Cottage Pie

Last night I made a tasty dinner called Cottage Pie.  I found the recipe on Martha Stewart's website here.  It's a simple take on shepherd's pie, but with all the flavor and more!

Ingredients:

- 3 tablespoons of butter

- 1 onion

- 2 carrots

- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste

- 1 pound of ground beef

- 1 cup of a dark porter beer

- 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme

- 2 tablespoons of flour

- 1 cup water

- 3/4 cup frozen peas

- 1 large russet potato

- salt and pepper

Directions:

Chop up the onion and carrots into small pieces.  Preheat the oven to 400ºF.  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet, and add the onion and carrots.  Cook until the onions have browned a bit, and the carrots are beginning to get tender.  Add the tomato paste and ground beef.  Cook until the meat begins to brown.

Then add the porter beer.  My husband is a big beerie, and he picked out this nice beer called Lucky 7 Porter by Evolution Craft Brewing.  The flavor worked really well in this recipe.  I want to make this again, and I definitely plan on using this beer next time too.  

While adding the beer also add the thyme, and season with salt and pepper.  As you can see in the photo I didn't remove the leaves from the stem, but I wouldn't suggest that.  I thought they might fall off, and then I could simply remove the sticks.  That didn't happen, and my husband had to help me remove the hot saucy leaves, so we could get all those unpleasant stems out.  

After the beer has reduced a bit add the flour and water.  Let reduce a little more, and add the peas.  

While that's reducing clean the potato, and cut it into thin slices.  Once the meat mixture has reduced pour it into a 2 quart dish, and cover with the potato slices.    Cover the potato slices with the remaining butter, and season with salt and pepper.  Bake in the oven for 40 - 45 minutes.  The potatoes will be soft in the center, and the skins will be crunchy.  Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.  The liquid will soak in during that time. 

This was so yummy!  The perfect cold night meal.  I loved the flavor of this, and it was so simple to make.  I want to cook this again sometime soon!  Happy Nom Nom Monday, chris!  

Classic Favorite Nom Nom

For the first Nom Nom Monday in my new house I'm going to go with something simple and classic.  Ya all know I love mac & cheese, and since I'm eating by myself tonight I couldn't think of a better meal to start off with.  Sadly because I don't currently have internet at my house I'm going to share my recipe with no photos today.  Though you can drool over my similar creation of Bacon Mac & Cheese.  

Today's recipe is Bacon & Peas Mac & Cheese.

Ingredients:

- 1 box of mac & cheese (any brand will do)

- 1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar melts the easiest)

- 3 tablespoons of cream cheese

- 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese

- a splash of 2 % milk

- 1/4 frozen peas

- 5-8 crispy bacon strips

Directions:

Boil water for the mac and cheese noodles in a medium sized saucepan.  While you are waiting for that to happen you can cook the bacon.  The bacon should be extra crispy, that way it's easier to crumble into little bits.  Once the water is boiling add the macaroni, and after the noodles are about half way cooked through add the frozen peas.  Don't substitute with canned peas, because the flavor and texture is significantly different.  Once those are throughly cooked drain the excess water off, and run cold water over them.  This will keep them from sticking together.  

Now for the cheese sauce.  Using the same saucepan you used for the noodles add the powdered cheese packet, the shredded cheese, the cream cheese, and the cottage cheese.  Melt everything together on low - medium heat, and add a little bit of milk to keep from getting too thick.  You can always add more milk, but if you add too much you end up with a soupy mess.  I highly recommend using 2% milk because it will be easiest to get the correct consistency and flavor with that percentage.  As for the cheese I like to experiment with different cheeses, but cheddar is usually always my base.  It has a great flavor for mac and cheese, and it's easiest to melt to the correct consistency. 

Once the dairy products have melted together completely you can mix in the noodles and peas.  Then serve and add some bacon to the top of each serving.  I can't think of a more filling or decadent way to eat mac and cheese.  What a meal in deed!  

Have a great night everyone and happy DIYing, chris!