It's Pie Style Jack II: The Em"pie"re Strikes Back!

If you're like us, you've probably spent the week after Thanksgiving eating nothing but leftover turkey and side dishes.  In an effort to not just recreate our Thanksgiving dinner plates, we got creative and turned our leftovers into turkey pot pies!

We started by quartering a few potatoes and peeling a few leftover carrots, and popping them into the oven to roast them for about 15 minutes.  Since they typically have a longer cook time, roasting them first helps minimize the time your pot pies need to be in the oven.  Plus, it gives them a nice roasty flavor.

While those are roasting, you can make your dough to top your pies.  We kept it simple by combining 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of chilled butter, and a splash of vodka.  Try not to overmix the dough, as you want the butter to stay as cold as possible.  Once our dough came together, we wrapped it in some plastic wrap, and stuck it in the freezer to get it cold again.  This will help give you a nice, flaky crust.  If you're making your dough in advance, you can just keep your dough in the fridge.

Once the dough was chilling, we started building our pies.  We chopped up some fresh onion, and dropped them into our little bowls.  Then, each bowl got a healthy spoonful of our leftover green bean casserole.

Then we chopped up some turkey meat, and added those to each bowl.  At this point, the potatoes and carrots were also done, so we chopped those into smaller pieces and tossed them in the bowls as well.

The one thing that was missing was a bit of a gravy.  So we added in a few spoonfuls of our turkey stock, as well as a splash of milk.  Then give everything a little toss and turn in the bowl so it's all mixed up and coated in the stock and milk.

Then, just role out your dough, cut it into circles wide enough to top your bowls.  Make sure you cut slits in the top to so the steam can escape (clearly the 2 on the right were our first crusts).  You also want to beat an egg and brush each crust with the egg wash.  This will give you a nice, golden brown crust.

Be sure to place your pies on a baking sheet to catch any gravy that may spill out of your pies.  Pop them into a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until your crusts are cooked through, and golden brown.

The crust was buttery and really flaky, almost like a biscuit.  It was the perfect topper for our pot pies, and a great way to repurpose our leftovers.

This is How We Casserole!

One of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes is green bean casserole, so when Justin and I were developing this year's menu, I was pretty adamant about including it.  Turns out it's really easy to make a dressed up version of the traditional dish.  We used this recipe as a guide, and were on our way!

Instead of using the standard, canned fried onions, we decided to fry up some shallots.  We thinly sliced 4 shallots (which you can do ahead of time, though it made our fridge smell like onions), and they were ready to be fried.  The beauty here is that you don't need to make a batter or coat them in flour.  Just heat a pan with some oil, and drop the shallots in.  Be careful not to drop too many shallots in the pan at once.  They crisp up pretty fast, and you want to be able to pull them all out before they burn.  Once your shallots are fried, you can set them aside while you cook up the rest of the dish.

Bring a big pot of water to a boil, and drop in your green beans or hericot verts, just to blanche them.  Make sure you have an ice water bath ready, so as soon as you drain your beans, dump them into the ice bath to stop the cooking process.

While that's happening, you can whip up your creamy mushroom sauce.  You want about 3/4 lb. of mushrooms.  Just get whatever kind of mushrooms you like, and slice them into bite sized pieces.  For our casserole, we went with shiitakes.  Melt some butter in your pan, and saute your mushrooms.

When you first drop your mushrooms into the pan, season them with pepper.  You'll see the mushrooms first release their liquid, and then reabsorb them.  When they've reabsorbed them, that's when you season them with salt.

Once they cook down, you'll sprinkle them with a couple tablespoons of flour.  Toss them around so the mushrooms are coated.  The flour will start to form a bit of a paste, but this will help to thicken your sauce.  Once the flour has cooked down a bit, add in your vegetable or chicken stock and some heavy cream.  You want a 3 to 1 ratio of stock to cream, so depending on just how saucy you want your casserole to be, you can adjust accordingly.  I don't like my beans to be swimming in sauce, so we stuck with 1 1/2 cups of stock, and 1/2 cup of heavy cream.  This was the perfect amount of sauce for about 1 1/2 lbs. of beans.

Stir everything together and let it simmer until it thickens.  Once your sauce has thickened, you can toss in your beans.  You want to make sure they get evenly coated in the sauce.

Then pour everything into your baking dish.  Make sure you transfer all of the sauce into your dish too.  Top it all with your fried onions, and pop it into the oven for about 15 minutes.

You want the green beans to heat up again, the sauce to be bubbling, and the onions to really crisp up again.  This from-scratch version of green bean casserole doesn't require much more effort than the traditional dish, plus it's a bit healthier since you know exactly what's going into it.  You can pick your mushrooms, and you're not getting all that extra salt or preservatives from the canned mushroom soup and fried onions.  Not to mention, it tastes extremely delicious!

We Got Game!

We were fortunate to be given a great treat from a friend--a venison tenderloin.  While thinking of ways we could highlight the natural flavors of this protein, without overcooking it, I was inspired by a family Fall favorite from my childhood.

We decided to do a refined take on a mushroom Swiss steak.  Since we had chilly weather here in DC last week, it was the perfect time to make this hearty dish.  And since our cut of meat was super lean, this method of cooking, which involves tenderizing and braising it, really helps to create steak that melts in your mouth.  Start by taking any silver skin off of your meat.  It is tough, chewy connective tissue that you don't want.  Simply pull up the membrane and use the tip of a boning knife to gently slice it free from the meat as you pull it away.

The other thing to prep ahead of time is the leeks.  As we always do, slice them up and toss them in a bowl of water to clean out the dirt and grit.  Since there are so many layers, the dirt can get trapped between them.  In the bowl of water, the dirt will sink to the bottom, and your leeks will be clean.

Now for the fun part.  Slice the loin into filets, season, and then pound them flat.  Don't be afraid to give 'em a good whack.  You can place a piece of plastic wrap over them to prevent meat wads from flying off your cutting board.  Then lightly dredge them in a little AP flour.  Be sure to shake off any excess.

Once you've got them nice and coated brown them up in your dutch oven or slow cooker.  You just want to get a little crust on them.  They will braise for a long time so you really just want a sear on them.

Remove your steaks from the dutch oven, and set them aside. Melt some butter in the dutch oven, and toss in some freshly chopped rosemary.  Be sure to scrape up any loose brown bits of meat juices and flour.  Then add in some onions, celery, and carrots---and you got a mirepoix going.  Let them soften until they become fragrant. 

Once the mirepoix has cooked down add your leeks and 'shrooms.  Once the mushrooms have released their liquid, season the mixture with salt and pepper, and they will reabsorb it again.  At this time, add in your beef stock. Turn it down to low and add back your steaks.

Now here is the hardest part...the waiting.  Keep your temperature low and braise your meat for at least an hour per pound.  You can let it go longer and it will get more tender as the muscle and connective tissue continue to break down.  Once your meat is nice and tender, you just need to thicken up your mushroom gravy.  We used a slurry of flour and water, and a little bit of heavy cream.

We paired this meal with buttery, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and a little fresh flat leaf parsley to garnish.  The venison was amazingly tender, and the natural gaminess and earthiness of the mushrooms were so comforting as they ruminate in the gravy and buttery spuds.

Now I know we usually don'y post recipes, but I worked one up to share with my mom and sister:

4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil 
1 cup sliced leeks
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery diced
2 small carrots diced
1 medium onion diced
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon italian parsley
1 1/2 pounds sliced mushrooms (I used cremini) 
3 Tbsp all purpose flour plus some extra for dreging beef steaks
3 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup heavy cream 

A Marriage of Melon & Pork--They Canteloupe!

Sweet and salty...the ultimate "opposites attract" pairing.  There's chocolate and bacon...sea salt and caramel...melon and ham...

That's right...melon and ham.  The Spaniards do it up with serrano ham, while the Italians use prosciutto.  And while most of the time you'll see pieces of the thinly sliced ham wrapped around a cube of melon, we decided to try something a little different.  We took the two components, added a little cream, and turned it into a pasta sauce.  This satisfied a craving for carbonara, but with a sweet summery flavor profile.

For this recipe though, we used pancetta instead of prosciutto.  You could also use bacon if you don't have pancetta.  You'll want to start by crisping up your bacon or pancetta and rendering out some of the fat.  Then toss in some onion and let it saute in the fat.

While the onions and pancetta are cooking, dice up your cantaloupe.  The smaller the pieces, the better, as that will allow the cantaloupe to break down faster.  Once the onions are soft, you can toss in your cantaloupe.

The juices will start to leach out of the melon, and the pieces will soften.  We helped them along by using a potato masher to make it more sauce-like.

After about 10 minutes, add in your cream.  The cream really helps to cut some of the sweetness from the cantaloupe.  At this point, you'll also want to throw in some chopped, fresh sage and some grated parmesan.  The recipe calls for marjoram, but we chose to use sage instead.  Then just let the cream reduce down.  You'll notice the sauce will really thicken up.

Once your pasta is ready, be sure to add a bit of the starchy pasta water to the sauce and give it a stir.  This will help the sauce stick to the pasta.  Toss your pasta into the sauce so it's evenly coated, and you're done!

Easy peasy!  Just plate up your pasta and garnish with a little more parmesan and some freshly chopped parsley, and you've got a hearty, yet summery pasta dinner.

Lobstah!

Tonight we whipped up a quick, tasty meal on the grill.  Last week when we were trying to decide what to do with our sorrel, we came across a recipe for grilled lobster tails with a sorrel sauce.  This week, I happened to see lobster tails on sale at the grocery store, so it was a no-brainer.

We started with the sauce since the lobster tails wouldn't take long to cook.  Though the sauce itself was really simple as well.  Chop up a shallot and toss it in a pan with some cooking wine.  The recipe calls for Sauternes, but since we didn't have any on hand, we just used marsala wine.  Any sweet, dry-ish wine will probably do.  Once it boils and reduces, add in your cream.

Once that has reduced down by about 1/4, pull it off the heat and pour it into the blender.  Then just add your sorrel and blend.  The recipe also has you blend in watercress, but we didn't have any on hand, so we just left it out.  We considered adding some of our celery tops, but didn't want to mess with the flavor of the sauce.

Once everything is blended together, pour the sauce back into your pot, and reheat it.  Now you'll season with salt, pepper, and a hint of cayenne.  Ours was tasting a bit too sweet for my liking, so I added a dash more of cayenne, and we threw in a bit of truffle salt.  This helped balance out some of the sweetness, without overpowering it.

Now for the lobstaaah!  You'll want to crack the shell a bit with your knife, so you can get in there and season the tail with some oil, salt & pepper.  Then just throw them on the grill.  We cooked our tails for about 4 minutes on each side, and they came out perfect!

Since we still had about a dozen ramps left, we decided to throw those on the grill to accompany our lobster.  We just brushed them with a little grapeseed oil, and seasoned them with salt and pepper.  They went onto the grill once we flipped our tails, and they were ready when the lobster was done.

It was a really quick meal to throw together, and didn't require a ton of ingredients, which I always like.  The sorrel sauce really brought out the sweetness of the lobster, and the grilled ramps were divine.  So there you have it--a restaurant quality meal that was easy and delicious, and doable on a random weeknight but good enough for a special occasion!

Red Carpet Sunday Dinner

Though we're trying to eat a little more healthy these days, every now and then you need a comforting, rich Sunday dinner.  Since we had potatoes from the share, we went with gnocchi in a rich cream sauce.  Making your own gnocchi may seem daunting, but its actually fairly simple.

To start, poke your potatoes with a fork so the steam can escape, and pop them in the oven for about an hour.  You want them to cook up, and for the moisture to escape.  Otherwise your dough will be sticky and heavy.  Once they're out of the oven, peel them, and push them through a ricer, if you have one.  We don't, so we just made sure there weren't any big lumps of potato.

To the potatoes, you'll add a couple egg yolks, some flour, grated cheese (we used pecorino), and some salt.  Since we were going all out, we used a combination of kosher salt and truffle salt.  Gradually add the flour in, as needed.  You want the dough to pull away from the bowl and not feel sticky.  When you reach that consistency, stop adding flour, and start rolling out ropes of dough.

Then you can start cutting the ropes into the gnocchi.  We put our gnocchi board to use to give each one the little ridges, but you can also just roll them down the back of a fork.  Place them on a floured tray or plate until you're ready to cook them.

 Cooking them is really simple.  Just boil a pot of water, as if you were making any other kind of pasta.  Be sure to salt the water too.  Once it's boiling, drop in a bunch of the gnocchi.  You'll probably have to do a few batches so you don't over crowd the pot.  They'll tell you when their done by floating to the surface.  Fresh pasta takes a little longer than dried pasta to cook, about 3-4 minutes instead of the two or so for the dried.  Then just scoop 'em out and place them in a bowl until you're ready to toss them in your sauce.

For the sauce, Justin whipped up one of his signature sauces.  It starts with some brown butter, shallots, and garlic.  Then you add some cream, pecorino, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and sage.  We also added a splash of truffle oil.

Once all of those flavors melded together, we were ready to add toss the gnocchi in it.  We saved a bit of the starchy water the gnocchi was cooked in and added some to the sauce.  The sauce had started to thicken anyway, but the starchy water also helps the sauce adhere to the pasta.  So you should do this anytime you cook pasta.  Once the water was mixed into the sauce, we dumped the gnocchi into the pan so they could get coated in the sauce as well.

To finish off each plate, we sprinkled on some crisped guanciale, a little more pecorino, and some fried sage.  It's such a rich, and filling dish, but so full of flavor.

This was a perfect dish for Oscar night, it had the glitz and glam of Hollywood from the truffle, and was hearty and comforting just like a night on the couch.