Duxelles

Duxelles is a mixture of finely chopped mushrooms, shallots, onions and herbs that are sauted in butter. It can be used in Soups, Sauces, for Stuffing or a side Garnish. I will be making a dish with this later and posting it, but right now lets make some Duxelles.

Ingrediants Include:
1 1/2 T of butter
1 Cup of finely chopped mushrooms (I use Cremini, just wiped off with a paper towel)
1 1/2 T of finely chopped onions
3/4 T of finely chopped shallot
1/4 t of diced Rosemary
1/4 t of Thyme
1/4 t of Parsley
pinch of salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan on Medium heat, add the shallots and onions and saute a couple minutes. Add the mushrooms and herbs, salt and pepper and continue to saute until the moisture is cooked off. You can store this in the freezer if you are not going to use it that day.

Steak au Poivre (Peppered Steak)

This dish was one of the first dishes I made, and has been the dish I've made most often so far. Very simple dish really, I suggest that you try this.



Ingredients Include:
Sirloin Steak (about 8oz)
3 T. Black Peppercorns (very coarse)
Salt
1/2 T. Butter
1/2 T. Olive Oil
1 Med Clove Garlic Minced
2 T. Brandy
1/3 to 1/2 C. Heavy Cream

Start by taking the crushed peppercorns and pressing them into the steak, give it a nice coating of pepper on both sides, dash it with some salt as well. Heat the olive oil and butter in a skillet pan (cast iron would be great for this, however I only have stainless steel, but use something oven proof), get it nice and hot and then place the steak into the pan. You want to sear the steak, creating a nice crust about 5-6 minutes on one side, flip it over and place in a 350 degree oven to finish off. Depending on how you like your steak prepared (personally I like it a little on the rare side, so i skip the oven and just cook another 5 minutes in the skillet), and depending on the thickeness of the sirloin, will determine how long to cook it in the oven. Roughly 8 min. will get you to a Med-Rare state, again depending on thickness.

When the steak is done, remove from oven and set the steak off to the side to rest, return the pan to stove over medium heat, pour in the brandy to deglaze the pan, add the garlic and heavy cream, reduce by 1/3. Stir in an juices from the steak and pour the sauce on the bottom of a plate, place the steak on top of the sauce and serve.

Storing Fresh Herbs

At left is some Rosemary.

There are several ways to store fresh herbs that I have read, whether it is just picked or purchased from a super market. I am going to share with you my method for storing, one that seems to work just fine for me. Keep in mind I do this for hand picked herbs out of the garden, or the packaged herbs at the store.

I like to keep mine in a plastic freezer type bag, in the fridge with an ever slightly moisten paper towel, wrapped lightly around the herbs. I don't wash them prior to storage, but wash them prior to usage, excess moisture can start decaying or spoiling the herbs faster. I try not to keep them in the coldest part of the refrigerator either, but like in the vegetable crisper or a shelf just above the crisper, but not in the back where it tends to be cooler. Keep each herb separate and the freezer bags marked clearly. They should last about a week and a half maybe 2 if you keep a check on them. Well that is it for this post, hope you find this helpful.

Typical "Keep on Hand" items

In beginning this study, I now like to keep several food items on hand, in the Pantry or Refridgerator. Some of these items you may already keep stocked up, but some might be new to you. As I mentioned in my first post "Bouquet Garni", there are now some Herbs that I like to keep handy, such as Fresh Thyme, Fresh Parsley, Fresh Rosemary, and Bay leaves. During the summer I actually grow some of these in a Herb Garden at home, but they are also found in the supermarket in little packages of fresh herbs. In another post, i will talk about how I actually store these herbs.

Along with regular Yellow or White and Red onions, as well as Green Onions, I like to keep Pearl Onions handy. These work great for some Dishes such as Coq Au Vin. They are very tastely little round onions that have a nice flavor, and cook up really nice. Kind of in this catagory, I also keep Shallots around, they look like a large clove of garlic, but with a little milder onion flavor.

And now just a list of other items I like to stock up on, for both savory dishes and desserts.

Mushrooms (little button, or Baby Bellas (Cremini's))
Heavy Cream
Whipping Cream
Butter (this is the obvious one, unsalted, not Margarine)
Chocolate (I like 4oz little baking bars of Bittersweet chocolate)
Nutmeg (fresh is perfered but ground is just fine)
Carrots
Celery
Garlic
Black and Green Pepper corns
Olive Oil
Red and White wines
Brandy

Well, I know I could go on and on, but then I would get into items that I am sure everyone has, so I will stop here for now. I just wanted to share with you some important ingrediants that I find I use now in French Cooking. I'm sure there are some others that I have not come across yet, but when I do, I will list them here for you to review.

My First Post : Bouquet Garni

Bouquet Garni is a flavoring technique using herbs, to flavor Soups, Stews, Sauces, etc. It consists of 3 sprigs of Parsley, 1 sprig of Thyme, 1 Bay leaf (all washed and cleaned respectfully), tied together and put into the dish while cooking. I have heard of using a piece of string to tie these herbs together, but personally I like to use an extra Thyme or Parsley stem stipped of the leaves to tie all these together.