A Very Happy Whit

If you've ever spent enough time around me, you've heard me tell the story about my kids having food tastes that match their personalities. Our middle son, Whit, is the one who craves comfort foods. To him, pot roast is like a big warm hug. So last night, he got a very special hug...six-hour pot roast and boiled potatoes. The roast recipe is quite simple. Carrots, onion, celery, garlic and mushrooms, all roughly chopped and cooked with a slab of meat over low heat. You can make it faster, but you just don't get the same result. If you would like to be as happy as Whit in this picture, send me an email and I'll send you the recipe.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Simple but Good

The protein closest to the front of the freezer a few days ago was an English beef roast. Simple, tasty, foolproof. I rubbed it down with some Ivy & Devine Coffee Rub, browned it in a big black-iron skillet, slipped it in a hot oven and didn't think about it again until it was time to eat. I whipped up a creamy horseradish sauce, some julienned vegetables and some boiled potatoes and voila! Dinner was served.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Self Administered Comfort Food

After some bitterly disappointing news on Friday, I figured I needed some comfort food, and nothing takes my mind off of misery more than spending the day in the kitchen working on huge batches of food that must be prepared lovingly and from scratch. Since I thought the Karma Police might descend on my house for having a pitty-party/anger-fest, I figured the first comfort food to make would need to be for someone else. Earlier in the week, I learned that a new friend of mine had undergone bypass surgery. The surgery didn't kill him so I wasn't about to let a diet of hospital food take him out either. If there is one singular truth borne of the kitchen it is that sick people need soup. Luckily, there were a bunch of chicken carcases in the freezer and with the help of some angry chopping and Zen-like stirring, four hours later they were transformed into Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. My friend was appreciative and the black cloud over my heart lifted a bit seeing him smile at the thought of enjoying something made with care and full of chickeny goodness. It turns out that now-a-days, getting your chest bone sawed in half and your heart literally taken out of your chest only rates a four day stay in the hospital. My friend was heading home on Saturday and his soup would make the journey with him.

On Saturday, our friends Rose and Peter were in the mood for some slow cooked food, good wine and great company. Peter picked me up around noon and we trekked over to McDade's for beef short ribs. When we got there, we found that they didn't have quite enough ribs for eight people, but they did have ox tails. We filled the basket with cheap cuts of meat, aromatic vegetables, potatoes and the ingredients for one of our favorite desserts, Root Beer Floats.

The prep time took about twenty minutes and after browning off the ribs and tails, tossing in the vegetables and filling the massive iron skillets with a bottle of wine each, Peter and I had the rest of the day to lounge around, or so we thought. Rose had a Purple Martin house that needed to be relocated to Laurel Park, Kitty had a job interview (leaving me in charge of Zak) and the boys had numerous adventures in mind. At least the food was on autopilot for the next six hours.

Erecting the birdhouse presented its own particular set of challenges that we were able to overcome. If you want to see out handiwork, it is proudly on display towards the back of the big open field in Laurel Park. Because of a break in the pole and a longer than expected pole that fit into the original shaft, Rose's Purple Martin house in Laurel Park is probably one of the tallest structures in Belhaven.

Back at the house with all of the kids in tow, Peter and I watched curiously as the guys tried their hand at "Free Running." Obviously, this clambering over obstacles and jumping over furniture is now an internet-video-fueled "extreme" sport. When I was a boy we just called it "running around." My first thought of "This will certainly end poorly." was confirmed when I heard a thud like a wooden bat hitting a cantaloupe. From the corner of my eye, I saw Stuart fall into a crumpled heap behind a stone wall and walked over to investigate. I fully expected to see a massive head wound or a bit of bone sticking out of some limb. I was relieved to see that the injury, though serious, would not require a spatula, a helicopter or an MRI. Stuart had managed to whack his shin so hard that he smashed a dime-sized hole in the skin and through it, you could see the sinewy covering of his shin bone. The force of the blow was so hard that he wasn't bleeding since the skin was both cut and sealed by the impact. Peter's reaction was, "C'mon Stuart. We need to stitch that up. Let's get you up to the kitchen."

"Is it really gonna hurt?" Stuart asked.

"You bet." Peter confidently replied.

A few minutes later, Stuart was disinfected, numbed and closed and Peter and I still had a few hours of downtime before the girls arrived to eat supper. (Click here if you really must see pictures of the stitches. I'd rather not put them on the same page with braised ox tail.)

The meal was rich. The wine was plentiful. The conversation was lively. And now Stuart will have a cool new scar to show off to teenage girls. I can't imagine a better way to heal my damaged heart.

Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Chili, Day Two and Beyond

When I make chili, it is usually a big stock pot event. It's not that we eat that much chili in a setting, but because it's so versatile that we can use it all sorts of different dishes over the next month or so. After eat our first, all chili meal, I put the leftovers in several containers of differing sizes. Some little containers go in the freezer to be pulled out at a later date for chili-dogs, others for chili-omelettes. Larger container goes in the fridge and is used in the next day or so for one of my favorite dishes, Frito Pie. For such a simple, pedestrian dish, it is complex in both flavor and texture. The spice of the chili is amplified by the saltiness of the corn chips. The cheese mellows out the heat and the lime and cilantro are crisp notes that play well accentuating the heaviness of everything else.

Today, Kitty and I went by Monte and Amy's house to have lunch, watch some Olympics and pick up Zak from his birthday sleepover with Dakota. When I offered to bring Frito Pie, the answer was a resounding "YES!"

Here's a still shot of the finished product. Video will be up later. I wont bother with a recipe, just a formula. In this order, Fritos + Chili + Shredded Cheese + Chopped Cilantro + Lime Juice = Frito Pie. Don't email me asking for measurements, just wing it and use the picture as a guide.

Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Snow in Mississippi = Chili in our house!

When I went to sleep last night, there was a light dusting of snow starting to fall and the temperature was hovering around 39 degrees. There was plenty of talk about heavy snow and school closings, but the weather didn't quite look like it was going to do much. The Jackson Public School System said yesterday that they would announce school closings at 5:00AM so naturally, the kids were bounding out of bed at 4:50 to check the news. What they awoke to was this. Indeed, school was closed.

Everyone scurried about, putting on layers of clothes, rubber boots, hats and gloves. Kitty and I rolled over, turned off the alarm and hoped that no one died of frostbite or exposure while we went back to sleep until some less rude hour.

By the time we dragged ourselves out of the warmth of the electric blanket, the whole of Belhaven was blanketed in a thick layer of heavy, wet snow. Every kids in the neighborhood was in the streets and the muffled silence was only broken by the sounds of laughter and the occasional thud of a massive snowball finding its target.

Stuart  managed to make his way to Broad Street Baking company to (what else) meet with some girls to drink hot chocolate. Whit wandered over to his friend Jay's house to congregate with other young teens for sledding and Kitty taught Zak and Charlie how to make their first snowman (and snowdog) ever. We named the snowman Bubba Wayne and I started thinking about Chili!

Since the chili was going to be for kids and adults alike, I decided to make two batches. I called them Chili de los Angeles and Chili de los Diablos. The recipes were identical except for whole jalepeno and the amounts of dried ancho chilis and Indian chili powder. One warms you up like a nice hug from your mom while the other kicks you in the gut, sets your hair on fire and tries to put you out with a bucket of jet fuel.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Chili de los Angeles y Chili de los Diablos

Serves 10

3 lbs. chuck (cubed)

4 lbs. ground beef (round, sirloin or chuck)

8 cloves garlic

2 large yellow onions

1 large red onion

1 bunch green onions

1 jalapeño pepper

3 Tbsp. oregano

2 Tbsp. Mexican chili powder

1 Tbsp. or more Indian chili powder (Diablo only)

3 Tbsp. ground cumin

3 Tbsp. paprika

3 or more dried ancho chili peppers with stems and seeds removed (Diablo only)

2 Tbsp. whole coriander

1 tsp. cinnamon powder

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

4 Tbsp. olive oil

1 bottle dark beer

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

Cilantro for garnish

Limes for garnish

1 cup sour cream

2 cups queso fresco (or shredded jack cheese)

Prep

Coarsely chop the red onions, yellow onions and garlic. Cut the chuck into ½ inch cubes. Remove the seeds and white membrane from jalapeño pepper and finely chop the remaining flesh. Finely chop the green onions and the ancho chili peppers. Slice the limes into wedges.

Cook

Place a stock pot over medium heat until it is very hot (3 minutes will do the trick) add the cubed beef and quickly brown on all sides. Add olive oil, garlic, red onions, yellow onions and jalapeño pepper and cook until onions are translucent. Add ground beef and brown completely. Add all herbs and dry ingredients, including ancho chilis. Add chocolate and stir until it is well mixed with the beef. Add ½ bottle of beer and tomatoes. Bring all to a simmer and cook until the liquid is reduced by half.

Plate

Ladle chili into a large bowl and top with a dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle with cheese and green onions and garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

Variations

To morph this bowl of goodness into Frito Pie, cover the bottom of a bowl with corn chips, spoon on a heavy layer of chili, top with melted cheese and microwave for about 30 seconds or until the cheese melts.

Whit Food

In a recent interview, I described my kids by the types of food they crave. Whit, our 13-year-old boy, loves comfort foods. He will take chicken pot pie or potroast over steak or salmon every time. To him comfort foods are like a hug. Whit is the cuddliest of all the boys and will frequently come stand next to you and refuse to leave until he gets his back scratched, his head patted and his shoulders rubbed. What makes this even more amusing is the fact that he is so tall, so strong and so aggressive on the football field. This teen-aged brute who loves nothing more than playing on defensive line and hunting down quarterbacks like a lion hunts gazelle, is really a softy at heart.

That's Whit snuggling with me at a reception for 94-year-old Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards. Isn't he cute! Now that I have embarrassed him enough, I'll move on to the food. Tonight's potroast was a 4 lb. bottom round roast cooked low and slow. I would have let it cook longer, but the family was starting to resemble a pack of wolves ready to turn on their leader and have him for supper. Sometimes, I cook this with beer, sometimes with wine. Tonight I made it with beef stock and left out the celery...mainly because we were out of celery.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Whit's Pot Roast (Hug on a Plate)

1 5 lb. pot roast

1 large yellow onion

2 carrots

2 Yukon gold potatoes

2 stalks celery

6 cloves garlic

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1 32 oz. container beef stock*

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Prep

Roughly chop onion, carrots, celery, potatoes and garlic. Season roast with salt and pepper.

Cook

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Heat a large iron skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and continue heating until oil smokes. Add seasoned pot roast and brown on all sides. Add chopped vegetables and transfer to oven. With the oven open and the skillet on the middle rack, add herbs and ½ tsp. black pepper. Add beef stock until liquid is almost to the rim of the skillet. Top loosely with foil and cook for 1 hour. Slide out the oven rack, turn the meat and stir the vegetables. Reduce heat to 275° and add more liquid to cover vegetables if needed. Cook for an additional 4-6 hours or until the meat tears apart with a fork.

Plate

Serve meat over vegetables and top with the cooking liquid.

Dinner with Deborah

Our friend Deborah joined us at home for dinner last night. We had a great visit and from the pictures below, I think you can tell that Deborah enjoyed the meal. I made Flatiron Steak with a Wine Reduction Pan Sauce, Lobster Whipped Potatoes and for Kitty, Gluten-free Broccoli Au Gratin. Before dinner we cracked a bottle of Castle Rock Pinot from California's Central Coast and with the meal, we uncorked a Parados Malbec from Argentina. 
I had never attempted to make any dishes "au gratin" with gluten-free baking mix before last night. I figured that with a small gathering, if I bombed with it, I could always throw some Fordhooks in the microwave and no one would be the wiser. As it turns out, you can use the stuff pretty much like flour when making a bechamel sauce.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Marinated Flat Iron Steak with Pan Sauce

1 Flatiron steak (2-3 lbs.)

2 cans pilsner beer

½ cup Dales Steak Seasoning

1 Tbsp. Ivy & Devine Coffee Rub

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1/3  cup good red wine

½ cup rich beef stock

Fresh ground black pepper

6 green onions

1 bunch parsley   

Prep

Marinate steak in beer and Dales Seasoning for at least three hours before cooking. Remove from marinade and pat dry. Allow meat to come to room temperature and rub thoroughly with Ivy & Devine Coffee Rub. Finely chop parsley and green onions. Turn on broiler and allow it to become very hot.

Cook

Heat a large iron skillet over high heat until it is very hot. Add 2 Tbsp. butter to the hot skillet and as soon as it melts and foams, add steak and cook for one minute on each side. Transfer skillet to broiler and add 1 more Tbsp. butter. Broil for seven minutes and transfer from broiler back to stovetop over medium heat. Remove the steak and allow it to rest in a bowl covered loosely in foil while the sauce is prepared. Turn off the broiler and place a large platter in the oven to warm. With the pan on the stovetop over medium heat, deglaze the pan with wine and allow it to reduce to 1/3 of its original volume. Add beef stock and continue reducing until it is ½ of its original volume. Turn heat to low and add any liquid that has pooled in the bowl beneath the steak and remaining butter. Stir in butter until it is completely emulsified and add ½ of the green onions. Add black pepper to taste.

Plate

Slice steak at an angle, place on warm platter, fan the meat and top with pan sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley and remaining green onions.

(Serves 4)

Lobster Whipped Potatoes

4 large russet potatoes

1 Tbsp. lobster base*

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 cup whole milk

4 green onions

Salt

Pepper

Prep

Peel and cube potatoes. Set milk out and allow it to come to room temperature. Finely chop green onions.

Cook

In a large saucepan or medium stock pot, cover potatoes with cold water, add 1 tsp. salt and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until potatoes are tender enough for a knife to pass through them with little resistance. This should take about 12-15 minutes. Reduce the heat to low. Drain all but ¼ cup of water from the potatoes and return the pot to the stove. If you can’t determine this amount by “eyeballing” the liquid, remove ¼ cup of the hot water, set aside and then drain the potatoes completely and return the reserved water to the pot. With a potato masher or ricer, mash the potatoes until all the lumps are gone. Add lobster base and butter and stir thoroughly. Slowly add the milk, a little bit at a time and whip with a wand mixer while the milk is added. You may not use all of the milk before the desired consistency is reached. When the potatoes are velvety and completely lump-free, add salt and pepper to taste.

Plate

Serve hot and top with chopped green onions.

(Serves 6)

*I recommend a brand called Better than Bouillon.

Gluten-free Broccoli Au Gratin

6 heads fresh broccoli

4 Tbsp. gluten-free baking mix

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 cup shredded jack cheese

¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 cup whole milk

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 whole pod garlic

1 tsp. olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Ingredient

Prep

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut broccoli florets from the stalks and place in a microwave and oven safe dish, season lightly with salt and pepper. Make a ¼ inch slice through the top of the garlic pod. Drizzle garlic with salt and pepper and wrap in foil. Allow the milk to come to room temperature.

Cook

Place the foil-wrapped garlic in the hot oven and roast for 15 minutes. Add 3 Tbsp. water and cover the dish containing the broccoli with plastic wrap, cut several holes in the wrap and microwave for three minutes. Carefully remove the plastic wrap and allow the broccoli to cool while you make the sauce.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the baking mix. Whisk together until velvety. Slowly add milk and whisk constantly (this sauce is now called a béchamel). Remove the garlic from the oven and squeeze the roasted cloves into the béchamel and continue to whisk until the garlic is fully emulsified. Pour the sauce over the broccoli and add ¾ of the cheese. Mix thoroughly but gently so as not to break up the florets. Top with remaining cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and the sauce is set. Finish under the broiler for 2 or 3 minutes to brown the cheese.

Plate

Serve hot.

(Serves 6)

 Before...

After...

Ole!

I spotted a big hunk of Flank Steak in the freezer this morning and set it in the fridge to thaw. I had the whole day to think of what to do with it but my brain shut down after meetings with PR folk, calls with attorneys and trying to get some of my "real job" accomplished. With no fresh ideas in my head for this slab of beef, I turned to an old standard that is quick and easy. When I got to the house from entertaining some Senators and Representatives at Hal & Mal's (who were one of the few places open, due to the water shortage), I hit the kitchen at a full charge and had the fajitas ready when Kitty got home. I couldn't find any black beans, so I cooked black-eyed-peas with a bit of cumin and chopped onion alongside some basmati rice. Here's the recipe for the fajitas. The rest of it is easy to figure out without me having to type it up.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Fajitas
1 1½-2 lb. flank steak
1 medium yellow onion

1 medium red onion

2 bell peppers (any color)

1 jalapeño pepper

1 bunch green onions

1 cup diced tomatoes (canned)

4 cloves garlic

1 bottle Mexican beer

1 Tbsp. Ivy & Devine Coffee Rub

1 tsp. Mexican chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

1 Tbsp. olive oil

8 flour tortillas

6 oz. sour cream

1 jar high quality salsa

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Prep

Slice yellow onions, red onions and bell peppers. Roughly chop jalapeño peppers, green onions and garlic. Slice the flank (across the grain) steak into ½ inch strips. Season the meat and vegetables with Ivy & Devine Coffee Rub. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Cook

Put dining plates into the oven to warm while cooking the fajitas. Heat a large iron skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. Add olive oil to hot skillet and when it begins to smoke, add yellow onions, red onions, bell peppers, garlic, one half of the jalapeño peppers and one half of the green onions. Cook until onions are translucent and peppers begin to soften. Remove vegetables and place them in a mixing bowl. Cover with foil. If the skillet is too dry, add a bit more oil. Add meat to the hot skillet (but don’t crowd the pan) and cook for two minutes on each side. As the meat is done, add it to the mixing bowl of vegetables. When all of the meat is cooked, add all of the meat and vegetables from the mixing bowl into the hot skillet and increase heat to high. When the pan begins to really sizzle, add the tomatoes and about one quarter of the beer. Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for about 30 seconds, depending on the strength of your microwave oven.

Plate

Serve family style by placing the hot skillet on the table on a trivet with the cheese, sour cream, salsa, and remaining jalapeño peppers and green onions in small bowls.

(Serves 4)

Perfection, thy name is burger.

I broke away from the standard omelette/fried chicken choices for Sunday lunch and made my favorite burgers instead.

Perfect Burgers

1 lb. ground chuck
1 lb. ground sirloin
2 lb. ground beef
1 large egg
1 medium yellow onion
¼ cup Dales* Steak Sauce
1 stick butter
1 Tbsp. Ivy & Devine Coffee Rub


Prep
Cut butter into eight pats. Finely chop onion. Combine meat, egg, onion Coffee Rub and steak sauce in a large mixing bowl and mix with your hands until uniform. DO NOT over work your meat mixture. The friction and the heat from your hands will break down the bits of fat that give the hamburger its flavor. Form a ball with 1/8 of the meat mixture (1/2 pound each) and insert a pat of butter into the center of the ball. Fold the meat around the butter and form into a patty. Repeat this seven more times.

Cook
Cook on a grill or in a large iron skillet until done. Check that the internal temperature at the center of the burger is 150 degrees. Cooking times will vary according to the thickness of your burgers so worry more about temperatures and less about times. DO NOT press your burgers with a spatula while cooking. Doing so makes them loose the juices inside of them and makes them dry.

Plate
Serve on a good, sturdy bun with all the fixins.


Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Anatomy of a Great New Year's Eve

Kitty and I don't leave the neighborhood on New Year's Eve. Usually, we just walk over to Rose and Peter's house, cook dinner, watch the neighborhood kids shoot fireworks and wait for all of our kids to return home safely. This year, we did all of these things, but the location was our house. Peter brought over some Ghost Pines Cabernet Sauvignon (Winemaker's Blend). Kitty and contributed a bottle of Parados Malbec and a couple bottles of Montsarra Cava Brut. The dinner consisted of Steak au Poivre, Steamed Brussels Sprouts and a White Vegetable Mash topped with Sharp English Cheddar. Here are the "before" and "after" shots!
Before...

After...

Before...

After...

Needless to say, a great time was had by all.

Bon Appetit!
~Tom

A Slab of Goodness

What did we do before the Flatiron Steak? I buy them by the half-dozen, keep em in the freezer and always have the ability to whip up a steak without much thought. When I can remember, I take a Flatiron out of the freezer and put it on a plate in the fridge (uncovered) about a week before I want to cook it. This alloys it to "dry age" a bit before you cook it. Doing this intensifies the flavor and makes it more...steaky (if that is a word). You can cook a Flatiron on the grill but tonight's recipe involves the stovetop and the broiler. Remember that a hot plate is imperative when serving steak. When I cook steaks in the broiler/oven, I put the plates in the oven when I remove the meat and turn off the oven. This way, the residual heat will warm the plates and the serving platter while you make the sauce.

Flatiron Steak with Brandy Pan Sauce

1 Flatiron Steak
3/4 cup beef stock
1/8 cup brandy
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 bunch parsley
salt
pepper

Prep
If you have time, unwrap the steak and place it on a plate, uncovered, and put it on the bottom rack of the refirgerator for a couple of days before cooking. It will turn a dark red and not look to hot, but trust me...it is much better than right out of the package. Finely chop the parsley. Peel the garlic and rub the clove all over the meat. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Place the oven rack in the center position. Turn over broiler on high and allow it to heat up for at least fifteen minutes.

Cook
Heat a large black-iron skillet over medium-high heat until it is very hot. Add olive oil and butter to the hot skillet and when the butter is completely melted, add the steak and cook for one minute on each side. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook for 8 minutes. Remove steak and place on a cutting board and allow to rest under foil while the sauce is prepared. Transfer the skillet to the stove top over medium heat. Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup of beef stock. When the liquid is reduced by one half, add brandy and continue reducing until the liquid just covers the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to low and add remaining stock and butter. Carve the steak into 1 inch slices and add any juice remaining on the cutting board to the sauce. Stir the sace to incorporate all liquids.

Plate
Add sliced steak to a warm plate and top with sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Christmas Eve Memories and Recipes

Our Christmas meal spans a generation. When I was a little boy, my father commenced our custom of preparing a Standing Rib Roast with Yorkshire Pudding along with Mashed Potatoes and Butter-boiled Lady Peas. The whole thing was a production rivaling the best West-end dramas. Dad liked to cook the Yorkshire Pudding using the most traditional method...baking it in the pan with the roast. This required removing the roast from the oven when it was almost ready, pouring off most of the pan drippings, returning the roast to the pan (without the rack) and pouring the Yorkshire Pudding batter around the roast. When done properly, this is a sight to behold. The pudding bubbles up around the beef and browns along the bubble-tops and high spots. Despite its drama and beauty, this procedure has its drawbacks. First, the whole process is fraught with opportunities for mistakes as evidenced one year in our kitchen. I had gone back to the kitchen to refill my glass of water just as Dad was trying to remove the roast and tip the edge of the pan over towards a ridiculously small measuring cup. My presence startled him and the roast seemed to leap from the pan and onto the floor, where it landed with a splatty sound like a wet, fat man slipping and falling on a tile bathroom floor. Since he was still holding a scalding hot pan and trying to pour rendered beef fat into a tiny Pyrex vessel, he couldn’t immediately grab the beef, lying helplessly on the green slate floor. When the fat was poured off, he quickly turned his attention to the beef, reached down to retrieve it, and in his haste managed to kick it down the hall past the laundry room. I stood there watching this epic tragedy play out before me with my mouth agape and eyes open as wide as saucers. Just as Dad was picking the hot meat up with his hands and doing some form of the Hot Potato Jig, his Golden Retriever, Gumbo Roux brushed past me and began furiously licking the glistening, fatty trail left by the sliding roast. Dad gave me a look that let me know this was a matter to be kept between us. With the roast delivered back to its home in the roasting pan, Dad poured the Yorkshire pudding batter into the pan, around the roast and returned it to the oven. It puffed up beautifully and everyone oohed and ahhed as the finished product was brought into the dining room for all to see. No one was any the wiser, but I made sure to get a slice from the center of the roast.

My parents are gone now, but I still carry on the tradition of roasting a beautiful hunk of meat and preparing the finicky pudding, but I use muffin tins and cook the roast separately. Here are the recipes from our Christmas Feast.

Standing Rib Roast and Yorkshire Pudding

1 6 lb. rib roast (w/bone)

1 Tbsp. sea salt

1 Tbsp. black pepper

2 cloves garlic

3 large eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup whole milk

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 bunch green onions

1 bunch parsley

1 stick butter

Prep-Roast

Allow roast to come to room temperature. Peel garlic and rub thoroughly onto entire roast. Rub salt and pepper onto all side of the roast with at least half going on the top layer of fat. Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees.

Prep-Pudding

Finely chop green onions and parsley. Melt butter in a large measuring cup. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and add the flour, salt and baking soda. Whisk the flour, salt and soda into the eggs and slowly add the milk. Add 1 Tbsp. of the parsley and 1 Tbsp of the green onions and whisk again. The mixture should be think, like pancake batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least two hours (overnight is best).

Cook-Roast

Place the roast on a rack in a deep roasting pan. Place in the center rack of the hot oven and cook for 12 minutes at 500 degrees. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees and continue cooking for one hour and fifteen minutes. Remove the roast from the oven and check the temperature by inserting a thermometer into the center of the roast. For Medium-Rare, the thermometer should read 130 degrees. If the roast is not up to temp, just stick it back in the oven for ten minutes or so. You can keep doing this until the proper degree of doneness is reached. Remove the roast and allow it to rest while you prepare the Yorkshire Puddings. Carefully drain the pan drippings into the large measuring cup that holds the melted butter and mix thoroughly. Leave the oven turned on and heated to 375 degrees.

Cook-Pudding

Place a 12-muffin pan into the hot oven and allow it to heat for ten minutes. Remove the pudding batter from the refrigerator and whisk it briefly to re-blend all of the ingredients. Open the oven and slide out the rack that is holding the hot muffin tin. Spoon in about a tablespoon of the pan dripping/melted butter mixture and slide the rack back into the oven and heat for about five minutes or until it begins to smoke slightly. Open the oven and slide the rack out again. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin, filling each cup about 2/3 of the way to the top. The batter should sizzle as it is added. Close the oven and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the tops of the pudding are puffed and golden brown. They should rise out of the tins, like popovers.

Plate

When the Yorkshire puddings are ready, carve the roast and serve with the hot puddings on a warmed plate. Garnish with the remaining parsley and green onions.

(Serves 6)

Request from a facebook friend

Here is a low-carb recipe requested from one of my facebook friends.


Bon Appetit!
~Tom


Low-Carb Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. Italian sausage

5 large bell peppers

1 large yellow onion

½ cup black olives

¼ cup capers

1 leek

4 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 Tbsp. fresh oregano

1 Tbsp. dried basil

1 large can tomato sauce

1 medium can chopped tomatoes

½ head cauliflower

salt

pepper

4 oz. Romano Cheese

Prep

Chop oregano, onions, one of the bell peppers, olives, leeks and garlic. Cut cauliflower into quarters and remove stalk and hard center. Shred most of the Romano Cheese, reserving some for garnish. Cut remaining bell peppers in half, lengthwise. Remove stems, seeds and pith.

Cook

Pre-heat oven to 375°. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring water to a boil in a second large saucepan. Add olive oil and heat for one minute. Add onions, chopped peppers, leeks and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent. Add meats and brown completely. While meat is browning, boil cauliflower until slightly softened to the consistency of rice. Drain cauliflower and lightly mash into pieces the size of rice. Add olives, capers, oregano and basil to the ground beef and cook for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes ½ of Romano Cheese and crushed cauliflower. Cook for five minutes.

Place bell pepper halves into a deep baking dish. Stuff mixture into bell pepper halves and spread remaining mixture around and on top of the peppers. Top with remaining Romano cheese. And bake for 30 minutes.

Plate

Place the stuffed peppers in the center of the plate and top with shaved or grated Romano cheese.

(Serves 6)

A Day Filled with Cooking (or why just driving down Devine Street today will make you fat)

I was doing my monthly "big shopping" at the grocery store yesterday (as opposed to my daily "little shopping") and saw that pot roast was on sale. Dinner solved. After checking out with my basket that looked like I was feeding the crew of the USS Enterprise, I came home to discover that my freezer had no room for the frozen stuff. The culprit? Turkey and chicken bones dating back to Thanksgiving. So, I donned by black and whites and started a full day of cooking pot roast and chicken stock. I was so in the cooking spirit that I even made four dozen cookies, and I generally don't bake. 


Here is the recipe for Dark Beer Pot Roast, which was served over a cauliflower mash. This is one of those "hey look what I found in the fridge" recipes that came together as I was making it. I hope you enjoy!


Dark Beer Pot Roast

1 5 lb. pot roast

1 large yellow onion

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

2 turnips

8 mushrooms

6 cloves garlic

8 Pepperoncini Peppers (optional)

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. rosemary

1 tsp. thyme

1 12 oz. bottle dark beer*

1 32 oz. container beef stock*

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Prep

Roughly chop onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms and garlic. Peel and roughly chop turnip. Season roast with salt and pepper.

Cook

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Heat a large iron skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and continue heating until oil smokes. Add seasoned pot roast and brown on both sides. Add chopped vegetables (and peppers, if desired) and transfer to oven. With the oven open and the skillet on the middle rack, add beer, herbs and ½ tsp. black pepper. Add beef stock until liquid is almost to the rim of the skillet. Top loosely with foil and cook for 2 hours. Slide out the oven rack, turn the meat and stir the vegetables. Add more liquid to cover vegetables an cook for an additional 2 hours or until the meat tears apart with a fork.

Plate

Serve meat over some form of starch (toast, rice, mashed potatoes, or mashed cauliflower) and top with vegetables and some of the cooking liquid.

*Turbo Dog from Abita is my usual choice, but any good dark beer will do fine. I generally use the Kitchen Basics brand which comes in a 32 oz. waxed-cardboard container.

(Serves 8)