Sunday Sauce

I made this the other night for dinner. It's a simple satisfying dish that will stick with and warm you for the coming cold day's ahead.

I take a simple chuck roast and divide it up, removing some of the fat and bones (the sharper the knife the better). After you carve up the meat into large chunks, sear in  a cast iron pan until browned on all sides. Dice up a large sweet onion, a few carrots, and a little celery (with the leaves) keep the pieces all pretty uniform in size.   Get down the heavy cast iron dutch oven and melt some butter in the bottom along with a little olive oil, toss in the veggies and cook them until slightly soft. Add a 28 oz. can of tomatoes, chopped or diced works best, alarge can of tomato paste, fill the empty can of paste with red wine, half dozen cloves of fresh garlic, pepper, salt, basil, pepper flakes...maybe some rosemary. Add the meat, put the lid on it and slide it into the oven at 250-275 until the meat is tender, roughly 4-5 hours. I serve this up over pasta (whatever you have on hand) along with some bread and a salad.

This is a great time saving meal. It makes a ton, and it freezes beautifully.

I know I have been away for a very long time, but life happens. Hope I have a few followers left out there.

Thanks
Kari.

p.s.
I have gotten a new camera so as soon as I figure it all out there will be pictures.

Beef Barley Soup

To say the least the end of summer has been tumultuous. We are in the midst of refinancing our home, trying to keep spending to a bare minimum and Katsu has had a couple of medical issues crop up unexpectedly that we now hope we have under control. Roll all of that in with my daughters impending departure (in three weeks) from the family home for a place of her own, and I am ready for the much needed quieter pace of fall...the serenity of the season so to speak.

My grandmother's husband used to make something called "garbage soup" every week he would collect all the bits and pieces from the weeks meals and dice up the meat and chop the remaining vegetables make a stock depending on what he had on hand and make a delicious soup from scraps and leftovers. It was never the same and it always tasted wonderful.

Salt and pepper up some soup bones. I know they look like short ribs, but where I get my meat they call these soup bones.

Sear them on a med-high heat until browned on all sides. Then remove the meat and set it them in a baking dish.

Turn you oven on to 300 degrees and place foil snugly over the top of the baking dish. Place the soup bones in the oven and let them slow roast for about 3 to 4 hours.

When the meat is tender they are done. Pull them out of the oven and the baking dish set them on a platter to cool.

In the same pan that you seared the meat. Drain off some of the fat or a lot of the fat, whichever, and cook up your carrots, celery and onion. Cook them until they are only about half done, maybe less.

Separate the meat from the fat and dice into small cubes. Roasting the meat this way gives it a wonderful hearty flavor that you just can't beat.

I have everything ready to go into the pot. I also roasted up a Rutabaga for the soup it has a really nice texture and spicy fall flavor.

My stock came from leftovers I had in the freezer. Gravy from other roasts, beef broth from other soups. I love cleaning out the freezer and finding treasures. I added all in the pot along with 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup pearl barley and let it slow simmer for another hour or so until the barley was done.

This soup went nicely with my spicy buttermilk biscuits and the wet and rainy day. I had never made the meat ahead for soup like this and I was so pleased by the results that I seriously doubt I will every do it any other way again. The soup was really flavorful and satisfying.

Lamb Ragu

So I had a little dinner party last night. We had another couple over (Mr & Mrs M) for some delicious lamb ragu (new recipe). I love braising meat. Braising takes what could be a tough piece of meat and turns it into tender mouthwatering deliciousness.

It is helpful if you have all your ingredients together before you start any recipe. You will need 2 lbs of chunked up lamb meat (lamb shoulder works well), 2 medium onions cut into large pieces,3-4 peeled and large cut carrots, 8 cloves of peeled and smashed garlic, 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 3 tlbs of fresh sage, 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, 2 cups of red wine (something hearty), salt, pepper, fat for frying, dutch oven with lid and a large skillet for frying.

Start by browning your lamb in your very hot pan. I used two pounds of lamb shoulder that I cut up in big chunks and removed most of the fat. Salt and pepper your meat. You will also have to cook the meat in batches (no overcrowding) you want the meat to brown, not simmer. I used bacon grease for the frying, but you could easily use anything you have on hand.

Get it really brown. When it is really brown remove the meat from the pan, turn the pan down some and add the 2 medium chopped onions.

Caramelize those onions until they are soft and golden in color. Then add the carrots, 3 Tlbs. of chopped fresh sage, 8 cloves of peeled and slightly smashed garlic and some more salt and pepper.

Cook for roughly ten minutes. Don't burn your sage.

Next add two cups of red wine and deglaze the pan getting up all those yummy bit of goodness.

Then add one 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes. I used crushed because I think in the end the sauce is thicker and will stand up well to pasta.

Simmer for about 7-10 minutes to let the flavors start to develop.

Combine your browned lamb, 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary and sauce together in your dutch oven. Put the lid on and slid into a preheated 275 degree oven for roughly 4 hours. Let the magic happen.

Tada! I served it up over pasta but I can see this over mashed potatoes or polenta the choice is yours. I also had made some bread earlier in the day and the fresh asparagus called out to me in the store, so I sauteed up a pound of that for dinner as well.

I made my favorite cocktail Aperol Spritz which is as follows...take a champange flute pour half a shot of Aperol into it, then fill 3/4 of the way with prosecco, and top with a little club soda. Garnish with a bit of lemon or orange rind and there you have it. light, refreshing and sparkly.

Everything was perfect, the food was delicious, the company fantastic and the conversation lively. I even got out of making dessert this time...Mr & Mrs M brought a luscious Raspberry Poppy Seed Cake from a local spot they know that was super delicious.

Oh Yeah I Forgot Easter

I didn't really forgot Easter it is just that I am running on little sleep and about a week behind in my blogging. Super sorry bout that, but raising a puppy takes a lot out of me but I have decided it is still infinitely easier than raising children.

For Easter dinner I made a delicious boneless leg of lamb that I had butterflied open and spread onto the inside a paste of the zest of two lemons, 5 cloves of minced garlic, 1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley (fresh), 2 Tlb olive oil (plus more for coating the meat), kosher salt and pepper.

Spread the paste onto the butterflied leg of lamb.

Roll the leg of lamb back together the way you butterflied it then tie it off with butchers twine. Good thing I don't have audio for this because there was swearing.

Until I sprout an arm from the center of my stomach to help in these trickier kitchen jobs there will not be photos...so sorry.

The next thing I put together was a Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Carrot Puree. It was super simple and went together in a flash. First you roast a red bell pepper.

Then you peel, cut up and steam 1 1/2 lbs of carrots.

Then peel and seed the roasted pepper put it into your food processor along with the steamed carrots, 2 Tlb. olive oil, 2 Tlb fresh lemon juice, 1 pinch of cayenne (I used bout a pinch and a half), salt and pepper. Then just hit the switch and puree it until you have pureed carrots and red bell pepper.

Then for added color and flavor I roasted about 1 lb. of Brussels sprouts. Super simple just cut the little bottom off of them and drizzle with a fair amount of olive oil and sprinkle with plenty of salt and pepper. Roast in a hot oven ( I slid mine in alongside the leg of lamb) and roast until tender. stir them around on the pan to get good color on all sides.

Dinner was super easy and delicious, and I wanted to make a holiday meal that was over the top without having so much food before, during and after that you were sick of looking at it. I think I nailed it.

Now moving on to my favorite part of the dinner...dessert. I can not take credit for this recipe, but what I can attest to is that yes this cake is "The Best Chocolate Cake". I know it is the best I have ever had in all my years. So I am just going to tell you is buy the black cocoa powder, make the cake and have friends over if for no other reason than just to eat this cake.

This cake is so good that if your are single you could get yourself a husband or wife with this cake...I am not joking. FYI I followed the recipe to the letter and make the buttercream frosting that is linked from the cake page.

Well that's all folks. I am off to get ready for my day job. Hope your week is a good one.