Uptown and downtown

This morning's breakfast was definitely a mix of uptown and downtown tastes.

The uptown part?

Strawberries.

And the dip:
 

Brown sugar and creme fraiche.

First you dip the strawberry in the creme fraiche, then you dunk it in the brown sugar.

As you know, I am not a fan of the sweets - but for this I make an exception. The tangy-ness of the creme fraiche really tones down the sweetness of the sugar which makes it perfect for me.

Remember to dry off the strawberries before you dip. 

Without drying.

 

The dry strawberrys hold a lot more creme!

The downtown part of the breakfast?

My usual green drink.

This morning I mixed 1/2 water and half chamomile tea with one scoop of Amazing Grass and 2 tsp. of Udo's oil.

Oh, and coffee, of course!

Happy Monday everyone - I hope it is a productive one!

Braised beef shank and saffron mashed potatoes

The second culinary highlight I hit on the road trip?

Marin Sun Farms!!!! Here in Northern California it is a well known farm that sells 100% grass fed beef. 

I first became familiar with them when I was feeding my dogs a raw diet (a long story ) and they were a great resource. But one day I ordered some meat for myself and OMG!! Outstanding!

I saw this sign on our way to the lighthouse and my thought was, "How nice they serve Marin Sun Farms meat" - on the way back I realized it WAS Marin Sun Farms and we had to stop :-)

They have an adorable cafe - but I will show those pictures another day.

First - the star of the show today:

Grass fed beef shank (center cut).

When I brought this out the dogs went nutty. Sure, they are interested if I have beef - but for this stuff? they went really overboard.

This is Abby trying to inhale the meat:

I am not sure what Connor is doing here because the meat was sitting on top of the white paper - maybe a ninja attack on the meat??

This can be a tough cut of meat so it takes a long cooking time to make it juicy and tender.


After 1 1/2 hours of cooking I enjoyed this:

Braised beef shank with saffron mashed potatoes.

And the dogs gobbled up this:

Crostini topped with braised beef shank with a dollop of marrow and a garnish of cilantro.

I modified this recipe from Emeril Lagasse.


The cooking started with coating the meat lightly in flour seasoned with salt and pepper:

Shake off the excess flour and brown the meat in a pan on high heat with 3 Tbsp. of olive oil.

Remove the meat and add in chopped shallot, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt, pepper, carrot and celery.


When the shallot becomes translucent, deglaze the pan with white wine making sure to stir up all the dark bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.


Add in 1 1/2 quarts of stock (I was almost out of stock so I used 1 cup of chicken stock and the rest was water).


Bring it back up to a simmer and add the meat back in.


Cook for 1 1/2 hours. 


For the saffron potatoes - I boiled 2 large Yukon potatoes until tender - drained them and mashed them with a fork and folded in a few strands of saffron and 2 Tbsp. of creme fraiche.


I will admit that I am a wimp when it comes to textures. I steer clear of fatty bits of meat or connective tissue - so I ended up cutting up the beef shank.

The marrow and connective tissue is filled with nutrition but some gets cooked out into the broth so if you are a texture wimp like me - you can still enjoy all the healthy goodness from the cooking liquid.


If you notice - I gave the dogs all the pieces with the chewy bits:

Monday is looming - I am off to relax for the rest of tonight!

The big reveal and a confession

So what was the culinary destination on my road trip?

We went on a tour of the Cowgirl Creamery! The Cowgirl Creamery is a small artisanal cheese maker located in Point Reyes, CA.

The tour really wasn't a tour - it was more of a sit and listen to lots of interesting facts about cheese making. 

About 20 people that signed up for the tour gathered around this long table.

I sat facing the cheese making room - which was very fun.

All the beautiful cheeses.

I picked up this while I was there:

 
Creamy, rich and nice and tangy creme fraiche.

Tonight I used it in two dishes. 


Chicken in a lemony white wine reduction with creme fraiche:

 

And pan seared asparagus with a lemon pepper creme fraiche sauce.

I pan seared a chicken breast in olive oil until cooked through.

I pulled the chicken from the pan and added 1/2 cup of white wine to de-glaze the pan.

Then 3 Tbsp. of chicken stock went into the pan along with 1 tsp. of lemon juice and ground black pepper to taste. 

When the alcohol had cooked off (about 5 min) I turned the heat to low and whisked in 1 1/2 Tbsp. of creme fraiche. 

At this point I sliced the chicken breast and added it back into the pan. I let it all simmer together for another 5 minutes and it was done.

A side of red grapes.

This was full of rich taste - I would definitely reccomend it.


You might notice that the chicken is shown without side dishes.


My confession? Sometimes I eat a meal in stages - First I make and eat the meat portion. A while later I will make the vegetables. Later on, I will make some rice or potatoes. 

Yeah, I am weird like that.


Later on I made a very simple asparagus dish.


I pan seared some asparagus over medium heat in a bit of olive oil. The asparagus pieces were pretty big so I peeled the stems.

When they were bright green and just slightly brown, I took them out of the pan and set them aside.


Then 1/4 cup of chicken broth, 1 tsp. of lemon and ground black pepper went into the pan to simmer. I stirred in 1/2 a Tbsp of creme fraiche and whisked until the sauce was smooth and glossy.

The asparagus was still a bit crunchy and the lemon sauce really complemented the flavor of the asparagus.


Creme fraiche - It's a good thing:-)