Pastoral Delight

                                                      SHEPHERD'S PIE

Not typically what one would consider a light, summer dish; shepherd's pie can still find its warm weather niche in the cool nights of July by serving up its classic comfort and satisfying, spoon-filling capabilities. Take a chance with this hearty pie this summer and you won't be disappointed.

Ingredients:

Meat:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 pound Ground Beef
1 pound Ground Pork
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups beef stock
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
3/4 cup frozen mixed vegetables
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons corn starch dissolved in water

 Potatoes:

4 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-2 inch dice
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup cream
5 tablespoons butter, cubed
Salt and pepper to taste



Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add potatoes. Boil for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Saute onion in olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until translucent (5 minutes) season with salt and pepper. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (1-2 minutes). Add beef and pork. Season again with salt and pepper. Cook until well browned (10 minutes). Deglaze pan with beef stock scraping all the brown bits from bottom of pan. Add Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning and mixed vegetables. Season with salt and pepper to taste and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add corn starch slurry to reach desired consistency.

In a large bowl, mash together potatoes, garlic, cream, butter, and salt and pepper to taste.

Pour meat mixture into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Layer mashed potatoes on top of meat mixture. Sprinkle potatoes liberally with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted and meat is bubbly. Let cool and serve.

Chicken and Kale Soup with Sweet Dinner Rolls

 

Chicken and Kale Soup

Kale is certainly in vogue today. Long gone are the days when this humble, healthy, inexpensive green was relegated to the inedible garnish on a steakhouse dinner plate. It holds up its texture surprisingly well when braised or simmered. What would reduce most leafy greens to an anomalous goop instead infuses this veggie with flavor. The key to this dish, however, is the rubbed sage. Chicken and sage just simply work together. So too does kale and sage, apparently. Sweet dinner rolls are a great counterpoint to the earthy, lightness of this waistline-friendly soup.


Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

1 large white onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 medium carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 bunch fresh kale, ribs removed and roughly chopped

5 cups chicken stock
1 Parmesan cheese rind (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 can pinto or kidney beans (drained and rinsed)

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1 1/2 tsp dry rubbed sage

Instructions:

In a large pot, sweat onion, carrots, and celery in olive oil for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add garlic and cook for additional 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and add parsley, sage, beans, chicken, cheese rind, and kale. Simmer for 30 - 45 minutes, uncovered. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Sweet Dinner Rolls 

Ingredients:

2 tsp. active dry yeast

1/4 c. warm water

1 teaspoon honey

1 c. milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

1 1/2 Tbl. of melted butter, slightly cooled

1/4 c. sugar 

3 - 4 cups all purpose flour

1 whole egg

1 tsp. salt

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in hot water with a teaspoon of honey; let stand until frothy. Combine yeast mixture, milk, sugar and enough flour to make a medium batter (about the consistency of pancake batter). Beat thoroughly.  Add melted butter and eggs and beat well. Add salt and stir to combine. Add enough flour to form a soft dough.  Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto counter and let dough rest.  Meanwhile, grease a large bowl.  Knead dough until smooth and satiny and put in greased bowl; turn over to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk.  Punch down.  Turn out onto a floured board. Divide into portions for shaping; let rest 10 minutes. Shape dough into desired forms. Place on greased baking sheets.  Let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Baste immediately with butter. 

Beef Chili with Chipotle Sour Cream

Too often, chili tastes like nothing but salt, beef and cumin. Maybe sometimes with a little tomato flavor. How does one make chili that actually tastes like chili but with real flavor? The answer: Chipotle chiles. These smoked jalapenos add fantastic taste without adding unnecessary calories or fat. Browning the vegetables really helps create depth. The longer you can simmer this recipe, the better. The end result is a savory, mouth-watering, and slightly sweet chili which pairs fantastically with chipotle sour cream and shredded cheddar.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, diced (1 cup)

1 red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)

2 carrots, diced (1/2 cup)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 pound extra-lean ground beef

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 cups water or chicken broth

2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, seeded and minced

2 teaspoons adobo sauce from the can of chipotles

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15.5-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15.5-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in 3/4 cup of water

Chipotle Sour Cream (recipe below)

Directions

Heat the oil in large pot or Dutch oven over moderate heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and carrots, cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the cumin and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the ground beef; raise the heat to high and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink. Stir in the tomatoes, water, chipotle and adobo sauce, oregano and salt and pepper. Simmer, partially covered, stirring from time to time, for 30 minutes. Stir in the beans and cook, partially covered, 20 minutes longer. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Add cornstarch mixture and stir. Simmer for additional 2-4 minutes until chili is at desired consistency. Serve.

Chipotle Sour Cream

3 Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 cup sour cream
Juice of one lime
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.

Shrimp Po Boys with French Fries

New Orleans is one of our favorite cities in America. Frankly, its only rival is Boston in history and culture. The fruits of that conglomeration are, thankfully, passed to the patrons of the French Quarter. While no homemade concoction can do true justice to a shrimp po' boy from Mother's or a roast beef po' boy from Napoleon House (ironically a house that its namesake never visited), this recipe comes awful close. Po' boys in the French Quarter are served with creole and regular mustard as well as mayo and shredded cabbage. But the beauty of the sandwich is that there are no rules. Add, subtract, or substitute anything you want to your taste. In this version, the remoulade and pickles beautifully mixes with the cornmeal breaded shrimp to create a surprisingly light and wanting-for-not bite that you can't find north of Baton Rouge. 

For the Fried Shrimp:

• 1 lb. shrimp, 15-20s peeled and deveined, tails removed

• 1 can of beer

• 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

• 3/4 c. fine ground cornmeal

• 1 tbs. garlic powder

• 1 tbs. onion powder

• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Canola oil, for frying

Remoulade:

• 1 1/2 c. mayo

• 1/4 c. dijon mustard

• 1 tsp. dill pickle juice
• 1 tsp. tabasco sauce
• 1 tbs. smoked paprika
• 2 tsp. cajun spice

• 1 tsp lemon juice (or to taste)

To Make the Sandwiches:

• 4 sandwich rolls, french bread style

• 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1/4-1/2 head of iceberg lettuce or green cabbage, shredded
• Dill Pickles (about 3 per sandwich)

• tabasco, to taste

Make remoulade by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit in the fridge for as long as you can (overnight is best but can be done an hour in advance)

Fill a large pot or dutch oven with 1 quart of oil and heat to 350 degrees. Rinse and pat shrimp dry. Season with salt and pepper. In a large bowl combine beer through baking soda to make a batter. Shred lettuce/cabbage and thinly slice tomato, set aside. When oil has reached desired temperature, coat shrimp in batter and place in the hot oil. Fry shrimp being careful to move shrimp around to keep from sticking to each other. Once shrimp are a nice golden brown, remove from oil and place on a paper plate lined with paper towels. Season immediately with salt and pepper.

Assemble sandwiches by slathering a generous amount of remoulade on one side of the bun, followed by shredded lettuce/cabbage, tomato, pickles, then shrimp. Press sandwiches down and serve immediately.

French Fries

Ingredients

4 (4 to 5-inches long) russet potatoes (about 2 pounds)

1-2 gallons water

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 quarts canola oil

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Directions

Peel potatoes on the sides, leaving the ends with the skin on. Cut the potatoes into 1/3-inch slices and then slice into 1/3-inch sticks.

Fill a large bowl with water and vinegar. Soak potatoes, submerged, for at least 30 minutes up to 24 hours. This will help remove the excess starch from the potatoes and keep them from oxidizing.

Heat a heavy stock pot or dutch oven fitted with a deep-fry thermometer with oil to 325 degrees.

Remove potatoes from the water, and pat dry to remove excess water. Add 2 handfuls of potatoes to hot oil. There should be at least 1-inch of oil above the potatoes. Par cook until potatoes are light brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove potatoes, gently shaking off excess oil and let drain on rack with paper towels. Repeat until all of the potatoes are par cooked.

Raise heat of oil to 350 degrees F.

Cook potatoes again, 2 handfuls at a time, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Remove from oil, place on paper towels and season lightly with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Repeat until all potatoes are cooked and seasoned.