Beef Stew in Tomato Sauce with Mashed Potatoes

I did this dish when Ondoy hit the Philippines. It was actually the day after I made the braised pork belly dish. This is actually a Filipino recipe that is inspired from the colonization of the Spaniards back in the 18th century. I thought of making this dish because I got some gorgeous thyme at that time and thought of making a stew for it. This pretty similar with the pinoy food they call kaldereta I think. :D

Here are the ingredients.



Look at the thyme, this is the first time I have seen something a thyme this vibrant and this size.



First, heat the pan and throw in some bacon.



When it's a little crisp now with all the fat rendered, sear in the beef! I used brisket in this case. Season it.



When everything is seared, add in carrots, bell peppers and some onions. Sweat those vegetables with the fat. The place should smell good by this time.



Add in some tomato paste.



Mix it and make sure the tomato paste caramelizes.



Add in mushrooms, I used canned in this case.



Add in some white wine.



Add some stock, in my case, I added some frozen stock.



Lastly, add in some thyme and let just simmer until tender, probably 3 hours :D



Now, let's go with the mashed potatoes. I wasn't able to get a lot of pictures with this because I just went automatic :D So I was just able to get a picture of it at the end. Technically, boil some potatoes, then throw them in a food processor, season it and add butter and cream. Pulse pulse pulse!



Serve everything



Opinion

Flavors were really flat. It was as if the flavors didn't merge at all. The whole dish fell apart. It was so bad that it was already the fourth day and it wasn't still finished! However, I have only tasted this dish once during that time when I made this, then, after the fourth day, I tasted it again, and you know what, it was actually better which made me realized that braised food is better to eat it 2-3 days after it was done. It is like marinating it :D anyhow, I will try doing something like this again in the future and will let it sit again for 2-3 days and taste it :D

As for the mashed potatoe, I think its more of a potato puree than a mashed potato. Flavor wise, it's good. It was rich and creamy. Texture, it was gummy.

Saturday Night at My Sister's Place

Another saturday night has made my sister summoned me to create some nice dishes at their house. Normally, I would bring all my stuff because I don't trust their pantry and their kitchen tools except cooking oil, stove and oven. I even brought my own pepper. Anyhow, I have this small cooler that has become my 'pantry on the go' carrier.



Anyhow, so let's start the fun! I told her that I was to make five dishes. Here are the list: French Fries, Steak, Salad, French Onion Soup, and Baked Chicken.

I could actually make individual post for those mentioned dishes but then again, it ruined the idea of reality for me *but hey, you are in the internet, there is its own reality right?* Anyhow, let's start with the fries.

The preparation for the fries is easy and you can do this a day in advance. Julienne them into uniform sizes and place them in a container and cover them with water. You need them to be uniform so that it cooks evenly when you deep fry them and you cover them in water so that it removes the excess starces that the potatoes have. If possible soak them overnight, which I did, or at least an hour.



I then cooked the french onion soup first since it can be heated easily later when service time comes. Slice some onions and butter a casserole. Place the onions there.



Caramelized the onions there. When it started caramelizing, add some leeks, and some balsamic vinegar. Don't forget to season them too.



Then, add some chicken stock and and bring it to a boil. Then simmer it. Covered. Then let it just stay there and turn it on again later when service time comes.

As the soup cooks, cut the vegetables for your salad, my vegetables consisted some iceberg lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes. Tomatoes were diced. I also candied some walnuts during that time. You just roast them with some sugar. When you are done with these, I made my dressing. I reduced some balsamic with a little bit of brown sugar. Lastly, I used a vegetable peeler to slice some parmesan. When those are done, put the sauce aside and place the vegetables inside the fridge. Use them later when service time arrives.

While reducing the dressing, I made the steak sauce. It is technically a red wine reduction with demi-glace *cheat, I used some Knorr professional demi-glace, when you have a time constraint, you need to cheat*. At this point, I was using 3 stoves right now, one is for the soup, and two were for the sauce an dressing. During this time, I only have 2hours to go before service time so I started making the main courses.

I started blanching the fries in oil. The key to making good fries is to cook them first at around 320F. Then, when you are about to serve them, deep fry at 375F. Restaurants do this all the time. They blanch in advance then refrigerate or set it aside then give it a final cooking.



Drain them then set aside. *didn't have paper towels at that time boo!*



First, I seared the chicken drumsticks with butter and olive oil. Then, halfway during the searing of the meat, I placed some rosemary and whole cloves of garlic. I let them baked for 45 mins in the oven with some chicken stock.

While the chicken was cooking in the oven, I started pan roasting some steaks because it was 45 mins before service time. Sear, baste. *nice sear >:)*



It took me around 15-20 mins to do that. So I have 30 minutes to go, prepared the french onion soup and started heating up a pan for the fries at 375F.



I used L'artizan's baguette and some gruyere. Finished those in the oven.

This was a pretty intense cooking for me. While four stoves were running and the oven heating, I was still cutting more vegetables because I was told that there will be two additional guests arriving *relatives/neighbors*. Lolz, pretty pressured that time but I was also able to pull it off.

Then service time came. Everything was good and the execution of food were expected. I was actually 30mins late in terms of serving them, not yet trained in terms of time execution of cooking, oh well, I learned.

Bad presentation for the salad and dressing was overly reduced. Loved the walnuts though.



Loved the cooking of the steak. The only problem was, poor quality steaks, there were USDA choice grade rib eyes, the catch? they were already frozen for a year! lolz, but still, it was pretty well cooked I think. Sauce was great *thanks cheat demi*.



People liked the fries. Texture was good and seasoning was just right. Although I think it absorbed too much oil for my taste. Anyhow, as long as they are happy, that is good.

Chicken was pretty moist and it had a lot of flavor. Simple clean elegant dish.



Lastly, the soup was so-so. I think my stock that time was weak. It could have been better. Luckily, one of the extra people liked it *actually, he likes onions* so he finished all of the soup lolz!

The presentation was not really pleasant since I was really press for time :(



Whew! that was like a level-up for cooking execution for me. I felt like having a professional cooking simulation, pressure and heat. It was fun actually and I like the feeling to be able to pull off something like that.



We were happy eating :D

Braised Pork Belly

When the weather is cold, people would normally make a heart-warming comforting soup to satisfy their day. I, on the other hand, would make something that is braised for that matter.

A few weeks ago, we all know the typhoon came and the weather was really cold. Because of that, I made a braised pork belly dish. It is easy, so often than not, you just throw everything into the pot and let it cook low and slow.

Here are the prepared ingredients.



First of all, pat dry the pork bellies then add some olive oil inside the pot. Season them. Sear them well. You would want to make a good crust out of that sear and good flavor.



Remove the pork bellies from the pot then add in the vegetables. These are carrots, potatoes, and shallots. Sweat them. Sweating is like sauteing. You want to likely cook the vegetables to release some of their flavors.



After sweating the vegetables, deglaze the pan with some red wine.



Return the pork bellies and vegetables. First place the pork bellies at the bottom of the pot, then put the vegetables on top of it. When that is done, add some herbs *in my case, thyme* some stock and some red wine vinegar.



Bring the whole pot to a boil, then cover it and simmer it. Simmer until cook. Braised dishes are better the next day so that the flavors get to infuse with the pork.



Opinion

It has a sharp taste. I have probably added too much red wine vinegar. However, it had a good balance of flavors with the vegetables. The only thing I didn't like about the dish was that the potatoes sucked. Texture was too starchy. I think I should have roasted it instead of adding it to the braise or I shouldn't had sweat it and should have seared it instead. But all in all, it was a good cold weather dish for me.

Tomato and Onion Omelet

As I woke up this morning, I went into the fridge to check for something to eat. I saw a huge tomato in the fridge and thought of doing something about it. Since it is still early in the morning, I thought of making an omelet with that tomato.



I used a peso coin for the comparison of its size.



I cut the tomato on my favorite anti-bacterial chopping board.

After cutting the tomato, I made some cubed onions and chopped some dill *since dill is the only fresh herb available at the moment*

When making an omelet, you would want to have that light texture of the egg, a little airy perhaps. You can only achieve this by cooking it right and giving it some air when preparing the egg. You whisk the egg until air foams form. Like this one.



You can see that air has already incorporated with the egg. This will give you a better texture with your omelet, not the stiff and rubbery type *although you can get this by overcooking your eggs too*.

Use butter instead of normal oil for a richer flavor. Also, when cooking, try to cook on low heat so that you don't overcook your eggs. Eggs overcook easily.

Anyhow, so this is the end product.



Opinion

Bad presentation *obviously*. Texture was great, fluffy omelet just the way I like it. Moreover, the onions gave a good bite to eat and surprisingly, the flavor of the onion wasn't that overpowering. The eggs probably balanced its taste. Lastly, the tomato was really gorgeous, it had a great texture and it was sweet. It also gave me a refreshing feel while eating it.