Cooking in Pajamas

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!   I hope you will take a minute today to give thanks for all that we have to be thankful for.   Everyone has something to express gratitude for.  It can be as huge as being grateful for having your health and living in a free country, or as simple as being thankful for chocolate and our cute, furry friends (I am referring to dogs, but I know some of you out there probably have cats).

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."  ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." - Oprah Winfrey

Let's talk Pot Roast.......

Only Ina Garten can make a Pot Roast good enough for company!  Seriously....who would ever serve a huge hunk of beef chuck to company?  I would with this recipe...and I don't even care for Pot Roast!

If you have never used beef chuck before,  it comes from the shoulder and neck of the beef.  Although it is very flavorful and economical, it tends to be tough and fatty, and contains a fair amount of bone and gristle.  But it completely transforms, once it has been cooked in a liquid for several hours.  It becomes tender, moist and flavorful.  The key is to not rush the cooking!   It is the combination of low heat plus long cooking time, that equals a melt in your mouth pot roast.   If you cannot find a large piece of boneless beef chuck roast, you could opt for top round, brisket, bottom round (probably what your grandmother used) or rump.  You can also ask the butcher for help selecting a cut of meat for pot roast, or look for the helpful sticker on the package of meat in the supermarket that tells you if it is a good cut for Pot Roast.

Serve with mashed potatoes or latkes, and glazed carrots, and you have an awesome meal!  I promise, your house will smell like your grandmother's house.  It will bring you back to your childhood.  You will not believe how delicious your house will smell.

BTW....this recipe was chosen by Lisa of Lime in the Coconut.  (cute blog name)

I would definitely recommend buying more meat than you think you need.  Leftover pot roast is even better the next day, and the day after that.   Use the leftovers for sandwiches.  Who wouldn't eat a pot roast sandwich, on a sourdough roll, with horseradish sauce, tomato, arugula, and a tangy Vidalia onion relish?  You could even throw some leftover meat into a bowl of split pea soup, or some vegetable soup.

Company Pot Roast

Ingredients

• 1 (4 to 5-pound) prime boneless beef chuck roast, tied
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All-purpose flour
• Good olive oil (oh Ina...we always use "good" ingredients!)
• 2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
• 2 cups chopped celery (4 stalks)
• 2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 to 4 leeks)
• 5 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 cups good red wine, such as Burgundy
• 2 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes in puree
• 1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 3 branches fresh thyme
• 2 branches fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Season the roast all over with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Dredge the whole roast in flour, including the ends. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the roast and sear for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn and sear the other side and then turn and sear the ends. This should take 4 to 5 minutes for each side. Remove the roast to a large plate.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the Dutch oven. Add the carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add the wine and Cognac and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, bouillon cube, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Tie the thyme and rosemary together with kitchen string and add to the pot. Put the roast back into the pot, bring to a boil, and cover. Place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is fork tender or about 160 degrees F internally. Turn the heat down to 250 degrees F after about an hour to keep the sauce at a simmer.

Remove the roast to a cutting board. Remove the herb bundle and discard. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Transfer half the sauce and vegetables to a blender or a food processor fitted with the steel blade and puree until smooth. Pour the puree back into the pot, place on the stovetop over low heat, and return the sauce to a simmer. Place 2 tablespoons flour and the butter in a small bowl and mash them together with a fork. Stir into the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thickened. Taste for seasonings. Remove the strings from the roast, and slice the meat. Serve warm with the sauce spooned over it.

"I celebrated Thanksgiving in the traditional way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house; we had an enormous feast. And then I killed them and took their land." - Jon Stewart

The Home Cook Gourmet

•November 9, 2009

...from what's cookin' with doc

Is there anyone who does not like to decorate cookies?  How much fun is it to take a plain, dull cookie, and individualize it with sprinkles and frosting and candies?  Letting your kids bake holiday cookies with you is a tradition that I am sure they will beg you to do every year, and will remember always.  Let them pick out the cookie cutters, and have fun!

I was lucky enough to meet Deborah Greene at Pie and Tart Workshop last month. Deborah is the owner of D-LYN Desserts and is an extremely talented baker.  D-LYN Desserts specializes in the most beautiful homemade cakes, cookies, cupcakes and candies.   You cannot look at photos of her confections, and not have your mouth water!  Check out D-LYN's Facebook page for contact info. and to see photos of her gorgeous work.   I owe a huge thank you to Deborah for sharing her Holiday Cutout Cookie Recipe.   Below the recipe are some tips to keep in mind when making decorated cookies.

Tips For Decorating Cutout Cookies

1 - If you are working with young kids, you may want to have the cookies pre-baked, and just let the kids decorate.  Older kids can participate in the mixing and baking process, but little ones can get restless waiting for the cookies to bake and cool.

2 - If you are decorating the cookies after they have come out of the oven, you will need to use frosting or icing as a "glue" to help your toppings adhere to the cookies.  You will not need to use frosting if you are decorating the cookies before they go in the oven.

3 - You have an infinite number of toppings to chose from.  Some popular options include:  sprinkles, non-pareils, M&M's, colored sugars, silver and gold dragées, raisins, coconut, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, Red Hots, chocolate chips, gumdrops, craisins, and nuts.

4 - Make your own disposable pastry bag by using a plastic sandwich bag with a small hole cut in the corner to drizzle stripes of frosting on cookies for a fun touch.

5 -  Consider using silicone baking mats to line your cookie sheet pans.  They are completely non-stick, and so easy to clean.

6 - You can buy your decorating supplies at the grocery store, a craft store Like Michael's), or for the ultimate selection, a cake decorating store (Cake Art in Atlanta).

7 - Make sure the cookies have cooled completely before decorating.

8 - Just about any cookie can be dipped in melted chocolate.  Chocolate chips can be easily melted in the microwave.

9 - If you are pressed for time, feel free to use a sugar cookie mix, or even a refrigerated roll of sugar cookie dough.  The fun is in the process of decorating.

10 - If you want colored cookies, add a little food coloring paste to the dough.  When the cookies are baked, the color will soften out a bit.

Oh, most important.... HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

Ahhhh...there is nothing better than the smell of a pot of simmering chicken soup!!!!

You know how you read a recipe, and it calls for homemade stock?  You immediately dismiss that idea, and reach for your box of Swanson's Chicken Broth?  I know...that used to be me too!  Making homemade stock could be a pain in the neck.  Who has the time?  Well folks...get out your slow cooker, and get ready to make the easiest and most flavorful stock you have ever tasted!

There are certain recipes, where canned broth works just fine, but if you are making soup, risotto or a sauce, the difference between canned and homemade is HUGE!  Let's put aside the immense flavor difference, and I'll give you a three more reasons why you should make homemade, and throw away your cans and boxes:

1 - Homemade stock costs much less than canned stock

2 - Homemade stock is healthier than canned stock. It’s full of nourishment; the slow simmering process extracts the goodness from the bones and vegetables and creates a delicious mineral rich broth, full of bio-available calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. If you don’t think the bones give up their minerals then try squeezing a chicken bone from a stockpot that’s been simmering over a two day period. You’ll find the bone crumbles away in your hand.

3 - Stock requires no attention.  Once the ingredients are in the pot...your work is just about done.

I have made my own stock before, but it never took TWO DAYS!!!.  Phil and I were at a Soup Workshop last week, and our instructor told us that the secret of an amazing homemade stock, is to cook it in your slow cooker for two days.  She didn't believe it, until she did a side by side tasting of stock cooked for five hours versus stock cooked for two days, and she said she will never use a chicken stock that is not cooked in the slow cooker for two days.  Of course, I had to do a side by side taste as well.  I made a traditional pot of stock on the stovetop, and a batch in the crockpot.  The stovetop version cooked for 4 hours, and the crockpot version for two days.  There definitely is a big difference.  If I am making soup, I will most certainly go for the two day version.  I used it in a Roasted Tomato Soup, and the soup was awesome!  Even the kids ate the soup, and I have never seen them eat tomato soup before!  It was the addition of the homemade stock versus canned stock that made all the difference.

The key is to plan ahead, and always keep some of this stock in your freezer, or refrigerator.  It will keep in your refrigerator for a week, or in the freezer for 4 to 5 months.  If you don't want to spend the money on an entire chicken, ask the butcher for necks and backs only.  I use the entire chicken, and save the meat for my dogs (the meats is a little dried out after being simmered for two days, but the dogs don't seem to mind).  Whenever I see chicken on sale, I stock up (no pun intended).   I either make my stock that week, or stick the chicken in the freezer until I am ready to use it.

The photo on the left is my stovetop stock, and the photo on the right is the stock in my crockpot.

When you make the slow cooker version, the smell of chicken soup will be wafting throughout your house for two days.  When I woke up on the second morning that the soup was simmering, I had momentarily forgotten about it.  Phil was up before me, and came into the bedroom with my morning cup of coffee (yes..he brings me a cup of coffee in bed on the mornings he doesn't work!), and said, "Gwenn, the house smells AMAZING!".  I jumped out of bed, and ran into the hallway.  OMG....you would die, it smelled so good in the house!  I ran to check on the soup, and it was happily simmering away.  The stock was a deep gold, but much had evaporated away.  Normally, not a problem, it would just be super concentrated, but since it had another day to cook, I added more water to keep the chicken and vegetables covered.

Everyone in New York loves crumb cake.  When I came to Atlanta in 1986, I was shocked to find out that the rest of the country was not craving crumb cake like I was.  In fact, my friends from the West coast, had no idea what a crumb cake was!  I told them it was like a Drake's Mini Coffee Cake, and I was met with blank stares.  I had many culture shocks when I moved to Atlanta, from New York, but this one through me for a loop.  Unless they were from New York, or New Jersey,  my new friends in Atlanta had no idea what they were missing!  A moist, light cake with heaps and heaps of crunchy, brown sugar topping.  I would even venture to say that when you cut your crumb cake, there should be equal amounts of crumb and cake!

This is a version of Martha Stewart's Crumb Cake recipe.  It has been changed a bit as it has been passed around, but I think the cake is as authentic as it gets.  Any Brooklyn bakery would be proud to have this cake in their display case. Serve it for breakfast, snack or dessert.....if you have never had New York style Crumb Cake before, you will definitely fall in love.