First Official Faith's Kitchen Dinner

First and foremost I want to thank everyone who came out and supported the first Official dine-in class in Faith's Kitchen this past Sunday.  I was incredibly nervous, and not quite sure about how the material would come across, but with my group of fabulous guinea pigs I not only had a really fun time, but also have a working list of improvements, starting with making sure I have a designated photographer to help capture the fun of the night hoping to book this fella for next time.  Special thanks to Jay for helping out with taking some pics for us while trying to juggle learning and eating as well!

This has been a project I've been buzzing about for some time.  A few of my closest friends suggested about a year ago that I start holding cooking classes instead of simply dinner parties so that everyone gets the recipe and a show.  I've done a few 'test' runs with family and my super supportive husband who kept encouraging me to go for it and finally decided to do one.  He even took the weekend to finish up a trim and moulding project that we had been putting off for quite a while, was able to power through and get the eat-in nook looking absolutely amazing! 

I did a 'dry' run with the Beef Stew recipe and put it in the slow cooker so that my guests could eat during the demonstration, which I thought might be better than waiting 3 hours (more like 4) to have dinner. 
While the Stew simmered on the Crock, we all had a few glasses of wine to warm up and started with some simple starters.

Herb & Chevre Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
4 oz semi-soft Goat Cheese (Chevre)
4 tbsp plain Greek Style Yogurt
1 tsp each of your favorite Herbs (Dill, Chives, Thyme, Parsley, Rosemary)
30 vine-ripened cherry tomatoes


Place your chevre, yogurt and chopped herbs into your food processor or blender until evenly combined.  Mixture should be creamy but firm, add chevre if mixture seems runny.  This will also firm once refrigerated as well.  With a sharp knife, cut the tops of the tomatoes off and discard the inside seeds, liquid and guts.  You can also discard the tops unless you want to use them, however they will be more messy as you won't want to eat the tops.  Also take a very small sliver from the bottom of the tomatoes so that they will sit upright without rolling over.  You can use 1/2 Tsp to spoon the filling in or you can use a piping bag to fill, the mixture should overflow just a bit.


Mel observing Colleen Piping Chevre Filling

So as I said you can keep the tops which do look adorable on top of the filling, but remember if serving at a party or dinner, its going to end up a inedible garnish on an otherwise easy finger food.

Now after some laughs and some nibbles on our tomatoes, we opened up the Slow Cooker and started serving some Stew ....

Still Bubbling

Now aside from the wonderful ways in which a Stew falls right in line with my Winter focus on hearty, healthy, belly-warming feasts, what is really amazing about stew is that you can use a leaner cut of meat without sacrificing taste.  The method of searing and then slow roasting or cooking the beef ensures a tender bite.  You don't however, want to go too lean as you still need a consistent marble of fat to ensure it coagulates and doesn't become stringy.  I suggest a Chuck cut, either a Chuck Eye or Chuck Blade.  Feel free to use Tenderloin for a leaner cut, just know it will be more expensive.  You can have your butcher (including the one behind the counter at your normal grocer) cut this into cubes for you or you can do it yourself.  Try to have the meat cut the same day you plan on using it, so less of your meat surface aerates in storage.  Your Butcher should remove the condensed fats, if you are cutting yourself, remove large areas of condensed fat and discard.

Classic Beef Stew
Ingredients
1Tbsp Whole Peppercorns
2 Large Bay Leaves
1-2 Dried Habanero Peppers
3 Dried Chile Peppers
3 Sprigs Thyme
3 Sprigs Rosemary
4 Springs Flat Leaf Parsley
16 oz Low sodium Beef Stock
2 Cups Red Wine
5 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 1/2 - 2lbs Beef Chuck or Tenderloin roughly cut into 1 inch cubes
1/3 Cup Whole Wheat Flour (1/4 cup if using Slow Cooker)
3 Medium Parsnips roughly chopped
3-5 Cloves of Garlic minced
2 Medium Yellow Onions diced
10-12 Plum or Roma Tomatoes crushed or one 32oz can of no salt added
15oz Baby Portabello Mushrooms sliced
15 Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes
3 Cups Baby Carrots
2 1/2 Cups Frozen Peas

I used a new technique for flavoring the broth that takes some of the chopping out of a recipe already full of peeling, dicing and chopping.  Instead of adding your spices and herbs directly into the broth, I used cheesecloth and kitchen twine to make little pouches instead.  All of my lovely dinner guests also got to make their own and bring them home with them.



Rosemary, Thyme, Bay Leaves, Whole Black Peppercorns, Flat Leaf Parsley & Dried Peppers

I like to use more heat than most, however I had 2 Chile Peppers and one Habanero in the satchel for the Stew we ate for dinner and everyone agreed there was no apparent 'heat'.  Keep that in mind as you can be more liberal with dried peppers especially in a large batch and when using a pouch. 

Explaining Pouch contents and Heat of Peppers

So you will want to cut cheesecloth into a 4-inch square and place your Herbs, Peppercorns, and Peppers in the center and pull the sides up.  Use kitchen twine to tie around securing the contents inside and form a small pouch to place into your stew.  After cooking, you simpy remove pouch and discard.  Whole peppercorns add fuller flavor and this way you aren't looking for bay leaves floating in your stew.

So as my guests made their take home flavor pouches, I began the next batch of stew.  Preheated my Oven for this batch to 325 Degrees as I finished this one in the oven.

Place Flour on a large piece of wax paper or you can use a bowl.  You will want to lightly coat your Beef Cubes in the flower and also pat them to remove any excess.  Heat 2 Tbsp of Oil on Medium High Heat in Dutch Oven (if using oven to finish) or can use a large heavy pot for this part (if transferring to Slow Cooker).  Add half of Beef Cubes (will need to do 2 batches with this amount of meat), sear all sides for 1 minute each. 

 You only want to sear the meat to seal in the juices, not cook it through so you want to work fast.  Transfer Beef to a bowl and use a small amount of water (about 1/8 cup) to pour into pot, scrape any brown bits with wooden spoon and pour liquid over meat in bowl.  Repeat with remaining Beef.  Set aside.

I like a little Drama in my Cooking!

Next take your remaining Flour and whisk in bowl with your Beef Stock.  Heat 1 Tbsp of Oil at a medium heat and add garlic and onions stirring to sweat until they become translucent.  Add Red Wine and let reduce for about 5 minutes.

**At this step if you are going to use the slow cooker you will want to place your Potatoes, Vegetables, Beef Cubes into your Crock Pot.  Add your Stock mixture and Tomatoes into your pot with the Onions and Garlic and mix until just incorporated. Pour into Slow Cooker, add your satchell and cook on Low 6-8 hours***



Introducing the Parsnip to unfamiliar guests.

 Next, you will want to add your Parsnips and Carrots to your Garlic and Onions and allow to absorb moisture and flavors from the pot for about 3-4 minutes stirring frequently.  Next add crushed Tomatoes and Stock mixture, add Flavor Pouch and bring to a boil.  I like to add some Chili Powder at this point but I also like heat in my recipes at all times, so I will leave that to you.



Discussing what local grocers carry dried peppers

 Add your Beef Cubes and Sliced Mushrooms, cover with lid and transfer to Oven.  After one hour, add Potatoes, stir and continue to cook in oven for an additional hour.  Add your frozen peas at the end cover and let sit in oven for a final 10 minutes. Remove Flavor Pouch and serve immediately.

A simple yet lovely table setting.



We found the oven recipe gives a thicker broth and more tender meat.



A hearty,  fresh rustic bread completes this meal.

We finished this meal with a simple classic gentleman's cocktail for those that have someone who likes a good scotch whisky every now and then.  I found a similar version and made a few changes and it passed the test with John my husband who likes his scotch neat and doesn't like a lot of embellishments.

Gentleman's Cocktail
3 oz your choice Scotch Whiskey (we used Glenfiddich)
2 tsp honey
1 Apple Slice (we used Braeburn)
1 Cinammon Stick

Mix Scotch with Honey in a Whiskey, Scotch or Rocks glass.  Stir together with Cinammon stick, add ice to your liking and finish with Apple slice in drink.  The aroma hits you first and you cannot help but close your eyes and smile, even if you aren't a big Scotch fan.  We had Jay, our male guinea pig of the evening give it a try and he seemed to approve.


Instant Smiles as Jay sips his Gentleman's Cocktail

We all had a little sip but the rest of the ladies and I emptied my Red Wine reserve instead.

Only white left, time to restock!

Again I want to thank Mel, Colleen and Alissa for joining and adding great tips and assisting - you ladies really made it fun!  A special thanks to Jay for acting as my assistant and Aurora for volunteering to help with cleanup, so very appreciated.  This was a lot of fun and looking forward to doing another soon.  I hope to have more readers join me, and bring friends as there is always room at my table.  Feel free to ask about scheduling a girls night, or small celebration if you are interested in a unique way to dine and learn!