Roasted Fillet of Beef Rolled in Herbs & Porcini, & Wrapped In Prosciutto

This is one of my favourite, never-fail, always a success, 'go-to' company meals. It's a bit time consuming to put together, but it can all be done ahead of time and popped into the oven as company is arriving. Scale it up and feed a crowd impressively! I'm posting the picture from the book because I forgot (the two times I made it in the last month) to take a picture of the finished product....and so it goes.

I first made it years ago, after finding it in the one cookbook Colin owned when we were dating. I think it was also the only book he actually owned, and the only reason he owned it was that he's received a Chapters gift card as an apology from his ISP, for all the service problems he'd had. And that's what I think of everytime I make it! Anyways, it's a Jaime Oliver recipe- Roasted Fillet of Beef Rolled in Herbs & Porcini, & Wrapped In Prosciutto- from The Naked Chef Takes Off. It's delicious. It's fool-proof.

Roasted Fillet of Beef Rolled in Herbs & Porcini, & Wrapped In Prosciutto

As far as roasted meat goes, this is extremely fast and simple, yet decadently rich. One of the tricks, whether you buy it in a deli or a supermarket, is to ask them to slice your prosciutto and lay it side by side on a piece of waxed paper. Serves 4.

12-18 slices prosciutto or Parma ham
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 good handful of dried porcini, soaked in around 285ml boiling water
3 good sized pats of butter
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
900g/2lb fillet of beef (preferably from the middle, left whole)
1 good handful of fresh rosemary and thyme, leaves picked and chopped
2 glasses of red wine

Preheat your oven and an appropriately sized roasting pan to 230°C/450°F/gas 8. (If I make it ahead, I skip pre-heating the pan, but make sure to bring the meat and pan to room temperature before roasting).

Make sure there are no gaps in between the laid-out slices of prosciutto. Chop one of the garlic cloves and fry with the soaked porcini in 1 pat of butter for a minute. Then add half of the soaking water (make sure it is grit-free). Simmer slowly and reduce for around 5 minutes before stirring in a squeeze of lemon, the remaining 2 pats of butter and seasoning. Rub your tasty and moist mushrooms over half of the laid-out prosciutto. Season your fillet of beef with salt & pepper, and roll it in the herbs. Place it on the mushroomy end of the prosciutto and slowly roll up the meat. Once the beef is rolled up, pull off the paper and push in the ends of the prosciutto to neaten. Lightly secure with 4 pieces of string (I use Food Loops, which are so handy!).

Place the fillet in the hot roasting tray with a couple of cloves of garlic and cook for 25-30 minutes (rare), 40 minutes (medium), 50 minutes (well-done) or 60 minutes (cremated!). Half-way through, add the wine to the pan. When the meat is done, remove it to a chopping board and leave it to rest for 5 minutes. Pour any juices back into the roasting tray. Simmer the juices on the stovetop, scraping all the goodness from the sides of the pan, and mash up the garlic cloves. Remove from the heat and serve as a light red wine gravy.

Slice the fillet as thick or as thin as you like and serve with some potatoes or some gorgeous greens.

Stuffed Mushrooms with Mushrooms, Lentils and Walnuts

I think I could happily be a vegetarian, if I could always eat like this! I made these as a main for a vegetarian guest at my mom's birthday dinner and it was delicious. Even some of the carnivores at the table tried it and approved....

The recipe came via the FoodWine list, as most of my favourites do. This one originated from a Seattle vegetarian restaurant- Cafe Flora.

Stuffed Mushrooms with Mushrooms, Lentils and Walnuts

The recipe makes about 3 1/2 cups of stuffing, enough to stuff 6 or 7 portobellos. It would also be great as a stuffing for eggplant, zucchini or bell peppers.

1 pound crimini mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup French green lentils
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 bay leaf
1 cup broken walnuts - toasted
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon pimenton (smoked Spanish paprika)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Roast the mushrooms - preheat the oven to oven 350 degrees. Toss the mushrooms with the oil to coat. Put them on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 20 minutes. Set aside.

Cook the lentils - rinse the lentils and put them in a medium saucepan with the water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat. Simmer, covered, until tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain the lentils, remove the bay leaf and set aside.

Process the mushrooms, lentils and walnuts. When the mushrooms are cook enough to handle, put them in a food processor. Pulse 3 or 4 times and scrape down the bowl. Add the toasted walnuts and pulse several more times, until the mushrooms and walnuts are evenly chopped and the texture of cooked ground beef. Put the mushroom-walnut mixture in a medium bowl, mix in the lentils, feta cheese and seasonings. Taste and correct seasoning.

Clean the portobellos, remove the gills and stuff with the above mixture.
Oven should be at 350 degrees. Roast until tender and stuffing is hot, about 20 minutes.

In the bedroom

We spent part of our Christmas holidays sprucing up the house, cleaning up the accumulated stuff in the crawl space and generally trying to finish up jobs started and then abandoned when life got in the way.

One room that's been bugging me for a couple of years, was our bedroom. I've been picking away at it slowly. I finally got my curtains ordered, delivered and installed (an ordeal that I won't bore you with). And, I finally found a duvet cover I liked. Then, in a fiscally responsible move (are you listening Colin??!), I went scrounging through my decorating stash and managed to unearth some long lost art in the crawl space- I knew that hanging on to pieces I loved, even though I didn't have a spot for them and someone was grumbling about space limitations, would be good in the long run!

Happy New Year & A Cocktail

Happy New Year! Last night was spent with a small group of friends, a pitcher of cocktails and assorted snacks. There was good conversation, a lot of laughs and a couple of dicey shooters, which shall remain unnamed in an effort to keep things PC.

The pitcher of cocktails was this....a mixture which I had scrawled on a napkin from somewhere, which I have no name for. Let's just call it what it is (for me anyways)....a Screaming Hangover. Of course, if one were to consume just one or two, like a normal person, it would probably be okay. Nonetheless, it's very tasty!

1/4 oz vodka
3/4 oz Chambord
1 oz cranberry raspberry juice
3 oz sparkling wine

In a martini shaker, shake vodka, chambord & raspberry juice until frothy. Pour, over ice, in to glass. Top with sparkling wine and garnish with frozen raspberries. Makes 1 drink.

If I make it for a group, I scale up the recipe, mix the first three ingredients in a pitcher and add ice and the sparkling wine just before serving.

Cheers!

Christmas Morning...

...started at 5:38am. This was not because of excitement over Santa & gifts- in fact, E had to be reminded what day it was. It was merely because he wasn't sleepy anymore (aargh). I was somewhat comforted when I glanced across the street at our neighbour's house, and saw the Christmas tree lights on and a camera flash going off- they also have young children.

So, we hustled Colin out of bed and ordered up our Christmas capuccinos....that helped.

E had a great time this year and LOVED everything (he's full of love that boy is!)....it was so much fun to watch.

Colin got his coveted lined rubber boots, and has been happily wearing them ever since.

Hope you all had a happy and fun filled day....

Twas the night before Christmas...

...and Dad was still busy assembling toys.

A beer always helps!

Ginger Jeweled Salad

I made this salad for Christmas Eve dinner. I'll let you know if it was well received....my taster bowl for breakfast was pretty good! I'm not sure how the rice will go over with my in-laws...it's a pretty exotic move for them!

I did have trouble finding pluots, which are a cross between a plum and an apricot, so just used apricots instead. I also added some pomegranate seeds, just because. I think some bosc pear might also be good, or even oranges.

Ginger Jeweled Salad

From 101Cookbooks.com

1 tablespoon fresh ginger juice, made by grating a 4-5-inch piece of ginger into a pile and then pressing it against a strainer to extract the ginger juice
2 tablespoons white wine or Champagne vinegar

fine grain sea salt

1/2 teaspoon jalapeno, very finely chopped

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup dried figs, stems trimmed, quartered

1/3 cup dried pluots, chopped (I used dried apricots instead- couldn’t find a pluot anywhere!)

1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, loosely chopped

1 1/3 cup cooked wild rice, room temperature

5 big handfuls of leafy salad greens, washed and dried

In a mason jar or medium bowl make the ginger vinaigrette by whisking together the ginger juice, vinegar, jalapeno, and a couple big pinches of salt. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the jar whisking all the while. Stop when the dressing takes on a slightly creamy appearance. Taste and adjust the flavors if needed. Set aside.

Hold off dressing the salad until just before you are ready to serve it. This will help to keep the lettuce vibrant and lively. In a large bowl toss the figs, pluots, hazelnuts and wild rice with a generous splash of the dressing. Once they are nicely coated, add the lettuce, a bit more vinaigrette, and a pinch of salt. Gently toss until the lettuce is evenly coated. Taste and adjust if needed. The little bits of fruit and nuts tend to fall to the bottom of the bowl, so before serving scoop them back up from the bottom so you end up with plenty of rice and fruit on top.

Serves about 6.