IFN: French Fare

Old post...

I don't know how reputable these particular recipe is in terms of its "French" origin, but it was amazing either way! (At least the site I looked at mentioned it as French... so if the internet says it, it must be true, right?)

We had amazing French Onion Soup (with made up wine flavor since I didn't have any on hand), Rosemary Lemon Chicken, New Potatoes with Butter and Parsley, and Honey Baked Brie for dessert. TASTY!!!

French Onion Soup
serves 2

1/2 c. unsalted butter
2 large onions, sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 bay leaf, crushed
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
1/2 c. red wine (or 1/2 c. grape juice, short 1 T. + 1 T. red wine vinegar)
1 1/2 T. flour
2 cans beef broth
1 baguette, sliced (3 slices per serving)
1/4 pound grated Gruyere (or mozzarella)

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and seasonings. Cook until onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25-30 minutes. Add the wine (or wine substitute), bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry. (If using the substitute and after 10 minutes there is still liquid, drain the extra liquid off.) Dust the onions with the flour, stir, and turn the heat to medium low so the flour doesn't burn. Cook for 10 minutes. Add the beef broth and simmer for 10 minutes or more. Add additional seasonings if desired.

There are two methods for finishing it off. If you don't have cups or bowls (to serve individual servings in) that can go in the oven,  then place the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer, sprinkle with cheese, and broil until golden and bubbly (3-5 minutes).

Ladle the soup and float the cheese croutons on top.

If you have stoneware to go in the oven either under the broiler or oven, broil the baguette slices until golden brown on each side (2-3 minutes - browner is better if you don't like soggy bread). Place a crouton at the bottom, ladle the soup into the serving bowl or cup. Cover the top of the soup and croutons with soup and place in the oven or under the broiler. Heat until cheese is melted and browned.

*notes* sometimes I just use red wine vinegar instead of "red wine." It doesn't taste quite the same, but works in a pinch. Also... sometimes I just throw cheese in this and dip the bread if I'm feeling particularly lazy.

The Gruyere is really good, and some chefs will swear by it for their soup. I didn't think it was worth the extra cost. I will stick with mozzarella next time.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken
1/2 - 1 chicken breast per serving
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. lemon juice
1 t. lemon zest (I like to use more)
1/4 c. dry white wine (cooking)
3 T. fresh chopped rosemary
1 clove garlic, crushed and chopped
3/4 t. salt
Rosemary sprigs for garnish if desired.

Stir the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, white wine, rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper until thoroughly combined. Pour the marinade into a bag or glass dish. Add the chicken and turn to make sure all is coated. Turn throughout the marinating process. I marinated my chicken about 8 hours. It was delicious. I'm sure overnight would be fine.

Grill or fry in a skillet with a little oil and serve with rosemary garnish.

Parsleyed New Potatoes
3/4 lb. baby Yukon Gold potatoes, halved or quartered
1 T. butter
2 T. chopped parsley (Italian)
1/3 t. salt
1/3 t. pepper

Combine potatoes and 2 t. water in a microwave-safe bowl and cover with vented plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 6 minutes. Test with a fork. Microwave more if needed. Stir in butter, parsley, salt, and pepper. Cover.

Baked Honey Brie
1 round of Brie
3 T. honey
Bread (I used the same baguette as with the soup)

Preheat the oven to 375F. Place Brie on ovenproof serving plate and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cheese is hot throughout. Garnish the baked Brie with honey and serve with bread.

Cheers!

St. Paddy's Day Feast

Confession. Every year I had to steel myself to eat corned beef. Why did I keep making it? Well, because I knew that I actually kind of liked it when I did eat it, but it was just a mindset thing that made it somewhat iffy.

But this year, no problem! It was awesome! I tried a new version of our traditional meal (note, this meal isn't really traditionally Irish, it is Irish-American, but then again, so is the way we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, so I guess it's cool). So this is how it went down.

Roasted corned beef, roasted/slightly steamed cabbage, and roasted root veggies, served with (root)beer in dark glass bottles. And it was delish. Thanks to The Pioneer Woman for the inspiration with the whole balsamic reduction glaze for the cabbage. It was Ah-mazing. Look:

Even Bubs liked it and ate a bunch!

Sometimes I'll make Irish Soda Bread too, but not this year. We used to watch Waking Ned Devine, but our movie watching isn't what it used to be with a little one here. I use corned beef from the store. Some people go all crazy and brine their own meat... I say "Ain't Nobody Go Time for That!" It seriously takes hours and hours, and unless you own a ranch and butcher your own beef, you still have to pay for the original roast! Without further stalling...

St. Patrick's Day Feast

Corned Beef
        1 package corned beef (2-4 lbs)
        Fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 325. Rinse off roast. Place in dutch oven or baking pan fat-side up. If the meat came with a spice packet, sprinkle that and a generous amount of black pepper (2-3 tablespoons) and rub in. Cover with the lid or aluminum foil and bake for 2 ½-3 hours. Uncover and continue baking for 30-45 minutes more and check with a fork. Fork should slide in with little to no resistance. If not fork tender, continue cooking for 20 minutes increments until done.

Roasted Cabbage & Root Veggies
1 small-medium cabbage, cut into 8 wedges
Root veggies peeled and cut into chunks (of about the same size)
    I used:
    4 carrots
    4 red potatoes
    1 parsnip
    1 onion
oil
salt and pepper
balsamic vinegar
sugar

Spread your root veggies out on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with some oil and add salt and pepper. Mix with your hands until evenly coated and spread into one layer on the sheet. Place in the oven with the roast when you uncover it.

Meanwhile, place balsamic vinegar in a pan with 1 teaspoon-1 tablespoon of sugar (I used about ½ c vinegar) and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and allow to reduce until thick.

Put oil in a frying pan and heat to medium-high. Brown cabbage wedges on both sides until a nice brown color is present. Place on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. When the roast is done, remove and tent. Raise oven temp to 375 (leaving veggies in) and put in cabbage (you can put water in the pan if you want to steam the cabbage a bit). Roast for about 20-30 minutes until tender and browned (veggies should be tender and browned as well). Remove and place in baking dishes. Drizzle some of the balsamic reduction on the cabbage and place the remainder in a bowl to use during the meal.

Place roast on a platter and either slice or shred, depending on preference.

Now if I had been a brilliant blogger, I would have made this earlier and posted it before St. Patrick's Day. But since I'm not, you'll have to settle for using it next year. Here's the necessary "drunk" photo (obviously, we don't drink).

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

IFN: Smashing British Fare...

Hallo... I have a bunch of old posts of food and international food nights, so I'll be posting them along with new stuff as it happens!

So...

Let's be honest, Britain isn't exactly known for its exotic fare... it's typically roast beef and other hearty, yet fairly bland, foods that smatter the plates of the Brits. So I went searching for some kind of recipe that would give a little twist on typical British food...

And I found this AMAZING braised pork recipe (adapted a little, of course, as most of my recipes are)! I paired that with green beans and roasted potatoes and classic Yorkshire puddings, and we had an amazing, tasty British meal! This pork is particularly good for those of you who are not huge fans of pork because it gets dry. This pork was incredibly moist!

Braised Spicy Pork
serves 4

2 lb. pork shoulder roast
6 garlic cloves, peeled
2" fresh ginger, peeled
3 T. soy sauce
3 T. honey
1 t. freshly ground pepper
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
4 red chilies
2 cinnamon sticks
4 star anise
500 ml (or so) chicken stock
1 t. butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Put garlic, ginger, soy, honey, pepper, and olive oil into a blender or food processor (it will make a paste). Place pork into a large roasting pan/tray and smear the paste all over the pork.

Snap the chilies and throw them in the roasting tray with the cinnamon, star anise, and chicken stock. Cover (if desired) and roast about 30 minutes for every pound.

For the last 20 minutes of cooking, uncover and baste with juices. Increase temperature to 400 degrees F. Test that the internal temperature is 160F and remove from oven.

Allow pork to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Strain the juices from the pan into a small saucepan. Place over high heat and drop butter into sauce. If a thicker sauce is desired, thicken with cornstarch or flour. Serve over pork.

Yorkshire Pudding
serves 6

3 medium eggs (or 2 large)
Milk
Flour
Salt
Vegetable Oil

Heat oven to 425 F.

Pour the eggs into a liquid measuring cup. Note the amount of eggs. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Measure out the same amount of milk (as the eggs) and pour into the mix. Whisk and add a pinch of salt. Let stand for at least 10 minutes.

Measure the same amount of flour (as the eggs) and whisk into the mixture to create a lump-free batter resembling thick cream. Leave the batter to rest for AT LEAST 30 minutes (longer is better).

Take muffin tin and place about 1/2 t. of oil in the bottom of each cup. Place in oven until oil starts smoking. Take out.  Give the batter another good whisk adding 2 T. of cold water. Fill a third of each in and return quickly to the oven.

Leave to cook until golden brown (15-20 minutes). Repeat if you have additional batter.

*we ate them the next morning cold with jam and honey and they were delicious! They don't reheat well due to their makeup, so don't reheat them :)*

Roasted Thyme Potatoes
serves  4 (I cooked these at the same time as the pork)

6 potatoes, cubed
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Rosemary
Thyme

Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix cubed potatoes with remaining ingredients. Place in baking dish and cook for about 1.5 hours. Increase temperature to 425 and cook for 10 minutes to get a nice browning.

It was all delicious! And the fresh green beans with butter and salt and pepper were so good!

IFN: Malaysia, Benin, and Switzerland

To kick things off in the recipe department (excuse the poor lighting on photos, it's usually dark when I get dinner on the table) I am going to post three awesome sets of international recipes! In our family, we try to do international food night (ifn) 2-3 times a month. This involves picking a random country out of a plastic bag (where we have all the countries in the world) and making food from that country! We try to be as authentic as possible (and that we can find surfing the internet), but sometimes ingredients just aren't easily accessible. At any rate, here are three fantastic tastes!

Malaysia

Rendang
4 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 cm ginger
1/2 t. salt
1 t. chili paste or 3 fresh chilies
1/2 t. tumeric
1-2 lb. stewing beef, cubed
1 c. coconut milk
2 bay leaves
1/4 c. oil

Blend onion, garlic, ginger, salt, turmeric and chili paste until smooth. Heat oil in wok and add blended mixture. Stir fry for 2 minutes or until paste separates from the oil.

Add beef and stir fry for 5 minutes. Add bay leaves and allow to simmer for about 45 minutes or until meat is tender, adding water as necessary to keep sauce from drying. When beef is tender, add coconut milk. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Serve with rice.

Mango Avocado Salsa
1 mango, peeled and chopped
1 red pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
2 avocados, peeled and chopped
¼ red onion, diced
garlic salt
ginger
lime juice
jalapenos

Benin

Poulet Béninois (Beninese Chicken)
1 chicken
1 hot chili, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 chicken bouillon cubes
3 T tomato puree
2 bay leaves
1 t. dried thyme
Salt and pepper

Dissolve chicken stock cube in warm water (according to directions); add thyme and bay leaves and season to taste. Pour the stock into a large casserole dish, add chicken. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for 20 mins on high. Remove chicken and set aside. Add onions, garlic, and chili to the stock and whisk in the tomato puree. Continue to boil, uncovered, until sauce thickens (30 mins). Cut chicken into pieces and add to sauce, lower heat, cover the dish and continue to cook until chicken is tender. Stir frequently.

Serve hot, accompanied by rice, yams, or sweet potatoes.

Beninese Peanut Sauce
3 T oil
2 T tomato puree
2 habaneros, paste
½ t salt
1 bouillon cube
¾ c peanut butter
2/3 c. onion, diced

Add oil to pan, heat and fry paste, onion, tomato, and bouillon. Add peanut butter and 1 c. water. Mix and bring to a boil. Simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

Switzerland

Aelpermagronen
serves 4-6

3 large potatoes, scrubbed, and cut into small cubes
½ lb. macaroni (tubes preferred)
1 c. heavy cream
Pepper, sale, nutmeg (1/4 t)
2 ½ c. mountain cheese (Gruyere and/or Emmentaler) – (1/2 lb)

Preheat oven to 250. Boil 4+ cups of water with salt. Add potatoes and boil for 5 minutes until almost tender. Add pasta and cook al dente. Dump out excess water. Stir in cream, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. (This dish needs more salt than less).

In a 9x13 pan, layer half the macaroni, followed by half the cheese. Layer remaining macaroni mixture, top with remaining cheese. Bake for 10 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling, but not burned.

Top with onion rings (French’s or make your own). Serve with applesauce (bought or make your own).

Onion Rings
Unsalted butter for frying
2 large onions, chopped into rings
Flour

Melt butter. Combine onion and flour, shake off excess. When butter is hot, fry onion rings for about 4 minutes until crispy, set aside to drain on paper towel.