Gâteau d’Alsace by The Careless Cook

 

A Savory Cake from the Alsace Region in France

A cake version of Quiche, with cheese, onion, and bacon

By The Careless Cook

 

For the few who don’t know, Alsace in on the border of eastern France and western Germany.  

Very historic and has been passed around more than a lady of the night with sailors in town.  In the War of 1870, also called the Franco-Prussian War, France invaded Prussia and Prussia not only returned the favor, they kicked some French fanny.  With the Prussian victory, Alsace and parts of Lorraine suddenly become Prussian.  Biggest thing to remember:  As a result of the Prussia victory, the Germanic states united and became Germany!  Yep, Germany as a country is younger than the United States!

Street scene in a town in Alsace

What the heck does that have to do with cooking a savory cake? Alsace and Loraine.   Cuisine! A wonderful mix and match!  And Le Gâteau d’Alsace is a wonderful example. Savory and delicious!

 

Time to git in the kitchen and git cookin’!

 

Gâteau d’Alsace

(My recipe differs slightly from tradition, but so does The Careless Cook!)

 

Ingredients

 

5 tablespoons salted butter, melted

8 oz of either chopped bacon or 2 packages of lardons (bits of either French or Italian fatty ham, available in packets in the deli section of most grocery stores)

1 medium sweet onion, diced

1 cup full fat buttermilk

1 good slosh of olive oil, a tablespoon or two

2 large eggs

2 ½ all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder (I don’t measure this exactly.  I prefer to give it my best guess)

¾ teaspoons table salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon, more or less, black pepper

8 oz (2 cups) grated or finely diced baby Swiss cheese. Tastes much like Gruyère cheese at half the cost

Heaping teaspoon Italian seasoning (the only one I use is The Spice Lab’s Italian Rustica.  Far superior. Available on Amazon)

Puttin’ It Together

 

Oven at 350ºF 180ºC

Butter and flour a 12 x 8 Teflon baking pan

 

Fry the lardons in a skillet over low heat and cook until crispy and the fat is rendered.  Takes about 15 minutes.  Scoop them out of the pan and place in a small bowl.  Set aside.

 

Add the onion to the fat in the skillet.  Medium heat.  About 10 minutes or until turning golden.

 

In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and pepper.  Stir in the cheese, Italian seasoning, and lardons.  Stirring these  into the flour keeps cheese and lardons from sinking to the bottom of the pan when you bake.

 

In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and melted butter.

 

Important:  USE A SPATULLA (I dip mine in cold water) to blend the buttermilk mixture and flour mixture.  This doesn’t happen immediately, but have faith and stick with it until all is sticky and blended.

 

Scrape the dough into the oil/floured pan.  Smooth it out and bake for 45-50 minute, or until a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Wait 10 minute or longer to make sure the cake is cooled enough to be easily removed from the pan.

 

Serve warm.

 

Past time to pour the wine, or if you make this for breakfast, pour a nice cup of café au lait.  You might want to renew you high school French or at least practice the accent.  Zeez is un gateau with zee goo-d fla-vor, n’est pas?  Help your French friends to forget the Franco-Prussian War.  Vive la France!

 

 

Beef Bourguignon: Easy and Delicious!

 Beef Bourguignon:  Easy and Delicious!

Ok, so it’s not exactly the time to be jolly.  Illness is sweeping the globe. You’re stuck in your house. The house is already so clean you can’t stand it.  The clothes are washed and folded and refolded.

But, hey, the wine cabinet is full, n’est pas?  That alone is cause to put on some soft music and think naughty thoughts.  OH, already done that?  You’re way ahead of me!  My apologies for interrupting….  

But, just in case, here’s some unwanted, necessary advice?  Pour yourself some vin de chez vous, suga, put on some soft music, light a few candles, and let’s make some stuck-in-the-house French comfort food.  Before we start, better pour yourself another.  I suggest red, but hey, who am I to spoil a good party?

I promise this recipe is a delicious way to go through a bottle or two of jolly good red on your way to whoopee-land.

And by the way, why is Beef Bourguignon called that?  The dish originated in the French province of Burgundy or in French: Bourgogne.

Easy, Delicious Beef Bourguignon (Biscuit recipe follows)

Note: I changed the traditional recipe to simplify and match what I had on hand.

3 pounds beef roast, cut into 1 inch cubes

Salt, pepper

Enough flour to lightly dust the meat (I used rice flour, but any flour will do)

1 Cup or more of red wine

3-4 Cups beef broth

3 Potatoes, scrubbed, unpeeled, cut into chunks

1 Big handful of baby carrots (or large carrots cut into chunks)

1 Stalk celery, cut into bite sized pieces.

Thin sliced green onions for garnish and to lend a fresh taste

3-4 Tablespoons Canola Oil, or another oil that can stand up to high heat

Rice as an accompaniment 

Biscuits also as an accompaniment

Oven to 300ºF or 150ºC

Before you start on the beef, make the biscuits (recipe below).

Put the beef, salt and pepper in a large bowl and dust with the flour.

Using a large Dutch oven, with a lid, put oil in the pan and turn on the heat.  Before the oil starts to smoke, cook the meat a batch at a time, to just brown.  Don’t cook all the juice out!

Put all the meat back on the heat and pour in the wine, scrapping the bottom to deglaze the pan.

With the pan deglazed, pour in the beef broth, add the vegetables and put the lid on the pan.  Pop it in the pre-heated oven and cook for about two hours, or until the meat is very tender.

Remove the pan from the oven and put it back on the stovetop to simmer, and reduce the liquid to a medium thick gravy. 

Serve over rice, garnished with thin sliced green onions.

I also served mine with biscuits.  Here’s the recipe:

https://stroudallover.blogspot.com/2012/01/mastering-ubiquitous-biscuit.html

And for dessert?  Cheery  Cherry Pie, naturally.  You’re thinking, Cherry Pie?  Really?  Yes, brothers and sisters, in times of ubiquitous illness, others may turn to chicken noodle soup, but I turn to cherry pie. Hasn’t failed me yet.

Now, let’s have another glass of your excellent wine!  Or maybe a Spanish brandy?