Traditional Boeuf Bourguignon

I've been eating Boeuf Bourguignon for as long as I can remember.  My mother would make it as well as Coq au Vin (which is basically the same recipe, just swap the meat) as often as I wanted, even if I requested it all the time.  I never really thought of it as a French recipe growing up.  It was just normal food for me that I would make regularly myself in college and happily impress my guests (or passers by.. I didn't really have any criteria for having people eat at my table back then.)  Since I've been living in France, I haven't made it or even eaten it once.  I don't do i on purpose.  It's just that I feel I can have it whenever I want, so I don't go out of my way to make it.. and I end up never making it.
I also have a thing about serving French food to French guests in France.
The fact that it's been so long since I've made it makes me even forget that I have it in my repertoire.
A few weeks ago, I bought some wine that I didn't particularly like and was about to throw it away.  It makes me cringe to throw food away, especially if there's no real problem with it.  While trying to figure out who I could give it to instead of throwing it away, the Boeuf Bourguignon recipe came back to me... which made me wonder why I've been waiting so long to do this!
This dish is comforting to me in a reminiscent way.  The fact that I got the taste exactly how I was imagining it is even more of a treat.
The use of wine in this dish tenderizes the beef as it cooks, just as vinegar would, but without the crazy sour taste.  As it cooks, the alcohol evaporates so it is perfectly safe for children as well.  I should know, I've been eating it my entire life and I'm relatively sane as an adult.
So here, for once, I present a typically French dish (made famous by the American Julia Child).  I'm not cooking for guests, but it's probably one of the rare French dishes I wouldn't mind serving.
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

900g (2 lbs) stew beef, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes

350g (12.3oz) cured or smoked pork belly, rind removed and sliced into lardons (sub bacon)

1 Tbsp olive oil (if needed)

2 medium onions, sliced into moons

2 tsp dried thyme

1 1/2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp cracked black pepper
few pinches sea salt
3 cloves garlic, chopped

250g (8.8oz) mushrooms, washed and chopped coarsley

5 small or 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped coarsley

2 bay leaves

2 cups beef broth

1 bottle red wine (I used Corbières, but you should use Burgundy)

1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 handfuls flat leaf parsley, chopped
Directions
1.  In a wok or heavy based pan, render your sliced lardons.  If you bought good quality, there shouldn't be much fat.  You want to get them nice and crispy.  Set aside and keep 1 Tbsp of the renderings in the wok.  If nothing rendered, add the olive oil.
2.  Add the onions and let them sweat, then add the beef, salt, and thyme.  You want each piece to color on all sides.  This can take about 10 minutes.
3.  When the beef is colored, add the lardons back in along with the flour.  Stir well to coat, then remove from heat.
4.  Transfer all but 1 of the handfuls of parsley into a slow cooker.  The liquid should be almost level.  This is the important part.  It must be simmered for a long period of time.  Some people do it stove-top, which takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Some people put it in the oven on low temp, and others go the quick route and do it in a pressure cooker, under pressure for about 30 minutes.  I like the slow cooker route because you don't have to watch it like a hawk and you can go about your day, leaving the house if you need to without worrying.  Plus, the flavors are better when it simmers for a long time, even if a pressure cooker is quite handy.
Cook on low for at least 7 hours.

Serve garnished with the freshly chopped parsley over either pasta noodles, rice, or potatoes... and of course, with a glass of red.  I went the noodle route this time.
The broth is amazing in this.  You can get fancy and reduce some of the broth down to a thick sauce, but that's just not the way I'm used to eating it.

Don't worry, I'll be going back to spicy vegetarian very soon.. as soon as I finish all these lip smacking leftovers..

Deluxe Mac n Cheese

I've been in the mood for all things cheesy lately. Since the holidays are now over, I've been waiting to finish the leftovers and get over the "fries night" so I can make something involving a melted cheddar cheese sauce. Along with the little cheddar I had left, I improvised a ton of stuff in the sauce to make it extra special. The hub loved it.
Ingredients:
1 lb cooked elbow pasta
handful of frozen broccoli florets
1 shallot, minced
1 pack bacon, sliced crosswise
1/2 jar roasted bell peppers, chopped coarsley
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup shredded cheddar
1/4 cup shredded blue cheese
1/4 cup shredded swiss + some for garnish
parmesan for garnish
1 handful chopped celery leaves
1 handful chopped parsley
a drizzle of beer
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp thyme
2 egg yolks
fresh ground pepper/salt
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
Directions:
1. In a large pot, cook the pasta in salted water.
2. In a sauce pan, cook the bacon with some pepper and thyme and drain a bit. Add the shallots and broccoli and stir until tender.
3. Lower the heat and add the beer and milk and heat through. Add the cheeses, celery leaves, pepper flakes. The mixture should not be too thick, but nice and creamy. At this point, I wanted some color, so I added the roasted bells.. nice choice.
4. When the pasta is done, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, drain and add back into the pot off heat.
5. Mix the heavy cream and egg yolks with the pasta until nicely coated. Then add the cheesy sauce and fresh parsely and stir until evenly coated.

Serve with shredded swiss and parmesan and be blown away!

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Ingredients: (to make 18)

Grated Parmesan Cheese - 1/4 lb

Cream Cheese - Room Temp - 2tbls

Dates - Pitted - 18

Bacon - Cut Crosswise into 3 pieces - 6 slices

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 400*. Combine Parm Cheese and Cream Cheese. Mix until Smooth.

Slice each date to make pocket and spread 1 tsp of cheese filling into each date. 

Wrap a piece of bacon around each date. Secure with toothpick.

Cook for 15 minutes.

Chicken Salad

Since I have a blog of my own, I was thinking I can't just post on there and not on our Foodie Blog!! So, since Marc and I have been back from our Newport Beach vacation we've had the house to ourselfs and when the 'rents are away, we tend to cook dinner more. I found this awesome Chicken Salad receipe on allrecipes.com, that is super easy to make and I put my own twist on it. My favorite part of the salad is the BACON!! We had chicken salad wraps, but this salad is great with crackers, pita bread...and GREAT for the summer season because it's so light and fresh..and did I mention easy!? :)

Ingredients

2 cans of chicken (costco has the best canned chicken)
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (I usually add 6 strips of bacon...I love it and want it with every bite)

1 (8 ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained

1/2 cup thinly sliced celery

1 cup halved green grapes

3/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing

2 teaspoons finely minced onion

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 dash Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

How to put it all together:

Combine chicken, bacon, water chestnuts, celery and grapes in large bowl; set aside. In another bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients; add to salad and toss to coat. Chill until serving.

Tartiflette

Ahh the Tartiflette...
I hesitated for a long time before posting this recipe because I wasn't sure we could find the right cheese in the US. My mother confirmed that you can find it at Trader Joe's, so I'm now happily posting it! This is a recipe from the Savoye region in France (Alps) with Reblochon cheese, but that I tweaked because I like the way Raclette cheese melts.
Serves 5-6 people
Ingredients:
15 peeled cooked potatoes
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 chopped onion
3-4 chopped cloves garlic
1 pack bacon with most of the fat cut off and chopped into pieces
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 lb Raclette cheese
some heavy cream
Directions:
1. In a deep sautée pan, cook the bacon pieces a few minutes until they start rendering.
2. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme, and brown a bit.
3. Add the white wine and cook for 5-7 minutes.
4. Add the cooked potatoes and with a masher, crush them and mix them well into the mixture and let cook for 5 minutes with the cover on. It doesn't need to be creamy mashed potatoes, its actually more tasty if there are chunks.

5. In a baking dish, layer half your potato mixture, then some heavy cream, and a layer of Raclette cheese. You can go heavy on the cheese, but I didn't have enough to do that, but do it!
6. Repeat the layers and pop into the oven for 40 minutes at 400F or more if the cheese isn't golden whan you look at it.

Serve with salad and be impressed at how good a cook you are!
The leftovers are even better, as always ;)
To make typical French salad dressing, there is nothing easier:
2 tbsp EVOO
1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp mustard (optional)
some chopped shallots or baby onions (optional)
salt/pepper/parsley
then put this mixture at the bottom of the big salad bowl, salad on top, and then toss away and serve

Leek Pie

Hello everyone, I'm back! I haven't posted in a while because I seriously haven't been cooking, and when I do, I've been making things I've already posted, or heating up ready made dishes. I make this about once a week, and when there is company, they volunteer me to make this. I have been cooked for a bunch, but my MIL makes food that you need to spend at least 2 hours in the pressure cooker on, which is impossible for the working woman who does not own such a device.....So, when she contemplated the Leeks in the garden and then declared "tonight is Leek Pie," I jumped for joy and grabbed my camera!
Serves 4 as a main course, or 8 as an appetizer
Ingredients:
-1 pack of low sodium bacon, cut into little pieces with the big fat cut off
-1 pie crust in dough form
-4 Leeks (those things that look like giant green onions)
-Bechamel sauce
-3 egg yolks
-shredded swiss cheese
Directions:
1. Clean the leeks by cutting lengthwise and rinsing all the dirt out. Cook them by boiling them for a long time.. like 45 minutes... or stick them in the crock pot the night before so they're tender, then let drain until they are nice and dry, then cut in little bite size pieces with kitchen shears.
2. Cook the bacon in a pan and drain the grease.
3. Put your pie crust in your pie tin, and poke holes in it with your fork.
4. Place a layer of leeks, then bechamel, then bacon
... and then do another layer of each
5. Cover with shredded swiss cheese
6. In a bowl, whisk your 3 egg yolks and brush them onto your pie
7. Cook for 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven

We served some home fries with this, but did not even eat them because it was so filling. Otherwise, serve with some salad as a side to make a complete meal!

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp Re-MIX!

Re-Re-REMIX! Here are Amber's Bacon Wrapped Shrimp.

It was oh so deliciouso.

Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp with Chipotle BBQ Sauce

I have been meaning to make this for awhile, but never really had the time. Today the electricity went out at work, or all of Rancho Mirage for that matter...so after a dip in the pool and some good "Breaking Dawn" reading, I was in the mood to cook a good meal and it was AMAZING! Now, I am not really one for spicy foods, but I am learning to like them, considering Marc LOVES all things spicy. This receipe is courtesy Guy Fieri aka The Food Guy, so making it on the BBQ will bring this meal to it's full potential of yummy! Here it goes:

INGREDIENTS

20 Strips of Bacon (about 12 ounces)
20 Medium-Large shrimp, shelled and deveined (about 1 pound) - I just used Costco's Bag of Shirmp, no tails

1/2 cup of BBQ sauce

1/4 cup of olive oil

3 tablespoons lemon juice - I used fresh lemons, I just love the smell of them

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

3 tablespoons chopped chipotles in adobo sauce

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Bamboo Skewers

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak 5 to 8 Bamboo skewers in water for about 20 minutes to keep them from burning on the grill or under the broiler.

2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet until halfway done, about 4 minutes. Drain and cool on paper towels. Wrap a piece of bacon around the middle of each shrimp; skewer with bamboo through the point where the bacon ends meets up to keep them from unraveling. Thread 3 to 5 shrimp on each bamboo skewer. (Since I used the Costco shirmp they were kind of small, so I wrapped about 3 shirmp into one piece of bacon..and continued with rest of steps).

3. Puree the barbecue sauce, oil, lemon juice, mustard, chipotles, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper and fresh ground pepper in a blender. Set aside half of the sauce for dipping. CAUTION: the sauce is very spicy, so to tone it down a bit, I added more BBQ sauce.

4. Preheat the grill, grill pan or broiler. Grill or broil (on a foil-lined backing sheet, if broiling) for 5 minutes, basting with the sauce once they begin to turn pink. Flip, baste again and grill or broil until just cooked through (about 4 more minutes). Serve with extra sauce.

WAAALAA!

SIDES

I thought this meal would be really good with Corn-on-the-Cob...so I buttered up some cobs, sprinkled a little Lawry's Salt on them, wrapped them up in foil, made some fork wounds and threw them on the grill for about 20-25mins.

Fettuccine a la Carbonara

This is Eric's all time favorite pasta recipe. It is the go to meal when I ask him: What do you want to eat tonight? The first time I had this, Eric had made it for me, but I guess now I'm the one who makes it (in the US.. this will soon change). I'm not sure if this is French or Italian, but I've never seen it in any Italian restaurants in the US, so lets say its both.
Serves 5-6
Ingredients:
-1 pack of low sodium bacon, cut into little pieces with the big fat cut off
-1 pack fettuccine pasta
-1/2 a carton of heavy whipping cream or use your judgement... I'm really not good at giving precise measurements I'm noticing
-1/4 cup reserved pasta water
-a few shakes of dried thyme
-a few shakes black pepper
-a few shakes dried parsley (but go ahead and use fresh, its better)
-1 or 2 egg yolks depending on your ickiness factor (mine is low, so I use 2)
-shredded swiss and parmesan (I cannot help using both)
Directions:
1. Put your pasta on. This takes the longest. Do the rest while the pasta cooks.
2. Put your cut and trimmed bacon in a sautee pan with NO BUTTER OR OIL! Add thyme, pepper and parsley and watch it cook.
3. Drain the excess fat from the bacon using the same thing you use to drain the pasta (what is it called?)
4. Don't forget to take 1/4 cup of water out of the pasta before you drain it! Then drain it and put it back in the pot, and pour the egg yolks and mix it in with your spatula or tool of choice.
5. Add the bacon, heavy cream, and 1/4 cup pasta water into the pasta and mix around
6. Serve with shredded swiss and parmesan on top (and fresh ground black pepper, because I now can no longer live without it)
Variations:
Eric likes his exactly as the recipe states above, but I've added sun dried tomatoes and even zucchini sauteed with the bacon, and its very good too!

Stuffed Eggplant (Eggplant Sopa)

This recipe comes from my parents experimenting with different recipes when they were my age. I like it because it's basically a big vegetable, it tastes really good, and its a crowd pleaser (right amber?). I made this for 2, but you can expand to make it for more.













Ingredients:
3 big eggplants
1/3 pack of bacon with as much fat cut off as possible, cut into pieces (or ham if you prefer)
1/2 onion minced
swiss cheese
salt/pepper to taste
Directions:
Eggplant volume reduces once cooked, so for 2 people, I needed 3 eggplants. Always get 1 or 2 more eggplants than you need.
1. Sautee bacon and onions together. Don't add any oil or butter. The bacon has enough of that.
2. cut eggplants lengthwise so one side is bigger than the other













3. cut criss crossed squares into the big half to be able to easily scoop out eggplants in square chunks . If it gets a little brown, its ok. It just oxidizing.













4. scoop out all the eggplant (from the smaller halves too) and throw into the pan (but keep the eggplant shells)
5. cook on medium heat until tender (15 minutes?). It cooks faster if you cover, but make sure you stir so it doesn't burn. Salt/pepper to taste. If you use bacon, you don't really need salt. During this step, preheat your oven to 400 F.
6. Scoop your "sopa" back into your eggplant shells, sprinkle swiss on top, and put in the oven for around 15 minutes or until your cheese starts bubbling.