Culinary Creations: Easy Beef Bourguignon Cottage Pie with Leek Topped Herbed Watercress Mash

We had a lot of the Red Watercress left over from Valentine's Day. I hate to let anything go to waste, so tried to come up with an idea of how to use the remaining cress. As I had the makings for Cottage Pie, I decided to do some research. Loads of recipes came up on Google for Watercress Mash, which consisted of mashed potatoes using watercress butter. Now I'm sure this does make it taste divine, and the extra step probably does add an element of flavor, but I honestly couldn't be bothered to make a butter, so decided to add directly to my mash. While the potatoes were cooking, I finely chopped the remaining watercress.

I used my standard recipe for Easy Leek and Cheese Topped Cottage Pie, only using Coleman's of Norwich Beef Bourguignon sauce mix instead of the Shepherd's Pie mix (with only 2/3 of the required liquid) and adding the cress to the mash, using Kerrygold Garlic & Herb butter.

After baking for 15-20 minutes or until bubbling, it was ready to come out of the oven.
You want your cheese to melt and the leeks to slightly brown, but not to be too charred.

The flavors of the red wine, beef, mushrooms, carrots, mashed potatoes and leeks went so well with the peppery flavor of the watercress.

I'm a bit of a vegetable fanatic, but had spent enough time preparing this dish (even though it was easy), it was a Sunday and I wanted to relax a bit. This is where the big Green Guy came in handy. By the time I had popped the pie in the oven and cleaned my mess up, preparing another veggie dish didn't rank high on my list of priorities.

All in all, I was very pleased with this dish. The only thing I would do differently would be to add more watercress. The other recipes had called for 2 bunches. While I'm not convinced I'm make the watercress butter, I am convinced I'd use double the cress.

My Favorite Way to Start the Weekend in Sarasota: C'est la Vie Followed By The Search For Local Produce

The weekend before last my mom phoned me to ask if I wanted to do one of my favorite local things: go to the Saturday Downtown Sarasota Farmers' Market! It was forecast to be a freezing cold morning, but I wasn't going to miss out. Armed with warm clothing, scarves, and jackets - we set out bright and early to get the first pick of the market. Our bravery quickly waned once we got down there are realized that the sun was being blocked by tall buildings, and that it was very windy. We decided to do what any sensible person would do: go somewhere warm for breakfast!!! There was only one option: my favorite C'est la Vie. Owned and operated by a French couple, with the majority of staff also French, this authentic cafe is perfect for any Francophile. I was torn by a few things on the menu, but since I was reminiscing about my lunch at the Châlet la Pricaz the night before, opted for the Savoyard crepe. This sublime crepe was filled with thinly sliced potatoes, ham, onions, white wine cream sauce and topped with Raclette cheese. A very generous slice of Raclette cheese, might I add. This put a very big smile on my face! With breakfast behind us and the sun starting to show, we braved our way out to the Farmer's Market. The Downtown Farmer's Market was one of the things I messed the most while living in England. Don't get me wrong, they have lovely markets in England, but they don't have that certain je nais c'est quoi as the Sarasota Market. This could be solely down to the fact that ours has perpetual sunshine. It is always such a happy, vibrant place to be. Smiling faces, dogs' tails wagging, colorful produce - it is just such a nice way to start the weekend. I must have been in the 6th or 7th grade the first time I went to the Farmer's Market. There was a vendor that used to make the most delicious sour dough baguettes. Back then in the 80's, sourdough was still sort of an exotic find in this area. We had bakeries with lovely bread, but I don't remember sourdough being as common. Anyway, I remember that it was such a treat to come down and get a loaf that was still piping hot. That was the beginning of my love affair. Today's market is over twice the size of the original, and they no longer close Main Street (thank goodness), and is home to beautiful finds like these...

Now I must confess that I am a little biased towards Worden Farm. They are a totally organic farm in Punta Gorda. Luckily for us they make the drive every Saturday so we can have a superb selection of fruits and vegetables. They are not the only organic stall at the market, but they are one of the most nicely displayed. They are always THE place to go to for French radishes. The last time I was there they had these gorgeous white beets. Unfortunately I had spent all off of the cash I had with me, but I'll keep them in mind for next time.

On the way home we stopped at Jessica's Organic Farm for some of their divine kale. Jessica's is THE place to get kale in the Sarasota area. Also completely organic, they offer a fantastic selection of produce. Tucked away in a residential neighborhood, Jessica's is an absolute gem!

This is the first time ever that I have spotted the large Maryland Gourd at the market! Actually, it was my good friend Gloria shopping for her weekly produce.

Yes, we do look slightly deranged, but it was still freezing! We Sarasotans aren't used to such extreme (cold) temperatures.

Celeri Rémoulade

Celeriac, or celery root, is the edible root bulb of certain varieties of celery. Popular in the Mediterranean and throughout Europe, it is starting to become a more familiar vegetable in our local markets. Any true Sarasotan knows the once importance of celery to the area's economy, and that the site of the Old Packinghouse Cafe was once exactly that: a packinghouse for the celery crops. So not only is this a new up-and-coming vegetable, it is also local product! Yet another reason to try this curious looking root vegetable. With the beautiful celery that I buy at Jessica's Organic Farm, maybe there is a chance for celery to become, once again, a thriving local crop. Now, until last summer I had only had celeriac roasted and mashed. While we were in France, I was introduced to Celeri Rémoulade . In this dish the celeriac is grated/shredded and served in sort of a coleslaw style sauce. It has long been a favorite of my husband's and it was a new favorite of mine, so I was determined to come up with a recipe so that we could enjoy this popular French dish at our home in SRQ, using local ingredients (where possible). Here is what I came up with:

* 1 large or 2 small celeriacs
* 1/2 cup mayonnaise - Dukes or freshly made
* ¼ cup crème fraîche (sour cream or Greek Yogurt will also work well)
* 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
* 1 tbsp white wine, salad, cider, or tarragon vinegar
* celery salt

Combine the mayonnaise, crème fraîche, mustard, vinegar and celery salt (to taste).

Peal and clean the celeriac. I find it useful to cut into wedges, peel with a potato peeler, then take out the dark spots with a paring knife. Once finished, rinse with water to remove any of the hairy bits that stayed behind.

Next - shred, grate, or julianne the celeriac. We started out with julianne but was difficult to cut on my Mandoline - so we decided to grate. James was very helpful in this step. As I wasn't going to blanch the celeriac, I think the large setting on my cheese grater actually worked perfectly.

Once completed, mix the celeriac into the bowl, coating well with the sauce. If you find it a little too dry (depending on the size of your celeriac) - mix in another tablespoon or so of mayonnaise. Keep in mind that as it sits, the celeriac will absorb some of the moisture - so don't worry if it seems too moist. Refrigerate over night - it will taste so much better the next day once the flavors have time to meld and penetrate the celeriac. One thing I will say is that I used an Herbes de Provence Dijon mustard, and I really do think the herbs added such a nice touch. Just a subtle hint, not too overpowering. We were both completely impressed with the outcome: it was such a cool, refreshing, easy to make dish that will definitely become a staple in our Florida home.

From a nutritional standpoint, the celeriac is high in fiber, magnesium, potassium, thiamin, vitamin B6, and vitamin C.

Annecy - The Market (9/30)

Wishful thinking pup!!!

Heaven!

Je T'aime Les Légumes

...and I was horrified when I bought my first chicken in England and the scaly bit of the legs were left on...

You can't really tell in this photo, but the beet root in the right hand corner is the size of a brain!

Purple beans? C'est bon!

Richard Belzer (Law & Order SVU) in disguise?

I Heart Local Produce

Recently, I was introduced to a local organic market that has been around since the '70s. They operate on 5 acres of land and are located next to a golf course, in the center of a suburb. Although this isn't exactly where you'd expect to find a working organic farm, I'm certainly glad they are there. Here is a sample of some of my favorite finds: the carrots are imported (Bunny Love) but the radishes are locally grown as well is the divinely green celery. We've paired it with a baguette from our local French bakery and some Applewood Smoked cheese that Target have started carrying. This was an amazing find is it is one of my favorite cheeses in England, which means I no longer have to consume my body weight in the stuff while over there.

Here is the link for my favorite local organic market:
http://www.jessicasorganicfarm.com/index.htm