Early-morning Cooking and Sunday Leftovers (Including Chili Dish #3)

I bought a little too much shoulder roast when I was making Chili on Friday so I woke up this morning and started a Pot Roast. For some reason, I thought about brandy and decided to make a Pot Roast with some of it. Never tried this before, but I can't imagine that it won't be good. I'll let the family be the judges on that one.  I left the potatoes out of the roast, deciding instead to whip some creamy Yukon Golds as a side dish later this evening. I think I'll use some of the pan liquid in a brandy reduction sauce. Sound good to you?

Since Kitty was feeling like she had been hit by a garbage truck falling off the top a a garage, Zak was serving as her warming blanket and the two big boys are in New Orleans, I was the only Ramsey at Saint Andrew's this morning. I didn't feel like eating fried chicken all by myself so I came home, donned the apron, inspected the fridge and opened the short-order kitchen. Since Kitty and Zak can't have any wheat, I used this opportunity to make some pasta for me out of the pork chops from earlier in the week. They were in the mood for omelettes so I used up the last of the Chili de los Angeles on them. I wont bother with a recipe for the omelettes, they were just like any of the other eggy treats you have seen on this blog, just filled with cheese and chili. The über-simple pasta recipe is below. 

Leftover Pasta

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. flour

3 cloves fresh garlic

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (or other dry aged, hard cheese) 

1 tsp. thyme

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup chicken stock (or other stock to match your leftover meat)

leftover meat

green onions for garnish

Sea salt

Black pepper

Prep

Cut the leftover meat into 1/2" or smaller cubes. Finely chop garlic. Crumble or shred the cheese. Warm the milk in the microwave until hot, but not boiling.

Cook

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and add butter. When butter begins to foam, add chopped garlic and cook until it just starts to color. Add flour and stir with a whisk until it is fully incorporated into the butter. slowly add milk, whisking constantly. When the mixture begins to thicken, add the cubed meat, the cheese and the thyme. Add broth as necessary to maintain the desired thickness of the sauce. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper as desired.

Boil the pasta in lightly salted water. Drain but DO NOT RINSE the pasta. Add the cooked pasta to the saucepan and toss with the sauce until all of the pasta is coated.

Plate

Serve in a large shallow bowl and garnish with green onions.

Breakfast for Supper

It was one of those nights...lots of homework, kids going in every different direction, pantry needs restocking and I forgot to thaw anything when I got going this morning. Luckily, when Kitty was looking for something in the freezer earlier this week, she got out a package of heads and tails from a whole beef fillet. They were thawed, but there wasn't enough to feed all five of us. No problem, we had eggs and some leftover red and yellow bell peppers and the herb garden (now that it is not frozen) was full of newly sprouted green onions. So, omelettes it was! We were in a bit of a hurry to get everyone fed, homework checked and the little one in the tub so I didn't even take the time to sprinkle my omnipresent paprika and parsley over the plated dish. Anyway, here is an action shot of Kitty with her eggy-goodness.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Just Another Sunday Omelette

After-church brunch today was omelettes with super-hammy grits. Everyone ordered something different in their omelettes, but they got to choose from ham, cheese (cheddar and some thing called "cougar cheese" that is awesome), green onions and bell peppers. If you don't have my can't-fail omelette recipe, just shoot me an email (tom@tomramsey.com) and I'll send it to you. For the super-hammy grits, just cook as usual, but substitute ham stock for the water.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom