Friday 27 February 2015

Quick Kale & Celeriac Soup.

Quick Kale & Celeriac Soup - Urban Harvest Organic Delivery: delicious!
Contributed by Angela Cleveland (from Harvest Herald #339)

Ingredients

-1 Large onion, chopped
-2 cloves Garlic, minced

-2 Large Potatoes, cubed

-1 Celeriac, peeled & cubed
-2 cups chopped & rinsed Kale
-1 Tbsp Olive Oil
-6 cups Soup Stock (chicken or veg)

-1 Tbsp chopped fresh Dill, optional
-1 Tbsp butter, optional
-Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions
Heat oil in soup pot.
Add onion, sauté until translucent.
Add garlic, potatoes, celeriac, and stock.
Bring to a boil, then simmer until veggies are tender.
Add kale, dill, and butter if using.
For a thicker soup, puree half, then return to the pot.
Re-heat and serve.

PS
Small onion = 4 ounces by weight or about ½ cup chopped
Medium onion = 8 ounces, or about 1 cup chopped
Large onion = 12 ounces, or about 1½ cups chopped
Jumbo onion = 16 ounces, or about 2 cups chopped
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Thursday 26 February 2015

Venison. Sauce.

Venison Haunch Steak with Spelt Grain and Red Wine Sauce Recipe by Madalene Bonvini-Hamel; Chef, Photographer and Founder of The British Larder – The British Larder:
Sauce:

Prepare the vegetables by peeling and washing all the vegetables.
Cut them all the same sizes about 2cm pieces and just crush the garlic with the heel of your hand.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute all the vegetables, coriander seeds, juniper berries and cloves until golden brown, this should take about 10 minutes.
Do not burn the vegetables. The idea is to caramelize the vegetables and bring out the natural sweetness.
Add the tomato puree and continue cooking for a further 5 minutes, stir regularly to prevent the puree from burning. Do not be tempted to add extra oil as it will make the sauce greasy.
Add the red currant jelly, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary and deglaze the pan with the wine, turn the heat up and cook until the wine reduced by half.
Add the stock, bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, do not boil the sauce too fast and do not cover the pan with a lid. Gently simmer for 20 minutes, removing the impurities with a ladle.
Pass the sauce through a fine sieve, discard the solids and return the sauce to a clean saucepan.
Reduce the sauce until it has a coating consistency.
Set the sauce aside until needed.
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Tuesday 24 February 2015

Mary Berry Cooks: Lamb dhansak.

Mary Berry Cooks: Lamb dhansak with fresh tomato relish and raita | Daily Mail Online: very tasty, delicious!
Lamb, Lentil and Vegetable Stew.

Dhansak is a popular Indian curry made from meat and lentils, flavoured with spices including cumin and ginger. It is mild, sweet and rich with just enough heat to satisfy most tastes. And best of all it benefits from being made a day in advance as it tastes even better the next day.

I like to serve this with Raita and Fresh Tomato Relish, as well as hard-boiled eggs, poppadoms, rice and, of course, mango chutney.
serves 6
-3 tablespoons sunflower oil
-1kg (2lb 2oz) diced lamb(shoulder or leg, or a mixture)
-2 onions, diced
-25g (1oz) fresh ginger root, peeled but left whole
-4 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
-1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
-10 green cardamom pods
-1½ tablespoons ground cumin
-1½ tablespoons ground coriander
-½ tablespoon ground turmeric
-1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
-200ml beef stock
-75g dried red lentils
-3 tablespoons clear honey
-salt and freshly ground
-black pepper

Monday 23 February 2015

Мандариновый конфитюр с шафраном и морковью.

simysia - Мандариновый конфитюр с шафраном и морковью:
Мандарины - 8 шт (крупных)
Морковь - 500 гр.
Сок лимона - 2 ст.л.
Цедра 1 лимона
Сахар - 200 гр.
Пектин - 10 г.
Мед - 3 ст.л.
Шафран - 1 ч.л.

1. С лимона и мандаринов снять цедру.
2. Очистить мандарины от кожуры, пленок косточек.
3. Морковь натереть на терке.
4. Соединить в кастрюле лимонный сок, мякоть мандаринов, морковь, часть цедры.
Добавить мед, сахар (отложив 1 ст.л.) и полстакана воды.
5. Довести до кипения и готовить на медленном огне, помешивая, до золотисто-прозрачного цвета моркови (она будет выглядеть как цукаты).
6. Пробить блендером до более-менее однородного состояния и выложить обратно в кастрюлю.
Довести до кипения.
7. Пектин с мешать с 1 ст.л. сахара и добавить к конфитюру.
Тщательно размешать и кипятить около 3 минут.
Снять с огня, добавить шафран и оставшуюся цедру, немного остудить и разложить конфитюр по баночкам.
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Sunday 15 February 2015

Chuck’s Favorite Bittersweet Chocolate-Ginger Molasses Cookies.

Chuck Williams at 99: Celebrating the Pleasures of Cooking | Edible Legacies:

Recipe: Chuck’s Favorite Bittersweet Chocolate-Ginger Molasses Cookies

Chuck loves fine dark chocolate and down-home molasses cookies with equal fervor. To make him happy with every bite, I tweaked one of his own spiced cookie recipes to include decadent swirls of bittersweet chocolate. Feel free to play around with the spices to suit your own tastes (but Chuck would tell you “don’t skip the cardamom—it’s very important”). In the photo, Chuck is sharing the cookies with ZeBot Zebra, a culinarily curious zebra who teaches kids to explore the magic of food.

Ingredients:

12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup mild molasses
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract (Chuck loves Nielsen-Massey)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. cardamom
About 8-oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate, melted

Directions:

Prepare the baking sheets
Preheat oven to 180C. Line 2 baking sheets with silpats.

Mix the dough
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy. Add the egg, vanilla and molasses and beat until smooth. In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice or allspice. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until blended.

Bake the cookies
Drop tablespoonful-sized scoops of the dough onto the prepared sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Press down in a crisscross pattern with a fork (dipping in water as necessary to keep dough from sticking). Bake until the cookies are browned and firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Drizzle melted bittersweet chocolate over the cookies, then let cool completely. Makes about four dozen cookies.
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Saturday 14 February 2015

Chuck Williams, Carrot Soup with Coriander.

Chuck Williams (Born: October 2, 1915 (age 99))-The founder of gourmet chain Williams-Sonoma:

Carrot Soup with Coriander.

To honor the birthday of our founder, Chuck Williams, we are preparing one of Chuck’s classic recipes in our stores today: Carrot Soup with Coriander. The ground coriander and chopped cilantro give this soup its wonderfully bright, fresh taste.

1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 lb carrots (12-14), peeled and cut crosswise into ½ inch thick
1 baking potato, 8-9 oz, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 teaspoon ground coriander
4 cups (32 fl oz) chicken stock
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups (16 fl oz) milk, or as needed
freshly ground pepper
2-3 tablespoons dry sherry
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. When hot, add the onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté, stirring, until beginning to change color, 20 – 30 seconds. Add the carrots, potato and ground coriander and sauté, stirring a couple of times, for 2-3 minutes. Add the stock, sugar and salt and raise the heat to medium-low, cover partially and continue simmering until the vegetables are soft when pierced with the tip of a knife, 20 – 25 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a blender, process the vegetables in small batches with their stock until smooth (the soup may be made ahead to this point, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days).

Return the puree to the saucepan and add 2 cups milk and pepper to taste. Place over medium heat and heat almost to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasonings. If the soup is too thick, add milk as needed to thin. Just before serving, stir in the sherry to taste.

To serve, ladle into warmed soup bowls. Top each bowl with a spoonful of sour cream and sprinkling of cilantro. Serve at once

Serves 6

Source: Merchant of Sonoma

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Ginger Tea or Tisane.

3 Ways to Make Ginger Tea or Tisane - wikiHow:

-If you have ginger tea left over, store in a jug in the refrigerator. It can be reheated or drunk as iced tea.
-A tisane is a form of medicinal preparation and provides therapeutic benefits. If you are using the tisane for medicinal purposes, do not add sweeteners.
-If you only want to make one cup of tea, simply grate 3 teaspoons of ginger to one cup boiling water.
-If you want to increase the heat effect of the tea, add a pinch of cayenne pepper.
-You can also grate ginger and wrap in plastic wrap, roll it up like a candy and store in freezer for later use, by breaking off what you need.
-Try adding a pinch of cinnamon to the tea for a spicy zing.
-Ginger works synergistically with peppermint. (A synergistic reaction is one whereby the effect of combining two or more agents is greater than the simple sum of the individual agents.) It can be added safely to any tea.
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Friday 13 February 2015

Shepherd’s Pie.

Recipe Roundup: Comforting Casseroles | Williams-Sonoma Taste:
Shepherd’s Pie Cottage pie or shepherd's pie is a meat pie with a crust of mashed potato, there is no definitive recipe.

I did with 0.5kg ground round beef/the mince - I got two of these dishs of Pie.

There is original recipe:
1 kg. boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm.) chunks (I did with 0.5kg ground round beef)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Tbs. olive oil
8 Tbs. (125 g.) unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery ribs, chopped
2 small cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup (60 g.) all-purpose flour
3 1/3 cups (840 ml.) beef broth
2/3 cup (160 ml.) dry white wine
2 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
3 1.5 kg. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
About 1/3 cup (80 ml.) heavy cream, warmed
1 cup (155 g.) fresh or thawed frozen peas

Preheat the oven to 165 degrees C. Season the lamb with salt and pepper. In a large ovenproof pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sear the lamb, turning, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

In the same pot, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic, cover and cook, stirring, until the carrots are tender-crisp, about 5 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with the flour and stir well. Gradually stir in the broth and wine. Add the rosemary. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from the pot bottom. Return the lamb to the pot, cover, place in the oven and cook until the lamb is tender, 1 1/2 hours.

About 30 minutes before the lamb is ready, oil a 3-qt. (3-l.) baking dish. In a saucepan, combine the potatoes with salted water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 20-25 minutes. Drain well. Return the potatoes to the pan and stir over medium-low heat for 2 minutes to evaporate the excess moisture. Cut 3 tablespoons of the butter into pieces and add to the potatoes. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes while adding enough cream to create a smooth texture.

Season the lamb mixture with salt and pepper, stir in the peas, and pour into the prepared dish. Spread the mashed potatoes evenly on top. Cut the remaining 1 tablespoon butter into bits and use to dot the top. With the oven still at 165 degrees C, bake until the top is lightly tinged with brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for about 5 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

My version:

- Brown mince beef in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 10 minutes or until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Remove ground beef from skillet using a slotted spoon; reserve 2 Tbsp. drippings in skillet. Reduce heat to medium.

- I make mine with a twist by stirring mashed roast garlic through the potato, to be honest I normally make it with two bulbs of garlic because I’m a bit of a garlic fiend, but if you are pushed for time skip the garlic and just make the mash, it will taste just a good.
First things first, get the garlic in the oven! Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6.

Slice the top off the garlic bulb just enough so that each of the cloves is exposed and place on a roasting tray. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with a some sea salt. Place in the oven to roast for 40 minutes or until soft and tender. When the garlic is cooked, remove the roast cloves from their skins and mash with the back of a fork.

- Top meat with Kale Chips!

- Give the topping an extra sprinkle of ground black pepper with cheese and bake in the oven for several mins until the top is starting to brown and the mince is bubbling up around the edges (when did heat up - when warmed dish the next day).

Another handy tip to remember is that once you have assembled the shepherd’s pie to the point just before you put it in the oven you can actually freeze the pie and cook from frozen if you fancy prepping a few in advance!

Shepherd’s pie dauphinois. By Mary Berry!

This variation
on the classic shepherd’s pie has a layered topping of potato and cream instead of mash.
Serve with a green vegetable.
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Thursday 12 February 2015

Caramelized Crepes Filled with Fresh Cheese.

Lottie + Doof » Caramelized Crepes Filled with Fresh Cheese:
Caramelized Crepes Filled with Fresh Cheese (from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich)
Difference Between Crepes and Pancakes.
Pancakes start as a batter that you pour into rounds on a skillet, griddle, or pan, cooked over high heat.
They can be thick and fluffy, which is the American-style breakfast pancake, or wafer-thin and delicate, which is the French-style crêpe.
The American version is also called a hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack.
In Korea, they're jeon, in Hungary, they're called palacsinta, and in Russia, blini, which includes blintzes.
Jews have potato pancakes called latkes, and the Irish, boxties.

1 3/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Butter for cooking crepes and sauteing filled crepes
1 pound slightly tangy fresh cheese, such as cottage cheese, fromage blanc, mild goat cheese, paneer, or yogurt cheese
Sugar for sprinkling
Sour cream or whipped cream for serving (optional)

To make the crepes: Combine the milk, melted butter, and eggs in a pitcher or measuring cup with a pouring spout.
Put the flour and salt in a blender or food processor.
With the motor running, pour the milk mixture through the feed tube and blend for 5 seconds.
Set a medium mesh strainer over a bowl and strain the mixture into the bowl.
Press any lumps through the strainer and stir them into the batter.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day.

Heat crepe pan or 6-inch/15 centimetres skillet over medium-high heat.
Brush the pan lightly with butter.
Pour 2 tablespoons of the batter into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to coat the entire surface evenly.
Cook, on one side only, until the crepe is uniformly translucent and the surface no longer looks wet, 45 seconds to 1 minute.
Loosen the edges of the crepe with a spatula and invert it onto a piece of waxed paper.
Repeat with the remaining batter, buttering the pan as necessary. (the crepes can be stacked between sheets of waxed paper, wrapped airtight, and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.)

To assemble the crepes: Place a slightly rounded tablespoon of cheese below the center of the brown side of a crepe.
Shape the cheese into a cigar about 3.5 inches/10 cm long.
Then roll up the crepes, as you would a rug, around the cheese.
Place the filled crepe, seam side down on a wax-paper lined tray.
Repeat with all of the crepes.
Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

To saute the crepes: Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
When the pan is hot, add 1 tablespoon butter and swirl to coat the pan.
Sprinkle 2 to 3 teaspoons sugar over the butter, and add only as many crepes to the pan as will fit comfortably.
Cook seam side down only until just browned on the first side, about 30 seconds.
Sprinkle the crepes with sugar, turn then carefully, and brown the bottoms.
Place on a warm serving plate. Repeat with the remaining crepes.
Serve immediately, with a dollop of sour cream or whipped cream, if you like.

* I made these with cottage cheese and fromage blanc, I loved them both. If you are using an especially tart cheese, you might want to add a tiny bit of sugar to even things out.
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Joan Didion’s Favorite Recipes.

Joan Didion’s Favorite Recipes | Brain Pickings:

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Friday 6 February 2015

Creamy Kale Soup.

Blog - Creamy Kale Soup - Cuisinart.com:

I love Kale Chips with Sea Salt & Smoked Paprika in this soup.
For a lighter twist, try substituting sour cream or Greek yogurt for the heavy cream.
Creamy Kale Soup
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small leek, sliced
1 bunch kale, chopped
1 bunch Italian parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 cups vegetable broth, low sodium
1/2 cup heavy cream, room temperature

1. Put the oil and butter into a 5 L saucepan set over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add the shallots, garlic and leek. Sweat ingredients together so that they gently sauté, but do not pick up any color.

2. Add the kale, parsley, salt and pepper and stir to coat. Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat so that the soup is just simmering. Simmer for about 30 minutes.
Add the cream and continue simmering uncovered for an additional 20 to 30 minutes.

3. Put ingredients into the blender jar. Blend on Low for about 10 seconds, then switch to High to thoroughly blend, about 45 seconds.
Or, if you have a hand blender, place the chopper head into the saucepan and blend on a low speed until the desired consistency is achieved. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

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Pork chops.

Normandy:
Cotes Pork Normande. Cotes De Porc Normande. By: Mark R. Vogel
4 pork chops
salt and pepper to taste
vegetable oil, as needed
2 tablespoons butter
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices
57 millilitres Calvados
1 cup heavy cream

Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and sauté in the oil until completely browned on each side.
Remove the chops from the pan and set aside.
Add the butter to the pan and sauté the apples until browned.
Remove the apples and set aside.
Deglaze the pan with the Calvados and reduce by at least two thirds.
Pour in the heavy cream and bring to a simmer.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
Return the chops to the pan and coat with the cream.
Place the apple slices on top of the chops and simmer for a few minutes or until the chops are fully cooked.
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Choosing and Buying the Right Saute Pan.

Saute Pans | Choosing and Buying the Right Saute Pan : The Reluctant Gourmet: " There are a lot of great brand names when it come to cookware including All-Clad, Calphalon, Viking, Le Creuset and what you choose should be based on your own personal needs. I research and buy many of my cookware including saute pans at Amazon.com. They have most of the top named brands and you can usually find one at a great price."

How to choose the right cookware by Mark R. Vogel:
"The primary consideration in choosing cookware is the material it is constructed from. Copper is the most expensive but also the best heat conductor. Superior heat conduction allows for even cooking.
The problem with copper cookware, (beside the price), is reactivity. Copper, aluminum, and to a lesser extent cast iron, are “reactive” metals. That means they will chemically combine with certain foods, usually acidic ones, and alter the flavor and color of your preparation. Not to mention that you will be consuming unwanted levels of the metal.

Thursday 5 February 2015

Суп из корневого селдерея.

Celery Root Soup Recipe | David Lebovitz:

1 столовая ложка сливочного масла
1 столовая ложка оливкового масла
1 лук-порей, очищеный и нарезанный
морская соль
2 зубчика чеснока, очищенных и тонко нарезанных
1/4 большого корня сельдерея, очищенного и нарезанного кубиками
3 чашки (750 мл) куриного бульона
1 - 1,5 чайные ложки свеже-молотого белого перца
чуть - 1/8 чайной ложки чили порошок (я использовал Ранчо Гордо)

1. В большой кастрюле растопить сливочне масло с оливковым.

2. Добавить лук-порей и готовить в течение примерно пяти минут, часто помешивая. Добавить чеснок, приправить солью и продолжать варить, пока лук-порей и чеснок не станут мягкими и прозрачными.

3. Добавить корень сельдерея и бульон. (Или воду.) Довести до кипения, затем уменьшить до среднего кипения. Варить под приоткрытой крышкой, пока сельдерей не станет мягким и будет легко прокалываться ножом, это около сорока пяти минут.

4. Добавить белый перец и чили порошок.

Используя ручной миксер - сделать суп-пюре, или охладить суп до комнатной температуры и превратить в пюре блендером - до получения однородной массы. Выправить солью и перцем, если это необходимо. Если суп слишком густой, его можно разбавить водой или бульоном.

Варианты: Корень сельдерея очень ароматный, но не стесняйтесь экспериментировать с добавлением других ингредиентов. Кубики груши или яблока могут быть добавлены к кубикам корня сельдерея, мускатный орех, или сметана вместо оливкового масла .
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Sunday 1 February 2015

Shortcut Recipe for Demi-Glace.

Shortcut Recipe for Demi-Glace:
"Demi-glace is an amazing sauce to serve with red meats, like roasts and grilled steaks and such. The only thing about it is that making it from scratch can be quite time-consuming.
Fortunately, you can save a lot of time by making your demi-glace with store-bought beef stock or beef broth.
Purists might raise their eyebrows at this, but the reality is that if something's too hard to make, you're probably not going to make it. Which is a shame, because everyone should be able to enjoy the deep, rich, sumptuous flavor of demi-glace, which is pretty much the ultimate sauce.
Okay, it's not literally the ultimate sauce. You can in fact use demi-glace to make other sauces. Add some red wine and reduce it for a bit and you have the classic red wine sauce. Do the same with mushrooms and shallots and you have a traditional mushroom sauce.

Demi-glace is made by combining a mixture of half basic brown sauce and half brown stock (such as beef stock) and then simmering until it's reduced by half. The shortcut here is that instead of making the stock from scratch, we'll use store-bought stock or broth. It won't have the same body as a homemade demi-glace, but it'll save you about 8 hours.


My advice is to use the best quality stock or broth you can find, and stick to the low-sodium, reduced-salt (or even no-salt) varieties. Reducing concentrates the saltiness, and you don't want your finished sauce to taste like a salt-lick.
You'll need some cheesecloth for straining the sauce and also for making the sachet d'epices, as well as some cooking twine for tying it up.

Ingredients:
- 5 cups beef stock
- 1/2 cup chopped onions
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup chopped carrots
- 1 oz clarified butter (2 Tbsp)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 6-8 fresh parsley stems
- 8-10 whole peppercorns

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 70 minutes
Total Time: 80 minutes

Preparation:
1.Place the bay leaf, thyme, parsley stems and peppercorns onto a square of cheesecloth and tie it up into a bundle with cooking twine.

2.Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, and add the chopped onions, celery and carrots. Saute them for a couple of minutes, until the onion is partially translucent.

3.Sprinkle in the flour and stir to form a paste. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the flour is lightly browned, but by no means burned.

4.Now whisk in 3 cups of the beef stock.

5.Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower heat to a simmer, add one of the sachets and reduce for about 20 minutes or until the total volume has reduced by about one-third.
6.Remove pan from heat and retrieve the sachet (and set it aside). Carefully pour the sauce through a wire mesh strainer lined with a piece of cheesecloth.

7.Now return it to the pan and stir in the remaining two cups of stock and return the sachet to the pot.

8.Bring back to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Simmer for about 50 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by half.

9.Discard the sachet. Strain the sauce through a fresh piece of cheesecloth. Season to taste with Kosher salt. (But if you're using the demi-glace to make another sauce, season at the very end.)

Demi-glace will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks, and in the freezer for months."

French cuisine.
In the early 20th century, the chef Auguste Escoffier refined Carême's list of basic sauces in the four editions of his classic Le Guide Culinaire and its abridged English translation A Guide to Modern Cookery. He dropped allemande as he considered it a variation of velouté, and added hollandaise and sauce tomate, defining the five fundamental "mother sauces" still used today:

Sauce Béchamel, milk-based sauce, thickened with a white roux.
Sauce Espagnole, a fortified brown veal stock sauce, thickened with a brown roux.
Sauce Velouté, light stock-based sauce, thickened with a roux or a liaison, a mixture of egg yolks and cream.
Sauce Hollandaise, an emulsion of egg yolk, butter and lemon or vinegar.
Sauce Tomate, tomato-based
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Springtime Lamb Stew (Navarin d'Agneau).

Navarin
The name "navarin" possibly comes from the French name for "turnip", "navet." Some cooks are now calling anything that has turnips in it a "Navarin."
Navarin is a French ragoût (stew) of lamb or mutton. If made with lamb and vegetables available fresh in the spring, it is called navarin printanier (spring stew).

A navarin is a lamb dish that celebrates the spring harvest. It brings together young, tender lamb and the first of the new season's baby vegetables. The sauce is lighter and less complex than those in the more robust winter casseroles. This brothlike sauce is well suited to the subtle flavors of the baby carrots, baby turnips, peas and asparagus tips. Fava beans or haricots verts are optional additions. The most typical accompaniment is boiled new potatoes, tossed in butter and parsley.

Ingredients:
4 Tbs. (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter
1 boneless leg of lamb, about 1.5 kg, cut into 5 cm pieces
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
2 cups dry white wine
2 1/2 cups water
2 Tbs. beef demi-glace *
3 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs
2 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
600 gr. baby carrots, peeled
12 baby turnips, peeled
600 gr. shallots, peeled
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
24 asparagus tips, each 7 cm long

Directions:
In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter. Working in batches, brown the lamb on all sides, about 15 minutes.
When all the meat is browned, return it to the pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the meat and onion and stir until the flour browns, about 30 seconds. Add the wine, water, demi-glace, parsley, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

Stir the meat, add the garlic, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the carrots, turnips and shallots, cover and simmer until the meat is tender, about 40 minutes more. Add the peas and asparagus and cook for 6 to 8 minutes more. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat and vegetables to a warmed serving dish; keep warm.

Increase the heat to high, bring the liquid to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, and pour over the meat and vegetables. Serve immediately.

Serves 6.

*beef demi-glace - Demi-glace (pronounced "demi-GLASS") is a rich and deeply flavorful sauce that is traditionally served with red meats.
Demi-glace is made by reducing a mixture of half basic brown sauce and half brown stock.

When cooking with demi-glace, keep these tips in mind:

Season a sauce made with demi-glace just before serving. The demi-glace is so intensely flavored that further seasoning may not be necessary.

Demi-glace will boost the flavor of a finished dish when incorporated at the end of cooking. Before adding the demi-glace, dilute it with a few teaspoons of hot water until it reaches the consistency of heavy cream. This will make it easier and faster to incorporate. Add the diluted demi-glace one teaspoon at a time until you achieve the desired flavor.

Simple dishes become stellar ones with the addition of demi-glace, as you'll discover in the recipes here.
Enjoy!
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Savoring Series, Savoring Provence, by Diane Holuigue (Time-Life Books, 2002).
Diane Holuigue ‘Australia’s Julia Childs’!

Kitchen Notes from Terry Boyd: Lamb Recipes: Lamb Navarin (Navarin d’Agneau):
- You can also use boneless lamb shoulder and cut it into chunks. You can even use bone-in lamb shoulder chops and cut them up.

- Onion! You start with a yellow onion to flavor the overall braise.
In this recipe, shallots are added later, offering the occasional mild oniony bite.
Some recipes call for spring or green onions.
You could also use leeks.
When preparing the shallots for this version, peel off the dry outer skins, separate individual lobes, then slice them once crosswise and once lengthwise to quarter them. As they cook, they will probably further separate into smaller pieces.
That’s fine.

- Making the roux is the most French way to thicken the stew’s sauce.
You could make a beurre manié instead, kneading together soft butter and flour and adding it to the sauce, also very French.
But the roux avoids the raw flour taste and is far less messy to deal with.
You could also thicken the sauce with cornstarch dissolved in cold water.
And finally, you could say screw it and not bother to thicken the sauce. Only don’t do this.
A velvety sauce gives the whole dish a nice finish.