SPLURGE FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE

 

Splurge for New Year’s eve

           As 2022 comes to its final days I’m going to make an exception to the ‘Thrifty’ aim of this column and celebrate our New Year’s eve with an elegant dinner menu featuring Beef Wellington. It is a dish I first made many years ago for a New Year’s day dinner for my family, when I still had enough energy to make an elaborate dinner after a late New Year’s eve night.

          Beef Wellington is a beef roast that has been aptly named “decadent meat with an amazing presentation”. Historically it is reputed to have been created to celebrate the Duke of Wellington’s decisive victory against Napoleon at Waterloo in 1816.  So, is it a dish created by English cuisine? I had always wondered about that since it is a tenderloin roast, topped with pâté or duxelles (finely chopped mushrooms sautéed with shallots and garlic), all wrapped in pastry and frankly sounds French. A bit more history, apparently it existed in Britan as a French adaptation, but since Wellington was fond of it, after Waterloo (in which France lost) the British chefs took the opportunity to give it a new identity, hence “Beef Wellington”.

          My recipe has been adapted from “The New York Times Menu Cookbook” by Craig Clairborne (1966). My substitutions include frozen puff pastry from the deli, and I have omitted the 3-4 fresh truffles. It requires a bit of timing, but it is not too difficult for the amazingly delicious results.

                                                      Beef Wellington

          Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rub 2 ½ to 3 lb. tenderloin with 2 tblsp. cognac, salt and pepper. Wrap with 6 slices of bacon, securing ends with toothpicks. Place meat on a roasting rack in a roasting pan and roast 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the bacon. Cool to room temperature. Set frozen puff pastry 1-2 sheets, depending on the size of the tenderloin, to thaw 40 minutes. Beat 1 egg in a small bowl with 1 tsp. water.

          Spread 6-8 oz. pâté (made with truffles if available) over to top and sides of the beef. Roll out the pastry to one quarter inch thick (14x10 inches). Place the meat, pâté side down in the middle of the pastry and wrap the pasty around the meat like an envelope, sealing the ends with the egg wash. Trim any excess to cut in decorative shapes for the top. Transfer the pastry wrapped meat to a baking sheet, seam side down. Brush all over with the egg wash. Decorate with shapes of the leftover pastry and brush again with the egg. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes until the crust is golden.

          Serve sliced warm, with Madeira sauce, or in a cold buffet.

                                             Madeira sauce

Sauté 1/3 cup chopped shallots in 2 tblsp. butter to golden, stir in 2 tblsp. flour, add ½ cup Madeira, 1 ½ cups beef broth, 1 tblsp. Worcestershire sauce and cook to desired thickness with stirring. Strain (optional), heat, stir in 1 tblsp. butter and when it melts, turn off the heat and stir in 3 tblsp. Madeira. Serve with the meat.

Beef Wellington is nicely accompanied by a potato and mushroom gratin baked with chicken broth and topped with a sprinkle of cheese. For a green accent serve cooked string beans tossed with slivered almonds toasted in a tablespoon of butter or steamed asparagus with Hollandaise sauce.

 

                              Potato-Shitake Gratin

Sauté 6 oz. sliced Shitake mushrooms and ½ chopped onion in 1 tblsp. olive oil and 2 tblsp. butter without turning for 3 minutes, turn and cook an additional 3 minutes, Sprinkle all with ½ tsp. salt and 2 tblsp. lemon juice and set aside.

Peel and slice 4-6 yellow potatoes in ¼ inch slices and parboil in salted water for 2 minutes. Spray a deep pie plate or an 8x8 baking dish with baking spray and layer ½ of the potatoes in the dish. Cover with the cooked mushrooms, 4 oz. shredded Gruyere        cheese and the rest of the potatoes and pour in ¾ cups chicken broth. Dot with 2 tblsp. butter, cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, uncover, sprinkle with 2 tblsp. shredded Gruyere cheese and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the top is browned in spots. Serve warm with the meat.

Desert might seem superfluous after such a meal, but it is nice to sit afterwards with a glass of port and dipping some biscotti reminisce about the year past.

 

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

CRANBERRIES, NATURE'S WINTER GIFT

 

                                Cranberries, Nature’s Winter Gift

Cranberries appear in stores around this time of the year, and we take them for granted as accompaniment to turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This tart and colorful berry deserves additional exploration not only for it’s health benefits as a superfood to match blueberries due to its high antioxidant content, but also for a delicious addition to our seasonal cooking.

Cranberries grow in cold climates in North America, Europe and Chile. In late fall we encounter fresh berries, but the rest of the year frozen and dried cranberries are widely available. Dried berries are wonderful in green salads, especially paired with toasted pecans adding tartness and texture. Poached pears with fresh cranberries make a colorful Holiday desert. Fresh berries also lend themselves to fruit compotes with apples or pears and add a wonderfully colorful fruit component in cakes and pies as shown by the following recipes.

                                       Cranberry and dried cherry upside down cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with oven rack in center position. Spray a 9x2 inch round cake pan with buttery cooking spray. Rinse and pick over fresh cranberries to make 2 cups.

Melt 5 tblsp. unsalted butter, pour it evenly in the pan and sprinkle with 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar. Cover with the cranberries and 1 cup dried cherries and set aside.

In a small bowl whisk 1 ½ cups flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, ¼ tsp baking soda and ½ tsp. salt. In a medium bowl cream ½ cup softened butter with ½  cup sugar and 2 eggs. Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 tsp. lemon flavoring, Now str in alternate portions of the flour mix and ¾ cups buttermilk, starting and ending with flour. Mix thoroughly for about 15 seconds and pour the mixture over the berries in the pan. Using a spatula even out the top and bake for about 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake edges are just pulling away from the pan.

Transfer to a wire rack, cool for 5 minutes and invert the hot cake on a serving plate. Cool cake and serve.

One of my favorite Christmas deserts is a lattice Cranberry-Apple pie, since the lattice makes for the appetizing red color to peek through when you bring the pie to the table.

                                                    Cranberry-apple pie

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using pre-made pie dough from the deli case, roll out one pie crust and line a 9- or 10-inch pie plate.

In a saucepan combine ¾ cups water, 5 cups peeled, cored and sliced crisp apples and 1 ½ cups washed and picked over cranberries. Bring to boil and simmer 5 minutes. In a small bowl combine 1 ¾ cups sugar, ¼ cup cornstarch, ¼ tsp. cinnamon, 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts and add to the fruit. Cook until mixture thickens and boils, then pile it in the pastry lined pie plate and dot with 4 tblsp. butter.

Cut the second rolled out pie crust in wide strips and weave a lattice top. Crimp the edges together, brush all lightly with cream and lightly sprinkle with nutmeg and a bit of sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes until the top is pleasantly browned.

The bright red color of cranberry juice also makes for a delightful, mulled Holliday drink great for all ages. For an adult gathering add a bit of rum for extra spice.

          Mulled cranberry-apple + rum cider

          Remove the peel from an orange in long strips using a vegetable peeler. Place strips in a large pot, halve the orange and squeeze the juice in the pan. Add juice of ½ lemon, 5 cups cranberry juice cocktail, 3 cups apple cider, ½ cup packed golden brown sugar, four 3-4 inch cinnamon sticks, 18 whole cloves, ½ tsp. ground nutmeg. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes. (Can be made a day ahead and chilled), To serve, heat again to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. If so desired, add ½ cup rum and serve in mugs with additional cinnamon sticks and halves of orange slices.

Cranberries are also popular in the British isles at Christmas time, most likely served with roast goose. Now for a bit of trivia, there actually was a very popular Irish Rock band from Limerick called – Cranberries.

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

 

 

A 'KETO' COOKING CHALLENGE

 

A ‘Keto’ Cooking Challenge

           Some readers may have noticed that in the last couple of months some of the recipes in this column have claimed to be ‘keto-friendly’. No, this cook has not gone on a diet, but has taken the challenge to help some friends during a time of incapacitating health problems to cook dinner once a week. In the past having cooked for friends and family requiring low salt, meat, fat or gluten free meals, a keto-diet did not seem an impossible challenge. After all, a keto diet is dairy, eggs, meat, fat, nuts, low carb vegetables and fruit, with low or no starch or sugar.

          Until it was time to cook the first dinner, a beef bourguignon/stew with no potatoes or flour. Carrots and parsnips with extra onions and mushrooms and a serious sauce reduction by a long simmer saved the day. Amazingly, with a lot of improvisation it is possible to come up with delicious meals without the forbidden ingredients. Unfortunately, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower low in carbohydrates, a mainstay of keto-diets had to be avoided for digestive reasons. Improvisation has been the norm and had led to discoveries of almond flour for zucchini fritters, as well as delicata and spaghetti squash. Mostly it has been an education in the carb content of different varieties of food, such that dried legumes such as lentils, garbanzos and most beans except Adzuki, are not only high in protein, but also high in carbs.

                                     Adzuki bean chili

          Adzuki beans are small red beans and can be substituted for other beans in many bean dishes. Rinse and soak 2 cups of Adzuki beans in excess of cold water overnight. Drain and cook well covered with water, 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. ground cloves for 45 minutes more or less, to desired softness on low heat in a 3-4 qt. pot. Remove the bay leaf.

          Meantime brown 1 ¾  lb. ground beef in a pan, drain of fat and set aside. Use the same pan after pouring off the fat to sauté: 1 ½ cups chopped onion, 2 chopped stalks of celery, ½ chopped red or yellow pepper and 3 chopped garlic cloves for 5 minutes in 1 tblsp. olive oil. Stir in 1 tblsp. cumin, 1 tblsp. or to taste chili powder, 1 tsp turmeric and ¼ tsp. crushed pepper, cook for 5 minutes.  Add 1 cup crushed tomatoes, 6 oz. tomato paste, 2-3 tblsp. white wine vinegar and spoon in ½ cup of the bean cooking liquid and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Add the vegetables and meat back to the beans and continue to simmer for 20 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt, chili powder and beef broth if more liquid is needed. Serve hot with chopped red onion and shredded sharp cheddar.

                                          Spinach-ham-ricotta crust-less quiche

          Firm fried zucchini discs replace piecrust in this keto-friendly quiche.

Slice a medium zucchini in 1-inch-thick rounds and fry in 1 tblsp. olive oil and 1 tblsp. butter without turning until browned on one side, then brown the other side and arrange in the bottom of a 9 or 10 in. pie plate. Wash, slice 1 leek in half lengthwise removing all dirt and slice crosswise the white and firm green parts. Sauté in the same pan for 5 minutes and layer on top of the zucchini.

          Thaw and squeeze dry ½ pkg. frozen spinach or cook fresh and squeeze dry to make ~3/4 cups spinach. Slice 3 slices of deli-ham in julienne strips, cube 4 oz. Gruyere cheese and grate 1/3 cup fresh Parmesan cheese. Slice 5 sundried tomatoes in thin julienne strips. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

          Beat ¾ cup ricotta cheese with 4 eggs, 1/3 cup half and half, ½ tsp. garlic salt. ½ tsp. dry mustard, 1 tsp. onion powder and a pinch of nutmeg. Stir in the grated Parmesan.

          Layer on top of the leek ½ of the ham, spinach, ½ cheese, sundried tomato. Repeat ham, spinach, cheese. Thinly slice a Roma tomato and arrange the slices on top of the cheese and press down. Pour egg mix over all making sure all the vegetables are covered. Bake in the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, turn down the oven to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 15-17 minutes. Remove from oven and cool at least 15 minutes before serving in wedges.

          There is always more one can learn about nutrition, creating delicious challenging meals.

    (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)