Petit-chou

I had actually never made a cream puff before Christie had a french themed dinner party. It was easy enough to come up with a main course... french cuisine is quite varied, but when it came to think of a desert I was little intimidated. Difficult and time consuming were the two things that kept coming to mind when I thought of all the deserts I could make. Luckily my Mom had a solution for me... petit-chou, which she pronounces as one word rather quickly. I had no idea what was she was going on about, but when she showed me the recipe she had it all made sense. I never took french in high school (latin was so much more practical), so it would have been easier if she'd just called it a cream puff to begin with.

This recipe comes from a Swedish cookbook, so all the measurements are metric. Luckily I have a metric measuring set, so I didn't have to make any conversions. In case you don't, Bing (or Google) are your friends.

I was surprised how easy it was to make these... the hardest part is not opening the oven early to peek at them. As for filling, we went with something easy: chocolate pudding folded into whipped cream. Most anything sweet will do. As a note, the dough is not sweet at all so if I were to serve these again I think a liberal dusting of powdered sugar would top them nicely.

3 dl water
100 g margarine or butter
2 dl flour
3 eggs

Bake on baking paper or a greased pan.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Bring the water and fat to a low boil in a medium saucepan. Stirring constantly, add the flour and let cook until the mixture releases from the bottom of the pan but not longer as the fat will cook out and the petit-chou's will not rise during baking.

Remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool. Then add one egg at a time, stirring strongly.

Drop batter onto baking pan in small lumps and bake in oven around 25 minutes. Do not open oven while baking, the petit-chou are sensitive to the draft.

Let them cool completely before you fill them. (*Tip from my Mom, poke a couple holes in each with a toothpick to allow some of the steam to release)

Makes at least 12 petit-chou.

Adapted and translated (badly) from: Sju Sorters Kakor (Seven Types of Cookies)

Beef Bourguignon

There's certain comfort foods that really remind you that fall has come... one of those for me is beef stew. When it's cold and rainy out, there's nothing better than sitting down to a bowl of stew to warm you up.

This recipe may look overly complicated, but really the only difficulty that I had was finding enough time to prepare the meal. The beauty of stew is that all the work is done for you through the cooking process... all you have to do is throw everything together. The time that it sits on the stove bubbling away is what brings everything together.

The recipe calls for you to serve the stew simply over some crusty bread, but as you can see from the photo we served it over some egg noodles. Either way you'll end up with something tasty. As a note, the recipe specifies that this will yield 6 servings... but that may only be true if everyone at your table has an appetite like mine. We were able to get 8 to 10 servings out of the recipe.

1 tablespoon good olive oil
8 ounces dry cured center cut applewood smoked bacon, diced
2 1/2 pounds chuck beef cut into 1-inch cubes
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
2 yellow onions, sliced
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
1/2 cup Cognac
1 (750 ml.) bottle good dry red wine such as Cote du Rhone or Pinot Noir
1 can (2 cups) beef broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pound frozen whole onions
1 pound fresh mushrooms stems discarded, caps thickly sliced

For serving:
Country bread or Sour Dough, toasted or grilled and rubbed with garlic clove1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, optional

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is lightly browned. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.

Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper. In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned. Set aside.

Toss the carrots, and onions, 1 tablespoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of pepper in the fat in the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac, stand back, and ignite with a match to burn off the alcohol. Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with the juices. Add the bottle of wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the meat. Add the tomato paste and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours or until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork.

Combine 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions. Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to the stew. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste.

To serve, toast the bread in the toaster or oven. Rub each slice on 1 side with a cut clove of garlic. For each serving, spoon the stew over a slice of bread and sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 8 to 10

Adapted from Ina Garten, Food Network

Coming Soon: Petit-chou