Not Commander Shepherd's Pie

Happy Pi Day!

Hey, I still have a half hour before the day is officially over, give me a break! That's what I get for not planning ahead.

Anyway, I'd love to post about a sweet pie instead of a savory one, like I did last year with Yoder’s Peanut Butter Cream Pie. But I've been meaning to post this for a long time now, and what better day than today!?

This isn't a weekly meal for us. It usually gets made when I'm bored of the regular menu and I have all the ingredients laying around. You know that situation. It's like the cooking equivalent to the planets and stars aligning. Don't get me wrong, this would make an awesome weekly Sunday dinner, but I just never plan for it.

I never even used to make Shepherd’s Pie. The first time I ever made it was after I watched Nadia G make it on Bitchin’ Kitchen. Unfortunately, I never had all the ingredients at the same time for her version, but I have to thank her and her Shepherd's Pie recipe for giving me the inspiration to make mine!

And if you've never seen Bitchin' Kitchen on the Cooking Channel: Seriously?! It's the best cooking show you can watch. You'll wonder what you've been doing with your life!

Now, I don't usually show my nerdy side as much as I should, but I've posted a Shepherd's Pie recipe on a blog before.

A video game blog.

Scratching your head? Wondering what a Shepherd’s Pie has to do with gaming?

Well, the good folks over at EZ-Mode Unlocked let me post on their blog when I have something to talk about in the gaming world. And at the time, Mass Effect 3 – the third installment of one of my favorite franchises – was released the day before the post was published. In case you don’t know, Mass Effect puts you in control of Commander Shepard. So the post paid homage to the game by being a borderline fanfic about a news report covering Commander Shepard’s favorite food. I had a lot of fun writing it, and if you like Mass Effect*, I urge you to check it out so you can know all about Commander Shepard’s Pie.

Shepherd’s Pie

1 pound ~ Ground Beef
1 ½ cups ~ Onion, diced
1 tablespoon ~ Garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ~ Salt
1 teaspoon ~ Pepper
1 teaspoon ~ Chili Powder
1 teaspoon ~ Garlic Powder
1 cup ~ Sweet Peas

Creamed Corn

Mashed Potatoes

To Top ~ Shredded Cheese & Breadcrumbs

Notes:

• While this isn’t exactly Commander Shepard’s Pie, I’m sure he’ll like this one all the same.
• This has 3 components to it: The meat bottom, the creamed corn center and the mashed potato top. This is easier if you do the mashed potatoes and creamed corn ahead of time. I did mine a couple of hours earlier and just reheated when it was time to put it together (easier to work with when it’s heated). It also makes it easier with cleanup after you’re in your food coma.
• If you don’t have the time, no biggie. You can have all 3 going at the same time and be alright.
• I’m using a 9 ½ round pie dish for this. So use whatever you have around that size.
• If you go bigger than 9 inch pans, I would recommend using at least 1 ½ or maybe even 2 pounds of ground beef. 1 pound works fine now, but any bigger and you’ll be spreading it out too thin.
• If you have diced carrots, feel free to throw them in there with the onions.

Shepherd’s Pie or Cottage Pie as it’s otherwise known as, has always been one of those thrown-together meals. Even from early cookbooks it was something that you made in order to use up leftovers like various roasted meats for example. Don’t let that tradition stop now. If you’ve got something that you think may go good in there, don’t be scared. Carrots, Bacon, Lamb, Sausage, Red Wine, Beef Stock.... It’s hard to not come out a winner every time.

With that said, let’s get our 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816
406282089986280348253421170679... on:

• Grab your favorite pan and heat up some oil. Add the onions to the pan and saute until they start getting a little color. When they’re ready, add the chopped garlic and after about a minute, the ground beef. Cook the beef until there is no more pink. You’ll probably have to drain it a few times with all the water that’s going to be cooked out of it. After you drain it the first time, add all the spices and seasoning.

• Next, the peas. I used frozen peas so I ran them under some water so they could defrost before I put them in. So if you’re using the same type, once defrosted, add the peas to the beef and incorporate them well.

• From there, it’s all downhill. Take whatever dish or pan you’re using, and give it a coat of cooking spray just in case. Add the beef to the pan and even it out.

• Then add the creamed corn on top of it and even it out as well.

• Next, plop a few mountains of mashed potatoes on top and smoosh them around.

• Magically, you should have something that looks just like a pie! Throw some shredded cheese on top and then some breadcrumbs on top of that and it’s ready to go in the oven for about 15 minutes until it’s nice and bubbly.

• When you see it bubbling, turn on the broiler and let it sit in there for 2 or 3 more minutes. But watch it! The broiler is like your best friend in high school that you enjoyed hanging out with but always wound up taking your girlfriends from you.

Watch it...

And that's it! Finally, Shepherd's Pie is on here! And on Pi Day! That's like, coming full circle!

...There's a Pi joke in there somewhere, but I'm too lazy right now.

*If you like Mass Effect, then you like to game. And if you like to game, you need to get over to the EZ-Mode Unlocked forum and sign up! A lot of good folks over there. And they just celebrated their podcast's 4 year anniversary! So congrats to them!

Alfredo is my Middle Name

If I knew I would live after the fact, I would have no problems injecting Alfredo sauce into my veins. It's easily one of my favorite sauces and I think a lot of it has to do with my unhealthy obsession with parmesan cheese. Seriously, give me a piece of wood, and if it has enough parmesan on it, I'd probably eat it. 

In my eyes, Alfredo sauce is not used nearly enough as it should be. Yes, tossed with fettuccine is the usual, most common way to scarf it down. But if you're not shy you can throw it in a potato or vegetable gratin, use it as the base for your mac and cheese (holy crap, yes), make a white lasagna with ground sausage, put together a dip with spinach and artichoke hearts or just as a dip by itself! Over tortellini, ravioli,  farfalle (bow tie pasta), fusilli (corkscrew pasta). Lord help you if you've never had Alfredo pizza. I know this may be somewhat blasphemous where I come from in New York, but if I had two pizza pies sitting in front of me, one Alfredo and one regular.. I'd probably pick the Alfredo one.

Yeah, I said it.

There are hundreds of things you can do with it and thousands if you count the additional ingredients like spinach, shrimp, chicken, sausage, etc...

I know there's a good chance you probably know all of this. But the thing is, there's probably an even better chance that the only time you come in contact with Alfredo sauce is when you buy it at the store or go out to one of those restaurants. 

You know, the restaurant that claims they're authentic Italian cuisine when the only thing authentic about them is the Grade-A guano they feed you about schools in Tuscany or their "fresh" pasta. 

I'd get more into that but that's another post. Besides, I'm too busy talking about Alfredo sauce:

Alfredo Sauce

                    1 quart ~ Heavy Cream

          1 tablespoon ~ Butter 

        2 tablespoons ~ Garlic, chopped

               1 1/2 cups ~ Grated Parmesan Cheese

                   To taste ~ Salt and Pepper

Notes:

• Yes. Seriously. That's it.
• This recipe will make enough sauce for a family of four. I like to make enough for leftovers the next day. If you don't, then just cut everything in half. 
• The Parmesan cheese is the most important factor here. The type of cheese you get will effect the taste of sauce. Get a cheap, dollar store cheese and it'll taste like dollar store sauce. Get a nice dark wedge of Parmesan and you'll make the best Alfredo sauce you ever tasted. I don't go all out. Store brand shredded cheese is good enough for our family nights. But if you want to impress someone, get a wedge from the deli section and grate it yourself. You'll tell the difference.
• Try and use grated. I buy shredded, as I said, and I chop it up before putting it in. What I recommend is a trip to the food processor if you go that route because parmesan isn't the best melter. So you may end up with chunks and strains in your creamy cheese sauce. If it's grated, it'll dissolve/melt better.
• I'd keep leftovers in the fridge for a few days but I wouldn't freeze it. You could, but when you reheat it, it won't be the same. The flavor, the consistency, everything will be off. 
• I make this in a shallow, heavy bottomed pot. If your pot is light, be careful, this scorches easily if not watched constantly. You'll be safer with something heavy. Also, try not to use something with a non-stick surface because you'll be doing some whisking.

I've been making this sauce from scratch for a long, long time. It's another of my OG recipes from when I first started cooking. It was taught to me by a friend in Culinary School, and I was dumbfounded by how simple it was. He had a different technique of doing it, and he also didn't use any butter, which I'm fine by doing. Before putting this recipe up I made it a few times to make sure I got it right. Tried once with a slurry, once with a roux and once with nothing to thicken it. When I make it at home usually, I admit, I cheat a little and use a slurry to thicken it up. Nothing wrong with it, but if you do it right the first time then you don't need anything to thicken it up. The roux was ok but unnecessary. It tasted a little different but that could have been from the cold I had that week. Mainly it was just extra ingredients/steps that this simple recipe doesn't need. Lastly I did it right. What's the one way to guarantee you do it right? Patience. You don't need to set aside hours, but you will need at least 15 minutes of standing by the stove. You know, just in case. If you've cooked with cream before, you know what I mean. Every time I made it before I was rushing, trying to get dinner ready for the wife when she got home. But if you take your time, you'll find the slight reduction of the cream and the natural creaminess of the cheese will thicken the sauce very nicely. 

How nicely? Let's find out:

• First thing you want to do is chop up your garlic, but first, cut off and discard the root end. You don't want those floating around your sauce.

• Put your pot on medium heat and melt the butter with the garlic. Saute until there is a little color to the garlic. You don't want to cook it till it's brown so be ready with the cream when the color starts to change. 

Do what I say, don't do what I do.

• Add the cream and stir occasionally till it starts to steam. When it starts to steam, add the parmesan cheese by the handful, whisking with a whisk constantly.

• Once all the cheese is in, turn the heat down to low and keep whisking every few minutes. It doesn't need to be a full on boil, so if it's going nuts boiled, try and turn it down lower. And don't walk away and start doing something else, if you let it go for a bit without whisking, the cheese will probably burn at the bottom. Give it about 15 or 20 minutes and the sauce will thicken naturally. Give it less time if you're doing less than a quart of cream.

• Add some salt and pepper. If it needs more, add more until it tastes like Alfredo sauce to you. Once you finish with the salt and pepper, you're done. Stick a straw in it and drink some, put some in a bowl and give yourself a sponge bath, put it in an ice cream maker and make some Alfredo ice cream. ....Ew, no. Don't do that. 

If you have some fresh parsley you can add some to the sauce with no problem. If not, who cares, it's awesome anyway.

 

Put de Curry in de Co-co-nut

Sorry. I know you guys have probably been snowed in and made prisoners in your own homes by the below freezing temperatures hitting most of the nation. Just sitting there bundled under mountains of blankets waiting for me to update my blog with another soul warming soup. But like always, I miss these opportunities that other bloggers write posts for months in advance.

It's not my fault this time! Yes, I could have written this a week ago, but I was distracted. See, season 3 of Game of Thrones premiers on March 31st and my amazing wife surprised me with the third book in the series, A Storm of Swords, as an early Valentines gift. So yes, while you've been freezing, waiting for blog updates, I've had my nose buried in a book. I know, I'm terrible, I'm sorry. I'll never do it again and I promise I'll give you more attention.

...After I finish the book. So let's hurry this up so I could get back on it.

I first had this soup in the Animal Kingdom Lodge at Walt Disney World in a restaurant called Boma. It's a great buffet style place if you're ever in the area. When we tried this soup, both the wife and I were blown away. The flavors, while not usually paired to anything we've had, went perfectly together. A couple of weeks later I found a recipe and recreated the magic. And now, for you, I've done it again:

Coconut Curried Chicken Soup:     (adapted from here)

                                  1 each ~ Chicken, whole, cut in 8

                            1 1/2 each ~ Onion, medium, roughly diced

                                  1 each ~ Red Bell Pepper, roughly diced

                        1 tablespoon ~ Garlic, chopped

                                     Roux ~ 4 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons flour

                                  1 each ~ Coconut Milk, 13 oz can

                      3 tablespoons ~ Curry Powder, toasted

                           1 teaspoon ~ Dried Rosemary

                                  1 quart ~ Chicken Stock

                               5 ounces ~ Honey

                                  1/2 cup ~ Cilantro, chopped

                                  to taste ~ Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Pepper

Notes:

• I understand you may not have the technical prowess to cut a whole chicken into its 8 equal pieces (2 each of breasts, wings, thighs and legs). So if you'd like, you can buy it already cut, Or just use 4 or 5 nicely sized chicken breasts. 
• If you scratched your head when you read the word Roux then relax. A roux (pronounced "ru") is one of the many ways you can thicken up a sauce or a soup. It's one of the more traditional thickening agents and when done right, will not add any wild flavors to what you're making (unless you want it to). It will just do it's job and magically thicken what you want to thicken. 
• Yes, toast the curry powder. No, it's not a waste of time. When you toast a spice, you're bringing out natural oils and enhancing not only the flavor but the fragrance of the spice. And when you enhance the fragrance, you're making the spice stand out more in the dish to not just your nose, but your taste buds as well. So to toast, just get a nice dry pan and put the curry powder in it and turn up the heat. Swirl it around and let it heat up to the point where the smell is filling the air. 
• I omitted jalapeno peppers, potatoes and tomatoes from the original recipe. While they'll give the end product more layers, I'm not a big enough fan of either in soups to have them in here.  
• We're going to do this all in one pot so get your favorite one out.

Now, let's put the curry in de co-co-nut and drink 'em bot' up:

• First, turn on the oven to 350. Then as always, make sure everything is ready to go. Cut all your veggies, get everything out of your pantry, just be prepared. In the industry we call this Mise-en-place (miz on plas). It's a French phrase meaning "everything in place". You'd hate to have your roux ready for the liquid and then no idea where your coconut milk is. Be ready!

• Part of your mise-en-place is preparing the chicken. So whether you cut it up yourself or are going the easy route, take salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of curry powder and season the chicken. I cooked skin on but took it off later, so be sure to get underneath the skin as much as you can with all the seasonings. 

• In your pot, heat up some oil and sear the chicken on all sides. Cook it about halfway if you can, then set the chicken on a sheet tray and put it in the oven for about 10 minutes (depending on how long you cooked it in the pan).

The recipe I got this from had you cooking the chicken 3/4 of the way and then letting it finish cooking in the soup. There are plenty of things I find wrong with this method, but most of all, I just don't have the time to sit there and wait for chicken to finish cooking inside of my soup. So I just finished cooking them in the oven. 

• Now that you have all the goodness in the pot from the chicken, add a little more oil and throw in the onion, pepper and garlic. Saute it until the onions are translucent.

• Usually, when you make a roux, you make it on the side and add it in while whisking. Well here we're twisting it a bit. So add the butter and the flour to the veggies and make your roux in the pot. 

• Once your roux is together, go ahead and add the chicken stock, coconut milk, rosemary and curry powder. Whisk it or turn it with a spoon until you feel all of the roux has been incorporated. Once it comes to a boil, it will thicken up. If it does thicken before you're ready to continue then set it aside. But while it's thickening, your chicken should have been out of the oven and should look something like this...

• Take the chicken and cut it up into bite sized chunks. This is the point where I took the skin off and may or may not have ate it. If you want to leave it in, be my guest. If you are using all breasts then chop it all up. If you're using a whole chicken, I cut up the breasts and the thighs and it gave me enough meat to work with. I saved the legs and wings as appetizers for the soup. 

• Once the soup is thickened and the chicken is cut, go ahead and add the chicken to the soup. Add the honey and then give it a taste. It will need salt and pepper so add it. If you're looking for a little more kick, add the cayenne pepper a pinch at a time.

• When it's all seasoned, add the cilantro and you are ready to bathe in it! 

It's a great soup to get cozy with especially if you have a nice, hot, crispy loaf of bread with it. Like I said, the flavors that work together here are phenomenal and are hard to put into words. So give it a go and see for yourself.

The Greatest & Best Chili in the World ...Tribute

It was a long time ago, but yes, I did win first place in a Chili cook-off. It happened, and for a moment, something I made was considered to be best in the world. It's a great feeling and something that I hold dear to my heart since at the time, I was basically at the beginning of my cooking career. That young, I honestly had no idea what I was really doing. I walked in and just signed up for the competition because I wasn't doing anything that day. I still remember the words the Judge spoke before it started. As if no one else was there, he stood in the middle of the room, stared right at me, and he said: "...Make the best Chili in the world. Or I'll eat your soul." (it might have been "And I'll eat the bowl" but I could be wrong.) So I looked around, then back at him, and then I said: "...Okay.". And I made the first thing that came to my head, and it just so happened to be the best Chili in the world, it was the best Chili in the world. Considering how clueless I was with cooking, I knew putting stuff together was as easy as 1 and 1 making 2 and 2 and 1 making 3... It was destiny.

I just grabbed ingredients here, spices there, a dash of this, a splash of that,  I would taste it and then add and adjust with whatever I saw fit. I liked what I made but I didn't think it was good enough for anyone else. 

Needless to say, the Judge was stunned. A lip smack and an empty bowl, and the Judge was done. He asked me with the last spoonful in his mouth, "Be you Angel?". And I said, "Nay. I am but a Chef."

Unfortunately, because of my careless nature back then and not really keeping track of anything, I have no record of what I actually put in the pot. Which is terrible, especially now since I have this food blog and I could have shared the actual recipe with everyone so the story can ring true. 

Don't get me wrong, this is still a great, lick-your-bowl kinda Chili that you will want to make as often as you can. But I have to warn you.... 

This is not the greatest Chili in the world. No, this is just a tribute. I couldn't remember the greatest Chili in the world. No, this is a tribute to the greatest Chili in the world. 

The Greatest and Best Chili in the World ....Tribute

                                               1 package ~ Bacon
                                                 2 pounds ~ Stew Meat
                                                 2 pounds ~ Ground Beef
                                                     2 each ~ Onions, medium, diced
                                                     1 each ~ Green Bell Pepper, diced
           1 each, plus teaspoon of sauce ~ Chipolte Pepper in Adobo Sauce
                                         2 tablespoons ~ Garlic, chopped
                                   2 1/2 tablespoons ~ Chili Powder

                                           1 tablespoon ~ Cumin Powder
                                           1 tablespoon ~ Dried Thyme
                                           1 tablespoon ~ Garlic Powder
                                           1/4 teaspoon ~ Red Pepper Flakes
                                                     2 each ~ 14 oz cans Low Sodium Beef Broth
                                                     2 each ~ 28 oz cans Tomato Puree 
                                                     1 each ~ 4 oz can Tomato Paste
                                                 To Taste ~ Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder, Cumin Powder

Notes:

• By now you've probably noticed the lack of beans in my Chili. There's very complicated mathematical and scientific equations leading to answers as to why there are no beans, but the short form is that I just don't like them. Problem with that? You can begin filling out a complaint form by clicking on the "X" in the top right corner of the screen.
• Guess what? All you'll need is a nice big pot. Don't even have to turn the oven on. I love me some one pot cooking, it's cleanups BFF. 
• For 2 people, this is going to give you enough Chili for a few nights. And remember, it's always better the day after making it.
• I've happily used ground turkey instead of ground beef before.
• If you're wondering what in the blue hell a Chipolte Pepper in Adobo Sauce is, I don't blame you. It comes in a can that looks exactly like this and you can find it in the ethnic aisle of your favorite supermarket most likely next to the canned jalapeños. It's my secret ingredient (shhh, don't tell anyone) and basically what's going to kick up the heat in the Chili. Which is exactly why I tell you to only use one along with about a teaspoon of the adobo sauce. I buy the smallest can which contains about 5 or 6 peppers. What you do with the rest of the peppers is your business, but if you use more than one in the Chili, don't blame me if your garbage chute catches fire.
• I've made this Chili without the chipolte pepper, and while it did taste like something was missing for me, it didn't take away from how good it still was. So if you can't find it or just don't want to deal with it, feel free to skip the ethnic aisle and the scary canned pepper in the weird sauce.
• No, I still don't like beans.

You know, I'm always a little sad the first few weeks of January. Holidays come and go so fast I hardly have time to savor them anymore. And as if that's not enough, to throw salt in the wound, at some point I have to muster up the strength to take down all the Christmas decorations. Because I celebrate Three Kings Day (or Epiphany, January 6th), I get a couple of extra days to depress myself with a present-less tree and half-working yard decorations. But they have to come down eventually. Maybe next season I'll start putting stuff out around September like the retail stores do. 

But anyway, just because the merriness is over, doesn't mean it's automatically spring. If you live anywhere that is not Florida, the end of December brings a cold, bitter warning:

Winter is Coming...

And if you're smart, you'll heed that warning. Because when you're at home and you have below freezing temperatures knocking down your doors, you're going to wish you had some of this stuff in your freezer:

• First thing you're going to want to do is chop up the onions, pepper, garlic, and the one lone chipolte pepper (a decent sized one, don't be chicken). I don't like the onions and peppers cut too small. Medium is good for me. You're going to add all of that at the same time so if you want to put them in the same bowl, go nuts. Next, dice the bacon and check the stew meat to make sure there are no gigantic chunks in there. Try and have all the pieces of stew meat uniform, so if some pieces are bigger than others, cut them in half. 

The way we're going to have to do the meat is in stages. You can't just throw it all in there and expect it to magically cook. There's going to be a lot of adding and then draining and then removing and then adding. So have a big bowl ready to hold all the cooked meat in until we're done. 

• Turn on the heat to your pot and when it's hot, put the bacon in. Cook the bacon until it's crispy, draining the drippings into a bowl as you need to. You want to save the bacon fat because 1) I always find it hard to throw away bacon fat, and mainly 2) Because you're going to be using that to saute everything else. Once the bacon is done, remove it from the pot and set it aside. And now the obligatory picture of cooked bacon:

• Next, add some of the bacon drippings and sear the stew meat. If you notice a lot of liquid in the pan, drain as much as you can in the sink. The meat isn't going to brown with all that stuff in there. Once the stew meat is done, remove it from the pot and set it aside.

• Now, add more of the bacon goodness, and cook the ground beef. Same thing with the liquid, just drain it. Once it's done and you don't see anymore red, remove it from the pot and set it aside. You should now have a huge bowl or plate filled with glorious meat.

If you notice not so much bacon as the picture above it, it's because I may have had some. Quality Control. It's all about quality control.

• It's all downhill from here. add a splash of bacon juice and saute the vegetables including the chipolte pepper. Something I like to do is add the chili and cumin powder, thyme, garlic and red pepper flakes to the vegetables as they're cooking. This really brings out the flavors and helps to make a better base for the Chili.

• The fun part! Once the vegetables are soft, add all of the meat back into the pot. Add the 2 cans of beef broth and stir it around. You want to let it heat up, and once it boils, add the tomato puree and paste then stir it up again. 

• And the fun is over. Now you wait. Put the temperature down to a light simmer for a whole hour and a half! Check it out once in a while and stir it around. I leave mine uncovered, but if you find it splashing around everywhere just take a piece of aluminum foil and place it on top of the pot. Don't crumple it around, just lay it on top. 

• After an hour and a half taste it. I'm telling you right now, without a doubt or hesitation, you're going to have to put salt in it. No lie, I put more than a tablespoon in there sometimes. It depends on the beef stock and the tomatoes. but before you put the salt, crack some pepper in there and add about 2 teaspoons more of each the chili and cumin powders. Add the salt by the teaspoon, stir it and then taste it. I have faith that you'll be able to tell when you've seasoned it well enough. Once you're done seasoning, put it back on the burner and simmer it for another hour and a half! If you're keeping count at home that's a total of 3 hours! Wow!!

Oh, relax, it's only 3 hours. Some chili's have you simmering it for upwards of 6 or 8 hours. So I don't want to hear it. 

Once the total of 3 hours is done, it's ready to go! Bowl it up and go to town. Like I said though, a rule of thumb for most all soups but especially Chili... It's always better the next day. After it's sat there in the fridge and all the flavors get all happy-nice with each other, it's freaking great. I love to enjoy a bowl with some shredded cheddar cheese and saltine crackers. Add whatever toppings you enjoy. Heck, you can even find a way to add beans in there, just don't go asking me how to do it. And don't bother telling me you added them either because I probably won't like you afterwards. Matter of fact, you're lucky I'm not deleting this entire post before it's even published because of the possibility that you may use my recipe to harbor your beans. Yes, I'm serious. 

Beans aside, this Chili is awesome and I hope you enjoy it. I've been making this recipe for quite a few years now and it is loved by all who try it. I won't hesitate to say that it's award worthy even. And that's peculiar.

Why? Well, the peculiar thing is this my friends:

That Chili I made on that fateful day, it didn't actually taste anything like this Chili!

*♫*  This is just a tribute! You gotta believe me! And I wish you were there, it's just a matter of opinion! ..Good God ..gotta love it!.. *♫*