Curried Pork Shepherd’s Pie

Hey guys,

So once again I surprised myself with another great creation in the kitchen.  But first, how did you like my GF DF and Vegan Chocolate Cake?  I’ve got some leftover cake in the fridge and a couple of Vanilla pods, so I think I’m going to try to make a Vanilla sauce to go with it..will see how much time I have tonight as I have some work to complete for tomorrow’s school day. 

So as I was saying, tonight’s creation was inspired by my leftover pork shoulder from Sunday night’s dinner.  I wanted to make some Chilli with it, but realised that I had no canned tomatoes in my pantry.  Well then came about Plan B…. Shepherd’s Pie.  But not just any pie… see for yourself. 

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Directions

First I boiled 3 medium sized Russet potatoes.  Instead of using water to boil, I used the left over broth from the Braised Pork Shoulder.  But water works too. 

While the potatoes were boiling, I cut up the left over pork meat and a couple of carrots. 

I also made a gravy to go with the pork meat.  First I melted 2 Tbsp of Earth Balance butter in a medium saucepan.  Then I whisked in 1 Tbsp of Sorghum Flour to make a Roux.  Make sure you get all of the lumps out.  I cooked this for a couple of minutes, then slowly added 2 cups of my broth from Sunday’s pork roast.  Then I added the pork and carrots to the gravy mixture. 

I also added a spring of thyme, 2 cloves of fresh pressed garlic, some salt and pepper to taste, a pinch of grated nutmeg, a dash of worstershire sauce, 1 Tbsp of Fish sauce and 1 Tbsp of Yellow Thai curry paste.  I set the meat mixture aside and prepared the mashed potatoes.

To make the mashed potatoes, I peeled them and then added 2 Tbsp of Earth Balance, a splash of milk, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.  Then I mashed the potatoes until they were nice and creamy.

Turn on your oven to 350F.  To assemble the Shepherd’s Pie, I layered a casserole dish with the pork mixture, then added the mashed potatoes on top.  Finally I covered the potatoes with about a cup of grated Dill Havarti cheese.  In to the oven everything went for about 10 minutes, covered.  Then I removed the lid and turned on the broiler  until the cheese became golden and bubbly. 

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That’s it for tonight.  It’s going to be a crazy rest of the week… in a nutshell it includes…doctor’s appointment, Bank appointment for RRSP crunch time and it’s report card writing time.  Plus all day this Saturday is my Lifeguarding recertification course at the local pool…I’m very nervous about it as it’s been 4 years since I worked as a lifeguard.  What will be will be I guess !

Any big plans this week? 

Beaglebea

xoxo

Gluten-free, Dairy-free and Vegan Chocolate Cake

Ok guys…this cake is absolutely divine.  You will fall madly in love and you will feel like you are floating into another dimension.  If you are a chocolate lover, addict and want to cheat… I dare you to make this.  And it’s so simple to make too. 

INGREDIENTS

• 10 oz  Dairy-free 72% dark chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces.
• 7 oz  Earth Balance Butter, diced
• 5 large eggs (Flax substitute for Vegan version) – room temperature
• 1 cup  brown sugar (sucanat)
• 1/4 cup  cocoa powder, for dusting pan

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a 9-in spring form pan and dust with cocoa powder, tapping out any excess.  If your spring form pan isn't’ 100% water-tight, wrap the outside with aluminum foil, making sure it goes all the way up to the outer rim.

First I melted the chocolate and the butter over low heat in a medium saucepan.  Continue to stir until you get a smooth mixture. 

So this is what happens when I ask the boyfriend to help me in the kitchen.  Hehe…he had a little bit of fun taking pictures, wouldn’t you say?

While Trevor was melting the chocolate and butter for me, I prepared the egg and sugar mixture. Using an electric hand mixer, beat until nice and frothy.  Then when the chocolate was nice and smooth, I added it to the sugar/egg mixture.  Continue to beat until well mixed.

 

Make sure you also tap your pan a couple of times on the counter to remove possible air bubbles and to level out the batter.

Cover the top of the pan snugly with a sheet of foil and place into a larger baking dish, such as a roasting pan.  Then I added enough hot water to baking pan to come halfway up outside of the cake pan. 

I baked it for 75 minutes.  The cake is done when it feels just set, like chocolate pudding.  If you touch center gently with your finger, it should come away clean.  Lift cake pan from water bath and remove the foil.  Let the cake cool completely on a cooling rack before serving. 

Braised Pork Roast

This is a tasty, juicy and flavourful pot roast.  The trick to keeping it moist is by braising it in the broth mixture.  Keep in mind that you need to have a really large roasting pan to be able to hold all of the liquid.  You can use the reserved liquid to make a soup or freeze it for future use. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Lbs  Fresh Boneless Pork Shoulder Roast
• 1 Tbsp  olive oil
• 8 cups (2L)  apple juice
• 4 cups (1L)  white wine
• 8 cups (2L)  chicken stock
• 3 carrots, diced
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 head  celery, diced
• 1 cup  brown sugar
• 5 bay leaves
• pinch of salt
• 1 bunch fresh thyme

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 275F. 

Prepare the liquid and pour everything into your roasting pan.  Make sure you leave enough room so that it doesn’t overflow when you add the vegetables and the roast later.  I used fresh apple juice that I got this weekend from the wine shop.  They were pressing about 300L of apples this weekend and were selling fresh juice for 2$/L.  Sweet deal and perfect for the roast.  I ended up only using 1 bottle of the white wine.  We drank the rest

VERY IMPORTANT:  Reserve about 2 cups of the broth for deglazing the frying pan after browning your roast. 

In a large frying pan, add oil and heat over medium high heat.  Sauté the carrots, celery and onions until translucent.  Add to the broth mixture in roasting pan. 

Now comes the best part.  Take your pork shoulder and brown from all sides in a hot frying pan.  I used the same pan as with the vegetables.  Don’t forget to brown the outer edges too.

When nice and golden from all sides, deglaze the pan with the reserved broth.  Cook for about 1 minute, then add the brown sugar and continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes.  Then add this liquid mixture to the roast and broth in roasting pan. 

Now before putting the roasting pan into the oven, don’t forget to insert a cooking thermometer.  Since my roast was boneless, it was easy to shove into the middle of the roast.  Cover with lid and place in the oven.  You will then cook the roast until it reaches an internal temperature of 160F. 

The roast took about 3 hours to cook.  When done, remove it from the broth and slice on a cutting board.  The roast is done when the juices run clear upon cutting.  Serve immediately with some of the vegetables in broth. 

Herbed Potato Gratin

I usually make scalloped potatoes in the oven, but this one can be done on the stovetop, on low heat.  Then just finish it off under the broiler to get a nice golden topping. 

Ingredients:

• 1 kg  large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup  chicken stock
• 1/2 cup  dry white wine
• sprig fresh thyme, chopped
• sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• pinch of salt
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup  whipping cream
• 1/2 cup  Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup  Dill Havarti

To assemble:

Prepare your potatoes.  Peel and slice the taters thinly and layer evenly in a non-stick frying pan.  Make sure you spray your pan with some Pam first.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and nutmeg. 

Layer with half the amount of Havarti and parmesan cheese.

In a medium saucepan, heat chicken stock, white wine, garlic, thyme and rosemary to a gentle boil and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in the cream.

Pour evenly over the potatoes and cheese.  Place frying pan on low heat and cover with lid.  Cook for about 1 hour or until potatoes are tender.  Just before serving, sprinkle with remaining cheese and place under broiler for a few minutes until cheese brown and bubbling. 

Wine, Potatoes and Pork

Did everyone have a good weekend?  Mine was pretty good.  I finally made it to the wine store to bottle my batch of wine that’s been sitting since January.  I would have gone sooner but its been a busy few weeks.  Now I have 30 bottles of Chardonnay that are ready to be devoured. 

Trevor and I also watched a movie Saturday night. 

Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. It's a job that requires professional perfection and total detachment, and Bishop is the best in the business. But when his mentor and close friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop is anything but detached. His next assignment is self-imposed - he wants those responsible dead. His mission grows complicated when Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) approaches him with the same vengeful goal and a determination to learn Bishop's trade. Bishop has always acted alone but he can't turn his back on Harry's son. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves.

I thought it was a good movie.  Lots of action and the story line keeps you interested. 

On on to good eats…..

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Every so often I have a craving for a good pot roast.  So on the menu for Sunday night was pork shoulder, yummy scalloped potatoes and veggies for dinner. 

The pork was very juicy, tender and flavourful.  It was a 2 Kg hunk of meat… I have a ton of leftovers, so I’m thinking I’ll get creative with pork for tomorrow’s meal.  I also found a way to make scalloped potatoes on stovetop since my oven was in use for the roast. 

And wait until you get a load of dessert.  It’s the world’s easiest, richest, chocolaty Chocolate cake ever. I guarantee you’ll be on Cloud 9 (or the Chocolate Cloud…either way… it’s pure bliss )

And will you believe me when I tell you the cake is …..

GLUTEN-FREE + DAIRY-FREE + VEGAN

And I only used 4 ingredients…really…that’s it

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So this is what happens when Trevor helps me out in the kitchen…. some pictures I find on my camera when I’m uploading them… thanks babe

Although I have no idea where the Shepherd picture came from.  Can you figure out what the 5th picture is? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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So that’s it for now…I will post the recipes for the roast, potatoes and chocolate cake in the next few days.  I’m actually just heading out the door in the next few minutes for a social. 

But I’m really excited to see our extended forecast too… they are forecasting 5 days of sunshine. 

Anything new in your neck of the woods?  See any good movies as of late?

 

Take care

Bea

xoxo