Pot Roast and Schedules
2002-01-28 @ 7:45 p.m.
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It's been a long time since I've been on line very much. Either the weather's been too pretty, and I can't make myself stay inside; or I've been out of town.
I had a great trip to Savannah that my wonderful wife took me on to celebrate my 45th birthday. We did a lot of walking around town and on Tybee Island, and we ate out a lot at some very good restaurants.
Now that I'm back home, I'm cooking again. Yesterday I did a beef roast with gravy. I've been doing more sauces and gravies lately and really enjoying it. So far I'm doing a lot with cornstarch as a thickener.
Yesterday's roast was a small top round roast, about 2 1/2 or 3 lbs, I think. I put it in my roasting pan, coated it with olive oil and put salt and pepper on one side. Then I put it under the broiler and rotated the roast until all sides were nicely browned.
Then I reduced the heat to 400 degrees. I poured one can (about 15 oz) of beef broth (I use Swanson's) in the roasting pan along with about 1 cup of red wine (any dry red wine will do), a clove or two of garlic minced, a couple of medium-sized onions cut in quarters, a couple of bay leaves and a stem of rosemary or two. Stick it back in the oven with the lid on this time, and cook for a couple of hours, longer if you want it completely done with no pink in the middle (or if you don't have longer, do what I did, cut the roast in half and turn each cut end into the broth mixture for the last 20 minutes or so).
Near the end of cooking, just before you're ready to put everything on the table, ladle some of the broth mixture out of the pan, avoiding the onions, bay and rosemary as much as possible. Put that into a small sauce pan. Put some of it into a cup and mix with a tablespoon or two of cornstarch. Add that back into the sauce pan and stir over medium heat. Add a couple of tablespoons of Dijon mustard and anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon of horseradish (depending on your taste). Continue to stir as it gets thick. Once it's thick, you can turn it down to simmer and let it sit while you get eveything else ready and on the table. You can either serve the gravy in a bowl to spoon onto the meat or you can cut the meat on a platter and pour the gravy over it.
Wine: We had a Petit Syrah with the roast. Actually, since it was from Australia it was called Durif. This particular Durif was from Deen de Bartoli, one of my favorite Australian wine producers. A rich, full-bodied wine with lots of fruit and no tannins is best if you are using something as spicy as horseradish.
I don't really have time to go into any family stories because I'm writing this at work. It isn't easy for me to get the time away from the sales floor. And tonight seems to be the night for idiots to come in and ask stupid questions. Yesterday was the full moon. What's this about?!
I will say that today my family has been in the discussion stage of negotiating dates. It's an interesting part of our situation. Because there are four of us, (and we're all female) any of us could start her period and throw a monkey wrench into the plan. Of course, the fact that we live so closely together means that we usually have our periods about the same time. Then, if no one is having her period, we take everyone's schedule into consideration. Which nights am I working. Which night does Jake have plumbing class. What schedule is Sara working this month. What kind of moods are we each in. (Badsnake is always up for it.) And we have to schedule around family dinner nights, because if we start trying to schedule sex dates instead of family dinner I get testy. My family time is important to me. Sometimes Badsnake and Sara have a date while I'm working or Jake is in class. Then Jake and I may have a date while Sara is working or Badsnake is out of town. But whenever we can, we schedule dates for all of us on one night so no one feels left out.
And you thought scheduling your family was complicated. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. We have always done a great job with these negotiations. I'm the one who makes it the most difficult these days because I'm the one who doesn't like to be left at home alone while Sara and Bad are having a date. The others are all much more generous about that. But they are very sensitive to my feelings, and I appreciate that a lot.
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