POMMES DAUPHINOIS, HACHIS PARMENTIER & CHAYA'S JAPANESE FISH , THANKSGIVING SIDES@DORIE'S FRENCH TABLE

 There is nothing i dont like about Thanksgiving, the gratefull air [*365], the excitement and heralding the onset of Christmas too!

And this month at FFwD, we have a super cool menu ,that could make a whole meal at ur thanksgiving table!

I begin with sides this friday ,w potato haven, this Potato Gratin is awesome with the Roast chicken[coming soon] , and would pair beautifully with jus about anything!

I also added my dearest Chaya's Japanese Salmon, not only is it sooo easy and comes together super quick but was an absolute ,total hit here.

 More about it below!

Hah, have also added Hachis Parmentier, u could prepare the beef earlier and freeze it, plus point and it gets put really quick too!

 

Ur table will be a total delight with this one here!

So lets begin with the potato Gratin, step by step ,to a creamy delight!

All u need to begin with is some heavy cream, though i used lite25% cream, and lods of garlic.

Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer on low heat , till u have a garlicky cream!!

I pretty muc eyeballed everything and though the recipe called for 1 3/4 cup heavy cream for 2 1/4 pounds of idaho potatoes, i used way less and muc more garlic than the 3 cloves!!

Thats it, though u need to keep the garlic cream warm while u work the potatoes.

Dorie, says if u have got a mandoline slicer , its time to get it out now, i am glad i listened to her, and got out my brand new slicer!

Have a look ,its super cool and super sharp!

And u need to begin slicing and layering, and placing in a really well buttered dish, pouring some cream ,after a layer [depends how creamy u want it], addin any addons u might have rite from veggies to bacons to herbs!

I played with herbs!

Creamy, buttery,herby,delighful!!

 Ahh, remeber to season, inbetween layers, french salt pairs v well!

Some more goodness to add, Cheese, lods of cheese [1/4 pound any cheese ,preferably Gruyere], all i had was cheddar ,and i happen to have a 1kg block, so i stuck to that.

See, u can make most of the recipes from AMFT, with jus what u have in the pantry!

I didn grate but got my peelers to work!

 Well ready to in the oven ,and yeah i did add in garlic chives from my garden, for pretty pics and flav!

Lots of cheese, a herb and garlic chives!! Iused my herb scissors for the herbs!

and dotted with butter all over!

 Some red pepper and broccoli ,is a great add on!Pretty too!

And Baked.....

make sure u keep some leftovers ,for a delightful slice-a-potato-gratin, it comes off like a cake when nice and chilled and gets creamier too!!

 U sure can double the amount of cream , or stick to the recipe, i used less than half, and it was still fantastic!

I love the slices ,the mandoline slices, thin and super!

I did use the thin , super thin slicing option, and it was easy peasy!!

I love the slicing part, and the gorgeous layers!,dont u?

HACHIS PARMENTIER

adapted from Around My French Table or here [make sure ur volume in ON for this link]

This is so so easy a recipe and best parts,u can split it into 2days or use leftover beef!

I followed Dorie's recipe for a midly flavored,yet flavorful beef.

Bdw, i still dont know how to pronounce it the french way, am sure i m dng more portuguese to the accent thn french:-)

All u do is add everything to the pot, and boil and simmer...,now what i did was add everything to the pressure cooker, i love to cook in a pressure cooker, it gives me pull apart beef, and add some beef bones too, for an extra flavorful broth ,and a few chicken pieces too.

For veggies, i added all i had,i didn weigh the ingredients at all, jus eyeballed evrything!

Cherry toms,love them!

 and for herbs basil,sage and lods of celery!

Ahh,and parsley!

 in went some sprouts[health quotient:-)] and a goan button chilly

ofcourse added more sprouts than in the pic here!

Seasoned meat with french salt only!!

french herbs & pepper and a beef maggi cube!!

See pressure cooker cooking gives me absolutely soft,pull apart beef ,that helps skip the step for chopping up the beef later.

I scraped in any meaty pieces from the bones and squeezed the herby juices into the meat before picking it out from the meat!

Delicious beef! Totally pull apart !!

bdw, i added spinach in there too!

And the chicken gets pulled from the bone too,and u want that.

i used spicy goan sausage,which is v v spicy so went real easy on it as i added it,again in a PC, with hot olive oil.

Without the skin!

Actually i fried the onions first, u need the onions,coz its way too hot, i prefer mild and had only 1 type of goan sausage, normally i wud mix 2types,one a little less hot than the other.

But the tomato paste and some sugar calmed things down!

When done, added the beef and tomato paste and ur filling is done,after simmering it a bit with the beef gravy.

 Spoon the filling into ur pie dish/es,cover tightly while u get going with the potatoes!

Actually i simmered the sausage with the beef as i got along going with the topping!

Am so glad for the Kuhn Rikon Potato ricer [black matches my mandoline slicer see], which is also a first time!

Actually i preferred the black to the white,and they had no color options [to both]

I am so glad i chose this one , besides the Swiss finish and quality of Kuhn Rikon ,i Love that little space atop to keep the second blade!The second disk stores in the handle and the whole thing cleans up easily too, and u will find lods of times to play with it in the kitchen!

Tools...unlimted!

Nicely boiled potatoes, in a large pot of generously salted water, run thru the ricer , give u the perfect texture for the toppin!

 And here u have the perfect potato ready for a mash...

Pretty too!!

Love the texture+ its really as easy as brushing ur teeth!

Dont think thats a good comparism, well i dont think so too:-)

Ahh,meanwhile,dont forget to fire up ur oven @400 degrees!

Mashed potaotes ,need a lift ,so add some warmed up cream and milk to that[i only add lite cream]

And lods of butter!

Season with salt,pink or french, but season and with pepper![i skipped pepper]

Ahh, did i tell u, the ricer leaves behind any peel or hard bits that might be there, i boiled whole large potatoes and the cup insert in pretty large too!

Plus cleaning is a dream!Pulls apart and gets assembled v smoothly and quickly!

U'll love it i tell u!

To mix it all up i used this absolutely sturdy,5in 1 ,Uni tool, get one,u'll love it!!

Spoon the filling into really v well buttered pie dishes.

Already lusciously delicious!

Spoon the potato over the filling and sprinkle with grated cheese!

The uni tool and a fork will help u with this!

 Oh i have another cute microplane small shaver i used today ,and this one is black too!!

Shaves cheese well, microplane does everything well!

And ready for the oven...

with some parsley and sage !

Dusted with parmesan and dotted with butter[lots]all around!

bake till done.....am glad for the parchment, it collect any drips!

 ready...i sure did fill to rite on top,if u dont want it too brown ,u can tent it during the last couple o mins of baking.

Me, no, i like brown coz i like crust!

Every potato ,beef or anything thats in here,non lover [i doubt they exist at all],will love this!

Oh the gorgeous crust that forms!

I think this cheese forms the gorgeous crust, always a good thing!
Not that i dont love goeyy, and it is inside!
I had one with more filling ,less topping and one with less filling and more topping!

And as it cools, and the flavors meld ,it gets even better!

Ahh, can i have another serving please!!

So hoping there are leftovers :-)

The filling is so good!

CHAYA'S JAPANESE FISH

Whenever i hop by Chaya's blogs, i leave with a need to replicate her super delish , but really quick recipes.

If she writes , a book ,and she must, i must have a signed copy, i will never be lost!

Her Japanese Fish recipe here, is not only so so quick to put together but will be loved by fish lovers on thanksgiving day!

 I am left thinking , how a few ingredients, i had them all in my pantry, can give u an absolutely flavorful fishy delite!

 I guess, the change i had was i used sweet soy sauce,instead of the lite soy sauce Chaya used, so decreased the quantity!

And also used both dry white wine [not pictured here] and Sake!!

Other thing is i didn have scallions ,so used pink shallots and parsely for the green!!

The greens looks pretty against the dark fish glaze doesnt it?

Ahh, before i forget i did add a whole red chilly too!

And tossed the fish with the sweet soy sauce ,before i added to the pan of sizzling garlic and ginger and pink shallots.

Interesting?

Hop by to Chaya's kitchen , her world here!

U have to, for the full recipe!

The above 3,will love to find their way to ur Thanksgiving table ,hope u'll enjoy as muc as we did!

I think adding mushrooms to the Gratin and HP would be fantastic!

Linking this to Chaya's new linky [cool]!
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fEATURE uRself FRIDAY

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DEsigns by gollum

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Fingerprints on the fridge

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Family french fridays!

Am also sending the potato Gratin to Versatile kitchens delicious bake off!