Herb Infused Olive Oil

I gave this a try for the first time for a table I did this week and I thought I would show you how to make it.  

 I had these herbs growing in my garden so I just went outside and snipped for the recipe as follows.

Italian Herb Infused Olive Oil

6 fresh basil leaves

2 sprigs of thyme

2 sprigs of rosemary

2 sprigs of oregano

1 1/2 cup of olive oil

Just rinse your herbs, pat dry, and mix into the olive oil.  It will keep refrigerated 2-3 days.   You can use this as a base to salad dressings, in recipes instead of seasonings, or drizzle it on bread.  It is meant to be concentrated so a little goes a long way.  Note: if I made it again I would use less rosemary.  It is the strongest flavored herb and it seemed to over power the other flavors. This was the first time I had tried to make this so it was trial and error.  Recipe source is http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/italian-herb-infused-olive-oil/Detail.aspx

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Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum 
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Apple Crumb Pie

This apple pie is a great aunt's recipe.  My grandmother made it and now I make it.  It is easy and delicious in September when all of the new crop of apples get to the grocery.  
Ingredients:
4 large tart apples (6-7 cups of sliced apples)
1 pie shell or crust
1/2-3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix all of this in a large bowl and set aside.
Crumb topping:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup butter


To assemble:  Pour apples into pie shell/crust.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
For crumb topping:  Sift flour into sugar and mix, cut in softened butter with a pastry mixer until has crumb texture.  Sprinkle this on top of the apple mix in shell/crust.  I cover the edges with a handmade foil ring for first 40 minutes of cooking. 
Cook in 450 degree oven for 10 minutes and then turn oven down to 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  
Serves 6-8

Pastry Leaves

 The source for this recipe was Southern Living (November 2004).  

I used this piecrust for my pie and the second crust I used for the leaves.  Unfold the crust onto a lightly floured surface.  Cut leaves from piecrust using leaf-shaped cutters.  Mark leaf veins using the tip of a small paring knife (With larger cookie cutters- One (15 oz.) packaged of piecrust will make about 24 (2-3 inch) leaves.)  

To make the tinted egg wash, whisk together 3 large eggs and 2 tbsp. water.  Pour mixture evenly into small cups, tinting each with a few drops of liquid food coloring to create different colors.  (Here I used red 6 drops, orange-2 drops red and 2 of yellow, yellow 2 drops, and green 2 drops.)  

To prevent the egg wash from burning the baking sheet, paint leaves on pieces of parchment or wax paper.  Brush leaves evenly with egg wash, beginning with lighter colors first, and overlaying with areas of darker color.  Crumple 2 (14-inch long) piecess of aluminum foil into 1-inch wide strips.  Coat with vegetable cooking spray, and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Gently drape pastry leaves over the strips of aluminum foil to give the a natural shape; place several leaves on the baking sheet.  (The cookie cutters I used were so small, that the foil didn't help me.  I would like to try this again at Thanksgiving with larger cookie cutters.)  Bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes or until golden.  Cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Gently remove the leaves, and cool completely on a wire rack.  The leaves can be made up to one month ahead and frozen between layers of wax paper in an airtight container.  

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Go over and check out all of the great recipes.

Beef Burgundy

Boys being boys, they are always hungry.  Even in the summer, when I make a dish like this there are no leftovers.  Everyone complained of being hungry about 10 PM and I think this stew finished around 1:30 AM.  No one complained when they finally ate, they snacked on bacon till it was done, and I had to keep remaking bacon in the microwave. The source for this recipe was Dr. Atkin's New Diet Revolution.

Burgundy Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour

3 lbs. beef chuck, stew meat, cut into 1" cubes

1/4 lb. sliced bacon

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 med. onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 cups of dry red wine

1 can (14 1/2 ounces)  reduced-sodium beef broth plus a can of water

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tbsp butter

1/2 lb. button mushrooms

1. Spread flour on a plate; lightly coat beef pieces, tap off excess.  In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp.  Remove bacon, crumble and set aside.
2. Add oil to bacon fat in Dutch oven.  Brown beef in batches.  Transfer to a platter.  Add onion, carrot and celery to Dutch oven; cook 8 minutes, or until softened.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.  Pour in wine; increase heat to high.  Boil until wine is reduced to about 1 cup, about 5 minutes.
3. Return beef and accumulated juices to Dutch oven.  Pour in beef broth and water; add bay leaf and thyme.  Reduce heat to low; cover partially and simmer 1 1/2 hours, until beef is tender.
4.  Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat.  Saute' mushrooms until golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms to stew along with reserved bacon.  Remove bay leaf.  

Mine is served up on toasted sourdough bread for the boys.  Without the bread it is relatively low in carbs.  But any way you serve the stew, it is very tasty.  
6 Servings