Leftovers and Catch Up

Apologies for my regular readers...summer's a harder time for me to keep my nose to the grindstone and update the blog on a regular basis. I'm still cooking, just not taking photos as often, or pontificating about food as much.

Regardless, I made a few good meals this past week. The first...

Beef Pot Pie, using up more of the leftover grilled brisket.

To start, I sauted some onions and rosemary in butter. I hope heaven smells like this! ...well, as least once a week! So fragrant and beautiful. The resinous aroma of rosemary is so calming and relaxing for me.

After the onions are soft, I add some flour to the butter to make a roux. Let the roux cook for a few minutes until it starts to smell toasty and nutty and the color darkens slightly. Stir constantly. I then added a few glugs of beer and some beef broth and chicken broth. When using canned beef broth, it's usually a good idea to cut it with some chicken broth. The canned beef broth is fine, but on it's own can taste metallic overly fake. The diluted version tastes a touch more natural. The sauce will be thick and velvety. Add some boiled potatoes and carrots. Stir in the chopped up brisket. Simmer for a few minutes over low heat.

Pour the mixture into individual baking dishes. I had two medium sized ramekins. Cover with pie dough or puff pastry. I had frozen, store bought dough. I carefully cut out rounds and laid them over the pie filling. Poke a few holes in to let the steam out. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

Handle the dish gently and serve hot. Delicious! This was very satisfy and super filling. Not a summer dish, but when you're using up leftovers, that's OK!


Delicious meal #2 was a special request. The Kara was visiting for the weekend and asked for the Chopped Mexican Salad with Jicama. This is an amazing salad. Usually it's a composed salad with the ingredients laid out and you scoop what you like. We were being more causual, so I chopped and mixed.

Here we have grill roasted corn and green bell peppers. There are some yellow cherry tomatoes from the market...as was the corn and bell pepper. I had one leftover red tomato from the store. There is also a small amount of jicama. I was sad. I bought a GIANT jicama at the store...it was the only one not soft and squishy...when I cut it open, rotten...I was only able to harvest about 1/2 a cup of good jicama. Oh well...


Add some avocado, cilantro and the dressing...an orange-lime dressing with shallots and cumin. Toss and serve. Crunchy, tangy, creamy, fresh, vibrant! Happy.


I served with my grilled Pollo Verde (a favorite!) and some fresh whole wheat tortillas, also from the market. Cut the chicken up and roll up in the tortillas with scoops of the salad. The ultimate, fairly healthy burrito! No cheese, no rice, extra helpings of vegetables!

A little hick-a-ma!

For my first true venture back into the kitchen in what feels like two weeks, we fired up the grill for some fail beef...sorry beef...I'm still learning. We had a baked potato and a version of my tasty jicama salad. If you haven't tried jicama yet, please do. Well, it's not that jicama is great; it just takes flavor well and has a fun, crisp texture.

Peel and slice some jicama.

Add some roasted peppers and roasted corn.

Toss with the vinaigrette and cilantro. Tasty! Fast and great on a warm evening.

Now...I need to figure out grilling beef. I rarely cook steaks. I feel they are not very forgiving to improper cooking and I have some learning to do. Tonight I overcooked the steaks...alot! Which is a shame because I gave them the Gucci treatment and that usually yields a nice flavor and texture. But not tonight. We have one more steak in the freezer...I'll give that a try and see how it goes....next time.