“After a good dinner, one can forgive everybody, even one’s own relations.”
— Oscar Wilde
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it transcends all differences. There is nothing better than Thanksgiving to make amends.
Like everyone else, I start shopping and prepping food days ahead, but I cook everything on the day of. Even if it means waking up at four or five in the morning. Roasted turkey, Iranian rice, baked chicken marinated in yogurt and Mexican-Pakistani spices, lamb, vegetables, a special salad and sometimes an apple pie are usually on my menu. However, this year I’m thinking of serving puff pastry shells filled with cooked ground lamb, which is mixed with béchamel sauce.
Béchamel is one of the five French mother sauces. The creamy texture of this easy to make sauce transforms savory food into a delectable dish without overpowering the flavors of the food it’s mixed with. Other mother sauces are Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise and Tomato.
White roux is the base of béchamel. It’s made with equal weight of butter and flour. The cooking process removes the raw starchy flavor of the flour and helps in the absorption of milk. Roux can be white, blond or dark, depending on cooking time. Unlike blond and dark roux, cooking time for white roux is 3-5 minutes.
A couple of points to remember while making roux. Heat should be low and roux should be stirred continously. Milk should be warm and only a small amount should be added and fully incorporated before adding more. Cold milk makes lumps and so will adding too much milk at once. If making in advance, cover the pan and cool after cooking. Covering prevents skin formation on top of the sauce. Béchamel can be refrigerated in an airtight container for two days. Mix cold béchamel with a little cold milk and whisk until smooth. More milk can be added if needed. Heat over low heat, stirring continuously.
We also need puff pastry shells and ground lamb. I like to cook a large quantity of ground lamb for later use.
Pastry shells usually come frozen. They can be baked according to the instructions given on the package. Alternatively, one can blind bake pastry cases from puff pastry sheets.
Here is the link to making these cases: https://legalnews.com/Home/Articles?DataId=1590227.
For ground lamb: Heat an empty pan and add about two pounds of meat. Cook over high heat while continually stirring to break lumps. Add a finely chopped large onion and a couple of garlic cloves after the juice is almost dried. Stir in ground cumin and coriander seeds, red pepper or any other spices to suit one’s taste. Cook, over medium high heat, stirring continuously. Once the meat turns a little brown, add 1/3 cup of tomato paste mixed with two cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer, uncovered. Stir it occasionally. Add salt to taste after most of the liquid has been evaporated. For this dish I keep the meat a little moist. Cool down and mix it with hot béchamel sauce. The ratio of sauce and meat can vary from person to person. But the meat should not be drowned in the sauce.
Traditionally, a peeled onion with a few cloves stuck in it is usually heated in the milk. I use black pepper instead.
Béchamel Sauce
(Yields over a cup)
2 oz unsalted butter
2 oz all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, optional
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Half an onion studded with some cloves
1-1-1/2 cups whole milk, slightly warmed
Directions
Place the clove-studded onion in the milk before heating it.
Melt the butter over low heat and cook until it turns golden.
Add the flour and continuously stir until the flour turns gritty and resembles wet sand.
Cook, for about 3 minutes.
Mix in the salt, pepper, nutmeg.
Add warm milk, a little at a time, and stir until the milk is absorbed and the sauce is thickened.
Cook further for 2 minutes.
Remove from the heat.
Assembly
Gently remove the top and the inside of the baked pastry shells.
Mix together ground meat and béchamel to one’s liking.
Spoon into a shell in a way that a mound is created.
Place the black beans around the mound.
Put some short strips of pepper on the mound and place a mint sprig in the middle.
—————
Foodie Majida Rashid lives in Texas. Food and cooking are her passion. Her presentation about her love of food can be viewed on USA Today’s network: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=l0xi566VSPo – We Spread Love Through Food. @Frontiers_Of_Flavor. Her philosophical writing can be read at apakistaniwomansjour ney.wordpress.com.
— Oscar Wilde
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it transcends all differences. There is nothing better than Thanksgiving to make amends.
Like everyone else, I start shopping and prepping food days ahead, but I cook everything on the day of. Even if it means waking up at four or five in the morning. Roasted turkey, Iranian rice, baked chicken marinated in yogurt and Mexican-Pakistani spices, lamb, vegetables, a special salad and sometimes an apple pie are usually on my menu. However, this year I’m thinking of serving puff pastry shells filled with cooked ground lamb, which is mixed with béchamel sauce.
Béchamel is one of the five French mother sauces. The creamy texture of this easy to make sauce transforms savory food into a delectable dish without overpowering the flavors of the food it’s mixed with. Other mother sauces are Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise and Tomato.
White roux is the base of béchamel. It’s made with equal weight of butter and flour. The cooking process removes the raw starchy flavor of the flour and helps in the absorption of milk. Roux can be white, blond or dark, depending on cooking time. Unlike blond and dark roux, cooking time for white roux is 3-5 minutes.
A couple of points to remember while making roux. Heat should be low and roux should be stirred continously. Milk should be warm and only a small amount should be added and fully incorporated before adding more. Cold milk makes lumps and so will adding too much milk at once. If making in advance, cover the pan and cool after cooking. Covering prevents skin formation on top of the sauce. Béchamel can be refrigerated in an airtight container for two days. Mix cold béchamel with a little cold milk and whisk until smooth. More milk can be added if needed. Heat over low heat, stirring continuously.
We also need puff pastry shells and ground lamb. I like to cook a large quantity of ground lamb for later use.
Pastry shells usually come frozen. They can be baked according to the instructions given on the package. Alternatively, one can blind bake pastry cases from puff pastry sheets.
Here is the link to making these cases: https://legalnews.com/Home/Articles?DataId=1590227.
For ground lamb: Heat an empty pan and add about two pounds of meat. Cook over high heat while continually stirring to break lumps. Add a finely chopped large onion and a couple of garlic cloves after the juice is almost dried. Stir in ground cumin and coriander seeds, red pepper or any other spices to suit one’s taste. Cook, over medium high heat, stirring continuously. Once the meat turns a little brown, add 1/3 cup of tomato paste mixed with two cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer, uncovered. Stir it occasionally. Add salt to taste after most of the liquid has been evaporated. For this dish I keep the meat a little moist. Cool down and mix it with hot béchamel sauce. The ratio of sauce and meat can vary from person to person. But the meat should not be drowned in the sauce.
Traditionally, a peeled onion with a few cloves stuck in it is usually heated in the milk. I use black pepper instead.
Béchamel Sauce
(Yields over a cup)
2 oz unsalted butter
2 oz all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, optional
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Half an onion studded with some cloves
1-1-1/2 cups whole milk, slightly warmed
Directions
Place the clove-studded onion in the milk before heating it.
Melt the butter over low heat and cook until it turns golden.
Add the flour and continuously stir until the flour turns gritty and resembles wet sand.
Cook, for about 3 minutes.
Mix in the salt, pepper, nutmeg.
Add warm milk, a little at a time, and stir until the milk is absorbed and the sauce is thickened.
Cook further for 2 minutes.
Remove from the heat.
Assembly
Gently remove the top and the inside of the baked pastry shells.
Mix together ground meat and béchamel to one’s liking.
Spoon into a shell in a way that a mound is created.
Place the black beans around the mound.
Put some short strips of pepper on the mound and place a mint sprig in the middle.
—————
Foodie Majida Rashid lives in Texas. Food and cooking are her passion. Her presentation about her love of food can be viewed on USA Today’s network: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=l0xi566VSPo – We Spread Love Through Food. @Frontiers_Of_Flavor. Her philosophical writing can be read at apakistaniwomansjour ney.wordpress.com.
