as far away from anything gourmet as you can get, yet they are so incredibly rich with a smoky flavor of bacon.

The recipe:

Gramma Willie's Green Beans with Bacon

6 cans of Blue Lake green beans

6 slices of bacon

salt and pepper to taste

Open all the cans of green beans and dump the entire contents (yes, even the water) into a crock pot. Slice the bacon into chunks about 1-inch wide. Add into crock pot with beans. A few grinds of cracked black pepper and salt the beans to taste. Adjust seasoning after cooking. Turn crock pot on to low and let simmer for 10-14 hours. The longer the better! Beans will darken in color, mush down and bacon will cook through. Stir beans occasionally. Serves 8-10 as a side dish.

Yeah, I know it seems too simple, but remember that a lot of the best things in life are. Try it if you haven't. I think you'll love it.

Note: You can use fresh green beans, it just takes longer to cook them down. I have tried it and I still like the canned variety better for this recipe. Probably just my Okie genes! You can also add some sauted shallots or onions and you can also fry up the bacon before adding to the green beans. Options!

Bon apetit!

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Great Books for Great Readers #1

I steer to one side of my series of book reviews centered around cooking and highlight a book that gives life to an era in American history that has a special place in my heart. The book--The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan has won a National Book Award for a beautiful, yet heartbreaking story.

I grew up in a family whose roots were literally in the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. My mother's parents were what were called Okies, a derisive term that labeled a group of folks trying to escape a life of misery and hoping to restart their lives by moving to other areas of America. Many went to California as did my grandparents. Californians rejected them, forcing many to turn back at the borders; others who made it in were not allowed to settle in towns so they built ramshackle Hoovervilles on the edge of towns. Vigilante citizens often with the tacit approval of the law bulldozed or burned many Hoovervilles forcing the residents to keep moving. Those that found work often only found more misery.

Parts of Texas, Colorado, Arkansas, Oklahoma and other midwestern states were opened to the land rushes and homesteading that allowed Americans and foreighers to have a last chance at getting a piece of America just by settling and farming or ranching the land. For these farmers this was a dream come true. The virgin land was ready to be tilled and planted and they tore up millions of acres. They planted wheat and some even got wealthy as long as the wheat prices stayed high during and right after World War I. But the price began to fall over the years until the price paid for wheat went below what it cost to produce. Farmers who had ben given extensions of credit bought tractors and cars and built homes. But when they could no longer pay their bills, they found themselves in big trouble. As if that weren't enough, the Great Depression struck in 1929 and banks began to fail across America. Many of these farmers lost all they had saved putting them deeper into debt. Then the 1930's saw a horrendous seven year drought. Suddenly nothing would grow. Poor agricultural practices soon had the parched land beginning to literally blow away. Dust storms of epic proportions, wind blowing across the prarie tore lose the top soil and blew it across America. Combined with blistering summer heat and frigid cold winters, misery made up their daily lives. These courageous people tried to stay and thousands died trying--trying to hang onto a dying dream.

Franklin Roosevelt was elected president and slowly began creating programs to help, but for many people it was too late. Whole towns simply disappeared in the roiling sand storms or were abandoned by those trying to escape. Areas once inhabited by thousands today count only hundreds of citizens if any at all.

This story is simultaneously heart breaking and awe inspriring. The greatest generation is often decribed as those brave souls who fought World War II, but the Okies of the Dust Bowl era were every bit as brave and courageous at a time when their own country all but forgot about them, even rejected them.

I long ago found great respect for my grandparents and their story as migrant farm workers during that historic period. Having read this story gives me even greater reason to honor their memory for the sacrifices they made that gave me so many opportunities they were denied.

For American history buffs this is a must read!

Great Books for Great Cooks # 2

Alice Waters & Chez Panisse

by Thomas McNamee

A history of Chez Panisse, culinary mecca for many slow foods, seasonal and California cuisine afficionados, is chronicled in this book by Thomas McNamee. McNamee was given unprecedented access to the cast and crew of this famous bistro in Berkeley, California.

Alice Waters, the founder, part owner and sometime chef of Chez Panisse is the central character of the story, but the many other characters (and they are characters) who have come through her kitchen and dining room as well as her personal life are introduced.

Alice Waters introduced sustainable gardens in schools and museums; she even tried to convince the White House to create one. She was able to convince school districts to begin cooking according to the seasons, using organic foods cooked from scratch rather than the commonly used procedure of processed foods. Her efforts encouraged small local entreprenurial farmers and ranchers to begin producing foods organically for her restaurant's needs--fruit and veggies, seafood, beef, cheese, etc. The local availability of these foods created a demand which influenced communities far and wide to begin supporting farmer's markets which have proliferated across America.

Today Alice's ideas have spread across the country, even influencing my own school which has created a vital garden right across the street providing vegetables for our cafeteria salad bar in the fall and spring each year. Our school also offers fresh fruit to students daily, much of which is grown right here in Washington state.

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse is also terrific look inside the world of this famous restaurant, the people who have made it famous and the shaky financial history that has come close so many times to closing the doors of this treasure only to have been saved by one benefactor after another.

One of my dreams is to one day walk through the doors of Chez Panisse and spend an evening at a table enjoying not only a great meal, but to bask in the glow of history. Alice Water's influence has changed the way millions cook and the way they think about the food they are cooking--where it came from, who grew it, and how best to prepare it. Thank you, Alice!

Basta Pasta

Homemade pasta! Sounds great, huh? Too much trouble though, huh? Well, now, think about it for a minute.

Pasta isn't that hard to make. There are plenty of easy to use devices on the market to help you out and the fresh pasta that results can not be compared to any of that dried stuff on your grocery shelf.

Wanna make a flavored pasta? Tomato, spinach, squid ink, lemon-pepper? Easy, too! You just need to have a few ingredients on hand.

The real problem is which pasta to make. You should know there are literally hundreds of different kinds of pasta, each with its own purpose, tradition, place of birth in Italy. From angel hair pasta's fine strings to the wide lasagne pasta, to shells of all sizes, tubes, wagon wheels and bow ties, rice-like orzo to stuffable manicotti. The types, sizes, shapes and flavors are almost limitless.

So, what tools do you need? Not much really. Or, you can buy an extruding type machine with dies. They come in all price ranges. I bought my first one from Ron Popeil. Yeah, the pocket fisherman and ginzu knives guy. He actually makes a pretty good machine. I bought mine used on e-bay real cheap and it came with 30 dies, each making a different shape of pasta.

You can also buy very expensive extruders with better dies and more horsepower.

A pasta roller of some type is pretty imperative as the alternative is a lot of pretty hard work--rolling and rolling. The pasta roller machines roll the pasta dough into sheets, thinner and thinner until it is ready to be cut into fettachini or spaghetti, etc. These type machines are limited as to the types of pasta they'll make but they have a reputation for longevity and they do what they do very well. Imperia and Atlas are the most popular brands and they can come with an electric motor. These machines can run $75 and up.

The Kitchen-Aid mixer has a pasta roller option attachement that runs about $100. It will flatten dough, make angel hair, lasagne, or spaghetti.

All of these machines have limitations all have their pluses. Basically if you can get your dough rolled out flat and thin you can cut it or shape it into all sorts of pasta types yourself.

Or, you can make it from scratch on a counter top as in the old style or in a bowl or a food processor. There will be those that turn there noses up at one or more of these options, but in the end you will still have made fresh pasta at a fraction of the cost of the store brands.

Here is the recipe for a basic handmade pasta dough. If you bought and extruder, follow the recipe in their book.

Making the Dough by Hand

Ingredients:

3 1/2 to 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
4 extra large eggs
1 extra large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Pile the flour in a mound on the countertop.
Make a deep well in the center of the flour.
Break the eggs into the well.
Add the salt and oil.

With the fork, gently start pushing flour into the eggs and oil and mixing them together so that the eggs and flour blend.
Mix together until the dough forms a firm, solid ball.
The dough should be in a solid, firm ball that is not sticky. Add more flour if it is too wet. Don't over knead. Wrap the ball in cellophane and set aside for 30 minutes.

Now you need that pasta maker. Roll the dough out according to the thickness needed for the type pasta you are making. Some need to be thinner, other thicker. Ravioli, for an example, needs to be thinner. Tagliatelle and Fettucine need to be thicker. The owner's manual will guide you through this part.

There are other tools you can add to your pasta arsenal. I like my ravioli cutter. Use it to crimp the edges of a sheet of flat pasta dough with the filling laid out and the econd sheet laid over the first. The cutter crimps the edge sealing the filing inside the individual ravioli.

I use a drying rack to hang the still moist pasta after extruding it. It hangs over the rack until dry when it can then be packaged for long term storage. But you can also freeze your pasta for a time if you don't plan to use it all right away.

Finding good recipes for different flavors of pasta is as easy as an Internet search and there are plenty of options out there. It comes down to finding the recipe that sounds good to you. White sauce, tomato based sauces, aioli sauce--what's your pleasure?

To wrap up this blog episode, here is my recipe for Tre-Tinta Pasta Puttanesca.

Mangia!

Tre-Tinta Pasta Puttanesca

Pastas:

Egg noodle fettucine
Tomato fettucine
Spinach fettucine
Three colors honoring the colors of the Italian flag.

Alternative: Use only one color of pasta and purchase a high quality pasta pre-made.

Sauce ingredients:

Italian plum tomatoes either fresh or canned
Olive oil
Garlic
Onion
Red pepper flakes
Marinated Artichoke Hearts
Kalamata Olives pitted
Capers
Lemon zest
Fresh Basil
Fresh Rosemary
Sea salt and Fresh ground pepper to taste
Sweet and hot sausage links
Roasted Marinated Chicken Breast


Quick Tomato Sauce: 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 pound sweet and or spicy Italian sausages sliced on the bias ½ inch thick
And or chunks of roasted chicken breast pulled from the bone
1/4 medium onion, diced (about 3 tablespoons) 3 cloves garlic, chopped 3 1/2 cups whole, peeled, canned tomatoes in puree, (one 28-ounce can), roughly chopped Sprig fresh thyme Sprig fresh basil 2 teaspoons kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the sausage until beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the onion, garlic and red pepper flakes stirring, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes more. Add the tomatoes and the herb sprigs, olives, capers, lemon zest, artichoke hearts and chicken and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Cook pasta in large pot of well salted water until just al dente. Drain but do not rinse cooked pasta. Arrange pastas on large platter according to color of Italian flag. Ladle finished sauce over the top of the pasta. Serve.

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Turkey Leftovers?

Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is past and that turkey carcass is looking more and more boney, maybe it is time to think about what can be done with it. Sure a quick trip to the garbage can would solve the entire problem, but what a waste of a lot of flavorful potential stock chalk full of vitimins and minerals and, if grandma was correct, healing power for the common cold.

Toss the bones from that turkey carcass into a stock pot and cover it with fresh cold water. Set it to simmer on the stove. Toss in a few pepper corns and a bay leaf. Quick chop an onion and toss it in. Then rough chop some celery (here is a place to make use of the celery leaves usually thrown away unless you are making Bloody Marys) and carrot and toss it in along with a garlic clove or two. Simmer this stock for a couple of hours covered keeping an eye on the liquid level.

Pour off the liquid through a colander and some cheese cloth reserving the liquid. No need to worry about clarifying this stock. The rustic form is fine for our intent here.

Toss the veggies out. Pick over the bones pulling off any meat left behind. Toss it into the reserved stock. Toss the bones out with the veggies.

Next, chill the stock overnight. The next day skim the fat hardened on the top of the stock which will have turned into a gelee due to the protein present in the stock (its like gelatin).

Reheat the stock and reduce it slowly until it has become the strength you like. The more it is reduced the stronger the turkey flavor. You should be able to get a good 6-8 cups of delicious stock from a 15-20 pound bird.

Add in whatever you like. This depends entirely on what direction you want to go with the stock. Add some soba noodles, tofu, ginger and go Asian. Spice it up with jalapeno and cilantro and a little lime to go south of the border.

If you have any more turkey meat left over, chopp it or pull it from the bones and toss it in. Add in any carrots, celery, onion, pasta, beans, rice, peas, whatever you like. Don't add in too much or it can overwhelm the amount of broth so your soup will turn into a stew (unless of course that is your intent).

Simmer your concoction until the veggies are cooked through. Serve immediately in soup bowls with your choice of garnish--rosemary, sage, a little sour cream, whatever.

Away at work all day? Cook the whole thing in a crock pot on low and oh, the smell that will welcome you on a cold winter's night!

Bon appetit!

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