NEW ORLEANS —
Cottage Pie
Ingredients
2 lbs. beef stew meat or short ribs
2 Tbsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
half a bottle port or red wine of your choice
2 cups beef stock
1 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
1 Tbsp. sea salt
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup water
Parsley for garnish
Potatoes
3 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes
1 1/2 cups Gruyère or white cheddar cheese, shredded
4 Tbsp. butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 heavy cream
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. sea salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Season the beef liberally with sea salt and heat the vegetable oil in a large non stick frying pan. Fry the beef in batches on all sides until they are browned, set aside.
Heat a wide dutch oven or heavy bottomed cooking pot over a medium flame and add the carrots, celery and onion. Cook until it softens, roughly 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir it through then deglaze with the port.
Add the beef stock and return beef to pot. If you like your stew nice and thick, at this point stir through a slurry of 3/4 cup flour mixed with 1/2 cup water. Bring to a simmer and season liberally with salt and pepper.
Cover the pot with a tightly fitting lid and leave to cook for around 5 hours in the oven, skimming off the fat that rises to the surface occasionally. The beef will hopefully now be very tender. Skim off a bit more fat and shred the beef. Reduce the liquid if necessary to make a thick gravy.
Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in salted water until they are soft. Mash them and while the potatoes are hot, stir through the cheese.
Meanwhile, heat the butter in a small saucepan and gently fry the garlic. Pour this into the mash as well, then the whole egg and egg yolks. Season with more salt.
Spoon the mash mixture into a large piping bag with a star nozzle. Pipe the mash potatoes on top of the beef mixture.
Increase the oven up to 400 degrees and bake the pie for another 30 minutes or until the mash has started to lightly brown. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Citrus Kissed Whiskey Pie
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar, separated
1 tsp. orange zest, freshly grated
1-1/4 cups Yukon gold potatoes, mashed
8 Tbsp. butter, melted, plus more for preparing pan
4 Tbsp. almond flour
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. pure almond extract
1/2 tsp. orange extract
6 large eggs (5 eggs separated, one whole)
2 oz. whiskey, preferably Irish
Directions
Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan with melted butter; line the bottom with parchment. Brush paper round and side of pan with melted butter. Set aside.
In a small bowl, using fingertips, rub 1-1/4 cups sugar and zest together, and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat 5 egg yolks and 1 egg on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce speed to medium speed, and slowly add the reserved zest-sugar mixture. Then beat unit just combined.
Beat in mashed potato, then add melted butter, almond flour, extracts, and finally the whiskey. Whisk until fully incorporated, pour into a large bowl, and set aside.
Clean the mixing bowl and whisk the attachment thoroughly, to rid of oil spots. Return to stand mixer, on medium speed, whisk egg whites until foamy, about 1 minute, add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks, about 2-3 minutes.
Add approximately, 1 cup of egg whites into the egg mixture, using the whisk attachment, stir to combine and lighten the mixture. Fold in the remaining egg whites with the whisk until completely incorporated.
Pour immediately into the prepared springform pan and bake for 40-45 minutes until set. Remove from the oven and set on a cooling rack to cool completely. The pies will fall when cooling. Serve with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar or sweet whiskey-kissed whipped cream.