Image Slider

Showing posts with label Martha Stewart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martha Stewart. Show all posts

St. Patrick and Pie

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day.  What did you do?  Did you go out and drink green beer?  In our household we of course crafted and cooked something delicious.

I made Addison's teachers 4 leaf clover pins so they would have good luck and not get pinched.  Hubby helped me because he is excellent at making the covered buttons.  This is the last year I will make Addison's teachers pins and school is almost over.  It is a little bittersweet.



For dinner, I wanted to do something different.  I usually make corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day but I remembered a great Martha Stewart recipe, a Braised Short Rib, Stout, and Potato Potpie.  We all know how much I love to braise meat and this recipe calls for braising it in Guinness.  I thought this would be a perfect St. Patrick's meal.



This recipe can be made for 8 individual mini pie plates or a 12-inch gratin dish.   I decided to make on big pie.  I totally want to go shopping for mini pie plates for the next time.  Oh what about mini gratin ones?  I have totally had my eye on these for a year:


Oh mini Cocottes so everyone could have their own potpie or individual mac n cheese.  What about individual cobblers?  Wait a minute I was talking about our St Patrick's day meal!  I get sidetracked easily when it comes to shopping.  :)

Oh I tried to take step by step pictures, but taking pictures of ingredients cooking in a dark Dutch Oven is not very pretty.  

Filling:

4 pounds boneless short ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 bottles (12 ounces) stout, preferably Guinness (3 cups)
2 rosemary sprigs
1 pound cipollini onions, peeled



Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Season short ribs with salt and pepper. Dredge short ribs in flour, coating all sides. Transfer to a large plate.


Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Working in batches, brown short ribs, about 1 minute per side.



Transfer browned meat to a plate.


Add yellow onions and cook until golden, about 8 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. 





Return meat to the Dutch oven with onions and garlic.  Also add rosemary and Guinness. Bring to a simmer and then cover place in oven.  Cook for about 2 1/2 hours.


Remove Dutch oven from oven and cipollini onions.  Cook for an additional 30 more minters, the meat should be tender and the onions should be cooked through.  




Shred meat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Put filling in pie plate or individual mini Couettes.  


Topping

6 medium russet potatoes (3 1/2 pounds)
Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper



Raise the oven to 375.  Slice potatoes very thinly.  I used my Christmas Food Processor.  Have I mentioned how much I love it?  Arrange potatoes over meat to form tight concentric circles, working around the edge and overlapping each potato by three-quarters.


Brush the potatoes with oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.   Put pie or pies in oven and bake for about an hour. 



Isn't it beautiful?  I had so much fun with the potatoes.  Addison said it looked like a flower.  Here is the recipe with out the pictures.  

Filling:

4 pounds boneless short ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 bottles (12 ounces) stout, preferably Guinness (3 cups)
2 rosemary sprigs
1 pound cipollini onions, peeled


Make the filling: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Season short ribs with salt and pepper. Dredge short ribs in flour, coating all sides. Transfer to a large plate. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Working in batches, brown short ribs, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to a large plate using kitchen tongs.
Reduce heat to medium. Add yellow onion to Dutch oven, and cook until golden, about 8 minutes. Add garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. Return meat to Dutch oven. Add stout and rosemary. Bring to a simmer. Cover, and transfer to oven. Bake for 2 1/2 hours.
Remove Dutch oven from oven, and add cipollini onions. Braise until meat is tender and onions are cooked through, about 30 minutes. Shred meat using 2 forks. Season with salt and pepper. Divide filling among eight mini (1-cup) pie plates, or transfer to a 12-inch (8-cup) gratin dish.

Topping

6 medium russet potatoes (3 1/2 pounds)
Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper


Make the topping: Raise oven temperature to 375 degrees. Peel potatoes, and very thinly slice each (preferably on a mandoline). Arrange potatoes over meat to form tight concentric circles, working around the edge and overlapping each potato by three-quarters. Brush with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until topping is golden and filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes for mini potpies (1 hour for large potpie).



And there is our delicious St. Patrick's Potpie.  It was amazing.  Hubby did not complain because it his 3 favorite things; beer, potatoes, and meat.  

I almost forgot to mention The Chosen One had never heard of cipollini onions.  I think it is great when I teach her something new since she is a genius and an excellent cook.  So Gold medal for me.  :)

I have a lot of projects that I need to finish.  I can't wait to show them to you all.  I have been crafting like a mad woman.   Well, I hope the rest of your week and weekend is wonderful.  

Talk to you soon,Signature

Getting ready for Valentine's Day

So I love Valentine's Day.  Not because I get an electronic every V Day.  But, I did pre-order my camera, hopefully it ships before Valentine's Day.  I love Valentine's Day because I love love.  I'm such a girl, I know.  I am a hopeless romantic and I just love what it stands for.  I love the kids giving out Valentine's cards, the heart shape boxes with chocolate, the balloons, the flowers.  Valentine's will be exciting the year because I have already planned a month ahead of time for what I am creating.  I want to do something special for Addison's teachers and our friends and family.  And since I have started making cards, the Valentine's cards this year will be extra special.

So I was going through my Martha Stewart Living magazine for this month and I found some really cute things for Valentine's Day.  Like these


You can download the template to make the cones. Just print it on white or cream cardstock and you have the cutest carnation cones.  I so want to do this for Addison's teachers.  I love it when Addison brings flowers to his teacher, it makes me believe he will have a lucky wife.  When his 2nd grade teacher's dog died he made me take him to  Whole Foods to get her some flowers.  I just love flowers and I feel like these cones make them really special.

I am also going to bake, of course.  I just bought Wilton's heart shape whoopie pie pan and I'm so excited.


I am thinking I will make red velvet, chocolate, and strawberry ones.  But they might just end up all being red velvet.  I do have the weekend to bake but I know what happens when I put to much on my plate.  

Oh and I will also be baking cupcakes.  I get the cutest cupcake wrappers at Bake it Pretty.  I order a month before a holiday and then can't wait to use them.  I purchased these this time.  

Don't they look like little hearts?

I also purchased cute boxes to carry all my goodies.

This in pink.  I'm also thinking about decorating it.

If you love to bake I would recommend Bake it Pretty, they are located in Asheville, NC but they have an online shop.  They have the cutest stuff.  They even have straws, that I haven't bought yet because I don't see the purpose of paper straws unless you having a party.  Maybe this will give me a reason to throw a party.  :)


So last night, we just made steak, green beans, and mashed potatoes.  But I would like to share two things.  One is a while back a purchased theses potato gloves, and potato ricer from Williams-Sonoma




I keep telling people I will share my favorite things I get from there because they make my life so much easier.   The gloves can be used with any hard vegetable, like carrots.  Instead of peeling you just scrub your veggies, so you keep all the good nutrients since a lot of the vitamins are in the peel.  We love these gloves.  They are so easy and fun that Addison scrubs the veggies for me.  The potato ricer just makes mashing potatoes a snap.  It turns your potatoes to rice like grains and also gets rid of the peel, which I still put a some peel in my mashed potatoes.  

I also baked desert last night.  I got a recipe for Ooey Gooey Taffy Tart Squares from one of my favorite baking blogs Sweetapolita


 I was worried if they had come out right at first, they came out really gooey.  But, after putting them in the refrigerator over night they turned out good.  They taste like little pecan pie squares.  Addison has been snaking on them all day.  I had to give some away to classmates so they would get out of my house.  They are addictive.  

Well, I need to go work on some Valentine's cards and desk calendars.  I will keep everyone updated.  Let the Valentine's Day countdown begin.