Leftovers

So, my daughter challenged me to create a meal out of left overs.  How? she said, 'You have always been so good at making magical meals out of leftovers' and naturally I saw that as a challenge.

What was left over?

Some sausages - (a little charred) French sausages, sort of like the sausages known as Italian in the US, quite nice, not greasy, spicy and meaty, left from the French barbecue, a little bit of duck from that barbecue and also beef and lamb from same event.

I poked around in her fridge and found a huge bag of my most favorite Chicory (Belgian Endive) almost all of which were way far gone, but two ears were still good. Beautiful sweet French onions, really they were more like shallots which I love, and new potatoes, lots of them.


So, I cleaned and chopped the two ears of chicory, about 10 small onions, and 10 potatoes (peeled of course). I heated some oil in a skillet and added mixed herbs, cumin and a lot of curry powder and some salt and pepper.

Once this mixture was good and hot I added the chopped potatoes (if you are lucky enough to have a granddaughter, allow her to help with the copping), onions and chicory and sauteed them 'til they started to brown constantly stirring. Then I added the chopped barbecued meats and a cup .. actually a mug of red wine (if in doubt, add red wine) a mug of water, and allow the wine to cook, taste and then make your daughter taste, discuss and agree to add a small carton of tomato paste and a small carton of cream. Stir well, bring back to the boil and taste again - perfect! cover and let simmer.

Simmer for 20 minutes then turn off the heat and let sit till ready to eat. It will continue to cook for at least another hour.  So, then get your daughter to cook some rice, reheat the leftovers and serve, preferably with some (lots of) cheap, good French wine.

My grandson (the skinny one) had a double serving so I know he liked it :) - it was good.

Mouton's Southern Bistro - Leander

Mouton's Southern Bistro 

We were not here for the music
as you can see from the sky, we eat early

This location on the old 183 to Leander used to be Moody's Breakfast House. I am not sure if it changed hands or just names. To me it seems identical apart from a paint job inside, and my husband pointed out there was new flooring. Every thing else seems the same, Moody's only served breakfast and lunch, Mounton's does lunch and dinner, and only serves breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.

Crawfish Dip

If you like fried food you will probably really enjoy their dinner menu. We started with the Crawfish Dip, not fried, served with French bread. It was very nice. Crawfish, bell pepper, onion in cream cheese served warm.

I do like French bread, but I do not like my bread to be served already buttered. And I use the term 'buttered' loosely, for it was definitely not butter. It had the aftertaste of margarine and I can't stand that. As the bread had been lightly grilled the margarine had soaked into it and really didn't taste good to me.

I don't do fried, so I found one item on the Speciality section of the menu that did appeal to me, even though I usually avoid pasta I do like alligator so when I spied the Bayou Pasta with grilled alligator, tomatoes, trinity, artichoke hearts and asparagus in a jambalaya cream sauce, I was prepared to try it. The pasta was fettuccine. Served with garlic bread.

Bayou Pasta

I was sad to discover when my plate arrived, that there was no obvious sign of alligator steak. I had hoped to see a whole piece of meat sitting on a bed of pasta. The serving was huge, way more than I could eat. I searched and found about half a dozen tiny pieces of alligator, almost too small to really get the flavor.

I like alligator meat, specially if it is cooked well. I suspect this meat was cut into tiny pieces because chewing it would have been just that - chewing. It was very tough and tasteless.

The jambalaya cream sauce on the other hand was delicious. I enjoyed the artichoke hearts and some of the other vegetables (trinity for those who are not familiar with Cajun, is usually a mixture of onions, celery and bell pepper). There was so much food on my plate that I had barely made a dent in it when I was too full to eat any more. I did risk one taste of the garlic bread, which I really do like but unfortunately it was just the same as the lightly grilled French bread with margarine. I tasted absolutely no garlic from it, just margarine.  Happily the glass of cabernet was at room temperature and was very good.

Sheridan Shrimp

Both my mother in law and my husband enjoyed their selections, Sheridan Shrimp for Mildred and Shell Beach Platter for Larry. Both of their dishes contained battered and fried food, served with fries and cole slaw. They do like fried foods and I guess, because I don't do fried, they need to get their fix from time to time so we will return because I can find a salad from their menu that should work for me.


Though I do think some of the prices were slightly high, they were not outrageous. The most expensive dish was the Shell Beach Platter at $14.99.  The entire bill was under $60 which included a glass of wine and a bottle of beer.

Shell Beach Platter

One thing we did enjoy was reading the Vegetarian Menu, which had two salads, a Surf and a Turf salad, each listed the Vegetarian items, then the add-on items, which were Crawfish, Shrimp and Catfish for the Surf and Bacon, Chicken Breast and Bistro Medallions  for the Turf, which naturally immediately moved these salads from under the Vegetarian heading and into another section of the menu. I will try one of those next time, though I will probably stick to the strict Vegetarian item as I suspect the add ons will be fried.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

If you like mushrooms, which I do, you will like these.

3 Portobello Mushrooms
1 tomato finely chopped
1 tomatillo finely chopped
1 tablespoon of finely chopped sweet onion
1 teaspoon of finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon of finely chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon of mustard (I use Dijon)
salt & pepper
two tablespoons of grated cheese

ready for the oven

preheat oven to 425 degrees F
mix the chopped tomato, tomatillo, onion, parsley & cilantro with half the cheese
add the salt & pepper and mustard and mix well
remove the stalk from the mushrooms
fill with the mixed veggies
sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top of the mushrooms
Place mushrooms in a baking tin lined with foil
cook for 15 minutes

ready to eat

that's it!

Beef & Vegetables in Red Wine

Some would call this beef stew, and in fact, that is what I called it when serving it to my husband and his mother, sounded down home and acceptable, wrong.

Whatever you call it, I like it and it is equally good  as a winter chow down mid week, or a weekend dinner with guests.  Be warned, the turnip does make the overall flavor slightly sweet, if that is not to your taste, leave it out or substitute it with another vegetable, such as broccoli or squash.

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds beef  cut in cubes
2 leeks
3 large carrots
6 medium sized potatoes
1 yellow squash
1 turnip
2 cups of chopped cauliflower
1 large onion
6 large mushrooms
2 stalks of celery
fresh parsley chopped
5 cloves garlic crushed
half a small cabbage
quarter cup of olive oil
three quarters bottle of wine
quarter cup of corn starch
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 sachets / cubes of beef stock
salt & pepper

Method:

Chop all the vegetables to approximately the same size
Mix the corn starch, paprika, cumin and chili powder, salt and pepper in a ziploc bag
put the cubed beef in the bag and shake till the meat is coated
heat the oil in a large skillet
add crushed garlic
add the onions and mushrooms
remove onions and mushrooms when cooked but not browned
add the meat to the skillet and brown
add onions and mushrooms and stir
add the vegetables
add the red wine
dissolve beef stock in half a pint of water and add
stir well and bring to a boil
reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes
reduce heat and continue to cook for 2 hours.

Ready to cook

Dos Salsas - Cedar Park

http://www.dossalsas.com/

We have eaten at Dos Salsas a few times and have always been pleased with both the food and the service. The price is also very reasonable. I can highly recommend the Stuffed Jalapenos as an appetizer, they are so good we haven't yet tried any of the other appetizers on the menu. Both of the Dos Salsas served are very good indeed.

On this occasion we had a party of 8 and I was surprised at how quickly we were seated, orders for drinks taken and served, food orders taken, and the food arrived quickly and everyone was happy with their choice.

This visit I strayed from my usual Pollo en Mole which I absolutely love, and I tried the Pescado Monterrey, grilled tilapia with sauteed onions, tomatoes, jalapeno served with a guacamole salad - that is some slices of avocado in a small taco shell.  It was absolutely delicious and perfectly cooked, however, there was way too much for one person.  

Once again I wish that restuarants would serve half portions.  As I have said so many times before, I would willingly pay more than half the price for half the portion. I really hate to think of the food they waste. 

Dos Salsas has a large dining area, with some booths and has a pleasant atmosphere with a definite Tex-Mex decor but it is not overpowering, that is to say it is not gaudy. They also have the requisite flat screen TVs viewable from just about every seat, something I would prefer to not to have. I think having television destroys the conversation flow and adds to the noise levels, but I believe I am probably in the minority - at least in Cedar Park.

As I said, we have been to Dos Salsas before and we will definitely return there.

Royal India - Austin

I grew up in Dublin where Indian restaurants, very good Indian restaurants, abound. I absolutely love Indian food and was quite disappointed to find that Austin didn't seem to have many Indian eateries. The Star of India has long been my favorite, and for many years, only, go to for my curry fix. (I must tell you about the Star of India in another blog).

Thanks to Groupon, we discovered another Indian restaurant had opened in Austin, and not too far from home. They are located in the strip mall at the corner of Balcones Woods and 183.  Armed with our Groupon we headed to try it out.


Wow! Amazing. It is in a strip mall, so not terribly impressive outside, and strip mall restaurants tend to be very much alike on the interior, however there is an atmosphere in Royal India that can only be attributed to the staff and the very high standards. I highly recommend this place. And they take reservations online.




In the tradition of Indian food, everything is served in a serving dish and so mix and match is very simple, you get to taste a little of everything.

As there were five in our party, we had two appetizers. We started with Royal Reshmi Kabab - essentially a ground chicken sausage, spicy and delicious, and Chicken 65. Both were delicious. We also had Naan Bread which I really have to say was amazing. We ordered Garlic Naan and Jalapeno Chees Naan. Everyone enjoyed it.

For main course I had Dhaba Mutton Curry. They offer a spice level from one to five, with five being the hottest. I settled for 3 and it was perfect. In Ireland mutton = old sheep, in India apparently, it is goat, but either, it was wonderful! On the side I had spinach which I love in any shape or form.



Nya ordered the Butter Chicken at a level two and was very pleased with it. Travis showed us all up by ordering, and eating, a level 5 Chili Chicken.

Larry chose the Kakori Kabab and while he said it was delicious (and I affirm as I got to taste it) he was not too keen on the fact that it was ground lamb - also in a sort of sausage form. As he has only recently discovered lamb and likes it in its whole form best.





Our drive home was enhanced by a beautiful sunset - while nothing to do with the restaurant nor the great food, it was a lovely way to finish the evening.

Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas masahed, or 3 frozen defrosted bananas
half a cup of crushed pecan or walnuts
one third of a cup of melted butter
1 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
one and half cups of all purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

lightly grease a muffin pan with olive oil spray wiped with paper towel

ready for the oven

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the flour.
Add the flour, mix until combined
pour into a muffin pan and bake for 30 minutes
test with a sharp knife, if it comes out clean it is done.

cool on a wire rack.  These freeze well.

ready to eat