Melaney's French Dip

What cookin'?

 

My friend Melaney sent me this recipe last week.  I was already prepped for making BBQ short ribs in the slow cooker, so I set the recipe aside for this weekend.  I just got home from Wegmans and it's simmering now.  Within an hour my house is gonna smell soooo goood.

 

Here it is, exactly as she sent it to me.  I used top steak instead of chuck roast. 

2 cups water

½ cup soy sauce

4 whole peppercorns

1 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. garlic powder or one minced garlic clove

3 lbs boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed of all fat.

Combine water, soy sauce, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme and garlic in a slow cooker, stirring until well blended. Place roast in crockpot and cover.

Cook on high for 5-6 hours or until beef is tender. Remove meat from broth and shred with a fork. Serve beef on rolls. Pour broth in small bowls for dipping. Good topped with Swiss cheese or sautéed onions, peppers or both.

French Onion Soup

I last made this well over a year ago.  Fall is coming in, and this is so hearty and so good.  You might need scissors to cut the cheese as you spoon it out, though!

In my blog-goal news:  I am so very far behind I'm worried I may not catch up.  Only three months left in the year and I have three vacations planned before the end of November (short ones, mind you, but even being away for a week takes a toll on meeting the goal).  Out of 52 meals I should have cooked this year, I may only be at about 20 or so.  32 totally new meals have to be cooked in the next three months.  For me, this is a dizzying pace.  Those of you who are chortling as you read this, have a heart please. 

The recipe:
6 large red onions, peeled and thinly sliced.
Olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups of beef stock or chicken stock
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon of dry thyme
Salt and pepper
8 slices of toasted French bread
1 1/2 cups of grated Swiss Gruyere with a little grated Parmesan cheese

In a large saucepan, saut the onions in the olive oil on medium high heat until well browned, but not burned, about 30 minutes. Add the sugar about 10 minutes into the process to help with the carmelization.

Add garlic and saut for 1 minute. Add the stock, wine, bay leaf, and thyme. Cover partially and simmer until the flavors are well blended, about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Discard the bay leaf.

To serve you can either use individual oven-proof soup bowls or one large casserole dish. Ladle the soup into the bowls or casserole dish. Cover with the toast and sprink with cheese. Put into the broiler for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until the cheese bubbles and is slightly browned. Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6.

Rustic Apple Tart

Two new recipes in one week. Will I hit 52 new meals this year?  It will only be my third attempt, after all.

Last night I bought the ingredients for the below.  The Waldorf Salad (that I did not know I was making until later) was such a hit I decided to look for more apple and walnut recipes.  I found this one (link and recipe from the site, below).

Tonight, I made it.  I didn't root around looking for thyme, that may have made a little difference.  I also cheated and used refrigerated pie crust. 

Ingredients

1 Pâte Brisée (tart dough) for a 10-inch tart (see all butter crust recipe) or 1 packaged, flat pie crust
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese (or blue cheese)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 large granny smith apples (or other good cooking apples such as jonagold or fuji), peeled, cored, chopped
1 teaspoon of lemon juice (optional)

Method

Toss the walnuts, gorgonzola, thyme, chopped apples, and maple syrup together in a medium size bowl. As you are working with the apples (chopping them, mixing them in with the other ingredients), if you want, you can squeeze a little lemon juice on them to help keep them from discoloring. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap while you prepare the crust.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out pastry dough to 13-inches, at an 1/8 of an inch thickness. Place pastry dough on a rimmed baking sheet. (Rimmed because the pastry will leak butter during the cooking process.) Mound the filling in the middle of the rolled out dough, and spread out evenly to 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches from the edge of the dough. Pleat the edges of the dough over the filling.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until crust is nicely browned. If at any time it looks like the walnuts are getting a little burnt, you can lightly tent a piece of aluminum foil over the center.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/apple_walnut_gorgonzola_rustic_tart/

(NUMBER SEVEN in 2010)