Meat and Potatoes - Pommes de Terre a la Boulangere

Do you ever have the hankerin' for the delectably meaty flavored potatoes that usually accompany a Yankee Pot Roast?  Yeah, I like 'em a lot.  I don't always have 4 lbs of roast lying around though.  Wait, I NEVER have a 4 lb roast lying around, because it would take me a 2 weeks to eat that much beef.  But I really love the potatoes that have been cooked with the roasted meat juices.   HEAVENLY!

Luckily, I have a solution... or rather, the French have a solution. (and no, they didn't steal the idea from the Italians either.  At least, I don't think they did)  ;)

Pommes de Terre a la Boulangere (bool-ahn-ZHAIR) or Potatoes from the Bakery

I like to think that it was inspired by the roast.  You see, "back in the day" people didn't have an oven in their house.  Even if you DID have an oven, something like a roast (cooked low and slow) simply used too much wood fuel to make at home.  That is, unless your home doubled as the town sauna.  So, the villagers turned to the town baker and his/her huge oven.  All the women of the village would prep their roasts by laying them on beds of potatoes and onions.  When the town baker was done baking his bread for the day, the roasts were placed in the large oven as it was cooling.  While the roast was hangin' out and soaking up the lowering heat of the baker's oven, the potatoes were busy soaking up all the luscious beef drippings.   Thus the basic concept of "Potatoes from the Bakery" was born.

So how do you make beefy roasty toasty potatoes without roasting a roast?  All you really need is some beef stock, caramelized onions and an oven. I think it's pretty safe to say that we all have ovens in our homes and no one is going to have to make a trip to the local bakery.  One other thing you are going to need is time.  It takes time to caramelize onions and it takes time to bake potatoes this way...  At least an hour, usually a little longer.  But I think it's well worth the effort.

Pomme de Terre a la Boulangere 

1 rasher (slice) of Bacon, julienne
2 TB Olive Oil
1 medium Onion, sliced thin (I prefer Sweet onions for this)
1 large Shallot, sliced
1 Star Anise
2 lbs White Potatoes, sliced thin (Cause the skins are tender and I prefer not to peel)
Thyme (or Herbs de Provence)
Black Pepper
Kosher Salt
1 1/2 cups Beef Stock
2 TB Butter for dotting

Heat Olive oil in a saute pan over medium flame, then add the bacon and saute until the fat renders out and the bacon is crisp.

Move the now crispy bacon to a paper towel to drain.

Place the saute pan back on the flame and add the Onion and Shallots.

Saute until tender, then reduce the flame to low and add the Star anise. (it makes the onions more meaty tasting)

Continue cooking the onions down until they are deep brown in color and almost jammy looking.
(this tends to take at least 15-20 minutes, so go ahead and eat the bacon bits to keep up your strength)
Remove the pan from the heat and remove the Star Anise.

Add several branches worth of Thyme Leaves and allow the onions to cool slightly while you.....

Butter a baking dish, set it aside and begin preheating the oven to 350 F (175 C) Degrees.

Slice the potatoes (or use a mandolin).

Set aside some of the "prettiest" slices for the top layer (about 8 oz of them)

Place 1/2 of the remaining potatoes in the baking dish and level them out. (you don't have to do any fancy overlapping yet)

Spread 1/2 of the caramelized onion/shallot mixture over the top.

Sprinkle with Kosher Salt and Black Pepper.

Scatter the other 1/2 of the potatoes over the top. (again, no fancy overlapping, yet)

Spread the potatoes with the remaining caramelized onions and more Kosher Salt and Black Pepper

NOW you get to do the fancy overlapping with the reserved potato slices.

Season with Kosher Salt and Black Pepper.

Then, since I don't think there is any such thing as "too much thyme" when it comes to potatoes, add some more thyme leaves.

Carefully pour the Beef stock over the potatoes.

You see the stock peeking out from underneath the potatoes around the edges.

Dot with Butter. (I love "dotting" things with butter)

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake an additional 30-45 minutes.

Until golden brown and delicious.

Crispy on top, soft and unctuous umami-ness underneath. 

Mangia!!
~~

Funnin' Around with Fregola - Fregola Sarda Pudding

This is the first time I have done this in the 3 years I have been blogging about food, so bear with me. I received a free sampler package from Marx Foods...  I think I am suppose to put a blurb here about how I am not being paid write a review of any products, nor am I, in any way, affiliated with Marx foods. Blah blah blah blah....  Be that as it may, they have some really cool stuff.  :)

Some of that cool stuff showed up on my doorstep and wanted to play in the kitchen....  Some beautifully plump Vanilla beans, burnished red Saffron, Star Anise and this funny looking pasta that, for my love of ALL things Italian, I had never heard of before.... Fregola Sarda.

It's a form of couscous from Sardinia.  It's on the larger side, like Israeli couscous, but with one important difference... It's been toasted to bring out a nutty flavor in the durum semolina.  Yeah baby!  That's what I'm talking 'bout. Just look at how wonderfully mottled it is, like little toasted pearls of deliciousness.

I will admit that when I think of Couscous, I always think of Moroccan or Lebanese dishes.  Which was why it was fortuitous that the Fregola was accompanied by Star Anise and Saffron... Two great tastes that taste great together.  Or at least they do in Moroccan Semolina soup.  Which is where I got my idea for the challenge.  Oh, did I forget to mention that?  I was asked to utilize the Fregola Sarda and one of the other ingredients from the free sampler to make a dish.  Well, being somewhat of an overachiever, I decided to marrying the flavors of that Moroccan soup with the methodology of an Italian risotto...  Lightly sweetened and simmered into a beautiful Rice, er, I mean couscous "pudding".

Fregola Sarda Pudding

20 oz (590 ml) (2 1/2 cups) Whole Milk
1 Star Anise
10 Saffron Threads (DON'T overdo it... or it will be bitter)
2 oz (56 g) (~1/4 cup) Caster Sugar
5.2 oz (150 g) (~1 cup) Fregola Sarda

Bring the first 4 ingredients together in a small sauce pan.

Heat just until the milk begins to simmer, then remove from the heat.. cover and allow to steep for 30 minutes.

Remove the Star Anise and the Saffron threads (I don't like to eat the threads)

Place the Milk back over medium heat and when it begins to simmer again, add the Fregola and stir.

Reduce the flame to low and simmer; stirring (like risotto) until the Fregola is just passed the al dente stage. (20-25 minutes)

Remove from the heat and cover, letting the pudding set for 10 minutes.

Spoon into champagne coups or other serving dishes.

Personally, I like my rice pud....  I mean couscous pudding at room temperature...

The scent was pure heaven.  The flavor?  Well, what can I say...?  It was exotic to say the least; hints of anise wrapped around the grassy saffron and hazel-nutty pearls.  Way beyond the realm of mere Tapioca pudding. (Which, historically, has been one of my UN-favorite foods)  The texture of the couscous is very different from that of tapioca pearls.  It was much more like a golden rice pudding.  Honestly, I loved it... A most enjoyable combination of Italy & Morocco...  :)

And thanks to Marx Foods for the free samples and opening my mind to the possibilities of this wonderful pasta. 

Mangia!!
~~