Looking forward to sharing the creative process with fellow creators : )
Here is Julian doing what I cannot do but would like too.
Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.
Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons.
In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.
Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes.
Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust).
Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.
Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered.
Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.
Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.
Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet.
Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly.
Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet.
Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.
Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms.
Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.
When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.
Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top.
Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.
If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.
Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times.
Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.
A celebration of tarts at work last night! Cherry Tarts made with cherry and vanilla jam I made that was too sweet after adding a sachet of pectin to help set. Cherries are very low in pectin and need all the help they can get when making jam. So cherry tarts and peach tarts eaten at 2am in the morning in a busy Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Hungry nurses satisfied by the sugar rush. Jacqui nearly missing out ; )
Rose asks what is that in the bowl?
Rose it is fresh cream - pile it on top of your tart I say.
I have never had anything like it she says.
Smiling - have some more......
The peach tarts were made with the peaches off Diane tree last year. Thank you Diane, I do have my eye on your tree already this year!
These strawberries travelled well too - up the road to Te Horo visiting with Trenie and Shane. Fabulous BBQ and family time spent. Why don't we do these things more often?
Also I loved the visit to Ruth Prettys kitchen shop - I shall learn how to make a Paella now that I own a paella dish! and spanish rice!
Well actually it is my first ever finished quilt!!! Jane thinks it could be a new christmas tradition to bring out the Christmas Quilt - ha - here is an idea - I might send it as a gift to some lucky person *wink wink* to hang in their house, on the proviso they send it on to someone else the following year. We could write on the back of the quilt the year of ownership!!! Who knows where it would end up - I can imagine America!! DONE!
That idea come form the novel about those daughters living in Australia, their mother dies and the daughters deceptively pass on to one another a blue bottle of perfume their mother had left- what is the book called Essie????
Jane thanks for the beautiful canna lillies, I am going to take a photo soon and blog them tomorrow - you have brought me enough for two vases - very generous and kind. Thanks Jane xxxoxx.
Ps Jane you look fabulous - you can afford to eat more cake!
A true Nigella moment - I am at home all alone and out comes the Christmas cake wrapped in its layers of paper post baking day. A sharp knife, a pretty birthday plate and a dollop of freshly whipped cream. The extravagance of it all - the quiet, the taste, the moment.
Willa The Protector watching very quietly gets rewarded with her first taste of sweetness. Cream on her nose to prove it.
