“Mary had a little lamb
Its fleece was white as snow.
Mary baked it in a pie
And cooked it, nice and slow.”

Yeah, that’s not how that goes.

But it’s not unrealistic. Shepherd’s pie is as English as afternoon tea, and as popular a dish as any ever cooked on that side of the pond. So it’s not out of the question for Mary to have gotten a mite peckish and, um, invited her lamb in for dinner.

Here on this side of the Atlantic, we tend to make what is properly called a “cottage pie” – that is, the same kind of dish, but prepared with beef instead of lamb. It’s savory, it’s filling, and it’s an ancient comfort food that is the ideal thing to cook for dinner on a cool fall evening.

Like meat loaf, cottage pie (and other meat pies) grew out of a desire to stretch a family’s portion of protein into one more meal. Even a small bit of ground beef mixed into a pie filling added some savory flavor and energy-providing fat and amino acids to a meal. Meat pies were the province of the poor and the hard-working, to whom fat was a life-giver, not a diet-buster.

Of course, most of us hard-working folks these days labor along behind a desk, so we don’t need one more extra layer of blubber to keep us warm through the winter. However, there are ways to make this dish a little bit healthier than its fattier incarnations.

First off, cottage pie is made with ground beef. Even if you use a super-lean meat, you should rinse your beef somewhere in the cooking process. Do this with care, because what you’re rinsing off is burning-hot grease, but don’t skip this step. Once the meat is done browning but isn’t overdone:

1.    Clean out that sink and place a large colander into it. Grab an empty coffee can (or whatever holds your old bacon grease) and place it close to the sink.
2.    Take the meat off the heat. Then make absolutely certain there’s a clear path between you and the garbage disposal. No pets, no kids, no trash cans – nothing between you and the sink.
3.    Make one more check for obstacles, then pick up the pan, move straight to the sink, and gently pour the grease out of the pan into the coffee can, then pour the meat into the colander.
4.    Rinse the meat with hot water (after letting the water run, away from the meat, for a few minutes to clear the pipes of any leftover grease.) This serves two purposes: First, it keeps the meat from getting too cold. Second, it keeps the grease from solidifying and helps it run down the drain instead of immediately becoming a clog.
5.    Put the meat back in the pan, and then run the disposal.
6.    Move on to the next step in the recipe (adding vegetables, spices and other cook-ins.)

Vegetables are the next secret health ingredient for this dish. Most recipes do call for some vegetables, anyway. But we’re talking about additional vegetables – stealth vegetables.

Grate about a half-a-cup each of carrots and zucchini, then add into your meat as you are adding in sauce and spices. Let the carrots and zucchini cook with the meat. When they’re done, you won’t be able to taste them, but they’ll help fill out the pie (and fill you up), meaning you’ll eat less meat and consume fewer calories.

There are even ways to bring the fat level down in the delicious mashed-potato topping (an integral part of this dish.) Ignore the mashed potato recipe that comes with your cottage or shepherd’s pie recipe – look for a potato recipe that uses broth for flavor, does NOT include things like cream cheese, heavy cream or loads of butter, and be sure not to make your potatoes too thin OR two thick – go for a happy medium that can be baked without drying out but won’t liquefy and run into your meat mix.

Try out our cottage pie recipe here, or add one to our database of recipes.

Happy eating!

When making homemade whipped cream,  put your bowl and mixing beaters into the freezer before whipping.  The colder the better,  so you can even put your bowl on ice to help keep the cream chilled while you whip.

If yesterday’s post has you excited about stew, but you still need a little extra help, here’s a good lesson to guide you in the right direction.

Welcome Fall With A Bowl of Stew

Summer has officially gone to bed and turned down the lights – the sky outside the windows here at LHTC is a deep, bruised gray, and it seems more like late evening than mid-morning. We’re going to need something hearty and warm for dinner tonight, something that reminds us of the glow of home pushing back early twilight, and long nights by the fire.

One of my favorite childhood meals was beef stew with fresh bread. I remember it as a collaborative effort, my parents moving in an almost-dance of fluid coordination to brown meat and chop vegetables and put plates on the table. It’s always been my dad’s privilege to go back once any dish is cooking and add in a spice or two. We cook by intuition, my father and I, though we have great respect for a good base recipe. (In fact, the first “recipe” I ever concocted on my own was a rambling, dictated plan for “Daddy Deer Meat Stew” that called for, if I’m not mistaken, about 18 thousand potatoes.)

Stew serves very well as a canvas for the culinary artist. Its flavors blend and swirl, meeting, touching, and then separating on the tongue into their own respective textures. A stew can be delicate, simple, hearty, complex, spicy, tender, lush – it requires only that you treat its cooking process with respect and that you remember it’s not a soup.

In its purest form, a stew is a collection of ingredients that have harmonized – it’s a chorus of many food voices all overlaying one another. It’s one of mankind’s most ancient meals, and one of our easiest, utilizing one pot and one fire to feed many mouths with little effort. Any grouping of meat and vegetables can come together into a stew – recipes abound for chicken stew, lamb and lentil stew, even stewed fish.

Which brings us to our next point: “Stew” is a verb. The dish is named for the process. To stew any food is to cook it long and slow in water or broth (or wine, even beer) until it forms a gravy that brings all the flavors in the pot together. Stewing is often used to soften tough cuts of meat, and stews are sometimes thickened with a roux (or with a packet of brown gravy mix – but you didn’t hear that from me.) There are even delicious vegetable stews, golden with the colors and flavors of a fresh harvest, that don’t have meat in them at all.

Tonight, for dinner, pick up the basic ingredients for a good stew: beef (not too lean, or it will get tough), beef stock, carrots, potatoes, onions and mushrooms, maybe some little green peas.  Then put it all together into a big pot and simmer it until the ancient scents of hearth and home fill your house.

When you get tired of plain beef stew, here are some more exotic recipes to try:
Green Chile, Turkey and Bean Stew
Winter Vegetable Stew over Quinoa
Lamb Stew with Chickpeas and Tomatoes

LHTC is bringing fondue back. So get out your tie-dyed caftan and put an album on the turntable – it’s time to cook funky.

A fondue dinner party combines the best parts of an early Autumn bonfire – food on sticks, the warmth of an open flame, the company of friends – with the best parts of eating inside, like not having to keep bugs out of your eyes and sitting on real chairs.

Add in the joys of all things melted (think about it – cheese, chocolate – so many good things are best served in a dipping capacity), and you have the perfect recipe for a super groovy time.

Fondue equipment runs the gamut from small and inexpensive (The Chantal Fun Fondue set - pictured above - is great for a stay-at-home date and uses a tea candle for heat) to hot and heavy-duty (This Chantal 5-Function Fondue extravaganza comes with everything you’ll ever need for family fondue night, including six stainless forks, a 2-qt. pot and a spatter guard.) And with the necessary adult supervision, it’s a wonderful way to get kids (and some grownups) excited about a family dinner. You can even use it to dip broccoli and other vegetables as a side dish while still serving the things you usually cook.

Fondue deserves a second chance. It’s not at all difficult, it can be very economical, and it’s undeniably fun and full of flavor options.

Unlike those polyester pants, it makes you seem retro in a cool way. What’s not to like?

Find all of your fondue needs & more…

When you have over salted your soup, don’t throw it out!  Add chunks of potatoes to the soup to absorb the extra salt.  You can remove the potatoes before you serve the soup.

Today, we are celebrating National Guacamole Day!  Guacamole is a favorite dip for tortilla chips, but don’t stop there!  It is great with many other foods too – burgers, sandwiches, pizza, omelets, grilled chicken or steak, and salads.

The basic ingredients for guacamole are avocados and salt.  From there, you can add ingredients to your liking.  Traditional guacamole extras include lime or lemon juice, onions, cilantro, tomatoes, and peppers.

I go through every busy week with big hopes of eating some of my favorite breakfast treats over the weekend.  I dream about brunch filled with made-to-order omelets, Belgian waffles with fruit-flavored syrups & whipped cream, slices of 3 different types of melon, and bacon AND sausage.
Inevitably, I end up eating cereal.
During the weekdays, I make ever-changing mental lists of dishes I can whip up for dinner.  Then, it finally occurred to me to stop fantasizing about weekend brunch and do something crazy, make breakfast for dinner!  It’s the easiest answer!  I know what breakfast foods I love, and I usually have most of the ingredients in my fridge.  And who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner?
You can make:
Poached Eggs and Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes
OR
Florentine Scramble with a side of toast and Oven-Cooked Bacon
OR
Spinach and Bacon Quiche with some Roasted Oven Fries on the side

Enjoy, get a good night’s sleep, wake up and repeat!

Our pick this week is more produce than product, but Romanesco, pictured to the right, is as lovely to eat as it is to admire. (And it has a true Mandelbrot fractal structure, so you can feel smart while you serve it to friends.)

Aficionados describe the taste as akin to a mild broccoli crossed with a cauliflower. And this fancy-looking food lends itself well to any dish that calls for one or both of those fresh favorites. It is also a crunchy, tasty addition to any salad or vegetable tray, adding flavor and beauty in equal measure.

Before you head off to the market, be aware that this lovely vegetable goes by many names, including Romanesco Broccoli, Broccoli Romanesco, Romanesca Cauliflower, Summer Cauliflower or Broccoli Veronica. It is also sometimes lumped with green- curded cauliflower into a vague category called “broccoflower.” But, contrary to produce legend, Romanesco is not the fruit of a union between a broccoli plant and a cauliflower plant. It is an edible flower of the species Brassica oleracea – a variant of cauliflower.

Romanesco is rich in both vitamin C and fiber, so it has more to offer than good looks and excellent taste. Some tips on its preparation:

·  Don’t overcook it. Like its cousins, it will get mushy fast. It actually tends to be more tender than broccoli, so adjust your cooking times accordingly.

·  Its flavor is milder than broccoli but not as mild as cauliflower, so don’t overwhelm it with heavy sauces, but don’t be afraid to experiment.

·  Romanesco is great in soups but works just as well raw in salads – it is very versatile in texture and flavor.

·  Many cooks recommend searing your Romanesco spears before steaming or adding them into a dish to cook further (or sear them in a little butter until tender and eat them up – that’s good, too.)

·  In a cooked dish, it pairs very well with both garlic and cheese flavors.

·  Romanesco is only in season in early fall, from September through November, so act fast!

When cracking eggs, you should always crack them into a separate bowl in case of bad eggs or shells.  If you get a piece of shell into your bowl, use another egg shell piece to fish it out.  The shell attracts to itself so you don’t have to chase it around the bowl.