The Celery Root

Celery root is on about the same level with turnips when it comes to mystery and intrigue. It's a weird looking and intimidating ingredient but so savory and delicious that it makes you re-think basic old root vegetables and boring potatoes.

Celery Root Mashed Potatoes

modified from Cooks Illustrated

NOTES:If you dice ahead of time, you must submerge both celery root and potatoes seperately in cold water to avoid oxidization. Dry the celery root with paper towels prior to cooking so you can get a good caramelization. Do not use yukon gold potatoes (my favorite for plain mashers) because they make it gummy.

1 1/2 C celery root, diced 1/2 in thick

2 russet potatoes, in 1/4 in half moons

4 tbsp butter

1/3 C chicken broth

3/4 C half/half or milk, warmed

1. From Cooks Illustrated:

   1. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. When foaming subsides, add root vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter is browned and vegetables are dark brown and caramelized, 10 to 12 minutes. (If after 4 minutes vegetables have not started to brown, increase heat to medium-high.)

   

   1. 2. Add potatoes, broth, and 3/4 teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Cook, covered, over low heat (broth should simmer gently; do not boil), stirring occasionally, until potatoes fall apart easily when poked with fork and all liquid has been absorbed, 25 to 30 minutes. (If liquid does not gently simmer after a few minutes, increase heat to medium-low.) Remove pan from heat; remove lid and allow steam to escape for 2 minutes.

   2. 3. Gently mash potatoes and root vegetables in saucepan with potato masher (do not mash vigorously). Gently fold in warm half-and-half. Season with salt and pepper to taste; serve immediately.

2. These are great with Friday Steak Night because they are so savory and hearty. Love them!

Beef Stew Spectacular

After chunking a batch of beef stock that turned out watery, I looked up a recipe to realize you need 6 lbs of beef +bones to make 2 quarts of stock. Broth will do thank you.

Beef Stew
250 degrees is the perfect temp for spoon-tender stew beef. The flour thickens the broth to a "Campbell's Chunky Soup" consistency which I happen to love.

1.5 lbs stew beef

1 onion

4 carrots

2 celery

2 small turnips

1 russet potato

1 pkg frozen peas

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup flour

3 cups beef broth (Pacific)

4 sprigs thyme

1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

1/2 c robust red wine

Chop everything for mix en place during naptime.

Turn on Sesame Street. Pat meat dry, salt and pepper and brown in a dab of oil in a heavy dutch oven on medium high heat. Brown, meaning don't touch it for at least 5-6 min per side. Get it good and caramelized. Remove to plate with tongs. Add diced carrots, celery, and onion. Sweat for 5 min. Stir in tomato paste. Add flour and cook for 5 min to get out raw flour taste. Deglaze with wine. Scrape hard on the brown bits. Add meat back and add enough broth to barely cover meat. Add turnips Throw it in the 250 degree oven for 1 hour. Add potato and return for 1 more hour. Check everything for tenderness. Make kids dinner in microwave.

Pour wine and remove from oven while husband puts kid #2 to bed and add peas and parsley. Salt and pepper. Return to oven for 10 min. Switch off oven if kid fails to get to bed in a timely fashion. Add some french bread to warm in oven.

The low temp keeps the veg from getting mushy while the rest of the house goes to chaos. Case in point: We had to remove a door knob after I locked my son's toys in "time out" earlier in the afternoon because the cats were crying for their dinner which was also locked inside. Uf. But then the stew was lovely.

Baby Food: Puree Pickiness

Baby W is officially addicted to Baby Mum-mums. These are rice wafers that melt in your mouth--kind of like a giant puff. Not many people know about these and I didn't until Central Market crammed them down my throat by putting large displays of them throughout the store. THANK YOU Central Market for introducing us to our new friend, Mum-mums. But then they mysteriously ran out and did not replace them for a month--right as W was ramping up on her solids. She politely declined purees and anything she could not hold in her hand. She was intrigued by puffs and "baby Cheerios" (as E likes to call them) but could not figure out how to open her fist to get them in her mouth. Then the meal would quickly be over. After a week of dipping these Mum-mums in pee puree and applesauce or other baby food, we are now back onto normal spoon feeding like a normal baby who is not so headstrong as to refuse anything she can't do herself.

Unfortunately, the ramping up on solids has interfered with our errand-running. So it's already Thursday and I haven't seen a grocery store yet this week. Adding baby meals into the schedule has caused several issues in addition the lack of adult-worthy food in the house including but not limited to her brother climbing into his chair when I'm feeding her and demanding his dinner. Mind you, this is an hour or two before his normal dinner time. Yes that's right, I'm serving THREE dinners at this house. One from a jar for baby, one from the freezer for the toddler, and then something from the stove for mommy and daddy. It's getting a bit absurd but hopefully we'll adjust and consolidate very soon.

Last night we attempted to have E eat with us later. This resulted in the normal demand-my-dinner-when-baby-is-in-highchair around 6. I honored the request with some lovely pasta and broccoli which was not even touched. Then Daddy took him to Chipotle to pick up dinner for all of us and he ate some quesadilla and beans with us around his normal bedtime. We're also pushing that back on account of the singing and talking we hear emanating from his room hours after his 7:30 bedtime. So, schedules to the wind! And we'll see what happens.

Chicken Stock

Fall weather has arrived! That accompanied by many germs and bugs jumping on our family has prompted a good ol' home remedy--chicken soup. This is a good thing to prep during naps and then let simmer all afternoon to be ready for dinner. Super easy to get the meat out for soup and save a step.

Chicken Stock

2 onions, quartered

1 turnip, quartered

1 head garlic, halved

4 carrots, unpeeled and cut in large chunks

2 celer, cut large, can use leaves

small bunch thyme

small bunch parsley

1 tsp whole peppercorns

1 chicken, 3-4 lbs cut in half

Throw it all in a big pot and cover with cold water (approx 2 1/2 quarts?). Cover and bring to a simmer slowly on low heat and cook 1- 1 1/2 hours until chicken is done. REmove chicken to rimmed baking sheet and let cool until you can pull the meat away from bones.

When cool, remove chicken meat from bones and place in a med bowl/gladware. Add a few spoonfuls of stock to keep moist and refrigerate until you make soup. Return bones to stock and continue to cook for 3-4 hours.

Strain stock into a large bowl and compost all the discard (minus chick bones). Skim fat from top as it cools. Place in ice bath to cool before refrigerating if you're not making soup.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

1 c wild rice blend

2 c water

1 tbsp butter

2 quarts chicken stock

4+ carrots, sliced

2 celery stalks, diced small

1 onion, diced

1 turnip, diced

1 potato, diced

1 C frozen peas

1 tbsp parsley

2 tbsp+ salt

pepper

Prepare rice as directed (it takes 50 minutes so do it first while you chop and prepare the rest).

Wipe out stock pot and add 1 tsp canola oil. Sweat onion and celery. Add carrot and turnip cook 5 min. Add stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer 10 min, add potato. Simmer 15 min. Cube chicken. Add chick, peas, and parsley and simmer 5-10 more until peas are cooked.

Rice is a wild card here. It could soak up all your broth if you add it too early so just mix it in when you're ready to serve. If it does soak up your goodness, just add more stock and adjust seasonings. For leftovers, store rice separately.

Croque Madame

A simple name for a serious sandwich. No really, it's kind of difficult because there are too many balls in the air at once. But doesn't it look so pretty and so French?

Since every Friday is steak night around here, this is a wonderful way to have a quick Monday dinner with leftover Bechamel. The other ingredients are key and if you miss one, then it becomes just an egg sandwich. If you're going to have a side (broiled asparagus above), make it a quick salad or something you can do ahead because this is very hands-on prep.

Bechamel (see below)

Deli Ham (De Becca Black Forest)

French bread

Gruyere or Emmenthaler

Dijon

Eggs

Batali's Bechamel

5 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

4 C milk (whole is great, but I usually use a combo of half and half with 2 % since that's usually on hand)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

Melt butter, wisk in flour. Cook until flour no longer smells raw. Meanwhile, heat milk in microwave. Turn heat off on roux when adding milk. Temper with a little at first and then add the rest. Add seasonings and cook 10 min until thickened.

Croque Madame

Heat broiler. Slice bread. Melt butter in large pan. Coat bread in melted butter and toast, adding more butter before you flip it. Remove toast to rimmed baking sheet and top with bechamel, 2 slices of ham and gruyere.

Heat nonstick skillet for eggs. Melt 1-2 tbsp butter and fry eggs over easy.

Put sandwiches under broiler to melt cheese. Remove and top with sunny eggs. Serve immediately.

Phew. It goes really fast so you have to think one step ahead. Also, there's no short cutting. Tried to do a simpler version for breakfast and it was no where near as good.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Don't underestimate the importance of white wine in this recipe. It's flavor is really highlighted after a long simmer. I've tried this with whole milk and 2% but this time used heavy cream. Of course, this time it was most similar to restaurant bolognese that we've had. I bet if I used a higher fat beef, it would be remarkably greasy like restaurant ones. I prefer this version. If you use lighter milk, the dish seems more vegetal and summer-y. This was the stick to your ribs version.

I do not recommend using the food processor for the veggies to cut down prep time. It ends up watery and it's difficult to judge the reduction of the milk and wine.

This has always been a favorite dish for my toddler 1)because it's spaghetti and 2) the sweetness of the wine and veggies. I think of it as healthy because of all the veg, but the cream probably counteracts that.

Spaghetti Bolognese

5 tbsp butter
1-2 carrots, minced
1-2 celery stalks, minced
1 onion, minced
1/2 lb ground veal
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 c heavy cream
1 c good white wine
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes in puree (Cento is good)
S+P
Parmesan

Melt butter in large heavy bottomed pot. Add all veg and sweat about 3 min. Add meat and cook until no longer pink, breaking it up with a spoon as it cooks. Add cream and cook until the milk has evaporated (clear fat will remain). This take about 15-20 min. Add wine and cook until wine evaporates (10-15 min). Add tomatoes. Simmer for about 3 hrs on low low low. My books recommend a flame tamer if you have more than a few bubbles coming to the surface. Homemade flame tamer didn't work so I just turned the heat on and off a few times. I still have yet to find this flame tamer in 2 different grocery stores. Must try William Sonoma, I guess.

Pineapple Upside Down Challenge

Assumptions going into the challenge that I have now thrown out the window: Pineapple Rings are requisite for this cake
Maraschino Cherries will make it taste like cherries
Cast Iron always sticks when not seasoned


The winner: Cooks Illustrated
Family Cookbook recipe

Although this one was not as attractive, the cake was much moister and the topping gooey-er. Had I followed their advice on using chunks of pineapple instead of rings, I might have avoided the center sinking. This was my first attempt ever at this cake and it was fairly simple and straight forward.

I resorted to this recipe rather than the all-powerful Best Recipe because I wanted to save a pot and knew I was making two cakes. The first time I made the topping for Best Recipe (follows) I threw it away because it seemed so wrong. I consulted this recipe and it had a completely different approach. Now I know that if the pan is too cool when you put in the topping, you will get crunchy praline-type chunks in it and they are not pretty. Although my nephews did sort of fight over who would get the big chunks. So seeing that the Best Recipe may not be all that and being limited by the number of eggs in the fridge, I proceeded the rest of the way with the cake part of this one.

The loser: Best Recipe

This one was more complicated by far. It involved whipping egg whites, 3 large bowls, and corn meal. I can say that the biggest drawback was the cornmeal. What were they thinking? At only 3 tbsp, you can definitely tell it's in there and not in a good way.

The coolest trick about this recipe was that it's made in a cast iron skillet. I was very skeptical about using mine since it is far from seasoned and only a year old. But it came out without sticking and made beautifully flared sides on the cake. The whole cake was much drier. Could that be because I over whipped my egg whites? I forgot to put sugar in them until they were already soft peaks so it got stiffer than I'd hoped for.