Minh and I went over to Simon’s for dinner last night. We were trying to find time to catch up before he heads off to the US; Turns out shopping, cooking, eating, and watching TV together was perfect. It felt very homely, plus I got to check out some of his recent artwork.
We ended up spending around $13 each on food and wine. Here’s what we bought:
- Gravy beef
- Gnocchi
- Bananas
- Block of dark chocolate
- Penfold’s Shiraz Cabernet
And here’s what we made (and how we made it):
Beef Burgandy with Gnocchi
- Melt butter in pressure cooker
- Cut beef into large chunks and brown in butter
- Remove beef and caramelise around two tablespoons of sugar
- Return beef and coat in caramel
- Cover with red wine and stock and bring to boil
- Put lid on pressure cooker and heat for 20 minutes
- Brown chopped onions and garlic in a pan
- Boil chopped carrots in a pot
- Add onions, garlic, and carrots to pressure cooker (with some salt and pepper)
- Cook under pressure for a further 15-25 minutes
- Boil gnocchi in water until they float, then drain and place on plates
- Mix a couple of tablespoons of corn flour in with some stock (cold)
- Add corn flour mix to beef burgandy to simmer to thicken
- Place beef burgandy on top of gnocchi and enjoy!
Banana Fondue
- Peel and slice bananas and place in freezer until cold (but still soft)
- Break up dark chocolate and heat in microwave for 45 secs
- Stir chocolate and heat further (10-15 secs at a time) until melted
- Enjoy dipping cold banana pieces into melted dark chocolate!
I forgot to put tomato paste in the beef burgandy and I prefer it with mushrooms (although Simon is anti-mushroom). It was still awesome, but I’ll have to remember these differences for next time! I’m also not sure that the onions and carrots have to be cooked first when using a pressure cooker.
Update: I also forgot about bacon lardons and finely chopped parsley. Basically, instead of cooking the beef in butter, you can cook them in the fat from thinly sliced bacon pieces (cooked to a crisp) which can later be added to the gnocchi (or other pasta or mashed potato) along with parsley.
