Culinary Creations: Easy Beef Bourguignon Cottage Pie with Leek Topped Herbed Watercress Mash

We had a lot of the Red Watercress left over from Valentine's Day. I hate to let anything go to waste, so tried to come up with an idea of how to use the remaining cress. As I had the makings for Cottage Pie, I decided to do some research. Loads of recipes came up on Google for Watercress Mash, which consisted of mashed potatoes using watercress butter. Now I'm sure this does make it taste divine, and the extra step probably does add an element of flavor, but I honestly couldn't be bothered to make a butter, so decided to add directly to my mash. While the potatoes were cooking, I finely chopped the remaining watercress.

I used my standard recipe for Easy Leek and Cheese Topped Cottage Pie, only using Coleman's of Norwich Beef Bourguignon sauce mix instead of the Shepherd's Pie mix (with only 2/3 of the required liquid) and adding the cress to the mash, using Kerrygold Garlic & Herb butter.

After baking for 15-20 minutes or until bubbling, it was ready to come out of the oven.
You want your cheese to melt and the leeks to slightly brown, but not to be too charred.

The flavors of the red wine, beef, mushrooms, carrots, mashed potatoes and leeks went so well with the peppery flavor of the watercress.

I'm a bit of a vegetable fanatic, but had spent enough time preparing this dish (even though it was easy), it was a Sunday and I wanted to relax a bit. This is where the big Green Guy came in handy. By the time I had popped the pie in the oven and cleaned my mess up, preparing another veggie dish didn't rank high on my list of priorities.

All in all, I was very pleased with this dish. The only thing I would do differently would be to add more watercress. The other recipes had called for 2 bunches. While I'm not convinced I'm make the watercress butter, I am convinced I'd use double the cress.

Le Cave De Lumières Wine Cellar (10/08)

We were in the middle of wine country in Provence, nearing the end of our week, and still hadn't taken in a dégustation. It was late in the day, but we were determined to fit in a tasting. After driving around in the countryside looking for an independent farm that was open for business, we were completely out of luck. All week we had passed more than I could keep track of, but now that we were looking to stop there was nothing. We passed the Cave de Lumières Wine Cellar several times, and much to our luck, they were still open. Not keeping track of time since we were sur les vacances, we strolled in looking to taste and buy. The staff were so friendly and helpful. Marjorie was kind enough to speak to us in English, despite the fact we could speak to her in French, which we greatly appreciated. Mathilde reminded me ever so much of my friend Emily D. We were pleased to see a wine that we had the night before on the recommendation of the local grocer that we befriended in Rousillon. It was nice to see he not only suggested a very local wine, but also stocked them in his shop. After sampling 5 or so wines, we settled on 3 that we liked and settled up the bill and were on our way. Once we got to the car we realized that they were actually supposed to have closed 10 minutes before. We never once felt rushed or unwelcome, so would highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the area. I definitely look forward to stopping in again.

Culinary Creations: Classic French Vinaigrette

One of my favorite things to eat is a nice, simple salad. It doesn't have to be packed full of meats and cheeses to get my attention. You just can't beat the natural flavors of mixed baby greens with the addition of whole basil leaves, parsley and dill, topped with a simple vinaigrette.

My favorite vinaigrette couldn't be easier to make: you only need an old jar, mustard or jam jars are the perfect size. What I like best is that it doesn't have a long list of ingredients like supermarket salad dressings. Most of which you have no idea what they even are.

This is my version of the Classic French Vinaigrette:

• 1 part vinegar (white wine vinegar is my staple, but red wine vinegar is fine)
• 3 parts extra virgin olive oil
• 1 generous tsp of Dijon mustard (Maille is divine)
• pinch or 2 of salt and sugar, to taste.

Now for the hard part: put them all in a jar, screw the lid on, and shake until they are all mixed together.

This is also my favorite accompaniment to a nicely steamed artichoke. Add a glass of Sancerre to achieve pure bliss!

Here are some variations:

• You could use balsamic vinegar instead, but omit the extra sugar.
• 1 tsp of dried Herbs de Provence
• 1 tbsp of chopped fresh herbs
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1 small shallot, chopped

The list could go on and on. It is the perfect base for a salad dressing, and is only as limited as your imagination...