Shepherd's Pie

Given a copious amount of ground beef and some cold weather, a girl needs to think quick to make use of the situation. There are only has so many options for a filling, cozy, easy, tasty dinner. Shepherd's Pie is one of my go-to recipes for such an occasion. It even gets bonus points because it tastes awesome as leftovers and freezes well. It's not so much a recipe as it is a process. You can adjust amounts to your hearts desire, to fit your serving dish, or to fit your appetite or palate. Here's what to do:

Chop up an onion, two carrots and throw in some frozen peas and corn. Sweat all that in a frying pan until the onions are translucent. Then take add some salt and pepper, some chili flakes and whatever other seasonings you want really. This time around I added turmeric and some parsley.

Take your ground beef (or a mix of beef and/or pork and/or turkey works well too) and cook it with the veggies until the meat is browned.

You will also need boiled potatoes, either leftover or newly made. Mash up the potatoes with some butter and milk until they're creamy. Then it's time to assemble. Take a pan like a casserole dish or a lasagna pan and spread the meat mixture on the bottom.

Then spread the potatoes on top. You cover all that with a bit of shredded cheese.

Bake in the oven about 15 mins (everything is cooked already) and then broil for about 10 more until the top of the pie is golden.Voila! You have a hearty and delsih meal that will feed many and keep for a while. The above technique is my way of doing it but please experiment with your own variations. A layer of corn is a great thing - as is more cheese. More cheese is always good!

Okey Gnocchi

I've been uninspired lately. My last few blogs were about sandwiches and junk food. I felt I needed to get back into the kitchen with a mission, a new outlook and a real recipe. I wanted to make gnocchi. The word gnocchi means "lumps" in Italian and I have fond memories of the fabulous comfort food being ordered in many restaurants. I, however, have never attempted to make the dish before. It seems simple enough: flour, eggs, potato. Basically gnocchi is little potato pasta dumplings.

The problem is there's a million recipes for gnocchi. Even when you rule out all the non-regular potato varieties (like ones made with sweet potato, corn, squash, cheese, etc.) I couldn't find much consistency in my recipe search. Should I use eggs or not? How many? How many potatoes - should I weigh them or count them? Ricotta or Parmesan, or both? One recipe said to use cake flour, one all purpose, one no flour whatsoever. One website said that once the gnocchi are boiling I'll know if i used too much flour if they sink and too little if they flake apart. Thanks, that helps lots.

Yet, as I sit here and write this I am eating a nice plate of gnocchi. It's not the tastiest lumps of potato and flour I've ever had but I made them and they're decent.

I finally went with a recipe which included one egg, ricotta, Parmesan and regular flour. I started out with the ingredients prepped and put the four in the middle of my counter with a well in it for the wet ingredients - like making pasta. I put the egg in. So far so good. I put the ricotta in. Splush. The four walls broke open and a mutiny of egg oozed onto the floor. I quickly put my hands in there to re-form the four around the wet stuff and stop the oozing. This caked my hands in slop and made it very impossible for me to continue on without much scrapping and washing. The recipe continued on in the same doomed fashion, including a yelling match between me and the food processor which I used because I did not have a potato ricer.

In any case though, my dough probably had too much flour and not enough light-ness. But as I watched my little lumps boil away, sure they would be a complete failure, I saw one rise to the surface. Then another popped up. And soon they were all coming up to say hi. I was shocked. I drained them and took a taste. Not bad. Not flavourful or light but hey, it wasn't a complete disaster. I'll take it. And if you smother anything in olive oil and accompany it with a big glass of red wine, your meal is pretty much fit for a queen.

I don't think I'll be making gnocchi my signature dish anytime soon. But I do know I tried and have some ideas on how to make it better next time around. Though that next time will be very far into the future and I'm bringing backup with me.