Horseradish & Dijon Mustard Crust for Roast Beef

 Have you ever put a horseradish/Dijon crust on your roast beef before cooking?  I absolutely love it and I did it recently when I made lunch for my Mom and Aunt. Also, if you ever get the chance, if you haven't already, invest in a sous-vide to cook roast, chicken, fish or your favorite veggies.  The tenderness is off the charts.  My husband introduced me to a 24-hour roast beef in wine recipe, using the sous-vide.  It is mind-blowingly delicious and allows you to make a gourmet meal out of an inexpensive cut of beef.  

Here is the recipe for the Horseradish and Dijon Mustard Crust

1/2 cup of already prepared Horseradish, 2 tbsp. Dijion, 1 tbsp. sugar, 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp. salt, 1 tbsp. pepper, 2 tbsp. flour (optional), 3 tbsp. chopped parsley and rosemary or thyme. 

Mix together and lather it all over the beef before cooking.

Deliciously Toasted Roast Potatoes

Oh, these are in an orbit all of their own!  Seriously crispy on the outside and flavorful, a soft mashed potato on the inside.  My husband is like, "oh ya, these are good." Since I am experimenting for Christmas, I finished off these crispy roasted potatoes with a little white truffle oil and they were incredible!

Put oven to 400 degrees

The Ingredients

6-8 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut in half (try and make sure all of the potatoes are uniform in size for cooking.)

1/4 cup olive oil, 1-2 rosemary sprigs, snipped, salt and pepper, truffle oil to finish.

Add a tbsp. of salt to a pot of water, put the potatoes in and bring to a boil. Boil potatoes for 15 minutes or until potatoes are semi cooked.  You want them still a little firm and not cooked right through as you don't want them to fall apart when you drain and shake them.

Drain

Drain in a colander and shake the colander a little to rough up the edges of the potatoes. I spent about 30 seconds doing this to get all sides.

Bake

Put potatoes onto a baking sheet and allow them to air dry for about 5 minutes before putting olive oil on.  Then cover all of the potatoes in olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper and pop into the oven for about 50 minutes.

After about 20 minutes or so, using tongs, check the bottoms of the potatoes and if they are brown how you like it, flip them over.  You can throughout the duration of baking them in the oven, turn the potatoes to get all sides done.

Once all sides are crispy, take out of the oven and drizzle with truffle oil if you like.  Otherwise, they are good to go.

Mushroom, Fennel and Brie Bake

This is so good!  But how could it not be?  Mushrooms, brie and fennel roasted into a cheesy, creamy alchemy schmeared onto a toasted piece of baguette. You can if you like serve this as either an appetizer or even a side dish. It goes well over anything or beside anything.  I put leftovers into pasta and it was out of this world. 

The Ingredients

1 large container of mushrooms, washed and sliced. 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms (optional), 2-3 fennel bulbs, sliced, 1/2 red pepper, sliced, 1 onion, chopped, 1 garlic clove, sliced, 2 rosemary sprigs, 2 tsp. Dijon, 2 tbsp. flour, 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan, 1/2 cup Brie cheese, cut into thick pieces, 1 1/2 cups half and half cream, 2 tbsp. brandy or any amber alcohol like whiskey, 4 tbsp. butter.

Dried Porcini Mushrooms

If you are using dried mushrooms for extra flavor, soak for 15 minutes in water and drain. You can then add some of the mushrooms to the pan and save a few for garnish.

Putting it all Together 

In a pan, melt butter over medium heat and add vegetables, including rosemary springs and a few of the porcini mushrooms (I have to say they are a delicious addition but optional). Sauté until all of the vegetables are soft and liquid from mushrooms is almost gone. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir.  Add cream, brandy and Parmesan cheese and stir.  Cook until the mixture gets slightly thicker.  Pour into a buttered casserole, insert the brie cheese into the mixture and then top with a few porcini mushrooms and bake for 1/2 and hour or until desired thickness.  You can also cover with aluminum foil before it gets too brown but still needs a little more time in the oven.  Serve on a toasted baguette!

Wine & Orange Butter Parsnips/Carrots with Toasted Chorizo Breadcrumbs

I found a recipe for Chorizo Breadcrumbs online from a beautiful website, My Parisian Kitchen: Homemade Chorizo ​​Breadcrumbs, French Recipe (myparisiankitchen.com) and decided to top them on my roasted parsnips and carrots.  This recipe is truly sublime.  Here is a recipe that takes a little time but is super easy and delicious.

You'll need a nice deep saucepan (or any pot will do).

The Ingredients

6-8 medium sized parsnips, peeled and sliced in half, 6-8 medium sized carrots, peeled and sliced in half, 1 medium sized onion, sliced or diced as you wish, 1/4-1/2 cup butter, 1 handful of chopped parsley, zest from 1 orange, the juice of 1 orange, squeezed, 1 liter chicken broth, 1 glass of white wine, 2 garlic cloves, sliced, a bay leaf or two.

In a small bowl mix together the butter, herbs, and orange zest

Putting it Altogether

Melt 1/2 of butter mixture in the saucepan over medium heat.  Add sliced carrots and parsnips, onions and sauté and stir for about 5-10 minutes.  Add garlic and continue stirring and cooking for a couple of more minutes.  Add white wine, the juice of 1 orange and just enough chicken broth to cover the vegetables.  Cook with lid off on medium high until the liquid is almost gone then toss onto a baking pan or into a casserole dish and sprinkle with a few tbsp. of chorizo breadcrumbs and dot with left over butter mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees until crumbs are toasted on top and vegetables are warmed through. (the recipe for Chorizo breadcrumbs are below.)

The Topping

Chorizo Breadcrumbs:  slice 6 slices of chorizo into 1/2-inch slices, place on an oven dish and put into a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes to dry out chorizo a little.  Take out of oven and put onto paper towel to blot out oil. In a blender add 1 cup breadcrumbs, chorizo and blend into powder.

Maple Bacon Japanese Sausages

My Aunt Tracey made these years ago for a party I was having and everyone in that room who had one, loved them!  How can you not?  It's fat, bacon and sugar - the perfect food crack combination!  When I served them at a party a few years later, all the firefighters wanted this recipe and when I forgot to send it to them, they reminded me - that is how much these guys loved this appie!  

I picked up a pack of these Japanese sausages yesterday at Costco but you can of course use any wiener, from a hot dog to a smokey to a cocktail wiener.

While this is not a new recipe, it is one worth whipping out for the holiday season.  You can also switch out the ingredients for maple syrup and brown sugar for sugar free options too. I used low sugar maple syrup and brown sugar Splenda as a replacement.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

6 sausages, 6 pieces of bacon, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1 tsp. smoked paprika (or your choice of heat), 1/4 cup brown sugar.

Wrap each sausage in a piece of bacon and place on a baking sheet.  If you are using cocktail sausages, you can split the piece of bacon into 3 since the cocktail sausages are much smaller.

Once all of the sausages are wrapped in bacon, mix up the maple syrup with smoked paprika and brush over sausages.  Cook sausages for 30 minutes.  After the sausages are in the oven for 15 minutes then sprinkle each sausage with a little brown sugar and return to bake for another 15 minutes or so.

Enjoy! 

Seriously Amazing Bread Machine Cinnamon Buns

Cinnamon Bun Dough for Bread Machine

***When working with yeast, make sure the water or milk are warm and not hot.  Hot will kill your yeast and your buns won't rise.  The perfect temp for yeast is "baby-bottle warm."

1 cup of warm milk, 2 eggs, 4 tbsp. melted butter, 4 tbsp. warm water, 1/2 box dried vanilla pudding mix, 4 cups all purpose-flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 2 1/2 tsp. yeast.

Put the above ingredients into your bread machine in the order that the manufacturer suggests - usually it is liquid first, then dry ingredients and then yeast on top in middle of flour).  Close the lid and press the dough cycle. Time to relax until it is done - about 1/5 hours.

Once the dough is done, with a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a floured surface into a long rectangle.  

The dough will be super soft. 

The Secret to These Soft Cinnamon Buns....

You will use 1/2 a pack of the vanilla pudding mix!  Woo hoo!

 

Cinnamon Bun Filling

Now you are going to smear the rectangle dough with soft butter (about 6 tbsp.) like you are buttering a piece of bread, then you will sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar over top (or more if you like) and 2 tbsp. cinnamon all over top too.  Make sure you keep a 1-inch border all around the dough.  Then you will roll the long cinnamon roll up lengthwise, pinching the seam of the dough together.  Usually both ends of the rolled-up dough are misshaped.  I cut off the ends and just bake up those pieces for a little tester!

Slice 1 to 1 1/2 inch-thick cinnamon dough rounds and put them into a greased-up glass baking dish or 9-inch round baking dish, with just a little room in between all of the cinnamon rolls.

Now put the baking dish into a warm draft-free area and cover with a dry tea towel.  Let double in size (about 45 minutes to an hour.  If it takes longer to rise, no worries, it will rise!) and then pop into a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Cinnamon Bun Icing (optional of course)

7 tbsp. butter, 4 tbsp. Philly cream cheese, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, pinch of salt.

Beat the butter and Philly cream cheese first, then add the vanilla and continue beating.  Add the icing sugar and salt and beat until fluffy.  If too thick, stream a little milk into the icing and continue beating.

Spread icing over hot cinnamon buns.

The Pleasures of Moussaka

 Moussaka is my absolute favorite Greek dish and I order it often when I go out to a Greek Restaurant (I love saganaki too) Oh how I love the succulent layers of soft eggplant and how it melts perfectly with the sauteed, seasoned hamburger, the fluffy baked bechamel sauce and oh, my goodness, the condimental ambrosial blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper and salt. The mouth cramping has begun. It will be the perfect Sunday night platter of delectability -  the consummate vessel for the heart and soul on a snowy afternoon here in Vancouver, BC.

P.S., If you would like to add potato to the moussaka which is traditional, peel 5 potatoes, slice and cook in a pot until just cooked.  Set aside and cool while you make everything else! 

The Stars of the Show 

The Eggplant

Slice up 1-2 large eggplants length-wise, trimming both ends off first.  Keep the skin on.  Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and then lay the slices of eggplant over it. Lightly swipe each eggplant slice with avocado oil spray or another cooking spray. Sprinkle with a little salt and cinnamon. 

Pop into a 350 degree oven for 1/2 hour until nice and soft. Of course you can also fry eggplant in a pan with oil if you prefer, however baked is as delish.

The Flavored Hamburger

1 lb. hamburger, 1/2 large onion diced, 2 bay leaves, 1 cup beef broth, 2 cans tomato paste (or you can just add a few tbsp. I just love the richness of tomato paste), 1/2 cup red wine, 1/2 large can of whole tomatoes or diced tomatoes, 1 tsp. sugar, 1 tsp. or more of cinnamon, 1 tsp. or more of nutmeg, 1/2 tbsp. dried oregano.  Taste the hamburger to add more seasonings as you wish.

The Bechamel 

1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup butter, 6 cups whole room temp milk, or half and half cream, 4 tbsp. olive oil. 1/2 cup parmesan (powdered is great too!), a pinch salt, a pinch pepper, a pinch of nutmeg.

Melt butter in a pot, add flour and whisk until butter is absorbed.  Add milk and whisk.  Let it thicken a little then add egg yolks and olive oil.  Whisk away!  Bring to a gentle bubble and add the parmesan.  You will top the layered casserole of eggplant and hamburger with bechamel.

A Marriage Made In Heaven

In a 7 X 11 casserole lay the eggplant down, top with hamburger and repeat (probably 2 layers).  Pour Bechamel over and garnish with more oregano and nutmeg or cinnamon if you like.

Pop into a 350 degree oven for about 1/2 an hour.

Autumn Bourbon Aperol Champagne Cocktails

These were a nice change up for happy hour on Sunday with my hubby!  He really liked them.  I thought they were good, but I think I prefer lemonade with my bourbon.  Not a huge fan of orange cocktails, but I had two, so what does that tell you!  If you love orange, your will love these!  

You will need:

Simple Syrup:  To make your own, do a 50/50 ratio of sugar to water or sweetener (Splenda)  Put these two ingredients into a little saucepan, bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes.  Cool simple syrup and store in a little jar or Tupperware and put into the fridge to use the following weekend!  I did a 1/2 cup water to 1/2 cup sweetener however the true recipe for a simple syrup is 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water. 

1/ 1/2 ounces bourbon

1 ounce Aperol

1/2 ounce simple syrup

3-6 ounces of Prosecco (I preferred more champagne personally, but you decide!)

1 orange wedge

Fill your glass with ice.  Combine all of the above ingredients, except for the champagne, in a martini shaker and pour over ice.  Top with champagne, slip a little orange slice onto the glass and voila!  Enjoy!