Comfort Me With Pot Roast

Well, the weather has turned cold - it even snowed today - and it's definitely time for comfort food. My favorite comfort foods include braises, and pot roast more than fills the bill. Paul asked me last night if I would make him some pot roast soon and I decided to git'er done. It needed to include lots of root vegetables for flavor, texture and good nutrition and this recipe has all of that. This recipe is just a guideline, and you might not like beets or parsnips, but they really add to the quality of the dish.

2 1/2 pounds chuck roast salt and pepper
1+ tablespoons olive oil
1 cup medium chop yellow onions
1/2 cup medium chop carrots
1/2 cup medium chop celery
1/2 cup or so red wine
1 1/2 quarts organic beef broth
1 medium golden beet, peeled, cut up into 3/4" pieces
1 medium parsnip, peeled, cut up into 3/4" pieces
4 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cut up in 1" pieces
1 cup baby carrots, or cut up carrots
1/8 teaspoon or so cayenne pepper
5 oz. frozen pearl onions
5 oz. frozen petite peas

Preheat oven to 325° with rack in lower third. Over medium heat, brown the chuck roast on all sides with olive oil in an a 5 1/2 quart dutch oven, preferably enameled cast iron, such as LeCreuset. Remove the roast to a plate and add the chopped onions, celery and carrots. Sweat until tender, about 5 minutes, then add the red wine and cook to reduce to nearly dry.

Put the chuck roast back in the pan, add 1 quart broth, about half way or so up the side of the roast. Bring to a simmer, then cover and place in the oven. Braise 2 hours or so, turning roast once. Add the beet, parsnip and potato pieces, along with the baby carrots and cayenne. You will probably want to add beef broth to bring liquid level back up. Back in the oven for 1 1/2 hours, check beef for tenderness; it should be fork-tender. Put the pot on the stovetop, burner on medium, and add pearl onions and peas. Simmer for 5 minutes or less, to finish off the dish. Serve.

Feel free to add more beef broth - the root vegetables absorb liquid. Beets are very dense and probably won't cook through in allotted time and will be firm. If you want them tender, add them at least 1/2 hour before the other veggies. Cayenne in moderation adds depth of flavor, not heat; it's wonderful in braises.

Notes on olive oil: I'm going to admit something to you. I've been using cheap olive oil, ignoring the probability that the evoo I've been buying at Trader Joe's isn't filling the nutritional bill. Yesterday I went to an olive oil tasting room in Fairfield with some friends and was given an education. Presuming they weren't filling me full of bull, good olive oil is supposed to have lots of polyphenols - the good stuff. You can tell if your olive oil has them if when you taste it, you get a peppery taste and sensation in the back of your throat. No pepper, no poly-p's, just oil. I've had that peppery experience in other tasting rooms, and I quite like it. SePay Groves also has a cooking oil with olive and safflower oils and a high level of polyphenols, and importantly, a high smoke point. I bought the organic Tuscan olive oil for dipping and salads and the cooking oil for, well, cooking. I'm guessing that the California olive oils being produced are the good stuff, but do your homework. I will. (By the way, I tasted my cheap oil and yep, no pepper taste!)

Coming up - for the holidays I am going to make chocolate almond toffee real soon, using Lyle's Golden Syrup instead of corn syrup, as promised. Wish me luck!

More Turkey Talk

Paul asked me to roast a turkey this weekend and I wanted to try something new. For as long as I can remember, my family has always made a bread stuffing that actually is roasted in the turkey. And it's delicious. Over the last years I've also made cornbread stuffing, and crammed it in the turkey. It's all good. And, despite the fearmongers none of us have ever gotten sick.

Turkey prep has gotten interesting, what with brining, a real pain to do, and salting, which I haven't tried yet. Last week I watched the Barefoot Contessa roast a turkey, using truffle butter. She rubbed it on the breast meat, under the skin; I confess I have done that with chicken, only not with truffle butter. After calling a likely market for truffle butter (which I imagine is expensive) and they were out, I opted to make a compound butter. I let a cube of butter soften and used a fork to mix in fresh minced lemon thyme and a little Penzey's shallot salt. The hard part is separating the skin from the breast (it tore in a couple places - just a little) - it's darned cold under that skin too!

I've always had trouble with frozen turkeys; how long do you take up half your refrigerator while it thaws out? Well, I have my answer. I bought a 15 1/2 pounder on Monday and set it in the roasting pan to catch any juices and then set it on a shelf in my refrigerator. On Friday I cut open the wrap to let the air get to it. Saturday morning it was good to go. Per the Barefoot One I only stuffed it with salt, an onion cut into eighths, a head of garlic cut crosswise and a handful of thyme. Rubbing the turkey with olive oil helps with browning, generous amounts of salt and pepper are a must. The neck, a cut up carrot, onion and celery were put in the roaster to add flavor to the drippings. I added some chicken broth for moisture. It baked at 325 and was done in about 3 hours.

I made the gravy per my previous post and all were delicious. The turkey was moist, tender and flavorful. This is so easy I highly recommend it. Go get your turkey and gobble!

Let's Talk Turkey Gravy

Making gravy has never been my favorite activity; it makes me nervous. My grandmother made great turkey gravy, and my brother Greg picked up the baton and makes it the way she did, which I just couldn't describe for you. I know it involves whisking in flour.

Then four years ago Bon Appetit magazine published an article by Alton Brown (Food TV) on Thanksgiving Day turkey and I was saved from turkey gravy hell. The link below is to his stock and gravy recipe. The gravy secret is using schmaltz manié as your thickener. Definition time: schmaltz is rendered poultry fat, usually from chicken. Manié is French, referring to the hand. The usual incarnation is beurre (butter) manié, where soft butter and flour are kneaded into a paste (by hand) and whisked into cooking liquid for thickening thereof. But Alton is making schmaltz manié, where we make turkey fat & flour balls!

The first time I tried this I made the turkey stock per his instructions and it turned out great, with enough schmaltz to make the paste I needed. Last year I tried it again and for some reason - no schmaltz! What a shock! So I used butter - beurre manié. It was delish, and buttery, but still turkeyish. This year I don't have time to make turkey stock so I will be using Swanson's organic chicken broth. I am going to see if I can squeeze turkey schmaltz out of the turkey drippings this way: lift the roasted turkey out of the pan and cover it with foil. While it's resting I will pour all the drippings into my fat separator. (I like my Oxo fat separator. Don't bother with a small one, it never worked well for me.) The fat will go into the freezer to cool off and stiffen up. I'll use the schmaltz to make schmaltz manié, and make up the difference with butter. You have to be able to weave and bob in the kitchen!
Since I won't be making my stock, I am planning to roast the turkey with the aromatics in the pan to flavor the drippings: onions, celery carrots, thyme. Whisk in the schmaltz manié thoroughly, adding a piece at a time until you have the desired thickness. Be sure to cook until
it no longer tastes like flour. It's easy. This gravy is smooth and flavorful with a white wine reduction. Alton Brown's complete instructions are here. If the link doesn't work, just go to epicurious.com and search schmaltz manié. It's a piece of cake, uh turkey.