Already excited about Thansgiving

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house!!

I am already getting excited about it. I may go buy this today.

I would love to buy this. I neither need it nor can afford it, but I love to go to the Le Creuset outlet store and lust at it. I may be only going to buy the gravy boat today so I can get a look at the braiser.

Venison stew and a new piece of hardware!

Picky bought me a beautiful Le Creuset oval French oven in flame, to match my collection.

I am supposed to be studying, so I decided to stall by making venison stew. My wonderful, generous hunter neighbor shared some wild boar and some venison shoulder with us. I roasted the boar shoulder intact, but I boned the two venison shoulders, and decided to try to make a stew.

I pieced together some recipes and this is what I ended up with. Pictures and a review to come. Right now it is just stinking up the house with lovely smells.

I put a few T of oil in the French oven (any heavy lidded oven safe pot will do)
I made a roux with some flour (next time I may wait to add the flour)
I added the cubed venison and browned it
I added two onions, thinly julienned, let it cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally
Added about a cup of chopped carrots and three stalks of celery, chopped, and cooked a few more minutes
I added two cups of red wine, two cups of chicken stock (I would have used beef if I had it) and two cups of water. I scraped the lovely brown bits with a wooden spoon
I added a few T of concentrated tomato paste, a few springs of thyme, and four peeled, whole garlic cloves
I let the whole thing come to a boil, and put it in a 300 degree oven with the lid on for two hours
I am making egg noodles to spoon it over. Hope it's a hit!

Edited to add: It was a big hit. Dee-licious. It wasn't especially photogenic. I may add the photos at some point, but I haven't uploaded them yet, and I really really should study.

Total Le Crueset Action

I fell in love with a retro flame colored Le Crueset pan almost a year ago. My mother in law was with me when I bought it.

Well, she just gave me her collection of Le Crueset from the 70's that she doesn't use anymore. There are three more pieces not shown, and corresponding lids to almost all the pieces. I am in enameled cast iron heaven!

Thanks Mama J!

Using my present

I looooove my new Le Creuset Buffet Casserole (in flame). I got it to replace a stainless steel pan that I use constantly that is separating at the seams on the bottom. I wanted something that was oven proof, and mainly because of the dish I am making tonight.

This is an adapted recipe from Eating Well magazine. I blogged about the original recipe and gave the link here. But, even though I am only one hour from Kumquat Avenue in Coconut Grove, it is hard for me to find fresh kumquats in my regular haunts, even my farmers market that has a pretty extensive variety. So, I make mandarin orange tagine. Seemed like a decent replacement. Picky loves mandarin oranges, and it is much easier to keep two cans of them and a can of chick peas (Picky and S eat around them) than it is to source the fresh kumquats all year.

Mandarin Orange Tagine (adapted from Eating Well magazine)

1 T extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, slivered
1 T minced fresh ginger
2 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground cumin
3/4 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
1/8 t ground cloves
1 14 0z can vegetable broth
2 cans Mandarin oranges (22 oz), drained of juices
1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed
1 1/2 T honey

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Heat oil in an ovenproof casserole or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
3. Add chicken; cook, stirring often, for 8 minutes. Stir in coriander, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper and cloves; cook until aromatic, about 20 seconds. Stir in broth, oranges, chickpeas and honey. Bring to a simmer.
4. Cover the pan and transfer to the oven. Bake, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and the broth is bubbling and somewhat reduced, about 1 hour.