Cottage Pie

Hi! Did y'all miss me? It's been a loooong time since my last blog. I have been pre-occupied with a lot of things and didn't have time to blog. But if you've been following me on instagram, you'll know that I have not given up on cooking, (and taking pictures!), I just haven't been able to post recipes. Sorry!

Anyway, I though I'd start off my comeback with this easy-peasy cottage pie that looks too pretty to eat. Of course, you can just dump the creamy mashed potato on top of the juicy meat and you're good to go. But why stop there? Me, I like playing with my food, so I pipe creamy mashed potato to top my cottage pie. I mean, who says piping is exclusive to buttercream, right?

Cottage Pie I www.haideekitchen.blogspot.com

See, I told you I meant to blog. I took these photos last year. You know what they say, better late than never! ;-)

Cottage Pie I www.haideekitchen.blogspot.com

This recipe can be easily doubled. Make this on your next potluck and your friends will think you slaved all day in the kitchen ;-)


Cottage Pie
Make: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Baking Time: 5-8 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Filling:
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
500g minced beef
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (diced carrots, peas, beans and corn)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp flour or cornstarch
1/4 cup beef stock
pink Himalayan salt or sea salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

For the Mashed Potato
1kg potato, peeled and roughly chopped
enough water for boiling the potatoes
1tsp salt
1/2 stick of butter, cubed
1/4 cup warm milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven at 200*C.

2. In a large cast-iron or non-stick pan, heat the oil then add the minced beef. season with freshly ground Himalayan salt and black pepper. Cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

3. In the same pan, saute  onion until transluscent. Add garlic. Then add mixed veggies and cook for 1 more minute. Add the minced beef and the flour and cook for 1 minute. Then add the stock, soy sauce and tomato puree. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste for seasoning then add honey, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside in the cast iron pan.

4. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a large pot. Cover the potatoes with enough water and add 1 tsp salt. Cook until fork-tender. Drain.

5. In a bowl, mash the potato with butter and add milk as needed. Mash until smooth and creamy. Transfer into a piping bag with star tip.

6. Pipe rosette swirls of mashed potato on top of the beef mixture; cover completely. Broil/bake for 5 minutes or until the mashed potato forms a light golden brown crust.

Cottage Pie I www.haideekitchen.blogspot.com

Caldereta

My Beef Caldereta, a traditional Filipino stew, is probably the most requested dish friends ask me to bring whenever there's a potluck get-together. I love that they appreciate my cooking; to be asked for a repeat is the best compliment for an aspiring cook like me, (or it could be that I have really nice friends!).

Before, potluck get-together meant take-aways, home delivery or we just chip-in some cash for the food. It all changed when I got into the hobby of cooking. I feel I show a bit more appreciation to the host when I make the effort to prepare and bring something homemade. There's that added ingredient...love. It's not always a success though, sometimes what I make doesn't look (or taste!) exactly how I wanted it to be, like this one here, oh what a disaster!

instagram: tea cakes...epic fail! :'(

When this happens, a good bottle of booze is in order...or Krispy Kreme :-)

Recently, some of our friends organized a surprise send-off party to a lovely couple who are dear to us. We expats are used to hellos and goodbyes. For most of us Bahrain is (just) a "transient home". Sooner or later, we will bid ma'a salama (goodbye). But while we're here, we make friends, build relationships and touch lives. Some of my dearest and closest friends I met here in Bahrain, friends like the couple we honored that night. It was fun and loud as usual, but poignant nonetheless. We will miss them terribly, but it doesn't mean our friendship has to end. The world is smaller now and there are many ways to get in touch, (thanks mostly to Facebook!). And so though we will be miles apart, instead of goodbye, we say "till we meet again".


Going back to the caldereta, which was the dish that i brought to the send off, I thought it was high time to share the recipe so my friends, near and far can enjoy it anytime. And I'm dishing out my secrets why this dish is different from most caldereta you might have tried.

I'm going to peg this dish at medium difficulty not because it is complicated, it is really pretty simple and easy to prepare, but it is time consuming. You need 45 minutes pre-cooking and at least 2 hours resting time. You can even pre-cook the beef the night before. You can skip the resting time but I do this for one reason alone, which is secret no. 1...to skim off the fat.

I pressure-cook the beef then separate the beef from the stock and strain the stock to remove the spices. Pop the stock in the fridge for 2 hours to overnight. What happens next is the reason I take these extra steps...the fat will settle on top and harden forming a crust as seen here. Then it will be easy to remove these artery-clogging fats. So I get all the flavors of the fatty parts of the beef without the actual fats. I then add a different kind of fat, the ingredients that makes this dish creamy...dairy, make that 2 kinds of dairy-- butter and cheese. Hey, I didn't say this dish is healthy, but it is soulful, perfect to share with good friends.

How about you, what's your favorite dish to bring to a potluck?

Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 + 30 minutes
Resting Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 kg beef ribs, cut into cubes
1 kg beef brisket, cut into cubes
6 cups water
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp whole black peppercorn
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 head of garlic, whole, top trimmed + 1 head of garlic, minced
2 tbsp EVOO
1 stick of butter
2 medium sized red onions, diced
500 g potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cube
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch thick
1 large green capsicum, deseeded and cut into square (1 inch), about 2 cups
2 cups green peas
2 packs Mama Sita Caldereta Mix
2 Reno liver spread
100 g sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Pressure cook the beef in water, salt, whole black peppercorn and 1 whole head of garlic for 45 minutes. Cool before opening the lid. Transfer the beef in one container and strain the stock. Discard the spices. Pop the stock in the fridge for a good 2 hours until the fat forms a crust on top. Skim off the fat and discard. Warm the stock over low heat. Set aside.

2. In a large, deep pot, melt the butter with EVOO over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and saute for 2 minutes until lightly browned. Be careful not to burn the garlic and the butter. Add the onion and crank up the heat to high. Saute occasionally for another 3 minutes until the onion is semi-translucent. Add the cooked beef, potato, liver spread, 4-5 cups of stock and Mama Sita Caldereta Mix. Bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes then turn down the heat to medium. Cover the pot and stir occasionally until the potato is almost cooked, about 10 minutes. Add carrots and simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Add the ground pepper and salt as needed.

3. When the potatoes and carrots are cooked, add the capsicum, green peas and cheese just before you turn off the heat. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Makes 12-14 servings.

Home-cooked Meals
21 Sep 2012

Mongolian Beef

Here's another dish that spawned from gawking in Pinterest, P. F. Chang's Mongolian Beef Copycat Recipe by Six Sister's Stuff. When I saw the picture, my mouth started to water! I gotta have some! No, I gotta make some!

Now, there's no P. F. Chang's here in Bahrain and I have never tried their Mongolian Beef so I have no way of telling you whether that recipe is as good as that of P. F. Chang's, but what I can tell you is that the mongolian beef that I made adapted from that recipe was good...really good.

For my recipe, I made some modifications; a little plus/minus on the ingredients, (like the garlic, I needed more garlic!), and I have my way of cooking the beef. I like to sear the beef until the edges are caramelized and the only way to do that was to fry by batch. It's a little more tedious but sealing the flavor pays off for the extra time spent frying them.  So, if you want the original P. F. Chang's copycat recipe, (original copycat haha!), click the link here. For my version, keep reading. And oh, make sure you've got bowlfuls of steamed white rice.


Difficulty: Medium


Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Total Time: 30-35 minutes


Ingredients:

500 g flank steak, thinly sliced into bite sized pieces

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup vegetable oil, for frying, (after cooking the beef in it, reserve 1 tbsp of the beef oil)

1/2 tbsp ginger, minced

2 tbsp garlic, minced, (the original recipe called for 1 tbsp, but I love garlic so I doubled it!)

1/2 cup soy sauce 

1/2 cup water 

1/2 cup dark brown sugar 

1 tsp sesame oil (optional)

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1 tsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted*

*Tip on toasting the sesame seeds: Place the sesame seeds in a dry pan. Heat the pan over medium heat and shake the pan every couple of seconds to make sure the sesame seeds are evenly toasted. Keep a close eye on it, it only takes 1-2 minutes to toast the seeds.

Direction:

1. Heat the oil in a wok or skillet.

2. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Dredge the beef in flour then put the beef in a sieve to shake off excess flour. You only want a thin coating.

3. Sear the beef by batch, just enough to cover the wok. Do not overcrowd the wok. You want each piece to nicely brown on the edges on both sides, but be careful not to cook it all the way through as it will cook further when you put it back into the wok with the sauce. Drain over paper towels. Repeat the process until all the beef slices are cooked. Set aside.

4. Remove most of the oil from the wok but leave 1 tbsp of the oil. Saute garlic and ginger for 1 minute over high heat. 

5. Add the soy sauce, water and sugar and boil until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce thickens, about 2-3 minutes. Add the beef and toss until well coated. Let simmer for another 2 minutes to infuse the sauce into the meat. Just before you turn off the heat, add the sesame oil. 

6. Serve garnished with toasted sesame seeds and scallions on top.

Makes 2 servings

Home-cooked Meals

07 Apr 2012