Second Feast

There may or may not have been a small grease fire associated with this dinner preparation. I'll never tell. 

This weekend we made the Modern Beef and Bacon Pie with Modern Buttered Carrots, a mixed greens salad with green peppers and cherry tomatoes from our garden, and 17th-Century Baked Apples and ice cream (not pictured). Joe picked up some good English hard cider on his way home from school. It was really delicious and surprisingly easy to prepare. The pie came together quite quickly, leaving me plenty of time to prepare the sides while it baked. The carrots are wonderfully savory. I really dislike sweet carrot dishes, and this one is so good. The chives really make the dish. And Lily loved it to boot. Then we threw the apples in the oven to bake while we ate dinner which made the house smell heavenly. We served this with vanilla coconut milk ice cream. I could have eaten a lot more of it.

I just can't get over how much I love this cookbook, A Feast of Ice and Fire. I love the recipes, I love the presentation, I love the writing, it's all just great. I also love the simplicity of the techniques and ingredients. I know none of this is rocket science or particularly new, but I just love it. Joe and I are also fans of Cooks Illustrated which can be a little overwhelming, and after years of cooking "The Best (fill in the blank)" with whatever crazy techniques and ingredients they call for, the wholesome rustic-ness of these recipes is refreshing. And the writers always add a fun little twist to the modern versions to make them seem older and somehow fancier. Seriously, yesterday's entree featured a bacon lattice. A BACON LATTICE. And there are leftovers. Delicious, bacon covered leftovers. 

Modern Beef and Bacon Pie (from The North)

12 strips bacon

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, cut into small chunks (I had two smallish carrots, so I used them both)

1/2 medium potato, cubed (I had a small Yukon Gold, so I used the whole thing)

1.5 lbs chuck steak or stew meat, cut small (we had ground beef, so...)

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 cup beef broth (we had the Swanson concentrated broth cup things so I used one of those plus 1/2 cup water)

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Large pinch dried rosemary, or other savory herbs (I keep thinking we have rosemary when we don't, so I threw in some thyme and oregano instead)

1/2 bath Medieval Pastry dough, or enough dough for a single-crust 9-inch pie, unbaked (I just bought a pie crust)

Preheat the oven to 400*F.

Weave the bacon strips into a lattice, alternating each strip under and over the others. Make your lattice as wide as you can, reserving any extra strips of bacon. Place this woven bacon and any extra strips on a baking sheet with high edges to catch the bacon grease. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the bacon is crispy. Set aside to cool, but leave the oven on to bake the pie. 

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and potato, and cook gently until the onion is soft and golden. Toss the beef with flour until each piece is covered. Add the beef to the vegetables and stir over low heat for 5 minutes, or until brown. Stir in any extra flour and cook for 1 minute longer. (Note: because we used ground beef I did not toss it with flour before adding it to the pot. Instead I browned the meat with the vegetables and added a tablespoon of flour at the end and cooked it for a minute before proceeding. If I were to do this again, I would cook the meat completely separately from the vegetables and drain it before adding it to the plan, then the flour, etc.)

Add the broth, salt, pepper, and rosemary; mix well, and simmer for 10 minutes, until a gravy has formed. Let the meat mixture cool. 

Place your empty pie pan facedown on top of your lattice-work bacon. Using a sharp knife, cut around the pie pan until you have a circle of lattice. Crumbel the leftover cooked bacon and add it to the filling.

Roll out the pastry dough and line your pie pan, allowing any extra dough to drape over the edge of the pan. Pour the filling mixture into the shell. Cover with the bacon lattice pinching off any excess, then fold the extra dough over the top of the bacon. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden. 

Modern Buttered Carrots (from King's Landing) 

3 tbsp unsalted butter

2 lbs carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/4-inch slices

Kosher salt

Ground black pepper

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives or scallions

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the carrots and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, covered, until steam begins to escape from under the lid, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook, covered and stirring occassionally, until the carrots are just tender, 15 to 20 minutes. 

Remove the lid, add 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook, stirring occassionally, until the liquid is evaporated and the butter begins to brown, about 5 more minutes. Sprinkle with chives and season with more salt and pepper if needed. Serve.

17th-Century Baked Apples (from The North)

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

4 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 firm, tart red apples (we used Honeycrisp because that's what we had. They tasted great but sort of fell apart)

Preheat the oven to 350*F.

Mix together the cinnamon, sugar, and butter.

Slice the apples in half vertically through the core. Cut out the core and seeds (a melon baller or grapefruit spoon works well for this), then price the inside of the apple all over with a sharp knife. Place the apples cut side up in a baking dish and pour in enough water to just cover the bottom of the dish. Divide the cinnamon filling among the apple halves, spreading it to coat the cut surface. 

Cover and bake for 1 hour. Provide a fork and knife for your guests to eat the apples with, and enjoy!