Bangers and Mash

Not

Bangers and Mash for Dinner

A package of "Irish" bangers  called to me recently and I also thought of boxty - mashed spuds with green onions as well. So that what was for dinner would be a good addition. 

A little research and I knew...despite the small lure of St. Patrick's Day dinner and thinking this would work, this is not an Irish meal. 

First, the Irish didn't have meat. And because of that they didn't make sausage. So what they had were potatoes... lots and lots of potatoes, until they didn't. And we know what tragedy happened. 

However and nonetheless the bangers were on the menu. A couple of Google searches and Serious Eats landed the recipe. Gently cook the bangers, then crisp up in a pan. 

Make the spuds (the other Detroit Food guy is a pro at that.) 

And, the kicker, the onion gravy. SO easy. Caramelize a couple of onions, toss in a bit of white wine, a little flour, cook and add beef broth. 

Serve the bangers over the fluffy spuds and ladle on the gravy, which is just ridiculously good. The gravy can anticipate a number of appearances in the future.. over spuds, noodles, and a great burger. 

So while our Irish DNA is a little bit offended by the non-Irish-y bangers, our tastebuds were fine with it. Easy and comforting and hearty. Serve with peas for the full English treatment. But not on an Irish holiday. 

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/bangers-and-mash-with-onion-gravy-recipe.html?ref=search

Beyond gut busters

IHOP's gut and artery buster breakfast

Holy moly! Center for Science in the Public Interest released its most extreme eating chain restaurant dishes. 

Let's just say Cheesecake Factory, Johnny Rockets and Maggiano's have not, and never will be, on the (KFC) bucket list....See the link here -

Hey, I want four days of fat and sodium in one meal!

Cheesecake Factory's Bistro pasta sodium fest

Post-holiday happy chowing

We all know we overdo it, maybe slightly, maybe a lot, during the season between (let's be real here, including Halloween) November and January. This is followed by eater's remorse, the whole fake resolution thing and then the dreary march on through the rest of the winter days until we can redeem ourselves outside with exercise and fresh food.

OR you can be strolling through your local market and find on the fast-sell rack three great green peppers and realize all kind of really great fruit is on sale.

The mental cooking computer clicks in pretty quickly and comes up with - stuffed peppers and lavish fruit salad.

Which is tonight's menu. Instead of using rice, Trader Joe's brown rice/black barley/other grains mix that had been lingering in the pantry sprung into action. Not exactly sure if I like the outcome as I added pearl barley as well. But, how bad could it be with ground round, good onions, Worcestershire and homemade tomato sauce tucked into those halved peppers.

Turned out, pretty good. Not totally on the top 10 crave list, but a very decent effort for several meals to go into the freezer. And decent daily cooking after the weeks of feast-making.

The fruit salad is glistening, fresh, delicious and full of all kinds of stuff you should be wanting - antioxidants, fiber, nonprocessed stuff.. and etc., etc.

So let's admire it again:

Best thing is, this tastes really good. Made on a balmy and sunny day that ended with  a feeling of  solid creative, daily cooking.

Pat yourself on the back if you're doing the same...

A simple fondue makes a holiday

New Year's Eve is never our favorite time to be out and about. Not only is it amateur hour on the roads, but after the warmth of family and friends at Thanksgiving and Christmas it always seems a little like forced fun. So we always downsize the night.

 This year the force for fondue was strong. There were only two of us. So some Emmenthaler cheese, picked up that night, along with a little Gruyere from the house, some white wine and a non-stick pot yielded up a luscious, warm and cheese-y light dinner to graze on. Include some great crusty bread, some crisp green apples, pickles sweet, dill, and hot (and Michigan product or two), eaten on a coffee table with some atmospheric votive candles = one great and simple meal. Add a nice red Beaujolais Villages to enhance the party.

Best of all, it's easy to produce as a hearty appetizer or a light meal when the force calls:

Cheese Fondue 

 1 1/2 lbs shredded Emmenthaler (we added about half Emmenthaler and half Gruyere. Has to be the good stuff.)

 Toss cheese with 3 T flour and 2 tsp dry mustard. 

 Boil 1 1/12 cups dry white wine (best in a good nonstick pot).

 Toss in a handful of cheese mixture - stir with wooden spoon till melted.

Proceed to add the rest of the cheese by the handful.

You might need to add more wine if the cheese seems too thick. Be generous with the vino.

Serve to admiring eaters. You will feel like a genius! (We didn't have a fondue pot. Added smaller amounts to a heavy ceramic bowl, re-heated in microwave if it thickened.) Great the next day reheated as well.

Chicken Marsala

A quick trip to one of our favorite markets, Holiday Market in Royal Oak, MI, offered a fast inspiration for dinner on a cool, breezy autumn night. 

I always like to check out their ready-to-eat entrees and yesterday, the chicken marsala just rang my bell. Dark, mushroomy gravy did it. So, what to eat that night was taken care of in a snap. 

Picked up a nice, hefty full chicken breast, package of cremini mushrooms and a small, good bottle of marsala - thanks to the great wine folks there. 

Now to make. Checked through the usual suspects -- couple of Marcela Hazan cookbooks, Silver Spoon cookbook (translated to English from the very popular Italian version), Batali, NY Times/Craig Claiborne, Joy of Cooking. Not a recipe to be found. 

The interweb offered up a good and simple recipe from the late, great Gourmet. Dredge chicken in flour, brown on both sides till done, saute shallots and mushrooms in butter, add marsala and some stock (beef stock on hand worked well though it called for chicken.) 

End result was a gorgeous plate of golden chicken, topped with a savory dark mushroom and jus, served with the just-picked spinach from the farmer's market. A side of buttered linguine was the vehicle to soak up all that winey/chickeny goodness. 

This will be a keeper - fast, delicious and good enough for company, or for a relaxing night before the cold winds of October blow and the World Series game three starts. 

Julia's Boef Bourguignon

My first attempt at Julia Child's boef bourguignon

As the temps dropped a bit and I spent a good part of the day at a farmer's market and Michigan food tasting both outside, I had the urge for boef bourguignon. Just came to me out the blue, or should I say gray sky. Why? I'd never made it, but I can take a hint when I get one.

Got about a pound and a half of stewing beef, some cremini mushrooms, a decent bottle of pinot noir from Castlerock, downloaded Julia's recipe and I was off.

What I found really interesting was browning the meat before flouring. She directs you to brown the chunks well, then the carrots and onions, add back in bacon you'd already fried and THEN, only then, sprinkle about 1-2 T flour over the beef and shoot into a 425 degree oven for four minutes. Toss again and throw in for another eight minutes. Then add the stock and wine and let it cook in the oven for three or more hours or till meat is fork tender.

It yielded a wonderful, shiny and glaze-y sauce for the meat and vegetables, very subtle hint of wine and just wonderfully rich and flavorful.

There are a couple of steps to it, but no harder than making your everyday beef stew. I've got to say I was impressed myself by the end product.

I loved Julia before but now she makes me look like a genius and my regard's only gone up.

Try it yourself!

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe/julia-childs-beef-bourguignon-8222804

An Early Easter fest

Due to a variety of circumstances we held Easter brunch today. We did the whole nine yards -- deviled eggs, a new addition of dill pickle soup, and our adopted Polish brunch of fresh and smoked kielbasa, mushroom/sauerkraut pierogies and potato/cheese and meat pierogies. An addition of a gorgeous fruit salad and a middle European/Hungarian salad of thinly sliced cucumbers and onions in sour cream along with fresh steamed asparagus and rye bread and butter completed the meal.

Chocolate bunnies, Peeps and jelly beans are a given.

Nothing like the comfort and fun of family, a celebration of spring and a huge and delicious meal to celebrate the new season!