Chicken Bone Broth
Every time I make chicken bone broth I just kind of wing it. I decided to write down what I did last time. This one is a mish mash of different flavours that I have used for different broths over the years. I thought I’d …
Recent Posts
Buttermilk Granola Muffins
Buttermilk is the secret ingredient in these moist and satisfying apple granola muffins. I was itching to try out the silicone muffin liners I picket up at IKEA a while back and it was pouring rain so it seemed like a good time to bake …
Beef Bourguignon in the Slow Cooker
This Beef Bourguignon is a mishmash of recipes I looked at on the web including great options from Dinnerthendessert, Therecipecritic, and Sommelierschoiceawards (because I was using a Cab Sav). It’s a cold and rainy New Year’s Eve and I thought having something simmering in the slow cooker was a good call, plus I had veggies and half a bottle of wine that needed to be used up. I hate wasting food (and wine) and “stew” is always an option to create something hearty and flavourful. I also have a small kitchen and hate washing dishes, so I skipped marinating and making a mess with flouring the beef before browning it.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs stewing beef, cut in 2-inch chunks
- Salt and pepper, to flavour the beef
- 6 rashers of bacon, chopped
- 3 carrots, cut in chunks
- 2 stalks celery, cut in chunks
- 1 yellow onion, cut in chunks
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 and 1/2 lbs of Crimini mushrooms, quartered
- 3 cups red wine, full-bodied is best (e.g., Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone, Burgundy)
- 4 cups beef or chicken stock (whatever you have handy will do) – divided
- 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 1 healthy bunch of fresh thyme sprigs
- 2 Tbsp flour mixed with a 1/4 cup water to make a slurry
Method – Slow Cooker
- Turn slow cooker to high with the lid on. This keeps everything from getting cold.
- Start simmering the wine to reduce by 1/3.
- While the wine is simmering, prep the veg and add to the slow cooker (lid on).
- Add the bay leaf, thyme and garlic. Let that all warm up while you prepare the meats.
- Salt and pepper the beef and set to one side.
- In a large frying pan fry up the bacon over medium heat until it renders it’s fat and browns (don’t over brown).
- Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and put into the slow cooker.
- Brown the beef on all sides, making sure you get a bit of caramelization by not crowding the pan (you may need to do this in two batches). You don’t have to do this but the flavour is better.
- Add the browned beef to the slow cooker.
- Deglaze the frying pan with the wine.
- Add the chicken stock.
- Bring the liquid to a boil and slowly add the flour and water slurry using a whisk to prevent it from getting lumpy. Another way to achieve thickening is to coat the beef with a couple Tbsps of flour before browning, but I didn’t feel like dirtying more dishes than I had to.
- Pour the liquid into the slow cooker.
- Give the works a good stir, slap the lid back on, set it to low, and go do something fun for 6-8 hours.
Method – Dutch Oven – follow this: https://www.savingdessert.com/julia-childs-beef-bourguignon/
Serve with mashed potatoes and the green veg of your choice.
Paleo Swedish Meatballs
These paleo Swedish meatballs are mix of Healthy Swedish Meatballs from 40 Aprons and Dairy Free Swedish Meatballs from The Castaway Kitchen. I mixed the two recipes and baked them rather than fry them. Ingredients 1 lb meatball mix (beef, pork and veal) or just …
Paleo Sun-dried Tomato and Turkey Meatballs
We have a good family friend who is on a paleo diet with additional restrictions including no gluten and cow’s milk products. These sun-dried tomato and turkey meatballs from Half Baked Harvest with a little swapping here and there fit the bill. I used Chèvre …
Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole (T’was the night before Christmas)
T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring…actually, not true. Me, I was stirring…eggs for this recipe.
I have made Best of Bridge’s Christmas Morning “Wife” Saver in the past and am all for not having to cook on Christmas morning while everyone else lounges around drinking coffee. I also happened to have about a cup of left over filling from the Vegetable Strudel I had made and I thought it would go well with the eggs (it did). Given we were going to cook up bacon anyway, I thought why not make the casserole vegetarian. So I did. Here’s how it goes.
Ingredients
- 12 slices of bread that has been left out to get slightly stale (it absorbs the egg and milk bettter), cubed. I didn’t bother removing the crusts.
- 1 cup roasted veggies if you have them. If not, chop up some ham or do up some sausage and chop that up.
- 5 large eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp dijon mustard (dried if you have it, wet if you don’t – I used wet)
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Method
- The night before, butter a medium-sized casserole dish.
- Cover the bottom with cubed bread.
- Add a layer of the roasted veggies. Or use chopped ham if you want meat.
- Cover with another layer of cubed bread.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper, and onion.
- Pour over the bread mixture and let it soak through the layers.
- Cover and put in the fridge until morning.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Grate the cheese and spread over the top of the casserole.
- Bake, uncovered for 1 hour.
- Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 4
Vegetable Strudel in Puff Pastry
A crisper drawer full of veggies crying to be used, puff pastry, and dinner guests, one of whom has gone vegetarian (no judgment here). What to do? I settled on making a vegetable strudel with goat cheese in puff pastry. I used this recipe from …
Stuffed Mushroom Caps
This is pretty much the recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms from Love and Lemons but I forgot the garlic and frankly, it didn’t matter. I will say these were finicky as (bad word) to put together. My pine nuts went all over the place and at …
Tomato Sauce with Bacon and Capers
This sauce is based on Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce and simply adds bacon, dried red chilis and capers.
Ingredients
- 2 cups tomato sauce, I used the batch that I made of Marcella Hazan’s sauce.
- 3 rashers of double smoked bacon, chopped
- 1/8-1/4 tsp dried red chilis
- 2 Tbsp capers
- fresh parmesan
Method
- Make the tomato sauce and set aside.
- Fry the bacon in a stainless steel sauce pan. Remove the bacon from the pan and pour off the extra fat.
- Return the pan to the heat and toss in the capers and let them fry for a bit.
- Add the tomato sauce back.
- Add the bacon and heat through.
- Cook up your favourite pasta and toss with the sauce.
- Top with fresh parmesan and a grind of fresh pepper and eat!
Serves 2
Test Drive of Marcella Hazan’s “Internet Famous” Tomato Sauce
Tomato sauce is generally not something I bother making because you can usually pick up a pretty decent sauce on sale and I like to collect the glass jars for other food stuffs. However, this recipe popped up in my suggested reads feed and it …