Beef Bourguignon for Your Crockpot!

I wanted to make the real deal meal, but due to lack of time and a dutch oven, this is what I made up. It was SO GOOD!!!

Read the entire directions and have fun!

Made simple-ish for the crock pot

INGREDIENTS:

3 medium russet potatoes

3 medium carrots

8 white or brown mushrooms, cleaned and cut into quarters

1 large yellow or white onion, chopped medium fine

1 clove of garlic, chopped fine

1 teaspoon of fresh thyme (1/2 teaspoon dried)

4 tablespoons of butter

½ cup flour

2 cups red wine (Chianti is best for this dish)

3-4 cups of stock (veg, chick, or beef)

½ package of regular bacon

1 pound of lean beef, cut into 1 inch cubes, dried with paper towels

Salt and Pepper to taste
Fresh parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Peel and chop potatoes into 1 inch cubes.

Peel and chop carrots into bite-sized pieces cut on the diagonal.

Place potatoes and carrots into the crock pot

Add thyme to pot.

Chop bacon into little pieces.

Fry in dutch oven or regular pan

Remove crispy bits of bacon, add to pot, leave fat in pan

Add cubed meat, don’t crowd. Fry on all sides until browned.

Remove meat, add to pot, leave fat in pan.

Add onions, when they are translucent add garlic.

Fry until onions and garlic until just starting to brown.

Remove onions and garlic, add to pot, discard all remaining bacon fat.

Add wine to all of the cooked ingredients in the crock pot with veggies and thyme.

Cover with enough stock until everything is just covered.

Stir in tomato paste.

Cover and store until ready to cook. (You can prep this up to two days in advance.)

Cook on low for at least half of the time and high to finish. (Minimum of 6 hours, ideal, 9 hours.)

When you’re 30 minutes from serving:

Saute mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter, don’t crowd.

Add mushrooms to pot.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in pan, add flour.

Cook butter and flour to make a roux until browned to your preference. (about 3-5 minutes.)

Add 2 cups of juices from the pot to the roux, stir well until thick.

Add thickened sauce to pot and stir well.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with chopped parsley

Samosas

After only being in India a few days, I found myself, thanks to a friend of a friend, spending New Year's Eve with a local family in the Northern suburbs of Mumbai. I won't tell you about the harrowing train ride there, which left me in tears, but I will tell you that we arrived to a memorable Indian welcome and just in time for a lavish lunch prepared entirely from scratch by our host mother.

She started with handmade samosas. Though the whole meal was thoroughly enjoyable, the samosas are what I remember most. Made from scratch! By hand! Just for us! I never, ever thought that I would be able to attempt something like that on my own. And to be sure, when I flipped the pages of Cooking Light and came across a recipe for samosas, I was surprised to find it there. I imagined the making of samosas to be a laborious and time consuming task, something outside the scope of your average American cook.

Now, these samosas are not exactly what I ate that day in a Mumbai living room, but they are definitely good enough for me. The main leap of faith is using egg roll wrappers in place of the tasty dough that normally envelopes these savory treats. The egg roll wrappers are easier, of course, and I would rather make samosas this way than not make them at all, which would probably be the alternative--at least for me.

The original recipe was developed by Cheryl and Bill Jamison of, apparently, some cookbook fame. I had never heard of them before randomly picking up a sale book at Powell's called Around the World in 80 Dinners: The Ultimate Culinary Adventure. I think it was priced to move for a reason. Terrible, boring book. I don't know how the Jamisons made a book about travel and food boring, but sadly they did. Skip their book, but definitely try these samosas.

Samosas
(adapted from Cooking Light)

~Print Recipe~

• 1 1/4 cups mashed potatoes
• 1/4 cup cooked lentils
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh mint
• 1 teaspoon curry paste (like Patak's) or curry powder, more if desired
• 1 teaspoon butter, softened
• 1/4 teaspoon kosker salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 cup frozen petite green peas, thawed
• 10 egg roll wrappers
• 1 egg, beaten
• Cooking spray

1. Mix together potatoes, lentils, mint, curry, butter, salt and cumin until combined. Gently fold in peas.
2. Use one egg roll wrapper at a time and cover the rest so they don't dry out. Cut the wrapper down the middle to form 2 long triangles. Dip a finger in the egg, then use your finger to coat the edges of the wrapper with egg. 
3. With your hands, grab a small portion (about 1 tablespoon) of the potato mixture and place it near the bottom left hand edge of the wrapper. Fold the bottom right hand corner of the wrapper over the mixture to meet the left edge of the wrapper to form a triangle. Repeat the fold to the opposite side to form another triangle---like folding up a flag. Seal the edges and set aside. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.
4. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Coat with cooking spray. Add samosas to pan, cook until bottoms are golden brown. Flip and cook until other side is also golden brown. Serve with chutney or raita of your choice. (Note: Trader Joe's has an excellent selection of chutneys and sauces.)

Makes 20 pieces/ 4-5 servings

Giada's Baked Mashed Potatoes

This is another winner I caught while enjoying cable at the gym. Giada was making this as a dinner for two, so she only used 3 russet potatoes. I followed her lead on portion size and cut back on the quantities listed below, but I didn't have any mozerella or parmesan, so I just used some asiago I had. I also substituted some 2% milk and a little sour cream for whole milk. It turned out delicious! I mean, mashed potatoes baked with cheese and a crunchy bread crumb topping? What's not to like?!

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons plain dry bread crumbs

1. Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water until they are very tender, about 15 minutes. Drain; return the potatoes to the same pot and mash well.

2. While the potatoes are cooking, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Use the 1 tablespoon of butter to grease a 9x13 baking dish. Set aside.
   

3. Warm the milk and melt the butter. Stir into potatoes. Mix in the mozzarella and 3/4 cup of the Parmesan. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Transfer the potatoes to the prepared baking dish.
   

4. Stir the bread crumbs and remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the mashed potatoes. Recipe can be prepared up to this point 6 hours ahead of time; cover and chill.

5. Bake, uncovered, until the topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes.