Sunday Dinner Series Part III: Where's the Beef?

Blah blah work married life busy blah.  Back to the food in general, and the Sunday Dinner Series in particular!

Unseasonably warm weather aside, it's still winter here in Manitoba.  For me, that means finding the heartiest food possible and tucking in.  Warming from the inside out, if you will.  I can only fathom how the voyageurs survived the cold season all those years ago... though I'm pretty sure pot roast (or something like it) would've come into play.

He Ho!

"Roast beef dinner" is definitely a Honeybee family tradition.  In recent years, however, I've come to realize that while it does involve roasted beef, it doesn't necessarily fit most people's idea of "roast beef".  This is really more a pot roast, with lots and lots of veggies.

I had been perusing my new favourite cooking tome, and found not one, but TWO recipes for "perfect pot roast" (don't ask me how that works... how can they BOTH be perfect?  Meh).  At first, I thought I would follow the recipe exactly, especially since there was never really a recipe for Mom's roast.  But about halfway through, her voice started creeping into my head.  "What, no onion soup mix?  Are you really only going to use a half cup of wine?  What do you mean, no roasted carrots on the side?!"  Telepathic-mom was absolutely right.  What was I doing??  Why mess with what I know I like??  So, I started ignoring the book (Hubs would be proud) and started doing my own thing.  I've done it again since the first "hybrid recipe" attempt, with good results.  If you want to try it out for yourself, have a look here:

Lil's Sunday Pot Roast

Sort of adapted from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV
Show Cookbook... for the first bit, at least.

Serves four, with leftovers

• 1 boneless beef roast (like a chuck-eye roast), about 3-5 lb*
• ~2 Tbsp canola oil
• Salt & pepper
• 1 small white onion, chopped medium
• 2 ribs celery, chopped medium
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped medium
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 bottle of red wine (some for cooking, some for drinking... so pick a decent one!)
• 1/2 package onion soup mix
• 1 large red onion, peeled, trimmed and cut into large chunks
• 4-6 red potatoes (depending on size), scrubbed and cut into large chunks
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
• Cornstarch (for gravy thickening)

*I didn't realize that I bought a bone-in roast.  So, at about 8 am on a Sunday, I gave myself a crash-course in deboning.  It was messy.  Hence the butcher twine... better now!  My apologies to any vegetarian readers... but in all honesty, having to deal with that aspect of food prep made me consider a plant-based diet myself!

1. Preheat the oven to 300ºF.
2. In a Dutch oven or other oven-safe pot, heat the oil over high heat until shimmering.
3. Prep your roast.  If it's a sort of large ungainly piece of meat, use butcher's twine to tie it up into a nice uniform loaf shape.  Using paper towels, pat it dry.  Season liberally with salt and pepper.
4. Sear the roast on all sides in the hot pot (I like using my Le Creuset for this, since it can also go in the oven.  Less dishes, yay!)  Once well browned on all sides, remove the roast to a plate.  Turn the heat down to medium.
5. Toss the white onion, celery, and medium-chopped carrot into the roast pot.  Cook until the veggies soften and start to brown.  Add the garlic and sugar; cook and stir for about 30 seconds until fragrant.  Add the thyme.
6. Pour in a generous amount of red wine to deglaze; be sure to scrape up all the delicious brown bits on the bottom of the pot (I honestly just free-pour.  It's probably about a cup to a cup and a half of wine that I use.  FLAVOUR.)
7. Add the roast (and any juices it's leaked) back to the pot.  Sprinkle the 1/2 package of onion soup mix over it.  Add enough water to the pot to bring the liquid halfway up the roast.
8. Bring the roast + liquid up to a simmer.  Fit the lid tightly over the roast (I usually put a sheet of foil in there for a good seal).  Put in the oven.
9. Bake for 2-2 1/2 hours, turning the roast over every 1/2 hour.
10. At the 2-2 1/2 hour mark, add the veggies (potato, sweet potato, whole garlic cloves, red onion).  If things look a bit dry, add more wine.
11. Bake for another hour or so, until the veggies and meat are fully tender (poke them with a fork- if the fork slides in and out easily, you're golden).
12. Take the roast out and let it sit on a carving board, tented under the foil you used earlier, until you're done the gravy.
13. With a slotted spoon, remove all the veggies from the pot to a serving bowl.  Try to leave behind as much juice as possible.
14. If there are still a lot of "chunks" in the gravy, take an immersion blender and whiz it up a bit.  On the stovetop, put the pot on medium heat and simmer the gravy down until it thickens and reduces somewhat.  Scoop out some of the hot proto-gravy with a ladle into a mug.  Add a tablespoon or so of cornstarch and whisk well.  Add back to the whole pot of gravy (this is how you can avoid getting lumps).  Repeat until desired consistency of gravy is reached!
15. Carve your roast.  I'm not going to lie, I can never get nice "slices" like my Dad does.  So we just sort of end up with large tender meat chunks.  Nobody complains.
16. Serve the roasted veg and beef with the gravy.  A loaf of fresh bread is especially nice here, to spread the roasted whole garlic cloves on like butter.  BUTTER, I tell you.

Starting the sear.

Almost done searing... look at all that brown-bit flavour on the bottom!

The bowl of delicious vegetables, pre-cooking.  Looks so pretty with all those vibrant colours...

Meat chunks!

Roast veg.  Not the prettiest bowl, but oh man, the flavours in here are not to be believed.

Dinner with Hubs (he's wearing his 'Polar bear in a snowstorm' Winnipeg shirt!).  Observe the fresh-baked bread, with roasted garlic clove spread.  It's a whole delicious meal, in one pot!  Make sure you get that red wine on the table, too.

So overall, the pot roast doesn't look like anything special.  It's certainly not haute cuisine.  Presentation's not great.  But let me tell you, this was the ONLY way to finish off a day of skating on the trails at The Forks.  It was also a great dinner to share with Deb, which gave me an excuse to attempt challah for the first time (more on that another day!)

Digging through the archives and continuing to cook (and photograph) up a storm,
-Honeybee

G is for Goulash... and Great food.

I am, at this very moment, suffering from a small case of "didn't read the recipe right-itis" in the kitchen.  It's resulting in a bit of a cookie disaster.  So, to save face (and boost my self-esteem before attempting THIS for Thanksgiving weekend), I thought I'd post a recent recipe that worked really, REALLY well.

GOULASH.

What with the recent nuptials, I'm now quite flush with some absolutely fantastic kitchen items thanks to the amazing generosity of my family and friends.  My Aunt Marilyn bestowed upon me a most unexpected but incredibly welcome gift: a gorgeous blue Le Creuset oval Dutch oven.  This thing is tops.  Seriously (and Ni tells me she was all stressed out, worried that I wouldn't like it!).  I'm only recently coming to understand the beauty of being able to take an item from the stovetop to the oven, and this piece definitely delivers in that category.  And when not in use, it graces the baking rack/dining room display that I had to commandeer from Hubs to store the overflow of kitchen goodness.  It even matches the décor around here (such as it is)!

There it is... my precious... Right next to the wine cooler from Karm, the brie baker from Deb, and the candles from Aunt Mary Jane!

Alright, enough drooling over crockery.  Many months ago, I bought a large piece of nondescript beef with the idea that I would cook up something nice and slow-roasted for Hubs once he moved out here.  It sat in the back of the freezer for longer than I would have liked.  At long last, I decided to bring the beef out to take it for a spin in the new Dutch oven.

Carrot, beef, and noodle close-up.

Our best man lives out in Alberta, though his parents are still in Windsor.  His dear mum Jane made it to our wedding shower and gave me a fantastic (and heavy!) tome: The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook.  Now I must confess: having access to only Food Network CANADA, I'd never seen an episode of America's Test Kitchen.  Upon reading, though, I could instantly get behind their philosophy of perfecting classic dishes for the home cook with an almost scientific approach.  I read this book before bed now.  I think it'll become a new favourite!

The picture from the cookbook (also from www.americastestkitchen.com).  I think I managed to match it!

I initially wanted to make a pot roast, but realized I had beef eye of round as opposed to chuck roast.  Delicious, yes, but didn't have enough fat for roasting.  Simmering in a paprika sauce, however, seemed more fitting.  So I turned to their Hungarian Beef Stew recipe and adapted it just a touch (given that we're only two people).  You can hit the link above and register on the website for the "original" recipe (the history/background/explanation is free!), or you can see what I did below:

Hungarian Beef Stew

Adapted (barely) from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook

Serves 4 (or 2 with leftovers for lunch!)

• 1 boneless eye of round beef roast (about 2 pounds or ~900 grams), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
• Table salt
• 1 12oz. jar roasted red peppers (or if you're like my dad, roast a couple of your own), drained and rinsed, about 1 cup
• 1/2 cup sweet (not smoked, not hot) paprika, fresh if possible (I bought a new package)
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 3 tsp white vinegar
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 medium onions, minced (about 4 cups)- I got lazy and just chucked them in the food processor fitted with the blade and whizzed them until well chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup beef broth, warmed
• Ground black pepper

• Cooked buttered egg noodles tossed with chopped parsley, for serving (just look at the package directions for your egg noodles, I know you'll figure it out!)

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat to 325ºF.  Sprinkle the meat evenly with 1 tsp salt and let stand for 15 minutes.
2. Process the roasted peppers, paprika, tomato paste, and 2 tsp of the vinegar in a food processor until smooth, 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed.
3. Combine the oil, onions, and 1 tsp salt in a large Dutch oven (yay!); cover and set over medium heat on the stove.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened but have not yet begun to brown, 8-10 minutes.  If the onions start to brown, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in 1 Tbsp water.
4. Stir in the paprika mixture; cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions stick to the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes.  Add the beef, carrots, and bay leaf; stir until the beef is well-coated.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the pot.
5. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven.  Cook until the meat is almost tender and the surface of the liquid is 1/2 inch below the top of the meat, 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.
6. Remove the pot from the oven and add enough beef broth that the surface of the liquid is 1/4 inch from the top of the meat (the beef should not be fully submerged).  Return the covered pot to the oven and continue to cook until the meat is fork-tender, about 30 minutes longer
7. Skim the fat off the surface using a wide spoon (I didn't really have a fat layer to deal with); stir in the remaining teaspoon of vinegar.  Remove the bay leaf, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve on your delicious buttered egg noodles!

Mmmm.

 This made for a really nice Sunday dinner with the dude, which seems to be becoming a new trend.  He takes care of quick weeknight meals, and I enjoy my kitchen time on weekends to serve up some good slow comfort food.  It's really a win-win... hooray for teamwork!

Hoping all goes well with her first gumbo attempt on Saturday (and praying that the dark roux won't burn down the kitchen),
-Honeybee

More homemade pasta

 I have one piece of kitchen equipment that I don't use often enough.  This would be my pasta machine.

There she is, in all her glory!!  She was a birthday gift from Nonna the same year that Hubs proposed.  It was a good day.

As much as I scoff at Giada De Laurentiis' macrocephalic bobblehead and overuse of cleavage as a way to increase male viewership, I have to admit that the woman has some good recipes.  I received a copy of her book, "Everyday Pasta", as a gift some years ago, and have been meaning to try her shortrib ragù recipe.  I had Jess and Kyle over for "cat orientation" prior to my holiday visit to Windsor, and used them as guinea pigs treated them to a scrumptious dinner as a thank you for looking after the fur babies.

Mmm.  Beef shortribs.  In all honesty, this marks the first time I've cooked with them.  Shameful, I know.

The ragù.  I LOVE that the beef simmers in this for TWO HOURS before being removed, shredded, and returned to the pot.  My kitchen smelled like a mamoni's fantasy world.  The recipe can be found here.  I also find it hilarious that this food writer (whom I've never met) also compares Giada to a dashboard ornament.  Glad I'm not the only one!!

On to the pasta.  Thanks to my wonderful aunt Lisa, I got Nonna's recipe: "2 1/2 cups of cake and pastry flour for 5 eggs or 4 eggs and 2 half eggshells full of water.  Add more flour as needed, probably about another cup or so. 5 eggs should be good for 5 or 6 servings but those are big servings. I think it's about 1 1/2 pounds of pasta"

Rollin'.  In the future, I think I'll make these one setting thicker.  They were just a liiiittle too thin to stand up to chunky meaty sauce!

So pretty :)

Finished product, topped with shaved pecorino romano.  Heavenly.

I also made parmesan popovers (they're in the blue bowl in the background), but I honestly didn't prefer them.  Kyle seemed to like them, so I gave him the leftovers.

Get that fork in there!! Delish.

Overall I was very pleased with the results (minus the popovers... I'm not even going to link you to the recipe).  Hubs, again, was jealous that he missed a good meat dish... lucky for him, I had enough ragù left over to freeze for another night.  It's just waiting for his arrival in this fair (and freezing!) city!

Thinking that an early April snowstorm might be a good excuse to serve up the leftovers,
-Honeybee

Let me try to think up the best thing ever...

...beef...stew.**

Since returning to the 'Peg after being in Windsor for holidays, I can't deny that I've had pangs of homesickness.  I'm pretty happy and comfy here, don't get me wrong... but it's not home.  Pretty normal emotions, I'm sure... but they drove me to making some very homey beef shortrib stew that's been a winter staple in the Honeybee family home for decades.

Mmm.  Beefy.

This somewhat spicy, flavourful, melt-in-your-mouth stew recipe originally came from my dear Aunt Doris (who is not at all related, however we love her like an aunt nonetheless.  She had the good fortune (?) to marry my father's best friend, the ever-hilarious Uncle John).  It may take a bit of time to prepare, but I promise you, braising the meat in the oven for the recommended length of time is SO worth it.  Here's some more pictures, and the recipe.  I highly suggest this for chasing away the cold February winter blues.

I thought the different spices and sauces that go into this recipe made a nice splash of colour in the measuring cup.

Fried beef and onions... how can you go wrong??

 Beef Shortrib Stew

Recipe from Doris Gagnier.  Additions/substitutions by me.

Makes 6 servings as presented here, I'd say.  I cut the recipe by 1/3 for myself. 

• 3 Tbsp fat (I think I used olive oil, but you're free to use anything: butter, lard, beef fat, etc)
• 3 lb short ribs (To be honest, we don't use actual short ribs typically.  We buy packages of pre-cubed "stewing beef".  These tend to be relatively cheap and work just as well.  Plus, no bones!)
• 3 medium onions, sliced
• 1 cup ketchup
• ½ cup vinegar
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• ¼ Tbsp chili powder (I would increase this to at LEAST a 1/2 Tbsp for some nice warm heat)
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cube beef boullion in 1 cup boiling water (I used just 1 cup of tetra-pak beef stock)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• ½ tsp dried mustard (if you really don't have any, you can sub prepared Dijon mustard)

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Brown ribs/stewing beef cubes in fat over medium heat.  Remove to plate, reserving fats in the pan.
3. Sautée the onions in the remaining beef fat/oil until softenend.  Place beef and onions in an oven-proof dish (I used a Corningware dish with a lid)
4. Mix the remaining ingredients well to make the sauce.  Pour over the beef and onions.
5. Bake at least two hours; the longer, the better.  I baked mine covered with the glass lid on the dish.
6. Serve over mashed potatoes, with steamed veggies.

Look at all that caremelized beef-and-onion goodness.  I have to admit, though, it does make the crockery difficult to clean afterwards.  Totally worth it.

I sort of wished I had a trencher instead of a plate... here I'm enjoying my meal in the company of George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire.  The first book is A Game of Thrones, which my loving family gave me (along with the second and third books) for my birthday.  The beef stew fits in perfectly with the rustic, hearty medieval fare served at Winterfell.

A very tasty plate.

Now, I know this is very appealing to the meat-and-potatoes crowd.  I've never really thought of stew as anything else.  However, thanks to some puttering around on Foodnetwork.ca, my tune has changed.

Well that looks different... is there even any meat in there??  No?  Huh!!

Thanks to Bal Arneson, the lovely self-titled Spice Goddess, I was able to execute this delicious, protein-packed kidney bean stew.  Definitely different from the beef stew, but also remarkably delicious, and a nice winter stew option for those who don't eat meat.

I did make a few changes to the recipe.  I'm not a huge fan of fenugreek (and consequently, didn't have any on hand), so I omitted it.  All my spices are pre-ground, so I just toasted the powder for a few seconds at the beginning.  I didn't have red kidney beans, just white, so I missed out on some of the lovely garnet colours, but c'est la vie.  I was just happy to find another application for the tamarind paste taking up space in my fridge!  Overall this stew was bright, imaginative, and flavourfully spiced without being hot-spicy.  Give this one a try... it may seem unconventional (oranges in a stew?!), but it's worth the gamble.

February in the 'Peg has been very fickle so far... first it's -40ºC, then it's a balmy plus two.  I don't understand what's going on here!!  All I know is I've been teased into thinking that spring is around the corner... but I'm trying to heed my coworkers' warnings of huge snowstorms in April.  Eek!  I guess I'll keep these stew recipes around a bit longer...

Thinking that groundhog shadow-sightings have nothing to do with meteorlogical patterns in Manitoba,
-Honeybee

(**Apologies: the title and first line of this post is a semi-inside joke from this now-obscure web cartoon.  An oldie, but a goodie.  Brings be back to the early 2000s... sigh...)

Going to the chapel...

I've been meaning to write a bit about Kimmi and Seanno's wedding, which went down on October 16th as part of the Weeks of Insanity.  It was most definitely the high point of that busy time!  It's been put off  as I've been finding myself blogging less, simply because I've actually been going out and doing things... apparently, I seem to have gotten a bit of a life here in the 'Peg!  Regardless, the writing bug is still festering... and I can only watch so many episodes of anime before a serious sushi craving kicks in.  Maybe I should attempt a bento box at some point in the future...

Sorry.  Way off track there.  Let's talk about my most favourite newlyweds.

And here they are, the new Mrs. Kimmi and Mr. Seanno!

  Kimmi and I have a lot of interests in common, a love of good food among them.  So, I've known for some time that her wedding celebration would feature delectable edibles.  In a way, though, I feel like a terrible friend... due to my desire to document said food, and a significant intake of wine, I think I took more pictures of plates than of people.  Ah well, that's what the professional photographer is for, right?  On with the show!

At the rehearsal dinner, which was held at Aroma, a Portuguese restaurant just a few blocks from my old apartment.  This was some delicious chicken, with a hint of the piri piri pepper that seems so central to Portuguese cooking.

The rehearsal dinner was absolutely fantastic-- wonderful people, lovely entertainment in the form of a live singer, and delicious food.  In addition to the above chicken, bitoque was also on the menu... a fried steak topped with a fried egg, and french fries.  Mmm.  Hubs, being the consummate red-meat carnivore, opted for that... I got to taste a bit, and it was to die for.  We got to start off with caldo verde, as well, which was a delicious potato, kale and chourico soup.  Hubs really enjoyed that as well, so Kimmi's mom offered to share the family recipe.  To finish off, in keeping with wanting to save the best for last, we got a Portuguese custard tart.

Image from this cookbook website, which incidentally boasts a simple recipe for these beauties.  I may be tempted into another Portuguese baked-goods DIY project here...

Let me talk to you about these tarts for a minute.  If you don't like custard, fine... just skip this paragraph.  But these things are, simply, amazing.  They're about the size of a standard buttertart, but much better, in my opinion.  Instead of a dense shortbread-like crust, the shells are a bit flaker.  Not as flaky as phyllo, but closer to that idea... according to the above link, puff pastry is used.  The filling is a fantastic, not TOO sweet, firm yellow custard.  What really does it for me is that the tops are caramelized, almost brûléd, which adds a great depth of flavour.  This isn't just some sickly sweet pastry... it's an art form.  We had a huge platter of these at Kim's sister's baby shower, and I'm ashamed to admit that I ate about three of them.  They're just so worth it.

Next up, the food on The Big Day!

Sweet potato soup, with the delicious white wine, my bridesmaid flowers, and a DJ in the background.  I'd never had a soup made with sweet potato before, but it was fantastic... and very much in keeping with the sunset-hued fall colour scheme of the wedding.  The only downside?  We ladies all stuck our napkins in our necklines to prevent drops of this scrumptious concoction from splashing on our fancy dresses.  I'm considering trying out this recipe to see if I can recreate the experience, since I doubt that The Delta London Armouries is willing to give out theirs.

Main course!  Chicken breast with a roasted red pepper sauce, combined with a well-prepared medium/medium rare beef tenderloin au jus.  Parisienne potatoes and steamed veggies went alongside.  DELICIOUS, and very filling... good thing we relaxed for a bit listening to speeches before the dancing began!  As a testament to how thoughtful and considerate Kimmi is, she'd specially arranged for Hubs to receive two pieces of beef to accomodate his poultry prejudice.  What a sweet bride!

Dessert #1.  Fresh strawberries atop chocolate and vanilla mousse, held in a caramelized sugar tuille of sorts, which was cemented to the plate with dark chocolate.  Oh, my.  Yes, please, and thank you.

Dessert #2.  Much later in the evening, we enjoyed the delicious pétit fours created by Seanno's talented cousin.  This was an excellent way to soak up some of the inebriation we were experiencing (as evidenced by my flushed face and the many glasses on the table... these belonged mostly to Hubs, I swear).  A toast to the happy couple!!

As the holiday season approaches, I can't help but reflect on how central food and drink is to celebrations and family gatherings.  Sometimes (not at this occasion, but at certain other, completely overdone Italian weddings), I can't help but groan at the lavish overabundance of food... but really, aren't we just carrying on the medieval tradition of feasts?  Sure, we might not dine on whole roast animals so much anymore (though still popular, if the success of Danny's Whole Hog is any indication...), or take our used bread trenchers and toss them out back for the poor to scavenge, or binge and purge like the Romans... but the overall celebratory feeling is still there.  Everyone, gather round, sit, eat, talk, drink, and revel in the pleasure of good food and good company.

Looking forward to the continuation of feasting as we get closer to Christmas,
-Honeybee