Tasty Morsels 

Pork Chops with Rhubarb-Cherry Sauce

Rosemary-Garlic Salmon with Sweet Potato

Smoked Salmon, Bacon & Poached Egg Sandwich

(?) Spanish Prawns with Spicy Lentils

petitepirate Weekly Menu

½ pound bacon, diced
3 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups of a hearty red wine (burgundy if you have it)
3 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon rosemary (fresh or dried is fine)
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 bag of frozen white pearl onions
8 ounces fresh mushrooms (any kind you like, but wild is nicest)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon red currant jelly

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a Dutch oven or ovenproof casserole, sauté the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings. Brown the beef in the bacon fat in batches so as not to overcrowd the beef. When all are brown, return the beef to the pot and add the onion. Sprinkle the beef and onion mixture with salt, pepper and the flour. Stir to combine well and cook, continuing to stir for 3 minutes (the idea here is to make sure that the flour has cooked enough to lose its “flour” taste—it should brown a bit with the onions and the beef). Add the wine, the beef stock, the tomato paste, the rosemary and the reserved bacon. Stir to deglaze the pot and bring the mixture to the boil. Cover and place in the oven to cook for hours or until the meat is very tender.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Drain the pearl onions in a colander (they can be thawing while they’re draining). Bring water to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the cut carrots and parboil for about 7 minutes until crisp tender. Add them to the colander with the onions and drain. Wipe the mushrooms clean, remove their stems and cut the caps into quarters. In a small sauté pan, melt the butter and then sauté the mushrooms until they have released all of their juices and are slightly browned. Set aside.
When the meat has cooked for 1 ½ hours, add the onion, carrots, mushrooms and jelly to the pot. Return to the oven and continue to cook for another 30 to 40 minutes to heat the vegetables through. Serve immediately or cool and store in the refrigerator. This stew improves with age.

Adapted from: Sauce and Sensibility

I’ve neither cooked or ate beef bourguignon before. But I do love me some stew. Read more…

petitepirate All, Dinners, Slow Cooking

1 lb ground beef, browned with basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and onion powder.
4 lasagna noodles, boiled until tender (run under cold water to stop the cooking process and make them easier to handle)
tomato sauce
Mix:
8oz cottage cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella
1TB dry parsley flakes

For once I didn’t bother to use a measuring cup, but those measurements are according to her original lasagna recipe. Like the other recipe, lay the noodles flat, layer with cheese mixture, then meat mixture, then top with your favorite tomato sauce. Roll them up – and they will be incredibly messy – stick ‘em in any snug pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy!

Adapted from: Something Shiny and my Mom

I love lasagna. And my mom’s homemade ravioli. And her paprikos. This is a version of her lasagna. Read more…

petitepirate All, Dinners, Favorites

Lasagna Rolls à la Mom

Pork Chops with Rhubarb-Cherry Sauce & Salad

Beef Bourguignon with Potatoes

petitepirate Weekly Menu

(For two slices)
2 slices of bread (I like wheat bread, but I bet something really thick would be great)
2 eggs
Butter, butter, & more butter
Salt (I used garlic salt)
Pepper

If you have a toaster you can go ahead and toast that way, but, of course, I do not own a toaster (yet). Plus, if you toast your bread in the skillet, you can make this dish super buttery. More butter, right?

Toast your bread in the skillet by melting butter until it gets a little frothy and then place the bread in. Cook on med-high for a while until you get your desired toasty-ness. Flip and repeat.

After you’ve toasted your bread use a wine glass to stamp out circles in the middle of the toast. You can use anything, really, but I think wine glasses make a good size hole.

Add more butter to the still-hot skillet! Stick the toast back on and crack an egg in the middle of each one. I like to keep the heat high when I first do that so that the whites don’t leak out of the toast, and then turn down the heat to a good over-easy-egg-cooking heat.

Add your salt and pepper, to liking, to the uncooked side and flip it when it’s firm enough to not break the yolk. You can add more salt and pepper to the other side but I don’t normally. Cook a little longer, and voila! Egg in some toast!

I found out how to make this a long time ago and it’s one of my favorite things to make for breakfast. Whoever decided to combine the eggs and toast is mad genius. Read more…

petitepirate All, Dinners

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
1 -2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried basil

Combine first 5 ingredients for the spicy sauce in a small bowl; cover and set aside.

Combine beaten egg with milk in shallow bowl; set aside.

Combine flour, panko, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and basil in another shallow bowl; set aside.

Bread the shrimp by first coating each with the breading mixture. Dip breaded shrimp into the egg and milk mixture, and then back into the breading. Arrange the coated shrimp on a plate and pop them into the fridge for at least 20 minutes. This step will help the breading to stick on the shrimp when they are frying.

Heat oil in deep fryer to 350 degrees F. Use amount of oil required by your fryer.

When oil is hot, fry shrimp 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on rack or paper towels.

Adapted from: Chef Mommy

Oh man. I love breaded, fried shrimp. Like really love. It makes me remember ordering popcorn shrimp as a kid. Read more…

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