Celeriac and Potato Mash

Last week at the farmers market, we spotted some celeriac and decided to give it a try. I have read about it before, but never tasted it. We assumed that it would taste like celery, but the person at the farm stand also said that it tasted a little spicy. I looked up a bunch of recipes and we decided to prepare it as a puree. We mixed it with potatoes, butter and cream.

It took some effort to cut and peel the celeriac because it has a tough woody texture (and our knives need some serious sharpening). I cut it into small pieces and and boiled it with the potato chunks. Recipes suggested using a food mill, but we don't have one, so I resorted to the food processor. The food processor worked well. The result was a creamy, flavorful puree.  I don't think it is our new favorite, but we were pleased with results, and we would get celeriac again. I think I like the flavor diluted with potatoes.

What new ingredient have you tried for the first time recently?

Meal Plan Monday
(We only have broad brush strokes because we still have to do our major food shopping for the week.)
Monday - Hamburgers and salad
Tuesday - Soup made with chicken broth
Wednesday - Chicken with seasonal vegetables
Thursday - Spaghetti squash alla carbonara
Friday - Fish with seasonable vegetables

Celeriac and Potato mash
1 head of celeriac, pealed and diced
4 small potatoes, pealed and diced
3 T butter
1/2 C cream
salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the celeriac and potatoes. Cook until they are both tender (about 10-15 minutes). Place in the food processor and mix with the butter and cream. Blend until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.


This post is part of Meal Plan Monday, My Meatless Mondays, Homemaker Mondays, Mouthwatering Monday, Just Another Meatless Monday and Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays,.

For the love of gravy

We had planned a basic dinner of baked chicken breasts, squash and broccoli. I wasn't too thrilled about the bland and basic meal, but then I remembered something special waiting in the freezer. We had baked a couple of lemon, garlic chickens for company a month or so ago, and for that dinner it didn't really make sense to make gravy (the side dishes all had sauces of their own), so I just stuck the dripping in the freezer to save for another day. The other day had arrived! I defrosted them, and made gravy. Yum! Gravy can really change the whole meal. We slathered it over everything and it was fabulous. My tip: keep the fat - it adds so much flavor. See below for gravy prepared three different ways.

The car still isn't up and running because we are still waiting for parts, but this week we were able to make it to the Cambridge farmers market via the bus. Looking forward to a week full of farmers market finds.

Meal Plan

Monday - Bottom Round Roast with onion gravy and roasted root vegetables
Tuesday - Knockwurst with sauerkraut and sauteed red chard
Wednesday - Lentils with cauliflower and acorn squash
Thursday - Paprika pork chops with celriac and green beans
Friday - Fish (whatever looks good at the fish market)
Saturday - Hamburgers and salad


1 - Pan Gravy

Drippings

Method - Bring the drippings to a simmer and cook until they thicken.


2 - Gravy thickened with flour

2 T fat skimmed off the drippings (supplement with butter if necessary)
2 T flour
1 C drippings (supplement with broth if necessary)

Method - Place the fat in a skillet over medium heat, and add the flour. Cook for at least 5 minutes. Slowly add in the drippings while stirring constantly. Keep stirring and bring to a simmer. Cook until it reaches the desired thickness.


3 - Gravy thickened with Cornstarch or Arrowroot

1 C drippings (supplement with broth if necessary)
2 T cornstarch or arrowroot
2 T warm water

Method - Bring the drippings to a simmer over medium heat. Mix the cornstarch or arrowroot with warm water. Slowly add the mixture to the hot drippings while constantly stirring. Serve right away.*

*It is possible to overcook, so remove from heat as soon as it thickens, and serve right away.

This post is part of Monday Mania and Menu Plan Monday.

Pulled Beef Sandwiches and Coleslaw

When the weather began to cool off here in New York City, we embraced all the dishes we avoided during our hot summer weather. We began baking, roasting and generally using our oven. We decided it would be great to make a nice big roast, and settled on a beef roast. We made a mixture of vinegar, maple syrup, seasonings, cilantro, garlic and onions. Right before we dumped it over the roast, my husband happened to taste it and found out that it was screaming hot. I guess some extra cayenne slipped in while he was measuring a spoonful. Luckily we caught this because I think it was hot enough to ruin our 8 lb. roast. We didn't want to waste the vegetables, so we drained off the liquid, rinsed the vegetables, and began again.

The first night we ate the meat over egg noodles with vegetables. The next day we pulled the meat apart, and made open faced sandwiches. The meat was definitely more flavorful the second day. We still had lots left over, so we stuck it in the freezer. This week we are embarking on a eat-up the fridge and freezer week and decided to start with the pulled beef. We served it with some coleslaw and Bubbies pickles in honor of the Super Bowl. The pickles are delicious fermented pickles and taste just like homemade.

We had some shredded cheddar cheese and sliced pickles on the pulled beef sandwiches. They were the tasty, but the coleslaw really hit the spot. I could have just eaten coleslaw for dinner.

Coleslaw
1/2 head of cabbage
1/8 of onion
2 carrots
2 ribs of celery
1/2 C mayonnaise
1 t Dijon mustard
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 t salt
pepper

Shred the cabbage, onions, carrots and celery (we used a food processor to do this). Add to a large mixing bowl and combine with the rest of the ingredients. Let sit in the fridge for at least an hour to let flavors combine.

Most coleslaw recipes call for celery salt, but I never have that on-hand, so we use actual celery instead.

Meal plan for the week:
The goal this week is to eat up the freezer and fridge contents supplemented with just a few farmers market staples.
Monday - Jambalaya
Tuesday - Hamburgers and coleslaw
Wednesday- Salmon and brussel sprouts
Thursday - Pork tenderloin rubbed with rosemary and mustard, sauerkraut and squash
Friday - Homemade pizza
Saturday - out to dinner with friends.

This post is part of Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist and Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Plans for Week 17

Yesterday was one of those days when I was really excited to do some cooking for the week, but nothing turned out quite right. That really kills the mood. I bought a chicken at the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturday, and decided that I wanted to boil it to create some chicken broth and shred the meat to use on salads. I ended up using the huge stock pot because the chicken was slightly too big for the normal soup pot. This pot is pretty wide, so in order to cover the chicken with water, I had to use a fair bit of water. The chicken stock ended up being really watery. The upside is that we have a lot of it. Oh well. I was planning to cook quinoa and brown rice in it anyways. I guess I managed to stretch it farther. After making dinner, I decided to bake some cherry tomatoes. We just got them on Saturday in our farm share, but they were very ripe. I have done this lots of times, but yesterday I left them in the oven too long, and they cooked down to burnt bits. I managed to save a few. Hopefully I got my kitchen mishaps out of the way for a while.


This week's share brought us arugula, some bitter greens for braising, daikon radishes, potatoes, beets, garlic, heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes.

The plan for this week is:

Monday - Salad with pork chops and mushrooms

Tuesday - Steak topped with leeks and mushrooms, beet salad, and arugula salad

Wednesday - Chicken breasts with garlic scape pesto and salad

Thursday - Lentils with beets and goat cheese

Friday - Out to dinner


Last night we had some shredded chicken with tomato sauce, oven roasted potatoes and a big salad. The tomato sauce was really good and really dressed up a simple dinner. It was so simple, but full of great tomato flavor.

This post is part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist and Menu Plan Monday at I am an Organizing Junkie.

Brisket with Vegetables, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

The weather suddenly feels like fall here in New York City. It's making me crave roasts and baked vegetable dishes. It's a great change of pace after spending a hot summer eating lots of salads and planning meals around cooking as little as possible. I thought I'd make another meal plan this week to make sure we eat up all our farm share vegetables.

Monday - Fresh ham baked with maple and mustard sauce, brown rice cooked in chicken stock, boiled corn, and sauteed kale.

Tuesday - Hamburgers with tomatoes, oven roasted beets, and sauteed beet greens.

Wednesday - Leftover ham, baked corn, and kale salad.

Thursday - Baked Chicken with kohlrabi and leeks, and a tomato salad.

Friday - Steak with fried onions, corn on the cob, tomato, radish and salad turnip salad.


Last night we had brisket with mashed potatoes and vegetables. I heated up some oil in my dutch oven, browned the brisket, and set it aside. I then quickly browned some onions and garlic, and added the rest of my ingredients. Once I had everything in the pot, my husband shared that he thought mashed potatoes would be really good with the meal. I had to agree that some mashed potatoes with gravy would be delicious, but I already had the potatoes stewing in the pot with everything else. But then we decided to try something new, we would cook the potatoes in the dutch oven with the brisket and broth soaking up flavor, and then pull them out after 30 minutes and mash them. It worked really well. We ended up with really flavorful potatoes, and only used one pot!

Brisket with Vegetables, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
2 T oil
1 (2 1/2 lb) brisket, with "fat cap" (do not trim)
3 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus for brisket
Freshly ground black pepper
2 medium yellow onions, cut into thick slices
12 - 16 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 c cooking sherry
4 c chicken broth
2 T fresh sage, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled, and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 turnips, peeled and chopped
8 red potatoes, cut into large pieces
2 T butter
1/4 C flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke. Season the brisket generously with the paprika, salt, and pepper. Place fat side down in the Dutch oven and cook until brown, turn and continue to brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate and set aside.

Add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until starting to brown. Pour in the sherry and cook until reduced by about half. Nestle the brisket into the onions and garlic fat side up, add the broth and sage; bring to a simmer and place in the oven to bake, covered, until the brisket is fork tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Uncover, scatter the carrots, turnips and potatoes around the brisket and cook until they are tender, about 30 minutes more.

Fish out the potatoes, and place in a mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes with a fork or masher. Add broth from the brisket until they reach the desired consistency.

Transfer the brisket to a cutting board, thinly slice the meat across the grain.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the vegetables from the broth, and set aside to serve with dinner.

For a Pan Gravy: Melt the butter in a skillet and slowly add the flour. Make sure the four is entirely integrated with the butter before adding more flour. Cook until golden brown, and then starting adding broth ladle by ladle. Stirring until smooth, and then adding more broth. Once the gravy has reached the desired thickness, pour into the gravy boat.

Save the rest of the broth for another dish. We plan to use our for cooking rice this evening.

This post is part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist and Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.