Shepherd's Pie

adapted from an old issue of Everyday Food (November 2007)

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup peas
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup kale cut into ribbons
coarse salt and ground pepper
3 cups mashed potatoes

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat a large (5-quart) heavy pot or Dutch oven over high. Cook onion, garlic, and carrots in olive oil until onion starts to clear. Set aside. Cook beef, breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Add onion, garlic, and carrots; cook until softened, about 4 minutes.
Add thyme, ketchup, and flour; stir until combined. Add 1/2 cup water and peas and kale. Cook until vegetables are warmed through and liquid has thickened, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon beef mixture into a 2-quart baking dish. Spread potatoes evenly over beef; using a fork, decorate potatoes with lines and peaks. Place dish on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until potatoes are lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve.

Braised Cabbage

We made Molly's Braised Cabbage with Onion, Carrots, and Poached Egg last night. (Scrambled egg whites for the allergy sufferer.)

I actually cooked the cabbage the night before - and reheated it for dinner. As Molly states it does keep very well in an air-tight container.

Delicious

From Orangette:

Braised Green Cabbage with Onions, Carrots, and Poached Egg
Adapted from All About Braising, by Molly Stevens

1 medium head green cabbage, about 2 pounds
1 large yellow onion, sliced into rough 1/3-inch slices
1 large carrot, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
¼ cup good-quality chicken stock, or water
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
poached eggs
Maldon salt, or fleur de sel, to taste

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, and position a rack in the middle of the oven.

Peel off and discard from the cabbage any bruised or messy outer leaves. Give the cabbage a quick rinse under cool water, and dry it lightly. Cut it into 8 wedges, and trim away some of the woody core, leaving enough to hold each wedge intact. Arrange the wedges in a 9 x 13 baking dish. They may overlap a little, but you want them to lie in a single—if crowded—layer. If they don’t fit nicely into the dish, remove one wedge and set it aside for later use in a quick sauté, salad, or soup.

Scatter the onion and carrot over the cabbage, and pour the stock and oil over the whole mess. Season with a couple pinches of coarse salt, a couple grinds of the pepper mill, and the red pepper flakes. Cover the dish tightly with foil, and slide it into the oven. Cook the vegetables for 1 hour; then remove the dish from the oven and gently turn the cabbage wedges. If the dish seems at all dry, add a couple tablespoons of water. Cover the dish, and return it to the oven to cook until the vegetables are very tender, about an hour more.

When the cabbage is completely tender, remove the foil over the baking dish, turn the oven up to 400 degrees, and continue cooking until the vegetables begin to brown lightly on their edges, another 15 or so minutes.

Serve warm, topped with a poached egg and sprinkled with plenty of good, flaky Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

The rain has returned and we are back in soup mode... (The girls were thrilled to find celery in this week's delivery!) We threw this together before our violin recital and returned to a wonderful smelling house.

Adapted from the Whole Foods website


Serves 4

Ingredients
8 oz dried green split peas, rinsed
1 cup diced ham
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 ribs celery plus leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cups chicken broth

Method
Layer ingredients in slow cooker in the order given, adding the broth last. Do not stir ingredients. Cover and cook on high 4—5 hours or on low 8—10 hours until peas are very soft. Served with biscuits - as we are on a yeast-free diet, but would be just as yummy with a crusty loaf of bread.

Chicken Hand-pies

This recipe came via a friend up in Portland, and is based on one in Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn

It was a favourite last winter - and with cold temps returning we pulled it out again last night. Paired with a salad of fresh redleaf lettuce, K declared it "the best dinner ever!"



Chicken Hand-pies

Filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped green shallot
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1 heaping cup shredded chicken (I used leftover roast chicken)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a skillet and add the vegetables. Saute over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the salt and flour. Add the chicken broth and stir until thickened (a few minutes). Stir in the cheese and chicken. Cool in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Pastry:
8 tablespoons (1 stick unsalted butter) at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup milk (or heavy cream)
1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix butter, cream cheese and milk thoroughly. Add flour and salt and mix until combined and a ball forms. Divide the dough into two disks and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.


Assembly:
Roll out dough in two batches and cut 5-inch circles - we use a small mixing bowl as cutter. Place 1/4 cup filling on half of each circle. Moisten edges of circle with water and fold dough over to form a half-circle. Crimp edges with fork.

Place pies on a buttered cookie sheet and chill for a few minutes.

Prick tops with a fork. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, until lightly-browned.

Cool 5 minutes before serving.



I prepared the dough and filling earlier in the day - then while I was at a meeting D and the girls assembled (decorated!) and baked. And surprised me by using the left over pastry to make dessert hand-pies: dark chocolate and coconut!

"Best dinner ever!"

Soup's On!

We are in soup mode over here as well. Must be the cooler weather.

Our favourite winter squash soup recipe includes apples and apple cider vinegar - but with E's newly diagnosed allergy to apples we had to make a few changes.



Here is what I came up with:

Feel's like Winter Winter Squash Soup
about 40 minutes. serves 8.

We used the acorn squash we had on hand from the last of the summer boxes! Butternut would be really yummy too.

1/4 cup olive oil
2 acorn squash peeled and diced
1 large onion chopped
3 carrots peeled and diced
1 1/4 pint homemade chicken stock (it's what I had on hand - veg stock would be good too)
1 1/4 teaspoons thyme
1 1/4 teaspoons sage
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
salt and pepper as you like it

Pour olive oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add squash, carrot, and herbs and saute until squash begins to soften. Add stock; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until squash is very tender, about 20 minutes.

Working carefully puree soup with immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Rewarm over medium heat before serving.)

Perfect for after soccer on a grey day - served with a freshly baked loaf of Soda Bread. Yum.

Gratuitous pic of Calvert's Girls Under 7 West Valley Soccer Team - Go Koala Kixx!

dinner tonight

adapted from the Whole Foods Recipes app

Italian Wedding Soup with Carrots, Kale and Meatballs
Serves 5 to 6

While the name indicates that the soup might be served at an Italian wedding, it is actually a mistranslation of minestra maritata, which refers to the "marriage" of greens and meat in the soup.

Ingredients
Meatballs
1 pound ground beef
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, beaten
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of paprika

Soup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup chopped white onions
3/4 cup chopped carrots
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
3 cups shredded kale

Directions
For the meatballs, put beef, cilantro, Parmesan, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, egg, nutmeg, and paprika into a large bowl and use your hands to mix well. With damp hands, shape into 1-inch meatballs balls and transfer to a large plate. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.

For the soup, melt butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, garlic, salt and pepper and cook until translucent and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Stir in broth, tomatoes. Cover and cook 10 minutes over medium heat or until soup comes to a boil.

Add meatballs to the boiling soup and stir to make sure they are fully submerged. Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes over medium heat. Stir in kale. Test a meatball to ensure that they are fully cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve immediately.

A resounding "Yum!" around the table.