An Award, Gulp.

I originally started my blog to support my Interactive Dinner Party business. Basically I appear at the hostess's house with recipe booklets for each guest, food and assorted kitchen flotsam. I divide all the guests into teams and each prepares a different course. While they drink wine and cook I watch over everyone like a mother hen. I demo knife skills, roll out pastry, or just tell stories about cooking adventures. At the end we all sit down, eat, drink more wine and talk until the wee hours. 

Inevitably someone would decide to recreate a dish from the menu, having misplaced the recipe they would ask me for a copy. After e-mailing countless  recipes a friend suggested I put them all on a website. What started out as Pamela Dockery Food ended up as The Gypsy Chef and I am happier than I've ever been sharing cooking ideas, disasters, and adventures. 

Blogging has introduced me to many new skills. Writing, photography and cooking are all now interactive activities in my life. I drive my kids and friends crazy snapping pics of them eating, talking and cooking. I record our lives so that we are able to revisit events. My daughter's A 17 Layer Cake Fit for a Princess  is still my favorite blog. And the pic of her behind the cake can still make me tear up.

I have others I haven't even published yet, as I am sure you do also. But rest assured they will appear all in good time. 

I have favorite blogs I follow, looking though a window into the author's lives. I have visited some of the most beautiful places, eaten the most delicious food and met so many interesting people and all on your blogs. My life has been enriched by my experiences of the past year and a half.
That said, one of my favorite blogs nominated me for the Honest Scrap Award. Thank you Kate at Serendipity!

 There are rules to receiving this award;

1. Post the award on your blog. Present this award to seven others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged you.
2. Tell those seven people they’ve been awarded HONEST SCRAP, inform them of these guidelines, and ask that they link back to you.
3. Share “Ten Honest Things” about yourself.
   

First of all I will award this Honest Scrap Badge to these fabulous blogs:

Estelle in New York City

The Healthy Plate

Fresh New England

Autour de la Table d"Hote

Cummins Family Farm

Once in a Blue Moon
La Table de Nana

Now for 10 things about myself;
1. I am always busy. I take on more than I can possibly do, then I scurry around until I complete it.
2. I love being a flight attendant, because I enjoy being on the go and have unabated wander lust. So no matter how bad the job becomes, I will continue to fly. Period the end.

3. I adore a french pedicure, but am too lazy to do it myself. So I indulge at the nail salon    every chance I get.
4. I study French rabidly than I get side tracked and have to begin again. This is a repeated behavior for me.
5. I have a MacBook, It's one of the best investments I ever made. 
6. I am back in school finishing my BA.
7. I attended the Culinary Institute of America when there were only 4-6 women in every class of 60 men.

8. Every Christmas I make a gingerbread house with my kids. We've made castles, thatched roof cottages, half timbered houses and a haunted house. 
9. I'm an avid knitter.

10. Last but not least, I have about over 200 cookbooks. I guess you could say I've never met a cookbook I didn't need!
I am the luckiest woman in the world.

So tag, your it!


All text and pictures are sole property of The Gypsy Chef

Old Timer's Steak and Guiness Pie

I published this blog last year on another blog site. Yesterday my son came home asking for Steak and Guinness Pie for dinner. It was a cold day and seemed perfect for this warming meal of beef and pastry.  I re-made it, left out the Stilton, stirred all the cheddar cheese into the stew,  used self rising flour (I was out of all purpose flour) and baked it in the Cream Soup bowls I had bought in Paris. I think it's even better now. I've updated the recipe and hope you'll try it and let me know what you think. It makes 5 soup bowls or the original 1 pie dish and 3 ramekins.

Mel and Vic live in the center of Exeter, near a lovely traditional pub called Old Timer's.
Located on Little Castle Street in the center of Exeter, Devon it is a charming place filled with English memorabilia and mismatched tables and chairs. The staff is attentive and welcoming. The night we were there Steak and Guinness Pie was a featured item on the menu. I decided to give it a go and and like the locals placed my order for the favored dish.
The "Steak and Guinness Pie" arrived hot, and bubbling. The sauce was dripping down the sides of the dish. A salad of baby greens, carrot tops and herbs graced the plate. It was stocked with mushrooms, onions, carrots and celery. Dark, rich and flavorful it hinted of rosemary, thyme and bay. A thick pastry covered the pie. Made with suet, it was flaky and firm. The aroma made my mouth water. The flavor was unforgettable.
 
I came home determined to make an authentic meat pie. I started with my favorite beef stew recipe, and substituted Guinness Stout for the red wine. I diced two red onions, one carrot and one stalk of celery. I added stems of rosemary, thyme and a bay leaf. I then thickened it with a bit of flour, and doused it with Stout. After baking for about 1 1/2 hours I folded in the cheddar, topped it with pastry, and returned it to the oven. Served piping hot and aromatic it was delicious!

The pastry was a simple affair made with butter, as my kids flat out refused to eat suet! I put it together quickly, let it to rest in the fridge whilst the stew was cooking. Brushed with egg yolk it looked very English Country Manor House.
Steak and Guinness Pie

2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 large red onions, finely diced
2 carrots peeled and finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
1 -8 ounce package baby bella mushrooms, wiped cleaned and sliced
2 1/2 pounds beef brisket
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 - 12 ounce bottle Guinness Stout
6 ounces grated cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the brisket or stew meat into ½ inch dice. Smaller cuts enable the pie to cook faster but also allow the pie to hold together should you decide to cut it into wedges. To cut the meat easily, place it in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Using a large dutch oven, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook until soft, about 7-10 minutes. Add the celery and carrots, herb sprigs and mushrooms and cook, stirring often until the mushrooms and browned and dry.

Season the meat with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir the meat and flour into the pan and cook over high heat for about 3 minutes. Add enough Stout to cover the meat. Give it a good stir, bring to a boil. Cover and place in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the stew from the oven and taste. If the sauce has thickened and the meat is tender, stir in the cheddar cheese.
Turn it out into a prepared pie pan. Sprinkle the other half of the cheddar on top.
You could also fill individual ramekins.
Cover with pastry and bake at 375 degrees, for 35-45 minutes until the pastry is puffy and golden.

Pastry

1 1/2 cups self rising flour ( if you use all purpose flour, add 1 teaspoon baking powder)

3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
small bowl of ice water
1 egg, lightly beaten with a few drops of water

Whisk together the flour and salt in a bowl. Slowly work in the butter with a pastry blender or your fingers until the butter morsels are the size of peas.
Slowly add ice cold water one tablespoon at a time, until the dough starts to come together.
Turn the dough out onto a floured marble slab and form into a ball, flatten and wrap in plastic wrap. Allow to rest in the refrigerator while the stew cooks, about 1 hour.

Remove from wrap and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out until large enough to cover the pie dish.
Cover and crimp sides with a fork.

Slit the pastry with a knife and brush with the beaten egg. Place on a sheet pan to bake.Bake at 375 degrees, for 40-45 minutes until the pastry is golden. Serve immediately.All text and pictures are property of the Gypsy Chef.