Spicy Cottage Pie with Nutmeg Brussels Sprouts

Cottage Pie in its most basic form is of course minced or ground beef, topped with mashed potato. Usually, however, there will be some vegetables added to the beef. Carrots, peas and onions are popular additions of this type. This Cottage Pie is a little bit more spicy, however, designed to provide a little more heat on a cold Winter's night and I hope that it is something which you will be prepared to try. This is a recipe for two people.

Ingredients

1lb minced/ground beef
1 pint fresh beef stock
1/2lb potatoes
1 small carrot (diced)
1 small onion (very finely chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (very finely chopped)
1 small red chilli pepper (de-seeded and very finely chopped)
20 mini Brussels sprouts or ten larger ones
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Butter
Large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Method

The beef should be browned in a dry, non-stick pan, before the carrots, onions, garlic, chilli and heated beef stock are added. The mix should be seasoned to taste with salt and freshly black pepper. It should then be simmered for half an hour.

When the beef is simmering, the potatoes should be peeled and chopped and added to a pot of salted, boiling water and simmered for twenty to twenty-five minutes until soft. They should then be drained and mashed with a little butter.

The beef, vegetables and remaining stock should then be placed in to a casserole dish. The potato should first be spooned evenly on top and then smoothed out carefully with a knife. The Cottage Pie should then be placed in to the oven - pre-heated to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6 - for twenty-five to thirty minutes. It can be browned under the grill for a couple of minutes, prior to serving, if desired.

The small sprouts that I have used here should be simmered in salted water for around eight minutes. larger sprouts will take ten to twelve minutes. It is important not to overcook the sprouts, as this will cause them to turn mushy and most unappealing. They should then be drained and swirled in a little butter and the nutmeg before being served with a portion of Cottage Pie.

Free lunch

December 29

It turns out that I have one more blog entry to make this year, to let you know about a free lunch tomorrow at Rhong Tiam East, formerly known as Kurve. That's 87 2nd Ave., at the northwest corner of 5th St.

Chef-owner Andy Yang is promoting his rendang. That's actually an Indonesian dish, but Andy tells me it's made in Thailand, too, where it's called panang neua toon. It's a rich, dark brown curry that should be appropriate for the blustery cold day that Wednesday the 30th promises to be.

Andy's using his grandmother's recipe and serving it with either flat wide noodles called sen yai or the Thai version of ramen, called ba mee.

Rendang is traditionally made with beef, but Andy's serving it with either beef of chicken. As I said, it's free tomorrow, from noon to 3. Every day after that it's $4.95.

Warm Carrot Muffins

It's been a busy couple of months. November is over, and I spent most of my available writing time working on a novel for National Novel Writing Month. I continued writing on through December, but I never stopped cooking.

In the last two months, I've made plenty of cookies (mint chocolate, sugar, molasses, ginger-lemon), spicy chipotle short ribs, a tasty turnip gratin, garlic tomato soup, pork chorizo burgers, the best roasted potatoes, Thai coconut soup, and today, some warm carrot muffins. I wish I could share everything with you but I'll have to save most of them for another day. The muffins are at the forefront today.

They're called Happy Morning Muffins and come from Small Batch Baking, a cookbook that has yet to fail me. It has produced bacon biscuits that are savory and buttery and made with bacon fat, and infused with bacon flavor. The almond crumble from this book is my go to dessert when I want to make something quick in a single ramekin, and doubles or triples well for a group. And yesterday I grated some carrots and chopped some pineapple, and mixed up some batter to bake this happy morning when I'm not at work and looking forward to beautiful day because the sun is out for the first time in weeks!


The muffins are displayed on my brand new cake stand (thanks Moe!) and I think they could have come right out of the bakery case. They are moist from all the pineapple and carrot, and spiced with cinnamon and vanilla. You can mess around with the ingredients, vary the nuts, use apple instead of pineapple, or other dried fruits instead of raisins. Whatever makes you happy.

Happy Morning Muffins

I altered the original recipe so this one makes 10-12 small muffins, which really make an appropriate serving size (but you might feel like eating more than one...)

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tablespoons canned crushed pineapple, or fresh chopped in a food processor
1 cup coarsely grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
4 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons sweetened flaked coconut

10 - 12 small muffin cups

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a large mixing bowl. Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in the sieve and sift the ingredients into the bowl.

Place the sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in a small bowl and whisk to blend. Stir in the crushed pineapple. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture all at once, and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Then stir in the carrots, nuts, raisins, and coconut.

Arrange the muffin cups in a muffin pan or on a baking sheet. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them about three-quarters of the way.

Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean, 28 to 30 minutes. Remove and cool 10-15 minutes before serving. They are best served warm or will keep one day in a plastic bag at room temperature.

I love you so by MILV

Buat yang udah pernah denger opening song film gue, bahkan yang sudah ngevote atau nonton. Pasti tau lagu I Love You So kan?
Nah ini gue kasih liriknyaaaa....

why you dont go in hre morning
so i can stand, awake and go
why you still here in the evening
i cannot sleep, im feel so low

everyday im feelin you
i hope you feel the sunlight
everyday im thinking about you
oh..im sorry thats all i've got

reff : cause i love you so
but icant get you
cause i love you so
and i dont know what to do
(2x)

oh..iknow im always hide
cause i dont know how to get fight
im yelling!!, im fghting with myself
just try to get the smile of you

bridge : can you feel it, can you see it
can you see that im broken
i'll give all my love for you, if you want me too
cant you feel it, cant you see it
cant you see that im broken
i hope you enjoy your time with somebody new !
*balik ke reff

_love you so_MILV_D

I Adore You!

Aku bertemu denganmu, semu.
Hukumnya, aku dan kamu akan saling acuh dan tak ingat.
Tapi naasnya, aku terlanggar hukum.
Aku sangat-sangat ingat, bahkan menjadi kenangan.
Aku jengah, tapi tak bisa lepas.
Aku rebah, dan theater of mind mengudara.
Hey, tahukah kamu?
I adore you, mr.