Comfort Food for a Rainy Day-2/4/10

In the last two months, over 17 inches of rain have fell from the skies here in my part of Georgia. That's a lot of rain on top of the over 20 inches of rain we had in the fall. Even the ants think it's too much and have entered my house in droves. We finally had to call the exterminator Monday when they got into the pantry and I flipped out. Today's menu was the perfect antidote for another cold, rainy day.
The Bison and Red Wine Sheperd's Pie in this month's Bon Appetit is a luxe version of a comfort food favorite. This dish looked wonderful and tasted great but the three hour prep time not realistic for a weekday meal (if you don't work from home). I used boneless beef instead of bison. The meat was wonderfully tender and the sauce was thick and rich. Any extra would make a delicious gravy for just about anything. The egg garnish baked up beautifully and added flavor to the potato crust. I loved the use of parsnips and turnips instead of more potatoes in the beef sections. Eyrleigh loved the whole dish and ate wonderfully, something that doesn't always happen at dinner.
I wanted to add a winter salad to bring some crunch and freshness to a pretty heavy meal. The Celery Root and Apple Salad with Hazelnut Vinaigrette was a great fit. I made a few changes that worked pretty well. I never did find celery root so I used stalk celery. I didn't find hazelnut oil but I did have truffle oil that was a good substitute. The Parmesan shavings were a great flavor addition giving a little saltiness to the salad.



Bison and Red Wine Sheperd's Pie-A-
Celery Root and Apple Salad with Hazelnut Vinaigrette-B+