Recipes: St Paddy's Day Corned Beef & Mini Shepherd's Pie

Saint Patrick's Day falls on a Saturday once every 7 years or so and when that happens, the bars are always overly packed and the streets lined with cops. This year, we decided to celebrate at home instead. I much prefer cocktail parties to sit-down dinners (it's less work) so we decided to throw a party centered around green Irish food and drinks.

We kicked off the day of green festivities with green wine!!!

Not Irish fare but my sister makes a killer garlic soy sauce chicken wings. The wings are gigantic so you know she must have gotten it from an Asian market.

Shepherd's Pie is a classic Irish dish, something that I always have to order if I see it on a bar menu. I was excited to make it for the party but wanted to make it in an appetizer portion so that it would be easy for my guests to devour.

When I cook, I always try to make food as healthy as I can without sacrificing flavor. For the mini shepherd's pie, I used lean ground beef and substituted mashed potatoes with cauliflower mashed potatoes. The mash utilized a whole head of cauliflower and just one potato. It tasted just like mash potatoes but if you focused real hard on the flavor, you could taste a tinge of cauliflower. The consistency was also semi-creamy and consistent with regular mashed potatoes. None of the guests at my party even noticed that there was cauliflower in the mixture.

I adapted the recipe from the Food Network website. The recipe called for the meat to be layered over the mashed potatoes but I thought it would look more classic if the mashed potatoes were piped over the meat. These cute mini shepherd's pie were so delicious, a good party dish and easy to make.

Another Irish dish I prepared was corned beef and cabbage. If you have a slow cooker, this is about one of the easiest dishes to make but your guests will think you have been slaving in the kitchen. Thankfully, Vicente Foods in Brentwood was well stocked with corned beef that was packaged with the pickling spices.


Mini Shepherd's Pie Recipe
Makes 12 pies
Adapted from Food Network recipe

Cooking spray
1 can biscuits
(12) (recommended: Grands)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground Lean beef
1/2 onion, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup reduced sodium beef stock
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Cauliflower mashed potatoes*
1 tablespoon granulated garlic powder
2 tablespoons granulated onion powder
2 cups shredded Cheddar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a 12-count muffin pan with cooking spray. Mold biscuits to the shape of each muffin cup. Par-bake biscuits for 6 to 8 minutes until light golden. Remove from oven and set aside. The muffins kind of puffed up a bit so I used a spoon to compress them against the muffin mould. You want to ensure that they look like cups and are able to hold the meat mixture.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef and brown. Stir in the onions, salt, pepper and garlic and allow to cook together for a couple of minutes. Mix flour into the meat mixture and stir until a paste consistency is reached. Add beef stock to pan and stir in vegetables and herbs, the last few minutes, until combined.

Spoon the meat mixture into the baked biscuit. Then put cauliflower mashed potatoes in a piping bag and pipe on top of the meat. Top with cheddar cheese.

Return to oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is melted and browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before popping individual pies out with a knife

*Cauliflower mashed potatoes
Recipe from Good Housekeeping

1 large (about 8 ounces) Yukon gold potato, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
1 head (about 2 1/4 pounds) cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
2 cup water
2 teaspoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed with press
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh lemon peel
Salt and ground black pepper

Place potato and cauliflower in 4-quart saucepan. Add water; cover and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, about 20 minutes or until potato and cauliflower are fork-tender, stirring once halfway through cooking. Drain vegetables, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid.

In same saucepan, heat oil and garlic over medium-low heat about 1 minute or until garlic is just golden, stirring. Reduce heat to low; return vegetables to saucepan. With potato masher or slotted spoon, coarsely mash vegetables, adding some reserved cooking liquid if mixture seems dry. Stir in parsley, lemon peel, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.


Corned Beef Recipe

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 3 inch pieces
10 baby red potatoes, quartered
1 onion, peeled and cut into small chunks
4 cups water
1 (4 pound) corned beef brisket with pickling spice packet
Bottle of stout (I used Guinness)
1 head cabbage, cut into small wedges

Place the carrots, potatoes, and onion into the bottom of a slow cooker and place the brisket on top of the vegetables. Pour the water and beer over the brisket, ensuring that the meat is covered with liquids. Sprinkle on the spices from the packet, cover, and set the cooker on High.

Cook the brisket for about 8 hours. An hour before serving, add the cabbage and cook for 1 more hour.

Slice meat against the grain and serve.

Christmas Eve feast in Paris

I was pretty stoked to be spending Christmas in Paris. Besides going up to San Francisco a handful of times, I have never spent Christmas outside of Los Angeles since I was three. So I have never suffered the brutal erratic winter weather of the Midwest or East Coast, have never had to pay for overpriced airline tickets and never had to stress out about holiday flying. But for Paris, I'd be willing to make a concession.

My sister's mother-in-law MTR was having us over for Christmas Eve dinner and I was curious to see how the Parisians celebrate the holidays. Surprisingly, very similar to the Americans. Christmas trees lined with presents, laughter, chatter, alcohol and food galore. The only thing missing was The Christmas Story playing on TBS in the background.

Like at any fancy French restaurant, MTR's Christmas Eve feast operates like a tasting menu. You'll start with a little bite sort of like an amuse bouche, Champagne and shellfish, pate and bread, then on to a seafood main course, the meat, a cheese plate and finally dessert. There were about 11 of us but being the renaissance woman that MTR is, she managed the whole night effortlessly from shucking oysters, carving lamb to making quiches and accomplishing this all in 4 inch heels.

The mini quiches were simple to make and your guests will appreciate that it's homemade, instead of that frozen platter from Costco. By the way, love the frozen version but there's a time and a place for that (and it's called a potluck).

Brown the lardons or bacon.

Place a couple pieces of lardon in each pastry cup and top with cream and shredded cheese.

Pop into the oven and voila! Tiny poppers of lardon and cheese.

Champagne of course; we always go for the pink champagne.

Fresh baguette is a staple in every French home.

Bulot steamed and seasoned with pepper

This is my dad's favorite which MTR prepares whenever we are over. I'm not exactly sure what kind of shellfish this is (it's hard to do any sort of research online with webpages in French and trying to navigate with a French keyboard) but it's a cross between an escargot and a cockle. The bulot was plump and a bit chewy (but not in a bad way). Definitely not for the faint of heart because you have to extract these little suckers with a toothpick.

Fresh oysters from Normandy.

MTR expertly shucking oysters. It really takes a real woMAN to shuck oysters as I saw my dad run away in fear of being asked to take on the task.

Fresh oysters, all you need is a little drizzle of lemon juice.

Smoked salmon

Wine from Bourgogne, one of my favorite regions for reds. Smooth like a Pinot Noir, very drinkable and went well with the subsequent meat courses.

A loaf of foie gras that was cut into slices. Very rich but went well with slices of toast.

After a string of starters, the main courses were served. Half at the table were pescetarians so there was a good mix of veggies and seafood with the meat.

Beet and avocado. Can't really comment on this because I didn't try it. How could I, when I was distracted by all that meat, potatoes and alcohol at the table? The vegetarians seemed to like it though.

A pile of haricot vert and roasted potatoes. Normally I veer from veggies but these were cooked in butter. Mmmm....

Big hunk of lamb simply seasoned with salt pepper and butter.

Simply served with a side of lamb jus.

White fish/bar baked with tomatoes and onions. Once again, not exactly sure if there is an American version of this fish but it's rather popular in France. Seabass perhaps?

Alas, the cheese course.

Clockwise from top right: Mont D'or (popular for Christmas), Camembert, goat cheese and Reblochon. The Mont D'or and Reblochon were on the milder and slightly sweeter side. The Camembert and goat cheese however were their stinky self so I avoided.

Salad was also served with the cheese course; a simple lettuce salad with shallot and balsamic vinaigrette. Interesting how salads were served with the cheese instead of as a starter.

Finally, we ended with a selection of ice cream from famous luxury ice cream store Berthillon, located on the Ile Saint-Louie.

Christmas cake with vanilla, framboise and chocolate ice cream. You had to ensure that you got all the layers in the same bite as the framboise by itself could be a bit sweet.

Casis and chestnut ice cream. Looked a kindda scary red dome but it was delicious. The chestnut ice cream in the center of the dome seemed to be spiked with liqueur. That would win my family over for sure.

I could get used to the Parisians' celebration of Christmas. A nicely thought out progression of courses that were rich, decadent and fit for special occasions. After it was all done, I felt stuffed, satisfied and a bit guilty, just like after Thanksgiving. Who needs to pay $150 for an amazing French tasting course (sorry Sona and Ortolan) when you have a MTR.

A feast of Singapore dinner party

My friend LB and I decided to recreate the recipes that we had learnt a few months ago from a Singaporean cooking class held by Chef Mohan Ismail at Rocksugar Restaurant. Since this was a formal sit down dinner, we had to keep the dinner small at six persons. In addition to the couple recipes from the class, we added additional dishes to the mix (a starch and a veggie; recipes from rasamalaysia.com).

The key to a successful weeknight dinner party is to prep as much as you can the night before. LB's brilliant suggestion of doing a trial run the week before was a lifesaver. At our trial run, we realized that many of the items had to be prepped before hand if we were planning to serve guests any food before 11pm.

Sambal was the base for all the dishes we would be preparing. It's a chili condiment that is quite time consuming to make so a large batch was prepared the night before.

A copious amount of shallots & garlic, red jalapeno, rice wine vinegar and oil was blended, then simmered in a saucepan for a good 30 minutes.

The result is an oily, thick, semi-chunky, aromatic sauce that is versatile and can be used with cooking almost anything from rice to fish to chicken.

Bubbly for the first arrivals. Guests also brought wine; apparently Rieslings go well with spicy food so we had a couple bottles on hand.

Appetizer: Sambal Shrimp

Shrimp was sauteed with sambal, kaffir lime leaves and salt. This was literally done in a couple minutes. I loved the lime leaves because they gave off a fresh, spicy fragrance.

Take out the leaves prior to serving. This is when you wished you had some rice to sop up the chili sauce.

Side Dish: Sambal Eggplant

Sambal was sauteed with dried shrimp, sugar and fish sauce.

Eggplant was added and sauteed until soft.

This was a favorite of the night because the eggplant was delicious and absorbed all the sambal and shrimp flavors. I used two large Chinese eggplants which whittled down to a relatively small bowl. Next time, I'd increase the quantity since this was gone in a couple minutes.

Main Course: Sea bass wrapped in banana leaf

The sea bass was marinated in guess what? Yep, sambal. Boy, you're smart. Kecap Mani (or Indonesian sweet soy sauce) was added to the sambal which added a nice sweetness. The fish was then wrapped in banana leaf and secured with a string of banana leaf, then popped into a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. The result was a buttery, tender and perfectly cooked piece of fish. The banana leaf really acted as a good insulator that kept the fish moist and simmering in the marinade. Furthermore, the leaf added a scent and was a lovely presentation for the dish.

We also prepared pickled cucumber that was served on the side. The cucumbers slices were marinated overnight in rice vinegar and sugar. The tartness from the vinegar went well with the spice from the other dishes. In fact, it acted as a palate cleanser.

Side dish: Singapore Fried Rice Noodles. Americans know this as Singaporean noodles however I don't think I've actually seen it in Singapore. It's like saying Chinese chicken salad hails from China.

Vegetables are sauteed with sambal, curry powder, chicken broth, soy sauce and sugar. You can include just about anything you wish: mushrooms, peppers, celery, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, wood ear fungus etc.

Vermicelli noodles and protein are added to the mix. We used char siew (Chinese BBQ pork) as our protein but you could also throw in tofu or shrimp.

One recipe could feed an army, or six hungry friends.

For dessert, I decided to wimp out. I did try a Singapore recipe over the weekend but it failed so I opted for an assortment of cake slices from Red Ribbon Bakery, an Asian bakery with outlets mostly in California and the Philippines. Pandan cakes were something that I ate in Singapore so I figured it'd go with the theme.

Slices of Pandan and Taro cake. Pandan (the green colored slice) is from the screwpine palm and has a coconut/nutty taste. Taro is a root vegetable that is commonly used in the Hawaiian dish poi. Be careful if preparing taro at home. It has to be cooked properly else it can cause a throat reaction (remember when Padma made that gargling throat noise after tasting uncooked taro leaves in the Season 2 finale?). Both cakes were delicious. The colors were gorgeous, the flavors were light and the cakes smelt fragrant.

Of course when you have a group of b-school grads and bottles of wine/bubbly, the night will naturally end with a heated discussion about the economy and real estate prices. That's when you clear the plates, start the dishwasher, create a ruckus in the kitchen and hide all the booze.

The night was a success, if I should say so myself. Our timing was spot on and the food was delicious. Planning a sit down dinner party on a work night may seem overwhelming. However I have a couple tips for you:

1) Keep it intimate; this isn't a keg party.
2) Use simple recipes; this isn't the time to test out that beef wellington recipe.
3) You'll need a good friend to assist. It's more fun anyway.

4) If you have the time, do a trial run. I'm glad I tried out the initial dessert recipe and decided to scrap it. I think my guests would not have appreciated semi-hard tapioca pearls, mushy yams, starchy cassava in fatty coconut cream.

5) Do as much prep work the night before. The sambal itself took over an hour because of the enormous amounts of shallots and garlic required for all four dishes.

6) Don't be TOO ambitious. Understand that it's a weeknight and hence there are limitations if you are a working professional. So don't feel bad if you're not baking that cake from scratch.

7) Enjoy the night with loved ones!


Recipes

Sambal Eggplant Recipe
Adapted from http://rasamalaysia.com/sambal-eggplant-aubergine-brinjal/

Ingredients:
12 oz. eggplant
3 tablespoons dried shrimps (soaked in warm water and then rinsed)
4 tablespoons sambal
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce or to taste
2 tablespoons oil

Rinse the eggplant with water and cut into halves. Soak them in salt water to prevent turning brown color.

Heat up the wok with oil. Add dried shrimps and sambal (recipe below) and stir-fry until aromatic, then follow by the eggplant. (Transfer the eggplant out of the water before adding to the wok). Continue to stir-fry until eggplant become soft but not overly soft. Add fish sauce and sugar to taste, dish out and serve hot.


Singapore Fried Rice Noodles Recipe
From http://rasamalaysia.com/singapore-fried-rice-noodles-recipe/
Adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine, Nov 2005, pages 64-65

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
8 dried or fresh shiitake mushrooms
12 ounces of fine dry rice vermicelli
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and sliced thin
1 cup bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
1 pound char siew (Chinese barbecued pork), cut into matchsticks
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons oyster sauce

For sauce:
3 tablespoons Madras (hot) curry powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 cup chicken broth
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons hot chili paste or Sambal
2 tablespoons vegetable oil


If using dried shiitake mushrooms, soak them in hot water for half an hour. Drain and cut off the stems. Slice the mushrooms thinly. Put the rice vermicelli in a large bowl and soak in enough hot water to cover, until the noodles are soft (about 8 to 10 minutes). Drain noodles and set aside.

Start by heating up 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the curry powder, the ginger, and the minced garlic, and sauté until fragrant. Add the chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar, and chili paste. Stir to combine and then cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large wok over high heat. Add in the remaining garlic and ginger, and stir-fry until the garlic starts to become golden. Add in the celery, onion, pepper, sprouts, and mushrooms. Stir-fry for 3 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften. Set the vegetables aside in a bowl.

Add in the noodles, char siew and the vegetables. Pour on the sauce and also add the oyster sauce. Mix the ingredients thoroughly to coat all the noodles and incorporate all the vegetables.

Happy Turkey Day

Thanksgiving home cooking has slowly been deteriorating in my family. We gave up making our own turkey years ago. And until recently, we would still make our own sides. This year however, almost everything came from Ralph's, except for the pumpkin pie that I baked. Based on our ongoing trend, I'm sure next year Ralph's too shall provide our thanksgiving dessert. I did like the idea of making our own sides but after my massive stuffing failure a few years prior (dry, overcooked, salty), I was demoralized. At least if we complained about store purchased sides, no ones feelings would get hurt. So this year, we're giving thanks for the convenience of grocery stores.

The main star of the night: turkey

I know I'm generalizing but typically Asians love dark meat and Caucasians prefer white. Think it has something to do with the texture or grizzle. So you would think that it'd work out perfectly in a multi-racial household right? Not in our case unfortunately. Everyone was grabbing for the dark meat.

The rejected white meat

Thankfully, no one cared for the bones so they went to my sister and I. Cleaning out the bones, getting every piece of meat and connective tissue off the bone is the fun part but you'll need patience for that.

Candied yams

Stuffing, much better than the last one I made

Mashed potatoes, this was gone in seconds.

I totally recommend the pre-cooked turkey dinner if you don't have someone in the family that is dying to cook the feast. It saved us a lot of time, really took the pressure away from Thanksgiving day, allowed us to spend more time in the living room catching up and drinking Champagne instead of in the kitchen, and ultimately the meal turned out well. Yes, I know it's not that traditional but I'll take good food over ritual.