Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

This is a very easy week night dinner that can be pulled together with very little effort.  The inspiration came from Bonnie at From a Writer’s Kitchen.  She in turn adapted the recipe from The New York Times.  This begs the question “when does a  recipe become your own”?   However I arrived at the finished dish, it is a good one.

We are packing up the house in preparation for our return to Florida for the winter.  I had some bratwurst in the freezer, sage in the garden and linguini in the pantry.  It is almost as easy as that.  Throw in some cream or half and half and a bit of Parmesan and dinner is ready.

I served this with leftovers from the sage financiers I made here.

PASTA WITH SAUSAGE, SAGE AND CREAM

1/2 pound linguini cooked according to package directions
4 bratwurst sausages, cut into pieces and cooked
12 to 16 sage leaves
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 cup cream or half and half
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

While the pasta is cooking:

1.  Saute the sage leaves in the olive oil over medium heat until crisp.  This takes only about 30 sec per side. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
2.  Cut the sausages into half inch pieces and saute them in the same oil until lightly browned, adding the garlic at the last minute and saute until lightly golden in color.  Remove and set aside.
3.  Pour off the fat from the pan and stir in the cream or half and half.  Bring it almost to the boil, stirring.  Reduce the heat and stir the pasta in. Save some of the pasta water.  Correct the seasoning.  Add the sausages and heat through.  Add a little pasta water if it is too thick.
4.  Serve with a scattering of sage leaves and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan.

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Photo Courtesy of The New York Times

I picked up a copy of The New York Times while traveling recently.  It was the Wednesday edition which always includes the Dining section.  It featured a column by Melissa Clark on making a brisket you can be proud of; one that is not dry and chewy.  You can read the article here.  The key to a good brisket is in the cut that you use.  Most supermarkets carry the first cut, which in our lean-conscious era is the preferred choice.  But the fattier second cut of the brisket, sometimes called the deckle, braises better and retains the juiciness that the first cut often lacks.  But finding the second cut can be a problem.  This is where having a friendly butcher shop comes in handy.

Photo courtesy of Mountain Xpress

We are fortunate to have such a butcher shop in our area.  The Chop Shop in Asheville is there to serve all of the needs of people who are looking for a personal touch when it comes to buying meat.  Owner Josh Wright and butcher Karen Fowler buy whole carcasses of meat from local purveyors.  Buying locally ensures quality and buying whole carcasses makes it possible to fulfill orders for every cut available.  They are there to answer questions about cooking methods and suggestions on uses of lesser known cuts of meat.  Karen was pleased with my request for the second cut of brisket.  She said that most people judge a piece of meat by how lean it is.  That might be a criteria when the meat is cooked quickly, but if you are braising meat slowly, the extra fat melts and keeps the leaner portions moist.

I made some changes to the original recipe, but the most important step suggested is critical.  This is a recipe that benefits from cooking it at least a day ahead.  The fat layer that forms when it is refrigerated can easily be removed.  The sauce becomes fat free and is delicious drizzled on the tender meat and potatoes.  What I omitted were the plums.  It was suggested that the plums would add a sweet overtone to the dish, but I was looking for a more meaty flavor.  You can find the original recipe in the article listed above.  Here is my version.

BRAISED BRISKET WITH PORT (adapted from The New York Times)

1 brisket (4 to 5 pounds), preferably second cut
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 cup ruby port
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 bunch of thyme, tied with twine
2 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
Beef broth if needed if sauce reduces too much
Thyme leaves, for garnish

Season brisket all over with salt and pepper.  Heat oven to 325 degrees F.  Place a very large Dutch oven over high heat.  Add oil.  Place brisket in pot and cook, with moving, until browned, about 7 minutes per side.  Transfer to a plate.

Add onions to pot and reduce heat to medium-high.  Cook onions, tossing occasionally, until golden brown around the edges and very tender.  Add sliced garlic near end of cooking time.  Pour in port and wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.  Stir in thyme, whole cloves, and bay leaves.  Return meat and any juices to the pot.  Cover pot and transfer to oven.  Cook, turning occasionally until meat is completely fork tender about 4 hours.

Let brisket cool completely in the pot, then refrigerate, covered, overnight. (This makes it easier to remove the fat from the top with a slotted spoon.)  Put meat on a plate and reheat sauce.  Add beef broth to the sauce if it has reduced too much.  Strain sauce.  Return to pot.  Return meat to pot and reheat the casserole in a 300 degree oven for about 45 minutes.  Slice meat and serve with the sauce garnished with thyme leaves if you like.

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The first time I ever had Hachis Parmentier was in a French restaurant that had just opened in our home town in North Carolina.  It was almost twenty years ago.  My love of French cooking was already established but I had never heard of this dish before.  I loved the earthiness of the minced beef filling and the fluffy mashed potatoes flavored with Gruyere cheese.  It was like an amped up version of cottage or shepherd’s pie.

When I bought Dorie Greenspan’s new cookbook, Around My French Table, last year I bookmarked her recipe for this casserole.  What intrigued me about her version of hachis parmentier was the option of using cubed steak instead of chunks of beef.  She also included sausage in the minced meat for the filling.

But the real star of this dish is the mashed potato topping.  The potatoes are lighter than normal because they use more milk and cream.  Also the Emmenthal (French Gruyere) cheese give them such lip-smacking flavor, that I was in danger of devouring the whole dish by myself.

There are a lot of steps to putting the casserole together, but they can be done in stages.  Believe me, it is worth your time.

HACHIS PARMENTIER (Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table)

FOR THE BEEF AND BOUILLON
1 lb cube steak cut into small pieces
1 onion,sliced
1 carrot, cut into 1 inch slices
1 celery stalk cut into 1 inch slices
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
2 sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
5-7 black peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups of water

Add all of the ingredients into a large dutch oven, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for
about an hour and a half until the meat is tender and the broth is flavorful. Skim off foam in the early stages.  Remove the beef from the broth and set aside. You can also reserve the vegetables if you’d like to use them or discard them.  If you want to use them, cut them into small dice.  Strain the broth through a sieve and reserve for the next step. You will likely have more bouillon than you’ll need.

FILLING
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 lb of sausage, removed from casing
Beef from the bouillon step, cut into very small pieces by hand plus vegies if using
1 cup of bouillon cooking liquid
1 beef bouillon cube
1 teaspoon tomato paste
Salt and ground pepper to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. When your pan is hot, add the olive oil, followed by the sausage.
Break the sausage up into small pieces as it cooks. As soon as it is just barely cooked through, add in the beef, vegies and the tomato paste and combine. Add in the bouillon and the bouillon cube. Depending on the amount of meat you have you may need a little more or less than a cup. Cook to allow the boullion cube to dissolve.  You want the mixture to be moist and bubbly but not soupy. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to a casserole dish (see Putting it all Together below). You can also reserve mixture in the fridge until you’re ready to make the final dish.

TOPPING
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup milk
1/4 half and half
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup of Gruyere cheese or Emmenthal cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon of butter to dot on top

Place the potatoes in a cold dutch oven or large soup pot and cover with water by a couple of inches. Add a
generous pinch of salt, then bring to a boil over medium high heat. Keep at a slow boil until the potatoes are soft. Drain and transfer back into the pot (the warm pot will keep your potatoes warm) and mash with a potato masher or run through a food mill. Add in milk, half and half, and butter and mix until the consistency is smooth. A whisk is helpful here. You want your potatoes to be a little more moist than you would for stand-alone mashed potatoes.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spoon the filling into a 2 qt.casserole dish (Dorrie recommentds a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate).  Press the filling down with the back of the spoon, making it even and flat. Spoon the
mashed potatoes on top of the filling and spread evenly over the whole surface. Make sure to “seal” the edge of the casserole with the potatoes. Sprinkle the cheeses evenly over the top of the potatoes, then dot with the butter. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  I turned on the broiler at the end of the cooking time to brown the top better.

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Soup season is upon us.  So many of my favorite blogs are featuring delicious concoctions in a pot; everything from Pasta e fagiolo to Indian-spiced lentils and lamb stew.  Everyone has such warming, stick-to-the-ribs recipes.  This chicken gnocchi soup came about because it was what I had in the pantry and fridge.

The night before I made the soup we had a roasted chicken from an organic bird for which I had gladly paid a premium price.  I flavored it with rosemary, tarragon and lemon.  I turned the pan drippings into a light sauce by adding a little more chicken broth thickened with cornstarch and adding more tarragon.  It was delicious with tarragon flavored rice pilaf.  With a half of a chicken leftover and the pan drippings, I knew I wanted to make a soup.  I did not want to waste one iota of that succulent bird.

In my pantry was a package of mini-gnocchi, which you can find on the pasta aisle of your supermarket,  a box of chicken broth, and onions.  The fridge yielded carrots, celery, broccoli  spears and half and half.  I was good to go.

This was a most satisfying soup and it was easy to make.  Some of the components were influenced by the Chicken Gnocchi Soup that is served at Olive Garden.  But basically it was influenced by what I had on hand.

“There is nothing like soup.  It is by nature eccentric: not two are ever alike, unless of course you get your soup in a can.”   Laurie Colwin, Home Cooking (1988).

CHICKEN GNOCCHI SOUP

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, shredded
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme sprigs
1 pound of cooked, cubed chicken (Or 1/2 of a roasted chicken)
4 cups chicken broth
Drippings or gravy from roasted chicken if you have it
1 16 ounce package mini potato gnocchi
2 cups blanched broccoli florets
2 cups half and half
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat.  Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic and thyme and cook until the onion is softened.  Add the chicken cubes and broth and cook over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes.  Add the gnocchi and cook until dumplings come to the top (about 5 minutes).  Add broccoli and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes.  Stir in half and half and heat until hot but not boiling.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.

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This salad is a last hurrah to Summer.  It showcases the late peaches of the season and an organic fennel bulb that I picked up at the market.  With those I made a peach salsa to garnish my grilled chicken and salad greens.

The salsa also includes roasted red peppers and onions.  It made enough to have on hand for other uses over the next few days.

The inspiration for this dish came from a wonderful new cookbook that I purchased last month.  One of my favorite restaurants in Asheville, NC is The Tupelo Honey Cafe.

The name Tupelo Honey comes from a special honey produced by bees that get their nectar from a rare tupelo tree that grows in the river basins of NW Florida.  It has a distinct flavor and changes slightly from year to year.  The Tupelo Honey Cafe also has a distinct flavor.  It is a reflection of the new South where grits become grits with goat cheese and fried chicken becomes nutty fried chicken with sweet potato mash.  The plain biscuit becomes a ginormous biscuit with tomato shallot gravy and a BLT becomes a southern fried chicken BLT.  These are just a few of the riffs on Southern classics that are served at The Tupelo Honey Cafe.  Chef Brian Sonoskus and co-author Elizabeth Sims have recently come out with The Tupelo Honey Cafe Cookbook.

I love the unique recipes in this book.  I also love the concept behind the recipes.   One of the first chapters is “The Larder”.  These recipes are for salsas, gravies, sauces, dressings, spreads and preserves.  They are the keys to the great flavors that make all of the recipes shine.

The peach fennel salsa gives this salad a kick, but the homemade pecan vinaigrette is also the perfect addition to the whole flavor profile.

The chicken is marinated in pineapple juice, olive oil, soy sauce, garlic and ginger before it is sauteed on a grill pan.  There are 4 recipes to follow to bring the whole dish together. But it is so worth the time that it takes because, once it is prepped, it can all be pulled together at the last minute.  It reminds me of a restaurant kitchen where each component is made ahead and ready to go for the final flourish and presentation.   I love this concept.  Next I will try the Sweet Potato Pancakes with Peach Butter and Spiced Pecans.  See what I mean?

PEACHY GRILLED CHICKEN SALAD WITH PECAN VINAIGRETTE

For the Chicken:
3 to 4 boneless chicken breasts
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger

Combine pineapple juice, olive oil, soy sauce, garlic and ginger.  Add chicken breast and marinate in fridge for 2 to 4 hours.  Remove from marinade and saute on a preheated ridged grill  pan or in an iron skillet turning once until cooked through. about 4 minutes per side.  Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, let rest and then slice thinly.

For the Peach Fennel Salsa:
1/2 cup diced fresh fennel (bulb, stalk, and feathery leaves, tough outer layer discarded)
2 cups peeled and diced peaches (about 4 peaches)
1 cup diced roasted red bell pepper (I used the jarred variety)
1/2 cup diced red onion
4 teaspoons roasted garlic oil (I cooked 4 whole garlic cloves in 1/4 cup olive oil for about 20 minutes)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine the fennel, peaches, bell peppers, onion, garlic oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl.  Refrigerate in an airtight container for at least 30 minutes.  The salsa can be kept refrigerated for 2 days.

For the Pecan Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 1/2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons tupelo honey (or what you have)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup canola oil
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Pulling it All Together:

Place salad greens in individual bowls.  Top with chicken slices and salsa.  Serve with the vinaigrette drizzled over the top.  Garnish with a fennel frond if desired.

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