Stevenson Casserole

For our weekly dinner exchange, Mr. E. thought it would be a good idea to have the husbands/fiances take a turn cooking for the ladies... His favorite dish growing up was a family recipe and his mom used to make this for his birthday dinner every August at the beach. We have lightened up the dish just a bit by adding lite cream cheese and lite sour cream. Enjoy!

STEVENSON CASSEROLE - 4 -5 servings:

1 lb ground beef
1 chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
1 large can tomato sauce (15 oz)
1/4 cup red wine
8 oz lite sour cream
6 oz lite cream cheese
6 oz egg noodles
Cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef and onion. Spoon off fat. Add salt, pepper, wine, and tomato sauce; Simmer. In separate bowl, combine sour cream and cream cheese. Slightly cook noodles. Place in layers in casserole dish (two total) - end with meat sauce on top: noodles - cheese mix - meat. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with squares of cheddar cheese; bake 5 minutes more until the cheese is melted.

The most common mistake is with the noodles - either using too many or over cooked.

Beef Pasties

My husband three favorite ingredients in the world are beef, carmelized onions and bleu cheese. So when he came across a recipe that included all three... he could not resist! He spent late Sunday afternoon preparing this wonderful dinner... I was so impressed with the end product as it looked like something a professional pastry chef might have made. We made one change to the recipe... he did not use shortening but rather substituted more butter (I just can't get over the idea of putting crisco into my food... it just does not seem like real food to me...).


Ingredients
crust

* 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
* 1 cup white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour
* 1 1/8 teaspoons salt
* 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (preferably nonhydrogenated), frozen
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
* 7 tablespoons (or more) ice water

filling

* 4 teaspoons olive oil
* 2 large onions, thinly sliced
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
* 10 oz skirt steak, cut crosswise on diagonal into 1/4-inch-wide strips
* 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt, divided
* 6 oz coarsely crumbled Stilton blue cheese (1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups), divided
* 1 large egg white, beaten to blend

Preparation
crust

*
Blend both flours and salt in processor 5 seconds. Drop in shortening by tablespoonfuls. Cut in until coarsely diced. Add butter. Cut in until coarse meal forms. Transfer to bowl. Add 7 tablespoons ice water. Toss with fork until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather dough into ball; divide into 4 equal pieces. Shape each into disk; wrap and chill at least 45 minutes and up to 1 day.

filling

*
Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions. Sauté until deep brown, reducing heat if necessary to avoid burning, about 30 minutes. Add wine and thyme. Simmer until liquid evaporates, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Cool. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
*
Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Roll out each dough disk between sheets of parchment paper to 9-inch round. Peel top parchment off each. Spread 1/4 of onion mixture on half of each round, leaving 1-inch plain border. Top onions with beef strips. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt over beef on each, then top each with 1/4 of cheese. Sprinkle with pepper. Brush dough border with some egg white. Using bottom parchment as aid, fold plain dough half over filling. Seal edges. Fold sealed edge over again; press with fork to double-seal.
*
Brush each pasty with egg white. Cut 3 slits in each top crust. Divide pasties (still on parchment) between 2 large rimmed baking sheets.
*
Bake pasties until crust is golden brown and filling is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; serve.



Bon Appetit Magazine, March 2009