Berry Berry Basil

Pam has made Basil Blackberry Crumble a few times before, because she likes berries and loves basil. Even though Barbara Kingsolver and her family include it as a summer dish in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I decided I should make it for St. Patrick's Day, to complement the shepherd's pie she would be making. I got lazy, though, and did not make it until the following day.

Doing this out of season meant that I settled for doing a half-recipe (and honestly a bit less than half), since blackberries in this season are not bounteous or inexpensive. So I used a pie pan (Pam's suggestion) instead of a casserole, but otherwise followed the instructions above. For the balsamic, I used a pomegranate-infused balsamic from our friends at L.O.V.E. in Frederick, Maryland.

I got it all ready before Pam made the next evening's dinner, and then cooked it while we ate.

The result was delicious and would indeed have paired well with the shepherd's pie. It was equally delicious with a cool glass of milk after a dinner of BLTs and Malbec.

St. Patrick's Day Shepherd's Pie

We are low-key celebrators of St. Patrick's Day. I (Pam) have some Irish heritage on my father's side, so we wear green, and admonish everyone to do the same. (Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day!) We also eat an appropriate meal, generally one featuring potatoes. This year's repast was Shepherd's Pie made with a recipe from the New York Times Cooking Page. 

I started by peeling, cubing and boiling 3 large potatoes. While they cooked I peeled and diced 2 carrots, one onion, and 4 garlic cloves, and shredded a cup of cheddar cheese. 

When the potatoes were ready to mash I drained the water and put them back in the pot, and let them sit while I melted 6 tablespoons of butter and cooked with 1/2 cup of milk in our indispensable cast-iron skillet. Then I added the butter/milk mixture to the potatoes and mashed together, and then stirred in the shredded cheddar, along with a bit of salt and pepper. A taste test told me that this is a method I should use in the future for preparing mashed potatoes. They were way tastier than usual. The potatoes then waited while I prepared the rest of the dish.

The cast iron skillet was put back to work to sauteé the onions, garlic, and carrots in 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the onions were translucent I added a pound of ground beef and cooked until it was no longer pink. At this point the recipe calls for a can of tomato paste. I used some left over tomato sauce instead. It also calls for some beef stock, which I totally missed. So even though I saw it on the list of ingredients and had James buy some, it never made it into the dish. Finally, I added some rosemary leaves and thyme before spreading the mixture evenly across the skillet. This was topped with the mashed potatoes, and again spread evenly. The skillet then was placed in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes, at which point the potatoes were a lovely golden brown. I let the dish sit for 12 minutes before serving. This was divine. Wonderfully tasty, with a lot of texture. It made for lovely leftovers the next day as well.