Nostalgia, part 2 // m-c

Pâté Chinois is a traditional Quebec dish that Marthe made probably every other week. It is made of ground beef, canned creamed corn and mashed potatoes, layered in a baking dish. There is no explanation for why it is typically served with ketchup.

Tom's version is leftover beef from a pot au feu, diced and sautéd with cèpes and red wine, corn maque choux, and a final layer of mashed parsnips and potatoes. We skipped the ketchup.

There is no official recipe for the pâté chinois (not yet, anyway...) but here is the pot au feu recipe from the Financial Times, of all places. Delicious on a cold night.

Simple pot-au-feu

“Simple” because only one cut of meat is deployed. A pot-au-feu can become like a bollito misto with other cuts added to the pot. A shin can be used instead of brisket but will take longer to cook. There’s a good soup to be made with the amount of broth provided. Serves six to eight.

Ingredients

1 piece of brisket with a little fat cover and weighing 1.5kg

1 onion

2 large carrots

1 leek

2 celery ribs

Bouquet garni of bay, thyme and parsley

4 good carrots

4 large but firm turnips

2 celery hearts

Garnish

6 parsnips

100ml double cream

1 small Savoy cabbage

75g grated horseradish

20ml white wine vinegar

100ml crème fraîche

In a large saucepan, cover the meat with cold water and bring slowly to a simmer. Skim the surface. Cut the unpeeled onion in half and blacken it (cut-side down) in a dry frying pan before adding it to the pot. Add the peeled carrots, washed leek and celery. Add the bouquet garni and allow the meat to poach gently for three hours.

Peel the carrots and turnips. Quarter the turnips and celery hearts. Remove the exhausted vegetables from the pot, discard and replace with the fresh ones. Poach with the meat for a further 45 minutes.

Peel the parsnips, cut into small pieces and steam or boil until tender. Pass them through a mouli legumes and return to the heat in a small pan with the cream. Boil until the mix is dry and fluffy. Keep warm.

Quarter and wash the cabbage and boil in plain salted water for four minutes or until tender. Drain and keep warm.

Steep the horseradish with half a teaspoon of caster sugar, a generous pinch of salt and the vinegar for half an hour before stirring in the crème fraîche.

To serve, carve the meat in thick slices and surround with the cabbage and the vegetables from the pot. Add a couple of ladlefuls of the broth and a little jug of this bouillon alongside, as well as the parsnip purée and the horseradish sauce. Other condiments include: cornichons, chrain (horseradish with beetroot), salsa verde, pickled red cabbage and pickled walnuts.

Wine: such a simple but savoury dish may be a foil to the finest mature reds of almost any description. I might plump for a fine northern Rhône at least seven years old.