Divine Chicken a la King Casserole

When I was home visiting my family for Christmas, my dad passed on a family treasure to me. Was it an old piece of jewelry? A beautiful chest of drawers? An old trinket passed down? No - it was a ratty old cook book. Except - it's like Aladdin's lamp. You open it up and point to a recipe - you make it - it's delicious. You open it up and point to a recipe - you make it - it's delicious. Over and over! Apparently half of the food I grew up with came out of this cookbook. So I can't even tell you how excited I am to have it!

So what is this magical cookbook of wonder? It's called "Bayou Cuisine" and it's an old church cookbook from 1979. In fact, if you are totally interested in it, there are a few used copies on Amazon.com here. The inside cover tells me it's a "pot pourri of delta cookery, art, and history" -- perrrrrfect.

There's a lovely old watercolor and a poem on the inside cover.

I must go to my home in the swamps again,
Where the tall, tall cypress grow,
Where the bayous sleep,
And the brakes are deep,
Unused to ice and snow

I must go to my home in the swamps again,
To the simple things I know,
Where the willows weep,
and the love-vines creep
and tangle
South winds blow

Could anything be better? Well, yeah actually. The freaking recipes in this dang holy book.

Today Aj and I weren't sure what to have for dinner. So we opened it up, and the first thing I saw was Chicken Casserole (With Rice) -- Ok so I am a fan of 1) Casserole 2) Chicken and 3) Rice - a quick scan of the ingredients told me this was obviously a take on Chicken a La King. The cookbook classifies the recipe as French and puts it next to Coq au Vin. Done. Decided.

So, loving husband that he is (not to mention I cooked the last 3 nights...) Aj whipped this recipe up in a jiff. It was pretty much the BEST THING EVER. You 100% MUST try this recipe. Definitely getting made again. There was barely even enough for leftovers and there's only two of us!!! The book says Mrs. Jamie Whitten submitted this recipe, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart...err stomach.

Without further ado, the magical "French" recipe (right, because those French people put cornflakes on everything...):


Chicken Casserole (With Rice)

• 2 C. Diced chicken (uncooked, small cubes)
• 1/4 C. Mayonnaise (as always, I used Cains)
• 1 C. Cooked rice (White long grain)
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 4 Oz. Can of Mushrooms
• 1 C. Diced celery
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. finely chopped onion
• 1 Can cream of chicken soup
• Cornflakes (Kellogs)
• 2 Tbsp butter

1. Combine all ingredients except cornflakes and butter and mix together. Place them in a 9x9 casserole dish.
2. Mix 2 tbsp butter (melted) with 1 cup corn flake crumbs. Place on top of casserole.
3. Bake 30 to 40 minutes at 350°F.

Serves 8 (Aka 4)

Snowy Chicken! ... Errr...

Well, today brought snow! FINALLY! Most years we've had snow well before Thanksgiving. Last year we didn't get it until after Christmas. This year we got a huge burst in October and then....nothing. We got a little sprinkling this morning to finally break the dry spell. It really wasn't much... about an inch of snow and then sleet/slush, but it was a huge relief to finally get something white on the ground. It will probably have melted in a day or two, but at least we "broke the ice." Har har.

So it's the new year, and usually I try to make some kind of resolution for the year. Last year I resolved to read and review 52 books. I figured that writing something about the book would help me remember what I liked and didn't like, and possibly help me retain the story as well since I am notorious for forgetting. This year, I've resolved to cook and blog more, craft more, watch 52 movies, and read 25 books. It sounds like a lot, but really it's just finding the balance between work and all of the things that make my life exciting and enjoyable. I also have an ongoing goal to eat better and exercise more. I'd like to be healthier, and stop eating all of Aj's junk food. Plus my pants are getting a little tight and all my clothes are too cute for me to replace. So I have to replace quantity with quality when it comes to food!

If you've noticed that the two recipes I've posted this year are "light" it's because of this, but I promise I don't substitute taste for fewer calories. When you rely on flavors and spices in your cooking and avoid heavy creams and too much butter or oil, you're really not missing out on much. In many cases it's better for you and better tasting. If I didn't tell my husband that things were low fat, he'd never know. In fact, he walked into my studio yesterday and exclaimed that the muffins I made were delicious and was rather surprised to hear they were "light."

Do be careful, though, because a lot of foods that advertise "light" are a huge composite of things that are bad for you and have no nutritional value. It's best to eat foods with the least amount of processing, and to monitor how much you are eating. Just make sure to look at the ingredient list before you grab that "light" or "fat free" or "low fat" snack. If you don't know what's going into it, don't eat it.

Anyway, enough blathering. I should try to blog earlier rather than later, and maybe I'd be wittier!

Rosemary and Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken

• 2 Chicken breasts
• 1/4 C. Whipped cream cheese
• 3 Tbsp. Low fat sour cream
• 1/2 Medium onion, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
• 1-2 oz. Grated smoked Gouda cheese
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 4 Crushed Kalmata olives, pitted
  
• Rosemary
• Cayenne
• Oregano
• Paprika

1. Cut chicken down the center, and then expand the pocket by cutting sideways to the left and right of your first cut.
2. Mix together all ingredients except the onion, holding aside some of the grated cheese. Use the seasonings to taste, with very light cayenne. Once blended, add the onion and mix again.
   
3. Stuff the chicken with the mixture. You may have extra left over depending on the size of your chicken breast.
   
4. Grease a 9x9 pan with cooking spray and place the chicken in it.
5. Cover the chicken with a sprinkling of grated cheese and rosemary.
   
6. Bake on 375 for 30 minutes.

Per half chicken breast, just 170 calories, 7 grams of fat and 14 carbs! This great dish also packs 14 grams of protein per half chicken breast. Pair it with mashed butternut squash, cheddar broccoli, summer squash or asparagus or to try the potato that is featured in the picture, follow this link. (Though we used red potatoes) Yum.

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Light Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

So I know it's been a while since I blogged. Yes yes, a long while. I know. There has been a lot going on with the holidays (and a decent amount of baking!) and Aj and I just got back from a visit home to see my family in Mississippi. We had lovely southern foods and when we left, the airport smelled like bacon. The south is a good place to eat! But all that for another time. It's kind of late, and I want to get to the gist of the post: Light Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins! Yum!

How can the words Chocolate Chip and Light (with the low fat connotation) be in the same sentence? See, I have this great banana nut bread recipe. And I can do almost anything to it and it still is moist and amazing. When we got back from the airport there were two mostly black bananas sitting in my fruit bowl. I am not a banana person. I don't eat them. I don't even like the smell of them. But for some reason I DO like banana nut bread! So I thought I'd whip up a batch since I have not only a Kitchenaid (last Christmas!) but also a Dishwasher (this Christmas!) --- how nice to not even have to do your own dishes. Ah, it's like the space age.

Anyway I had the bananas, and some chocolate chips left over from a batch of holiday cookies that I tossed in at the last minute. (The chocolate chips, not the cookies. That would make for an interesting muffin... Eck.) These muffins only have 132 calories each, with just 3 grams of fat and 3 grams of protein! They would be a perfect pair with your morning coffee and some fresh fruit for a really good breakfast. The best part is they taste like they shouldn't be low fat or low calorie at all!

Well, without further ado...

Light Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 2 Overripe bananas
• 1 1/4 C. Flour
• 3 Egg Whites
• 1/2 C. Splenda for baking
• 1/2 C. White sugar
• 1/2 C. Cinnamon apple sauce
• 2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil
• 1/4 C. Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 Tsp. Baking soda
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• Healthy sprinkling of All Spice

1. Combine all ingredients and mix until well blended. Small chunks of banana are OK.
   
2. In a muffin tin, insert 12 muffin cups (I spray my muffin liners with non-stick spray with great results). Distribute batter evenly in muffin cups.
3. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes at 350°F or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

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Olives, Bagels, and SNOWTOBER

So for those of you who didn't know, New England had the most snow ever in October in 140 years. Typically, a little bit of snow is not such a big deal, but the problem with snow in October is that it was heavy, damp snow and the trees still had all of their leaves. The snow started around 4 pm on Saturday, and continued into Sunday morning. Aj and I were out shoveling our driveway around 10 at night and all around us we could just hear trees snapping. The leaves gave the snow something extra to grab onto, and the heavy weighted snow just became too much for the limbs, and they took out tons and tons of power lines.

Many people think losing power is "fun" and "rustic" and believe me I think the same thing...for the first day. Sure it's fun to heat up soup on your little propane burner and have a nice warm fire in the fireplace. Only... when it's in the 20s outside and all you have are duraflame logs that you picked up at the last minute (thank goodness) and the light you are reading by starts to go down with the sun.... well it's not so awesome then. Because you'll find that you need light to do things. Light to play board games. Light to read. Light to make food. Light to go down into the basement and let the dogs out. And it continues to get cold cold cold and you worry about your food spoiling because even though it is cold you're not sure it's THAT cold. So we were relieved to get power back on Tuesday night. On the down side, the Nashua Used Book Superstore that I am currently overseeing didn't get power back until Friday, and no amount of harassing Public Service of New Hampshire made it come back any faster. BUT the snow is MOSTLY melted at this point and now it's November, so snow is acceptable and even expected. But snow in OCTOBER? Starting things off a little early this year, huh New England?

Right before the storm Aj and I had gone to the grocery store and spent about $100 on mostly perishable goods, but luckily everything (even our milk) stayed good! Taking Aj to the grocery store is fun, but also a bad idea. While we were there he got into a conversation with the Deli lady and ended up buying stuffed grapeleaves. Needless to say he didn't like them and they ended up in the trash after a couple of days. But he did also pick up some cream cheese and green olives to make what is simply called "Cream Cheese and Olive" --- I did a little research and this appears to have been a popular thing in the 70s and 80s, and many people in the area had it on sandwiches as kids. I had never heard of it before I moved up here and met Aj's family, but it was something he remembered and loved from his childhood, so he made it. It's essentially half a jar of chopped pimento stuffed green olives, about 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive juice, and a box of cream cheese. It's actually very good, especially on Ritz crackers. I also ate an excessive amount of it on saltines. And one morning I had some on an everything bagel with Lox ...well...that was just overwhelming and way too strongly flavored, but otherwise it's really good! Perhaps another addition to my New England Food Knowledge, aka NEFK.

Over Christmas they also make this Velveeta and Olive spread that, by all rights, should be disgusting but is addictive. All I know is it involves Velveeta, mayonnaise and olives and probably is straight fat but is super delicious and only made at holidays, so it is OK. Any other time of the year you ask me to combine Velveeta and mayo and I will probably punch you in the face, but at Christmas time I suppose my taste buds and food sensibilities are a little more charitable.

So after we defeated Snowtober and moved on to the next level (aka got our power back) I wanted to make dinner. I ended up making another one of those "what have you got in the fridge?" pasta dishes last night that involved pancetta, garlic, shallots, the rest of that jar of green olives, cream cheese and smoked Gouda with farfalle. It was quite tasty. I know my pictures suck, but I keep taking them with my phone. Just imagine they look better than they do and we'll be all set. Anyway, this was a very tasty meal. I continue to encourage "what have you got in the fridge?" pasta.

And today, since I had the day off from work at the bookstore, and was doing freelance writing from home, I decided not only to do laundry (!!!!) but also to make BAGELS. That's right people, YOU can make bagels. This is miraculous information, I know. Sure, we all thought bagels were pre-made by gnomes at Pepperidge Farm and Panera and distributed throughout America, but we were wrong. Bagels can be made by HUMANS. So now that we've gotten that out of the way, I will tell you this was my second adventure making bagels. The first time Katie and I did it start to finish by hand, and we've been wanting to make bagels again for quite a while, but this time I invited her over and we used my bread machine to make the dough for us.

The problem with a drafty New England house is that is ...well.. drafty. (No, the problem is not that it is in New England, sorry.) Drafts are the enemy of rising bread, but an enclosed bread maker gives your dough a perfect first rise, and I am fully willing to sacrifice the 2 hours and 20 minutes it would have taken me to mix, knead, and rise the dough by hand for the sake of ease a bread maker offers and the ability to go off and do other stuff. Bread makers are awesome and you will never hear me say otherwise. So you put the ingredients into the bread maker, wait, do other stuff, hear the beep of the bread maker and take out the dough, then shape it and boil it and cover it in toppings and bake it and BAM, best bagels of your life. Seriously Katie and I could not stop eating these delicious treats. Now, I will make no claims to being a bagel connoisseur but these were legitimately the best bagels I've ever had, and Aj liked them just as much. Here is the recipe, adapted from this one based on some of the posted comments. You do need a bread machine for this, though you could probably adapt it if you don't have one.

Best Bagels of Your Life

• 1 1/8 C. of water at 110°F (this is pretty warm. I always measure the temperature with a candy thermometer)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 C. bread flour
• 1 packet rapid rise yeast (2 1/2 tsp)
• Egg whites for glazing
• 3 Quarts boiling water
• 1 Tbsp cornmeal
• Toppings

1. In the bread machine, put the water, salt, sugar, bread flour, and yeast in in the order recommended in your bread machine. Put it on the dough function and walk away.
2. When the dough is finished with its first rise (the machine will beep or let you know somehow) take the dough out gently and lay it onto a flat, lightly floured surface. Let it rest for about 5 minutes, and then divide the dough into 8 pieces. I rolled it into a log and sliced gently to make the divisions and then tore the pieces off.
   
3. Lightly flatten the dough into plump discs and poke your thumb through the center, gradually spinning the dough in your hand until the centers are about 3/4s of an inch to 1 inch in diameter.
   
4. Lay the dough rings out on the floured surface and cover with a clean cloth. Let sit for 30 minutes.
   
5. Around the 20 minute mark, begin to heat up the 3 quarts of water to boiling. The original recipe recommends putting 3 Tbsp of white sugar into the water at this point, but I forgot to do that and so I don't know what kind of difference it makes.
   
6. When the water is boiling and the dough rings have risen for 30 minutes, put the dough rings 2 at a time into the water, letting them boil for 30 seconds on each side. Take them out and place them on a clean cloth to drain slightly. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
   
7. Transfer them to a baking sheet with cornmeal scattered along the bottom and brush them lightly with the egg white.
8. Put your toppings on. We used Pepperjack cheese, and a thick cinnamon sugar mixture made with natural cane sugar.
9. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes, keeping an eye on the bagels after the 15 minute mark and waiting until they are pleasantly golden before removing. If you made a sugar/cinnamon one, eat it warm with ample cream cheese.
   

If you want to mix in raisins or jalapenos, etc. you would do this during stage 2, before you form the dough into the bagels. I am not sure how heavily kneading the extra ingredients into the dough would affect the bagels, but hopefully they would rise the same. We plan to try to mix in some raisins to our next batch.

PICTURED: Pepperjack cheese bagel.

Contemplations on Apples and Winter Setting In

Just two weeks ago we were enjoying 60 degree days, and now we're looking at the prospect of snow. New England weather can be extremely fickle. Last year, we had no snow almost all the way through to Christmas, but it snowed at the last minute. This is particularly terrible because it is no less cold, it's just not pretty and you don't get any snow days. Aj and I did manage to make it to Mack's Apples this year to pick. Typically we go to a more local farm, but this one was only about 25 minutes away and had a lot of Honeycrisp apples, as well as a delicious hybrid called Jonagold.

Honeycrisp apples are my #1 "eating apple", and closely behind that are Jazz and Pink Lady. For baking, I haven't figured out my favorite yet. Jonagolds are supposed to be great for baking, but I found them to get soft a little too quickly in the oven. (Here's what Midwest Living says about Jonagolds:Jonagolds (left) are daughters of Jonathan and Golden Delicious, with the best of both worlds--firm flesh and a sweet-tart taste. ) Finding the right apple for what you are baking is imperative, because apples have very different tastes, consistencies, and abilities to hold up when heated. So every year is a process of elimination and trial/error.

We liked Mack's Apples a lot and also picked our own pumpkin there. Speaking of which, only a few days after picking the pumpkin we woke up and saw some smashed pumpkins in the street, and were very scared it was ours! But ours was safe on the porch. I don't know what hoodlum kids did it, but it's annoying! I think they belonged to the family down the street, who I am sure was disappointed that they didn't get to carve their pumpkins. I may try to carve ours tomorrow, which means pumpkin seeds! Yum.

We'll probably go back to Mack's Apples next year for another harvest. We picked 22 pounds of apples and hardly have any left. Aj keeps eating two a day! I wanted to use some of the apples to make a crisp, which I haven't done before. Typically I do a lot of fried apples (Southern thing) and baked apples, but this year I made a 5 pound apple crisp (five pounds of apples, that is)! I used a recipe from Ina Garten and it turned out very nice. I mixed the topping a little too long so it came out almost like an oatmeal cookie topping instead of a streusel type topping. I also had to do some substituting because I didn't have all the ingredients... Here is my messed-up but delicious version of the recipe!


Cookie Top Apple Crisp
Filling

• 5 lbs Jonagold or other baking apple
• 3 Tbsp. orange juice
• 3/4 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 C. white granulated sugar
• 2 Tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Tsp. baking spice

Topping

• 1 1/2 C. flour
• 3/4 C. granulated sugar
• 3/4 C. packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 Tsp. salt
• 1 C. rolled oats
• 2 Sticks salted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Peel core and cut the apples into wedges. Mix with the remaining filling ingredients and toss in a large bowl (I used a flexible baking sheet to help keep the apples from overflowing).
3. Place the apples into a 9x14 baking pan (I used glass, not greased).
4. Combine all of the ingredients in a mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on 2 until the consistency of a cookie dough.
5. Crumble the dough topping into small bits across the entire top of the crumble.
   
6. Place on a baking sheet and bake 1 hour or until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly (I did 50 minutes but should have baked less - it all depends on your oven.)
   

Parsley Schmarsley

Ah Autumn is here! The trees are really starting to change at this point, and the weather is crisp and beautiful. I do worry, though, because we have yet to go apple picking or to snag our pumpkin for the year (and I have a great toasted pumpkin seed recipe I really want to try). We did go to a place called the Topsfield Fair last weekend, though. It's New England's biggest agricultural fair and it's only about an hour outside of where we live, so we got out of work and headed down and ate our fair share of fair food (though they didn't have what I wanted most - the chicken on the stick with the pickles in between all deep fried...maybe that's only a Southern thing) and saw New England's biggest pumpkin for 2011, which was 1.6 tons.

While at the fair, we were going through an exhibition/sales type tent and came across this guy doing "as seen on TV" demonstrations for something called a " Swiss Super Peeler" - not that great (or is it?) BUT they also had a Swiss Super Julienner (I doubt that's what it's called) that juliennes veggies in a jiff. Really nice, thin, restaurant style delicious veggies. That's what I'm hoping anyway. As I was walking away I checked my bag and ended up with a peeler, so I went back and exchanged it. I haven't used the thing yet, so who knows if I've been hornswaggled. Although judging by the videos on Youtube, apparently they've been "selling them for 27 years!" Youtube Video. They don't show the julienne veggie cutter though because I guess it's a new product. Well I'll get back to you and let you know how amazingly awesome it is...or isn't.

So last night Aj, my most wonderful husband, made dinner. I had this recipe that I had gotten from the supermarket - it was attached to a coupon (you know, the kind they put on to convince you to buy the product with the coupon because the coupon is way more than you would ever purchase in normal circumstances) and I thought it looked pretty tasty. Sausage & Tomato Rigatoni. I had some turkey kielbasa in the fridge that I wanted to use up, and I thought this looked pretty easy so Aj got the job (although don't get me wrong, he's a good cook and can make things that are quite complicated).

I have to tell you, when I look at a recipe and it says "fresh parsley" I snigger and think to myself why would I buy a bundle of parsley to get 2 chopped tablespoons to top off this recipe? Legitimate concerns, but last night I decided there was DEFINITELY a reason people put fresh parsley into their dishes. See, if I had made the recipe I would have skipped out on the fresh parsley, but because Aj made the recipe and wanted to follow it as instructed he picked up parsley at the grocery store and I'm glad he did! So when you make this recipe, make sure to include the parsley because it genuinely makes a difference.

This recipe is nonetheless doctored; the original recipe calls for the green-bottle Parmesan cheese and Italian sausage, which both got substituted in my version of the recipe.


Turkey Kielbasa & Tomato Rigatoni

• 4 C. rigatoni, uncooked
• 1 package turkey kielbasa
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Red pepper, chopped into large chunks
• 2 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Jar spaghetti sauce
• 2 Tbsp. chopped Italian parsley (Don't ignore it!)
• 1/4 C. Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook the pasta and sausage as directed on the packages, omitting salt in the pasta cooking water.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add the peppers and garlic; cook and stir 2 minutes or until the peppers are crisp but tender.
3. Cut the sausage into 1/4" thick slices and add to the skillet.
   
4. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and cook 4 to 5 minutes or until heated through, stirring frequently.
5. Drain the pasta and plate the servings, scooping the sauce over the top and sprinkling with parsley and cheese.
   

Steak Lovers Unite!

Now forgive whatever parts of this post doesn't make sense and/or are offensive, as I have had some wine and cannot be held responsible for what I type. Today I finally managed to get to the grocery store, and I picked up some stuff for a "fancier" type of dinner. You know the filet that comes prepackaged with the bacon wrapped around it that you don't want to buy but you do because your grocery store doesn't have any other kind of filet? And you're thinking as you buy it "Oh god. What did they do to this meat. Why is this filet so cheap?" Well that's what was for dinner! I've succumbed to the ease of this prepackaged filet many times in the past months. It's not that terrible, but let me advise that you don't eat it often. It's probably like tuna fish...not toxic... in small quantities.

Anyway, though. I use a recipe out of my Williams Sonoma cookbook that I talked about in this post and usually I just use their quick method for cooking filet mignon but this time I decided to make the recipe... kinda. Let's get this straight... I'm not LAZY exactly but when it comes to marinating steaks in bone marrow juice for 6 hours... well let's just say both "ew" and "I have better things to do." I am just not really going to sit around poking bone marrow out of cow bones...not to mention then I'd have to buy cow bones and who knows what kind of look the cashier would give you. Just not for me. I'm not that crazy yet.

Anyway, I was able to put together a really delicious meal in about 40 minutes. Would have taken less time if I had more than 2 operational stove top eyes to work with... Damn you 1950s kitchen! You are funkyretroawesome and yet you suck. We had long grain wild rice, wheat rolls, filet mignon with "bordelaise" sauce, and garlic asparagus. Delicious! (Anyone else see filet mignon and say in their head "mig-non" for giggles? Ok, good.)

For the long grain wild rice I opt for Carolina brand - it's cheap (under $1 per package) and has a great flavor. For the rolls, I had some pre-baked frozen rolls that you just pop in the toaster oven for 12 minutes and they are crusty and very tasty. In this instance, I used Rhodes rolls out of the frozen aisle. The asparagus was fresh, and always tastes better with fresh garlic, though I used bottled minced garlic. And the filet was tender and delicious with the quick'n'easy "bordelaise" sauce. Below are the recipes for the asparagus and the filet, and this recipe serves 2.

Filets Mignons with "Bordelaise" Sauce and Garlic Asparagus

• 1 Package pre-bacon-wrapped filet mignons (2 Filets)
• Olive oil
• 1/2 Tsp beef bouillon concentrate (I use "Better than Bouillon" brand) combined with 1/4 C. water
  
• 1 Medium shallot, minced
• 3/4 C. Red Wine (I use a Michigan wine, Grand Traverse - best red wine for people who don't like red wine.)
• Butter, unsalted, unsoftened
  
• Pinch of Thyme (dried OK)
• 1 Dried bay leaf
• Salt and pepper
• Asparagus 1/2 bunch
  
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Remove the filet from its packaging and pat it dry with paper towels. Rub it lightly with olive oil on both sides and let it sit.
   
3. In a shallow skillet, melt 1/2 tbsp butter and add shallots, cooking until translucent about 5 minutes.
   
4. Add the wine, thyme, and bay leaf and simmer uncovered until it's reduced by 3/4ths about 12 minutes.
5. In the mean time, heat about 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet, and sautee the garlic lightly. Add the asparagus, and cook over high heat for about 3 minutes, and medium heat until the asparagus is cooked but still slightly crisp, about 10 minutes, tossing regularly to keep the asparagus from burning.
   
6. If you have a double oven, place the asparagus in the oven that is not on. If not, place it (skillet and all if possible) in the microwave and close the door.
7. At this time, when the wine mixture is reduced, add the 1/4th cup of beef bouillon and let it continue to simmer uncovered.
   
8. Heat a well seasoned cast-iron skillet over high heat until very hot. Return to the filet and coat it lightly in fresh cracked pepper and salt. Place it in the skillet, and cook on one side 2 1/2 minutes. Flip and cook 2 1/2 minutes on the other side.
   
9. Transfer the whole skillet into the oven and cook 3 minutes for rare, and 5 minutes for medium. If you like it really well done, you probably shouldn't be eating filet.
10. In the mean time, while the filet finishes, continue to stir and simmer down your sauce. Let it cool for a few minutes. When the filet comes out of the oven and/or the sauce has cooled a bit, take 1/2 tbsp chilled butter and mix it in until it melts - this will thicken the sauce a bit.
    
11. On the serving plate, pour the sauce over the filet, and serve the asparagus and other sides together. They all blend well with the "bordelaise" sauce.