Flashback Friday - Pot Roast

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on November 2, 2011.

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My mom made the best pot roast. She used the simple recipe from her battered 1953-edition of the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook: coat a chuck roast with flour, brown in drippings made from its own rendered fat, add potatoes, carrots, onion, and celery, either water or stock, and simmer for 2.5 hours until done, after which time the gravy can be thickened or not. The end. The recipe is literally a single paragraph in the "meat" section.

I loved it so much, I requested it for dinner several times a month. And I loved it so much, I'd never attempted to cook it myself, knowing that I'd never achieve that degree of tenderness or the rich flavor of the gravy (which I'm pretty sure was enriched with a package of McCormick's Brown Gravy). Recently, however, I thought I'd give it a go. The BH&G recipe is deceptively simple and it would be so disappointing if it didn't turn out like Mom's. Instead, I decided to adapt a recipe of Ina Garten's. Because how can one go wrong with a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa?

The result was...meh. I'm going to blame the meat.

Fat-obsessed dieters have created a world of unfortunately lean meats. The chuck roast I picked up at Wegman's had been ferociously trimmed; had I wanted to use the BH&G recipe, it would have been impossible to sear it in its own fat, since there was none. And because of this leanness, the meat lacked the unctuous tenderness of Mom's pot roast. Then there's the wine issue. After several attempts at braising meats in wine, I've decided that I don't like the resulting flavor. Nor the pinkish grey color. The sauce that resulted from the braise was a dark puce, and I wished I had a bottle of my mother's magic ingredient, Kitchen Bouquet, in order to make it darker and richer-looking.

The whole experience left me wanting. Next time, I will endeavor to find the fattiest chuck roast possible, skip the wine, and...pick up a packet of McCormick Brown Gravy.

Pot Roast with Root Vegetables (adapted from Ina Garten)

1 (4 to 5-pound) chuck roast
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
flour
olive oil
1 cup baby carrots
2 onions, quartered
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2" chunks
2 cups celery root, cut into 2" chunks
1 lb baby potatoes
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 each sprig fresh rosemary and thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups red wine
1 cup chicken or beef stock

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Pat beef dry with a paper towel. Season it liberally with salt and pepper and then dredge the roast in flour. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Sear the roast, turning every 4 or 5 minutes, until it is nicely browned on all sides. Remove meat to a plate.

Add another 2 tablespoons of oil to the pot. Add the vegetables and garlic and cook for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Bring to a boil and add the chicken stock, herbs, and bay leaves. Place roast back into the pot and return to the boil. Cover pot and place in the oven, cooking for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until meat is fork tender. Check periodically and add more stock if it seems to be evaporating.

Remove roast to a cutting board. Place pot on top of the stove and turn the heat to medium. Skim fat from sauce. Make a beurre manié by stirring together 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir it bit by bit into the sauce until thickened to your liking. Taste for seasoning and add additional salt and pepper, if needed.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Parsnip Hummus

Once again the end of the month showed up and that meant another stitch-n-bitch get-together with friends. Regular Minxeats readers know that I like to make both something dippy and something sweet for the ladies. Dippy, because it keeps the hands relatively clean, and knitters need clean hands. Sweet, because we all seem to have a sweet tooth.

This month's dippy component was homemade hummus, as it often is. I wanted to try something really different this time and leave out the beans completely. I had a bag of parsnips without a purpose in the fridge, so decided to use them. They were already hummus-hued, so why not?

It's best to par-cook the parsnips until they are quite soft, so the food processor doesn't have a hard time breaking them down (especially if  you use a Cuisinart mini-prep, like me). Parnips are denser and dryer than beans, so you'll need to use a bit of water to help in the processing, as well.

The resulting texture is much smoother than a hummus made with beans, but the flavor was somehow quite hummus-y. I was too lazy to cut up vegetables so I served it with Wild California brand Twice Baked Apricot Ginger Crisps. I had picked up a bag at the fancy food show in July and was waiting for the perfect occasion to serve them. Parsnip hummus seemed to be it. The light sweetness of the crisps worked well with the light sweetness of the hummus. The chips are also quite nice on their own, or eaten with cheese. If you've tried the Trader Joe's brand of crackers with fruit bits in them, then you already have an idea of what the Wild California ones are like.

This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups of hummus. We put a dent in it, but we absolutely demolished the bag of crisps.

Parsnip Hummus

1 lb parsnips
Extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons almond butter
Lemon Juice
Garlic powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Harissa powder or cayenne

Peel the parsnips and cut into chunks. Put into a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until parsnips are very tender, about 20 minutes. Drain parsnips, but reserve some of the cooking water.

Allow parsnips to cool to room temperature and put them into the bowl of a food processor with a few tablespoons of cooking water and a glug of olive oil. Process to a fairly smooth texture, adding a few more spoonsful of water or olive oil, if needed, to move things along. The consistency should be thick, not runny. Add the almond butter and process until completely incorporated. Season with a fair amount of lemon juice, plus garlic powder and cumin to taste (start with 1/2 teaspoon each). Salt and pepper, of course, also to taste, and if you want a bit of heat, add a bit of harissa powder or cayenne.

Scrape into a bowl and drizzle on some olive oil. Serve with crudite of your choice, crackers, pita, whatever.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Roasted Parsnip and Sweet Potato Soup

I love roasted root vegetables. One of our Thanksgiving side dishes last year involved seven different kinds--sweet potato, celery root, golden beets, baby turnips, watermelon radish, carrots, and parsnips. They were cut into small dice, tossed with olive oil and salt, and roasted until tender. Unsurprisingly, this simple dish was a big hit at the holiday table and I hope to make it a staple.

We had several parsnips left, and while I love to eat them straight off the foil-lined roasting pan while they are still piping hot, I wanted to do something a little different. We also had a couple of big Japanese sweet potatoes (from a CSA) hanging around. Because they were white, not orange, I thought they'd work nicely with the parsnips. Japanese sweet potatoes aren't as sweet as the more familiar orange ones, and their white color wouldn't alter the color of the soup. They got roasted, too, and both veg were pureed in a blender with the addition of a quart of chicken stock. (You may use vegetable stock, to make this dish vegan. Omit the bacon garnish, too, of course.)

I think parsnips have a citrusy flavor, so I added similarly citrusy coriander seed and a bit of lemon zest to bring that quality forward.

Roasted Parsnip and Sweet Potato Soup

1 lb parsnips
2 white (Japanese) sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Salt
1 quart chicken stock
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Freshly ground pepper
Chopped scallions and bacon, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400°F. Peel parsnips, trim ends, and cut in half. Cut wide end in half again. Peel potatoes and cut them into chunks about the size of the parsnips. Toss with olive oil and salt and arrange in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast for 40 minutes to 1 hour, until very tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Using a blender, puree potatoes and parsnips with chicken stock. You'll need to do this in 2 or 3 batches so the potatoes don't gum up the blades. Pour the puree into a 2 quart pot and turn the heat on to low. Gently stir in the milk. If the soup seems too thick, add more stock or milk. Season with ground coriander and lemon zest and a couple generous grinds of black pepper. Taste for seasoning and add salt, if necessary.

Serve hot, garnished with chopped scallions and chopped bacon.

Serves 4-6.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pot Roast

My mom made the best pot roast. She used the simple recipe from her battered 1953-edition of the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook: coat a chuck roast with flour, brown in drippings made from its own rendered fat, add potatoes, carrots, onion, and celery, either water or stock, and simmer for 2.5 hours until done, after which time the gravy can be thickened or not. The end. The recipe is literally a single paragraph in the "meat" section.

I loved it so much, I requested it for dinner several times a month. And I loved it so much, I'd never attempted to cook it myself, knowing that I'd never achieve that degree of tenderness or the rich flavor of the gravy (which I'm pretty sure was enriched with a package of McCormick's Brown Gravy). Recently, however, I thought I'd give it a go. The BH&G recipe is deceptively simple and it would be so disappointing if it didn't turn out like Mom's. Instead, I decided to adapt a recipe of Ina Garten's. Because how can one go wrong with a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa?

The result was...meh. I'm going to blame the meat.

Fat-obsessed dieters have created a world of unfortunately lean meats. The chuck roast I picked up at Wegman's had been ferociously trimmed; had I wanted to use the BH&G recipe, it would have been impossible to sear it in its own fat, since there was none. And because of this leanness, the meat lacked the unctuous tenderness of Mom's pot roast. Then there's the wine issue. After several attempts at braising meats in wine, I've decided that I don't like the resulting flavor. Nor the pinkish grey color. The sauce that resulted from the braise was a dark puce, and I wished I had a bottle of my mother's magic ingredient, Kitchen Bouquet, in order to make it darker and richer-looking.

The whole experience left me wanting. Next time, I will endeavor to find the fattiest chuck roast possible, skip the wine, and...pick up a packet of McCormick Brown Gravy.

Pot Roast with Root Vegetables (adapted from Ina Garten)

1 (4 to 5-pound) chuck roast
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
flour
olive oil
1 cup baby carrots
2 onions, quartered
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2" chunks
2 cups celery root, cut into 2" chunks
1 lb baby potatoes
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 each sprig fresh rosemary and thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups red wine
1 cup chicken or beef stock

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Pat beef dry with a paper towel. Season it liberally with salt and pepper and then dredge the roast in flour. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Sear the roast, turning every 4 or 5 minutes, until it is nicely browned on all sides. Remove meat to a plate.

Add another 2 tablespoons of oil to the pot. Add the vegetables and garlic and cook for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Bring to a boil and add the chicken stock, herbs, and bay leaves. Place roast back into the pot and return to the boil. Cover pot and place in the oven, cooking for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until meat is fork tender. Check periodically and add more stock if it seems to be evaporating.

Remove roast to a cutting board. Place pot on top of the stove and turn the heat to medium. Skim fat from sauce. Make a beurre manié by stirring together 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir it bit by bit into the sauce until thickened to your liking. Taste for seasoning and add additional salt and pepper, if needed.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Salmon, Succotash, Parsnip Latkes

Nobody could ever accuse me of being a seasonal cook. While I think it's a fine idea, and I use as much fresh local produce as I can afford in the summertime (afford being the key word here - farmers' market prices are often a wee bit too high for my pocketbook), I still need to eat vegetables in the winter. And when the weather turns cold, somehow I am able to find fresh yellow corn in the supermarket. I have no idea where it comes from, but it's sweet and actually tastes like corn (unlike the white stuff the region seems to favor). Four ears of yellow corn were calling to me from the fridge and begging to be made into the summertime dish of succotash.

I'm no fan of lima beans, so frozen edamame were called to duty as a stand-in. I also had a bunch of non-local asparagus on hand, a lone roasted red pepper in a jar, and half a package of bacon.

Once I had decided on succotash, I had to then determine the meal's protein and starch components, because that's how we roll in the Minx household. Three medium-sized parsnips were languishing in the crisper and I decided to use them in my first ever placki - latkes to the rest of the world. My grandma used to make potato placki all the time. All. The. Time. Honestly, I won't even eat them anymore. But parsnips are different - rooty, sweet, carroty.

My first-ever placki

With the somewhat complicated veg and starch decided, it seemed only right to make a rather plain protein. Frozen salmon fillets from Trader Joe's were popped under the broiler and topped with a much needed acid bite of sour cream mixed with lemon.

Succotash

8 slices bacon, fried crisp, 1 tablespoon bacon fat reserved
3 tablespoons onion, chopped
2 cups fresh corn
1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 cup shelled edamame
1/2 cup chopped asparagus

Parsnip Latkes

2 cups peeled and grated parsnips
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons chopped chives or scallions
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Peel and grate parsnips and carrots, then in a large bowl, toss with flour. Add eggs, scallions, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly. Heat ¼-inch of oil in a sauté pan until it is barely smoking. Drop batter by tablespoons into the pan and flatten. Fry on both sides until brown. Drain on paper towels, then serve.
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While everything was tasty enough, I felt the dishes had too much of a bland sameness about them. Mr Minx said the placki and succotash should have been served apart from one another - placki and plain asparagus and salmon, or salmon and succotash and mashed potatoes - because they both had a similar lumpy-bumpy texture. I had to agree.

Empanada Party!

Well, not really a party since there were only three diners, and the empanadas themselves didn't have all that much fun, what with all of the teeth involved. But hey, we humans had a good time.

In the past, I've made empanadas with supermarket brand all-ready pie crusts. They work fine, but the dough is fragile and soft and doesn't make for particularly pretty turnovers. This time, I used actual empanada dough. Mr Minx had purchased a bag of Goya Mini Discos some time ago and it languished in the freezer until I found them after a bit of re-organizing. The little discs of nicely resilient dough just needed to be defrosted, rolled out a bit, and filled. While the recipe on the bag called for frying, I popped mine in the oven for 15 minutes at 350º.

I had some leftover seasoned ground lamb that I had used for preseason-football-watchin' nachos earlier in the week, and I also made a chicken filling and a really simple veggie one. (When I say "simple," I mean it: 1 cup diced, cooked parsnip; 1/2 cup cooked, squeezed-dry, spinach, salt to taste.) Each empanada also got a pinch of grated Kraft Mexican four cheese blend.

They'd never give Max's Empanadas a run for their money, but they were pretty good and made for some convenient lunches over the next week.

Chicken Filling
3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, sautéed or poached until cooked through, cubed or shredded
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
5 dried apricots, diced
1 tablespoon dried cranberries, chopped
1 4.5 oz can chopped green chiles
1 tablespoon ketchup
8 pimento-stuffed olives, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped nuts (I used cashews)
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
1 hard-boiled egg, chopped

Heat a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the oil. When hot, add the onion and cook until wilted and beginning to brown, 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir for a few seconds, then add all of the remaining ingredients except cilantro and nuts. Cook about 15 minutes until dried fruits have softened and sauce is somewhat thick.

Stir in chicken. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Before filling empanada shells, taste chicken for seasoning and add salt and pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Stir in cashews, chopped cilantro, and egg.

Makes a lot of tiny empanadas.

Empanada Sauce
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
4 green onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons sugar
dash salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Allow to sit at least 2 hours so the flavors can meld. Serve as a dip with empanadas.

Meat and Potatoes

I had just finished reading a selection about steak from Jeffrey Steingarten's It Must Have Been Something I Ate moments before Mr Minx and I went on our weekly trip to the grocery store. I was in the mood for red meat and though I knew from my reading that no cut of supermarket beef would be particularly satisfying, I threw a package of cheap bone-in "strip steaks" into the cart. (I use the quotes because judging by the shape and placement of the bone, they were only strip steaks by virtue of their long and narrow form.)

They were fried up in butter with some mushrooms and served with sliced potatoes cooked in duck fat. Yes, I said duck fat - we had about a cup of it leftover from Christmas dinner. OMG yum. Especially when the potatoes are dusted with a little Cajun seasoning (a.k.a homemade Emeril's Essence).

The steak itself, although lean, tasted well enough. It satisfied the urge to chew, but was gristle-free, unlike the NY strips we had at Ruth's Chris earlier in the year.

I also whipped up a little "steak sauce" with a bit of black bbq sauce and Worcestershire.

We prefaced this meaty meal with bowls of parsnip velouté. Not really velouté because there was no flour in it, but I just like saying the word. Velouté. Parsnips are my new favorite root vegetable and I want to put them in everything. Including velouté.

The recipe? I peeled three huge parsnips and cut them into chunks, placed the chunks in a pot with about 3 cups of water and one Knorr chicken bouillon cube and cooked them until tender. After it cooled, I pureed the lot of it in a blender, adding about a cup of milk (we had 1%) to assist in the blending. The puree went back into the pot with a scant cup of light cream, another cup of water, and another half bouillon cube. (If you have chicken stock on hand, by all means, use it! I had none.) Add more or less water and cream depending on the consistency you want to achieve. Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed (mine needed no further seasoning).

I just so happened to have some diced, sauteed parsnip from a Petit Louis doggie bag, so that became my garnish, along with a few bits of scallion. Later in the week, I'll garnish the leftover soup with some bacon.

Ok - maybe "meat and root vegetables" would have been a better title for this post....

Chicken + Waffles

I thought I'd continue tying Top Chef into most of my posts here at MinxEats by cooking one of the recipes from this season. Stefan has won most consistently, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with one of his. I didn't want to make anything too complicated, so I decided on his chicken pot pie recipe from the amfAR Christmas party episode.

A couple of weeks ago, Mr Minx and I discussed having waffles for dinner, and that stuck in my head. So instead of waiting for puff pastry to thaw, I whipped up some savory waffles instead.

No real way to make this look appetizing. Sorry.

The recipe on the Bravo site is pretty weird. It calls for a pound of eggs (?!) and far too much butter and flour for the white sauce.  And it called for celery.  Like chef Jamie Lauren, I'm not big on celery (I know it's essential in mirepoix and trinity, but I don't want to taste it).  So I altered the recipe to make it work for me.  Sorry, Stef. ;)

Creamed Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

2 T vegetable oil

2 cups chicken stock

1 small sprig rosemary

pinch of sage

pinch of thyme

1 bay leaf

3/4  cup of light cream

1/2 large onion, chopped

1/2 cup carrots, diced

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 cup parsnip, diced

2 T butter

2 T flour

salt and pepper

Heat veg oil in large skillet. Saute chicken pieces until lightly browned on all sides and remove from pan.  Add veg to pan and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.  Add chicken stock and herbs and simmer until veg are soft.  Strain off liquid and reserve.

In another pan, melt butter.  Stir in flour and add the reserved chicken stock, whisking well. Simmer this mixture until it's thickened.  Add cream.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add chicken and veg back to sauce and cook for an additional 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Yield: a lot. A quart and a half or so.

Cornmeal Waffles 

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour

1 T sugar

1 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 T butter, melted and cooled
1 cup milk, more or less as needed

3 scallions, both green and white parts, chopped

1 large jalapeno pepper, seeds and ribs removed, minced

In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well blended. Add the eggs and butter. Gradually add the milk, mixing well until a thick batter is formed.  Stir in the scallions and jalapeno.  Cook the waffles as specified by the manufacturer of your waffle iron.  Keep warm in a 300° F oven until all waffles are cooked.

Makes 10-12 depending on the size of your iron

Serve creamed chicken over waffles.

It turned out really well - the chicken was tender and I liked the addition of parsnips (which I've never cooked with before).  As I was eating, I was thinking that a creamed seafood sauce would be even better over the waffles - something decadent with lobster, perhaps.  I'm definitely going to try something like that in the future.