Beef Gravy

We all have recipe boxes, stuffed to overflowing, with recipes that have been passed down through the family, given to us by friends, or simply plucked from various sources for future experimentation, but I wonder just how many of these recipes, if any, are for sauces or gravies?  A basic knowledge of how to make a good Béchamel, vanilla custard, perfect hollandaise, and well-seasoned gravy are worth their weight in gold.  Each one of these sauces can turn something ordinary into something extraordinary.

Take, for example, Béchamel.  It can be infused with flavor and used to top an already prepared dish, as I have done here with crepes, or spiced up a bit to enhance the flavor of a delicate vegetable as done here. Simpler yet, stir in a variety of cheeses, fold in cooked pasta, and you have a delicious macaroni and cheese.

My grandmother's vanilla custard sauce (recipe to come) has turned a handful of fresh strawberries and many a biscuit into a decadently delicious strawberry shortcake dessert, and saved many a slice of pound cake from being mundane.

Today I'm going to talk about gravy. While much of the gravy we make comes from pan drippings, there are those occasions when we find ourselves, well, dripless.  When all of the gravy from Sunday's pot roast has been used up on the mounds of creamy whipped potatoes served as a side, what are you to do with the slices of gravy-less beef that remain? You make your own, of course!

This recipe is based on one by Emeril, but I have to say that mine is better. I always find that a pinch of espresso powder enhances anything having to do with beef, and a bit of cognac (or brandy) adds incredible richness. Give this a try and let me know what you think.  It freezes beautifully, so feel free to double the recipe.  It is excellent on slices of roast beef, meatloaf, hamburgers (even cheeseburgers, I kid you not!), stirred into soup for an added burst of flavor, and is always so good to have on hand when a hot sandwich in front of a crackling fire sounds so satisfying. 

Beef Gravy

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Pinch of espresso powder

2 tablespoons minced shallots

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

3 cups beef broth

1 Tablespoon cognac or brandy

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt butter in a 1-quart saucepan set over medium heat. Add flour and espresso powder to pan and stir to incorporate and form a roux. Continue to stir until roux becomes medium brown in color, 6 to 8 minutes. Add shallots, garlic, and thyme and continue to cook, stirring often, until shallots and garlic are fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour Worcestershire sauce into pan and cook until nearly evaporated, about 1 minute. Add beef broth, season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and continue to cook until sauce has reduced, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in brandy. Serve immediately or refrigerate and reheat when ready to use.

Yields about 2 cups

 This post is linked to:

Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

What’s It Wednesday

What We Accomplished Wednesday

The Weekend Social

Full Plate Thursday

Foodie Friday

Cranberry Pancakes with Orange Syrup

Are you looking for something new to serve for your for your holiday breakfast?  Something keep-me-out-of-the-kitchen easy, but shower-me-with-praise tasty?  This recipe just may be it.  It is shockingly easy, particularly if you make the syrup the night before.  I based this syrup on Emeril’s version, altering it slightly to prevent it from cooking away without thickening. I made mine in the morning, squeezing enough extra oranges to have glasses of fresh juice on the table for enjoying while I cooked, but it can easily be made the night before and warmed while you are making the pancakes. Use your favorite pancake recipe (Mine is here.) and stir in about a fourth cup of cranberry relish.  This one works perfectly.  Pressed for time?  The Bisquick version works just fine, just do what I do and add about ¼ teaspoon of vanilla and a few gratings of nutmeg to the batter.  No one will know that your pancakes were out of the box.

Happy New Year!

Cranberry Pancakes with Orange Syrup

 1-1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Combine the juice, sugar, and orange peel in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to a low boil and cook to a thick syrup, and reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Add the butter and almond extract and whisk to combine. Let cool slightly before serving with pancakes.

This post is linked to:

Melt In Your Mouth 
Recipe Sharing Monday
Tuesdays At Our Home
Your Gonna Love It Tuesday
Wow Us Wednesday
What’s In The Kitchen 
Home Sweet Home
Work It Wednesday
Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
Be Inspired Friday 
Show and Tell Friday 

Fiddlehead Ferns and Angel Hair Pasta

After I was a music major, but before I was a psychology major, I majored in geology (I won't even mention that I graduated with a double major in English and Communications.  You might just get confused.) I was, as Sheldon Cooper of “The Big Bang Theory” would say, one of the “dirt people.”  I LOVED being a “dirt person.” If I hadn’t been such a right-brainer and possessed even a whisper of the math skills required, I would have graduated with that degree and saved myself a lot of trouble. 

One of my favorite topics was wild foods, specifically the wild foods of Missouri.  Did you know that day lily bulbs are edible?  They taste a bit like turnips. So is chickweed (lemony taste), and lamb quarter (spinach taste), dandelion (bitter), and a lot of other grief-causing weeds in your perfect lawn. A foodie even then, I made acorn bread out of flour that I ground myself. It took a lot of acorn gathering, cleaning, hours of boiling, then roasting, grinding, and pulverizing, but the yield was a wonderful nutty flour that made a delicious bread. 

Where am I going with this?  I tend to embrace the unusual when it comes to food and, unless it's wiggly or slimy, am always anxious to try something new.  So when I saw the fiddlehead ferns on the Melissa's website, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. I had never eaten an unfurled fern frond, so this was something that I had to try.

Mr. O-P is not quite as intrepid. “Fiddlehead, WHAT?!”  

Fern, I told him.  Small, delicate, unfurled fronds, a delicacy with a short season.

“Ferns.  Ferns?  Like we have hanging on the back porch.”

Umm.  No.  Those are a Boston Ferns, and I'm not at all sure that they are edible, and am certainly not interested in finding out. 

So, he decided to pass on this bit of seasonal deliciousness, and alas, the season is over.  But I am telling you now, to set up an alert on your calendar to remind you in May of next year to give these a try.  Beautiful and tender, bursting with flavor, reminiscent of early asparagus and wild mushrooms, if you have a fondness for vegetables at all, you will love these.  Yesterday they adorned pasta, today they filled an omelet, tonight I'm thinking they will be wonderful tossed with a warm vinaigrette. 

This recipe is from Emeril, slightly adapted as I didn't have his “Essence” spice mixture on hand so substituted Old Bay.

Fiddlehead Ferns and Angel Hair Pasta

Recipe from Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking

1 pound Melissa’s fiddlehead ferns
1 pound angel hair pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon truffle oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Grated Parmesan, for garnish
Essence, recipe follows, for garnish

Directions
In a large pot of boiling salted water, blanch the fiddleheads until they are crisp-tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the fiddleheads from the water and shock them in a bowl of ice water (unless you are going to use them immediately).

Drop angel hair pasta into the same pot of boiling water used for fiddleheads. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes or until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil. Sauté fiddlehead ferns, green onions, and red pepper flakes for 2 minutes. Drain pasta and add to skillet. Toss with truffle oil and salt and pepper. Divide pasta among 4 plates and garnish with grated cheese. Sprinkle with Essence and serve.

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning

(also referred to as Bayou Blast):

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Yield: 2/3 cup

This post is linked to:

Wow Us Wednesdays

Be Inspired Friday

Foodie Friday

Seasonal Sundays

Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade

Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations blog is hosting a picnic, inviting bloggers to celebrate by bringing a full alphabet of picnic treats.  Louise assigned me the letter E for which I'm contributing Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade, an easy, refreshing, and delicious summer beverage.

I'm going on this virtual fantasy picnic, and I'm bringing:

A - Apricot Cobbler from Mae 

B - Banana Cream Pie from Marjie

C - Cherry Bars in a Jar from Barbara
 D- Diva Doggie Bites from Channon
 E - Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade

Other bloggers will be bringing foods from F through Z. Hope you'll stop by and join in the fun.

I love this time of the year when the strawberries are plentiful, and driving up to the farm stand is fragrant with the ripe scent of the newly-picked berries.  Of course, as it's also in the upper nineties with heat indices around 100, I've found one of the best ways to consume the strawberries is in liquid form.  Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade is nectar for the Gods during weather like this; I seriously wanted to dive right in!  Knowing I had a tall glass (okay three glasses, if you must know) waiting for me after spending so much time working in the yard, was incentive alone to keep on going.  This was so delicious that I'm going to serve it at my Ladies' Luncheon later in the month - they will LOVE it!  I'm also going to experiment with raspberries and blackberries, in place of the strawberries. I'll let you know how that works out.  In the meantime, whip up a batch of this.  You can't go wrong, I promise you.

Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
2 cups cold sparkling water or club soda
Ice
Mint sprigs, garnish
Whole strawberries, garnish


In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon peel and lemon juice, stir, and remove from the heat. Let cool completely, then strain into a clean pitcher.

In a blender, puree the pint of strawberries and add to the pitcher with the lemon juice. Stir well to combine and refrigerate until well chilled.  Add the sparkling water and stir well. Pour over glasses filled with ice and serve, garnished with mint and strawberries.

This post is linked to: 
Tuesdays at the Table, Tasty Tuesdays, Made from Scratch Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesday's Tasty Tidbits, and Celebrate Summer Seasonal Party