Dinner With My Hubby's Parents

Here is a picture of Rich and me with his parents at our wedding in 2008


This past weekend rich and I had his parents come out and stay with us. It was the first time they had been to our new house in California. It was nice because they didn't have to travel far from their own home. Only about an hour! I thought I would share with all of you the dinner menu and recipes.

Rich's parents came out to our place on Saturday afternoon. When they arrived I had already started dinner and the house was filled with the wonderful aroma of Boeuf Bourguignon and red wine! I started off the dinner with a butternut squash soup with garlic french bread. Then went into the main course Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon with white rice. All the recipes can be found below. (This was my second time making the Boeuf. Last year I threw a Julia Child themed party, which you can check out in my previous posts from May 2010.)

I finished off the meal with ice cream mocha fudge cake ( which I can't take credit for because I did buy it at the store) . Yum!!!! After dinner we went to see the movie "The King's Speech". This was the second time Rich and I went to see this movie, but as I posted in a n earlier blog post we LOVED it so much we would see it again and again!


Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients
Serves 4

2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 3/4 pounds small butternut squash, prepared and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup cream or half and half Coarse salt and ground pepper
Sour cream, (optional)
Chives

Directions
1.Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add , garlic, and squash; cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in 4 cups water (you may substitute two cups of the water for chicken stock). Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer until squash is tender, 20 minutes.
2.Purée soup in two batches. When blending hot foods, allow the heat to escape to prevent splattering. Remove the cap from the hole of the blender’s lid, and cover with a dish towel. Stir in juice and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Serve hot, with sour cream, pepper, and pumpkin seeds, if desired. Also, chives make a nice presentation on top.


Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon

Servings: Serves 6

Ingredients
Kitchen Supplies:
9- to 10-inch, fireproof casserole dish , 3 inches deep
Slotted spoon
Boeuf Bourguignon:
6 ounces bacon
1 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef , cut into 2-inch cubes
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. flour
3 cups full-bodied, young red wine , such as a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 tsp. thyme
Crumbled bay leaf
Blanched bacon rind
18 to 24 small white onions , brown-braised in stock
1 pound quartered fresh mushrooms , sautéed in butter
Parsley sprigs
Directions
Remove rind from bacon, and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the stewing beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers
very slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

When the melt is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.

Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.

For immediate serving: Covet the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.

For later serving: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

We had a wonderful visit with them and look forward to their next one! Hope you enjoy these recipes as well






Blessings, Sarah