Saturday, January 29, 2011

Långpannepaj with Bacon

This is a swedish recipe from "Hemmets Veckotidning". My MIL Carin made this for us last week and we gobbled it up. Great for leftover lunches and freezing. When I make this I will cheat by using store bought crusts (as reflected below), but you can always make your own if you are so inclined. Carin also lightened up this recipe by substituting the creme fraiche with milk.

Ingredients
3 nine (9) inch pie crusts
2 lb ground beef (800 g)
2 gold onions
1/3 cup crushed tomatoes (1 dl)
3/4 cups white or red wine (2 dl)
1 tbs dried thyme
oregano

topping
1/3 lb bacon (half a package) (140 g)
1 cup mushrooms (200 g)
2 peppers (color doesn't matter)
4 eggs
2 cups milk (5 dl)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (300 g)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400
2. Cook pie crust for 10 minutes
3. Brown the beef.
4. Chop the onions and add to browned beef on low heat
5. Add tomato and wine
6. Simmer on low heat
7. Add spices, salt and pepper to taste
8. Slice the mushrooms and chop the bacon into small pieces.
9. Cook, drain, and set aside
10. Beat the eggs and milk. Mix in the cheese.
11. Split the gound beef between the three pie shells
12. Pour egg mixture over ground beef
13. Sprinkle chopped peppers over the egg mixture.
14. Cook for 30-40 minutes (until the egg is cooked through)

ENJOY!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Shepard's Pie

This is one of the recipes my sister will actually eat even though she doesn't like her foods mixed together. Another great one for taking leftovers for lunch.

Ingredients

2 pounds lean ground beef
2/3 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic minced
2 pounds peeled potatoes
2 cups peas
4 tablespoon butter
5 medium carrots sliced
1 1/2 cups of beef stock
2-4 tablespoon flour (enough to make a medium thick gravy)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Sauté beef, onion, celery and garlic in a large pan until well done then strain off fat.
2. Boil potatoes until tender (about 20 minutes) then drain. Mash with butter.
3. Blanch carrots (just boil for a few seconds) and add to beef mixture.
4. Make a gravy with beef by whisking in enough flour to thicken.
5. When gravy comes to boil, add gravy to the beef & carrot mixture. Reduce heat & simmer 5 min.
6. Spoon meat mixture into a casserole dish then spoon potatoes on top.
7. Bake 20 minutes at 350 then top with cheese and let sit until cheese melts about 5 minutes.

* adapted from group recipe’s over the top shepards pie
http://www.grouprecipes.com/86436/over-the-top-shepards-pie.html

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Only Black Eyed Pea that I'll Eat Soup

My mom insisted that we eat black eyed pea soup for new years and I was skeptical. I'm glad that I trusted her and cooked this with her. So tasty! I brought the left overs for lunch two day sin a row.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large ham hock
• 1 1/2 cup cubed ham steak
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 pound black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
• 1 quart chicken stock
• Bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
• Salt, black pepper, and cayenne
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
• 3 cups steamed white rice

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot, add the ham hock and sear on all sides for 4 minutes.
2. Add the onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic, cook for 4 minutes.
3. Add the ham, black-eyed peas, stock, bay leaves, thyme, and seasonings.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the peas are creamy
and tender, stir occasionally.
5. If the liquid evaporates, add more stock.
6. Adjust seasonings, and garnish with green onions.
7. Cook rice as directed by package and serve the soup over the rice.


* Adapted from Emeril Lagasse's Hoppin John recipe