A Birthday Celebration with Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Pretty in Pork, happy birthday to you! It's Pretty in Pork's first birthday today! I'm very excited that my little piglet has made it through it's first year already! It's been quite the year for me and I'm so happy to have had this space to document it all. I feel like I've become a better cook and am growing closer to the possibility of fulfilling my foodie dreams... whether that be for Pretty in Pork to manifest into a cookbook one day, or to become a whoopee pie business, or maybe an underground restaurant. We shall see!

To celebrate I wanted to make something by one lady who I find very inspiring. I wasn't all that interested in Ms. Julia Child until I watched the movie Julie and Julia while spending one of the most fun weekends of my life in Mendocino with three of my favorites. I absolutely love all things french and often tell my husband that if I could live anywhere in the world, it would be in a rustic farmhouse in the south of France. I love that Julia was so inspired by food when living in Paris and that she became a famous chef with very little formal training. I don't think I'll ever get to live in France, or at least not any time soon, but I can channel all things french through Julia's recipes. I decided I should start off with her most famous recipe, Boeuf Bourguignon. I actually thought that it was more of a beef stew but came to find out that it really isn't. It's basically beef braised in wine and then served with a  delicious sauce. It was very fancy and very yummy. And, I got to spend quite a few hours in the kitchen making it so I found it super fun! I have to warn you, it's a lot of steps and a good amount of work but there is really nothing hard about it. Just follow Julia's steps and it will be great! It also looks and sounds very impressive so it would be a fabulous dish to serve at a fancy dinner party.

Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon

4 slices thick bacon
1 tbsp olive oil
3 lbs lean stew beef cut into 2-inch cubes
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp flour
3 cups red wine such as chianti or pinot noir
2 to 3 cups beef stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1/2 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
18 to 24 brown braised onions, recipe to follow
1lb sauteed mushrooms, recipe to follow

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot, saute bacon in oil over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly browned. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Dry beef in paper towels and saute in hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides, about 5-7 minutes. Set beef aside. Saute veggies in oil and bacon fat until starting to lightly brown. Discard the sauteing fat and oil.

Add bacon and beef to veggies. Toss with salt and pepper. Add flour and stir to lightly coat beef. Move dish to preheated oven, uncovered, and cook for 4 minutes. Remove from oven, stir, and put back in oven for another 4 minutes. This will give beef a nice light brown crust. Remove from oven and turn down to 325 degrees.

Place dish over medium heat. Stir in wine and enough beef stock to barely cover beef. Add tomato paste. Place garlic and herbs in a little bundle in a cheese cloth (this makes them easier to remove later and saves a step when making the sauce) and add to dish. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove then cover and set in lower third of preheated oven. Let simmer very slowly in oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when it is fork tender.

When meat is done, pour the dish into a colander placed over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return beef and bacon to it. Add the brown braised onions and mushrooms to the pot.

Skim fat off the sauce and simmer for a minute or two. You should have about 2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat the back of a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly until it thickens. If too thick, add a little beef stock. Pour sauce over the meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat several times. Serve with boiled potatoes.

Brown braised onions:
18-24 small pearl onions, peeled
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup beef stock
salt and pepper to taste
4 parsley sprigs, 1 small bay leaf, 1/4 tsp thyme; tied in cheesecloth

Heat oil and butter in a skillet. Add onions and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Stir frequently to try to brown as evenly as possible.

Pour stock, salt and pepper, and herbs in cheesecloth in a small saucepan. Add sauteed onions. Cover and simmer to braise the onions 40-50 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated.

Sauteed Mushrooms:
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
1 lb mushrooms, quartered

Heat butter and oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Once butter has stopped foaming, add mushrooms and cook 4-5 minutes until mushrooms are lightly browned, stirring frequently.

Recipes adapted from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking with Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck

Deliciously Simple Suppers: Peppered Beef Stroganoff

If your anything like me, then I know what you're thinking right now.... beef stroganoff? Beef stroganoff is one of those dishes that I'm well aware of but has never sounded particularly yummy to me. Actually, it kind of sounded the opposite- steak with some weird creamy sauce served over egg noodles?? It just seems so un-natural. Then, a couple weeks ago, while out running errands with the hubs I was searching through my ever trusty epicurious iPhone app and stumbled upon this dish. The photo looked incredibly appetizing and the recipe sounded a lot better than what I had originally perceived to be beef stroganoff. I read the recipe to the hubs and he seemed to think it sounded just fine so I figured now was as good a time as any to attempt a well known classic and hope that it didn't suck. You also should be aware by now of my new found love/addiction to mushrooms and this dish screams mushrooms so I had to try it! So, I give to you a pretty darn delicious recipe that will hopefully change your mind like it did mine on a deliciously simple classic dish.

Peppered Beef Stroganoff

1 tbsp coarsely ground peppercorn melange (mix of green, pink, white and black peppercorns)
2 8 oz beef tenderloin steaks or strip steaks
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
8 oz crimini mushrooms, halved
1 1/4 cups beef broth
1 tbsp cognac or brandy
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 8.8 oz pkg wide egg noodles
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Sprinkle pepper and salt all over both sides of steaks and press to adhere. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add steaks and cook to desired doneness, about 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Transfer beef to plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Add 1 tbsp oil and mushrooms to same skillet. Saute until browned, about 4 minutes. Add broth and cognac and bring to a boil. Add cream, boil until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Whisk in mustard.

Meanwhile cook noodles in pot of boiling salted water until just tender. Drain and return to pot. Toss with parsley and 1 tbsp oil. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve, divide noodles among 2 plates. Slice steaks into 1 inch thick slices and place atop noodles. Spoon mushroom mixture over steaks.

Recipe adapted from epicurious

Sunday Supper: Winter Warm Up Chili

We are in the midst of a winter wonderland and I absolutely love it! My yard is completely snow covered; the geese continue to wade in the brook; and Puppy (our youngest hound) gets up every morning, goes straight to her window seat and looks out the window patiently waiting until we let her out to frolic in the snow. The hubs and I finally got a rug for our living room this morning and then we spent the rest of the day playing in the snow with the hounds. There is something about running around in the snow while playing with my dogs that makes me giggle and completely forget about any other craziness going on in my life.

After a fun filled day of playing in the snow I decided to make a big pot of chili to warm up the hubs and I. I've made chili lots of times but have yet to find THE recipe. This time around, I thought I'd try winging it and it was by far the best chili I've ever made! It was a little smoky, a little spicy, a little sweet, and the perfect thing to warm us up after a day in the snow.

Winter Warm Up Chili

4 slices thick cut bacon, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions (1 sweet, 1 yellow), chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 4 oz jar diced green chiles
3/4 lb ground beef
3/4 lb ground pork
3/4 lb ground veal
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
2 14.5 oz cans fire roasted tomatoes with garlic
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 15 oz can chili beans
1 tbsp of your favorite bbq rub (I used the hubs secret blend that we like to call Nuts & Bolts)

Garnish:
sharp cheddar cheese

Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook bacon until just starting to crisp. Remove from pot and drain on paper towel. Add onion and cook until softened and golden, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and green chiles. Cook for 1 minute. Add beef, pork, and veal and cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Add chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and brown sugar and stir until well blended. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, chili beans, and add cooked bacon back to pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, about 1 hour until liquid reduces a bit and chili is thick and chunky. Add bbq rub and continue simmering, covered, at least 1 more hour. Serve hot with crusty bread and top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Modern Housewife Tips:
1. The blend of meat adds a lot more flavor. I found the blend that I used all packaged together at my local grocery store which is why I used what I did but most importantly, you want to use beef and pork at the very least.
2. The longer you simmer, the better! I initially was only going to simmer 1 hour but after an hour, we decided to let it go longer to let the flavor really penetrate the meat. You want to try to simmer at least 2 hours.
3. Next time I will try rubbing the meat with the bbq rub and letting it marinate for about an hour before cooking to give it even more flavor.

For My Loving Cup: Lettuce Cups

I first met lettuce cups on the hubs and my very first dinner date after moving to San Fran. We had been in town about a week, it was our first Friday night in the city by the bay. We found an Asian fusion restaurant by the name of Betelnut and the hubs made a reservation. Everything sounded insanely delicious on the menu, including the dirty sake martini, which I enjoyed immensely. We ordered a bunch of different items: chile-crusted calamari, Szechuan green beans (the hubs' fave!), something with Kobe beef that I don't recall the name of but it was damn good, and of course... lettuce cups!

I've tried to re-create these lettuce cups many times and somehow I manage to lose every recipe I've found after the first time I use it. Some of them have been great, others... not so much. BUT- I found this delicious recipe on one of my new found food blog loves- Crepes of Wrath. I made a tweak because sometimes I'm kind of a dummy and forget major components at the grocery store and in this instance, I forgot the beef... oh silly me! But alas, a good little modern housewife must be able to improvise and thus, I did just that. I had some ground turkey and ground pork in the freezer so I combined the 2 and well, it wasn't half bad... and healthier to boot! I have to say though, that is one of the best things about this dish. We originally had it with chicken at Betelnut and the Crepes of Wrath recipe calls for beef. I love it with beef, but all proteins work well. So all in all, this recipe was a success and now that I've documented my source here, I'll never lose it again!

Asian Lettuce Cups

16 lettuce or cabbage leaves
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground turkey1 tbsp cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 tsps sesame oil


Rinse lettuce leaves with water and pat dry. Set aside.


In a large skillet over high heat, brown pork and turkey in oil. Drain and set aside. Cook onion in same pan until starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, green onions, sesame oil, and continue cooking just until the onions begin to wilt, about 2 minutes more. Serve mixture in a bowl with lettuce leaves on the side for diners to make their own lettuce wraps. 


Recipe adapted from Crepes of Wrath