Heavenly High Class Pot Pie

Paul was salivating over the recent Williams Sonoma catalog, mainly over the incredibly expensive cuts of meat, like the $175 five pound prime rib. Kind of reminded of mooning over the Sears and J.C. Penney Christmas catalogs, filled with toys that I coveted as a child. I decided to give it a look-see, strictly for fun and got reeled in by the Short Rib Wellington Potpie recipe. Of course they featured the Le Creuset Dutch oven that was the perfect match. When Paul offered to get it for me for Christmas I went for it. You see, I couldn’t care less about diamonds, but start talking high quality cookware and I’m there. I’m such a cheap date! Just want to add, enamelled cast iron cookware is the best for braising and stewing, particularly in the oven. It can be Staub or Lodge as well; the heaviness promotes even heating. I highly recommended having at least a D utch oven.

The decision had been made by me to make a non-traditional (for us) Christmas dinner. All my life we have always had turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas. While I love the sight and smell of an oven roasted turkey, I really only like the skin, part of the wing, and the tail. The rest can go hang. So when I was working on a completely different menu, I decided to make this recipe as a SIDE DISH for Christmas dinner. Paul insisted I beta-test it before hand, which I did. It was rich and delicious. You don’t have to make it for Christmas dinner but it’s a great winter dish. Go do it!

Beef Wellington Pot Pie

2 ¼ lb. tri-tip roast, cut into 1” chunks
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 Tbs olive oil
¼ pound pancetta or prosciutto, ¼” thick and cut into ¼” dice
¾ lb. cremini mushrooms, quartered
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup red wine
1 ½ tbs Better Than Bouillon, or equivalent product
3 cups beef broth
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 ½ cups frozen pearl onions
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 sheet puff pastry, rolled out 10”-11” square
1 egg plus 1 tsp. water, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Season beef with salt and pepper. In 3 ½ qt wide Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm oil. Brown beef on all sides, in batches, 8-10 minutes per batch. Transfer to bowl. Reduce heat to medium. Add pancetta, cook until crisp, 6-8 minutes. Add to bowl with beef. Increase heat to medium-high; cook mushrooms until tender, about 8 minutes. Add to bowl with beef.

Pour off excess fat in pot. Return pot to medium heat; melt butter. Stir in flour, cook, stirring constantly, 2-3 minutes. Whisk in wine and Better Than Bouillon, cook 1 minute. Slowly whisk in stock; bring to a simmer. Add thyme, bay leaf, pearl onions, beef, pancetta and mushrooms. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Cover pot, bake until beef is fork-tender, 2-2 ½ hours. Discard bay leaf, spoon off excess fat. Stir in parsley.

Increase oven temp to 400. Place puff pastry sheet on lightly floured surface. Using sharp knife, score pastry with diagonal lines 2” apart, forming a diamond pattern. Brush edge of pot with water, and place pastry over pot. Press edges to seal. Trim overhanging pastry to 1”, brush with egg wash. Transfer to oven; bake until puffed and golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes. Serves 6-8.

The original recipe called for prosciutto but being partial to pancetta, I used that. This morning while doing my final Christmas dinner shopping I was going to get prosciutto, but there was a tub of already diced pancetta on the shelf, in just the right amount! You know what I did. Re the photo, I snagged it from the catalog, as I forgot to photograph my beta-version. I trust you will let me slide.

Don’t Hog All The Oysters

I’ve never been an oyster lover. I’ve had oyster shooters (raw, in a shot glass, with vodka and condiments) in the far distant past. Once I tried grilling oysters; they were supposed to pop open like clams. They never did; they were so overcooked they were inedible.

Now Paul, my beloved husband, had grilled oysters at Hog Island Oyster in the Oxbow Public Market in Napa. (Also in the Ferry Building in San Francisco.) They are shucked, grilled on the half shell, and bathed in bagna cauda (a hot butter and garlic concoction.) He swooned so completely that he texted me a picture of what he was having. Frankly, I had a hard time telling what the picture was, but I took him at his word.

We recently decided to spend a weekend in Geyserville, a village, really, in Sonoma County. Paul was anxious to have those oysters again, so I agreed to detour through Napa and make an oyster stop. I must agree that they were wonderful, flavorful, tender, just barely cooked. The menu detailed the ingredients; the grill man told me how to cook them. I was set. I made them a few days ago and they turned out really good. Paul said some little something was missing, perhaps a squeeze of lemon. At any rate, if you decide to try it, the shucking is the awful part. They wouldn’t open, couldn’t slip that shucking knife in for nothing. He finally had me fetch his rubber mallet and whacked them on the hinge. Mission accomplished.

Grilled Oysters

1 dozen oysters shucked and on the half shell
½ cube butter
1 minced shallot
1 minced clove garlic
¼ teaspoon anchovy paste
1 teaspoon Italian parsley

Melt last 5 ingredients over medium low heat. Place oysters on a really hot grill; try not to spill natural oyster juices. Spoon bagna cauda mixture in each oyster. Grill 2 to 3 minutes until oysters are barely done and bagna cauda is bubbly. Oysters should be hot and very tender. Serve with lemon wedges. Mangia!

As a side note, Sonoma County is loaded with wine makers. At our B&B they have a different wine maker come every Friday night to talk about and taste wine. Our guy, Brad, from Mercury wine, regaled us with wine making lore and plied us with four different wines. That was loads of fun. Then we walked 2 blocks to El Diavolo for thin crust pizza (divine). El Diavolo is an Italian place, and was jumping. Marvelous, considering Geyserville has one street just a few blocks long. If you decide to go you can’t miss it. Really.

All Puffed Up and Cheesy

I have never been crazy about cream puffs or éclairs. The fluffy fillings just don’t do anything for me. But I do kind of like cheese puffs, which are made out of the same dough, pate au choux. It’s really a simple pastry dough that is cooked on top of the stove. It really doesn’t have a lot of flavor; it depends on either a sweet filling, drizzling with chocolate, or mixing in grated cheese for oomph. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had exciting cheese puffs either, usually made with a Swiss type cheese. I was dreaming about making puffs with Gorgonzola, an Italian blue cheese which gets my taste buds going. So when a good friend gave me an extremely generous portion of Stilton - an English blue cheese - this week, it was time to go forth and make puffs with big flavor.

I made them two ways, with and without chopped Kalamata olives. After taste testing the puffs, my tasters’ concensus was that the puffs with olives were more flavorful, so I suggest using olives. You can use a small spoon to scoop dough onto the baking sheet, but I prefer using a pastry bag and a large round piping tip. I’ve recently converted to using disposable bags; they’re not as eco-friendly as reusables but they don’t smell after repeated use either. Use half sheet pans if you have them, silpat liners are wonderful but parchment paper works very well too. Make sure all the cheese melts when stirring it into the warm dough; unmelted chunks will melt while baking and make holes in your puffs. Trust me on that.

1 cup water
6 tablespoons butter, cut up
1 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 cup finely crumbled stinky blue cheese of your choice
½ cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives

Heat oven to 400°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Bring water, butter, salt and cayenne pepper to a boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat; boil until butter is melted. Off heat, stir in flour until completely blended. (Mixture should be consistency of play dough.) Return to heat, cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture comes together and begins to pull away from side of pan and leaves a film on bottom of pan while being stirred. Remove from heat, cool 5 minutes.

Stir in eggs one at a time. The first one is difficult to stir in, but it becomes easier as the dough loosens up. Stir in cheese until melted. Stir in olives. Pipe dough about the size of a teaspoon onto baking sheets. Flatten the pointy tips with a wet finger. Bake one sheet at a time, 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Prick each puff with the tip of a knife to allow trapped steam to escape; bake 2 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with a glass of wine or your favorite martini!

Best served the day of baking, or freeze and serve later. To reheat bake frozen at 350° for 10 minutes or until warmed and crisp.

Makes about 4 dozen.