Bootlegger’s Roast

So I realized last night that I never followed up about the potroast I made for St. Patricks Day! Actually the reason I remembered was because I had frozen a chunk of it and took it out of the freezer to make for dinner last night.

Bread n’ Cheese:

• Sourdough and potato bread
• Drunken goat, goat cheese
• Stout infused Irish cheddar

Marinade:

• Red wine
• Balsamic vinegar
• Soy sauce (no need for salt now)
• Worcestershire sauce
• Several cloves of garlic … some stuck into slits in the roast and some minced and in the marinade itself
• 1 onion, minced
• Black pepper
• Herbs: thyme, rosemary, chives, parsley, sage … whatever strikes your fancy

Because I’m a sucker for a beautiful peice of meat, I picked up a gorgeous 12 inch tenderloin filet at Whole Foods…. um that wasn’t supposed to sound dirty! Anywho, it should be marinaded overnight in the fridge and patted dry before roasting. Now the cooking part of this went pretty haphazard as I’ve never done a roast before and my parents didn’t really cook many growing up so I didn’t have much to go on. That said, I would look at someone elses recipe for oven temperature and cooking time. That said, I seared it first in a pan to get some nice color and flavor on it before sticking it in the oven with some super-fatty bacon peices draped over top to keep it moist while it roasted.

Whiskey Gravy:

• Reduce whiskey, beef broth, and red wine
• Deglaze roast pan with reduction
• Add flour and butter to make gravy
• Strain into serving dish

Horseradish Roast Potatoes:

• Potatoes (diced and cleaned, not peeled)
• Horseradish
• Garlic (mince half and leave some cloves whole)
• 1 Large white onion, diced
• Herbs: thyme, rosemary, chives, parsley, sage … whatever you like
• Salt & Pepper
• Coat with vegetable oil

Now how one chooses to roast their potatoes is really personal preference. You can boil them and then broil them in the oven, but I don’t really like that. You can cover them with foil so that they don’t brown too quickly and cook on a lower temperature (350) until tender and then broil them until golden brown … or you can just be lazy and put the oven on 400 or 425 and stick the whole thing in and take whatever it dishes out! Which is typically a bit al dente and doesn’t get as crispy golden brown a crust than if you do it “right” … which for me would be the second option. Plus the longer all the flavors cook together, the more delicious everything is!

Irish Coffee:

• Intelligentsia coffee
• Baileys Irish Cream and/or Whiskey
• Brown Sugar
• Whipped cream

Fresh Picks Pizza No. 1

The past couple of months I began using this amazing produce service called Irv & Shelly’s Fresh Picks! Basically you can sign up to have a fresh picks box of locally grown, in-season produce delivered to your apartment weekly or bi-weekly for about $18. What I love most about this is that I never know what I’m going to get… only that its going to be fresh and delicious I’ve already tasted so many veggies that I normally would just pass by in the grocery store. For example, grilled turnips are delicious!

One of my favorite things to do each week is make a pizza when I get my fresh picks box. I’ve begun keeping frozen balls of pizza dough in my fridge for just this purpose all ready to roll out and top with nummy veg. This week I got kale, an heirloom tomato, what I think is thyme, and loads of green onions. I began by making an impromptu pesto out of the kale, thyme, and green onions and added garlic powder (since I ran out of garlic), sesame seeds, salt, pepper, and paprika. I chopped it all up and added the spices and a bit of olive oil to help the flavors meld.

I then roasted a chicken breast in the oven (350 degrees) while I tackled the heirloom tomato…. Question: how the heck are you supposed to tell when an heirloom tomato has gone bad?!?!!!! I’ve never really cut into one before and the outside looked like it had been patch-worked together a la Frankenstein. When I cut into it the inside was all mushy and brown, but didn’t smell or taste off. It was also incredibly juicy, a factor that later served to make my pizza somewhat soupy. I also prefer my tomato in slices rather than chunks, but this one made that impossible.

Frankenstein Heirloom Tomato

Frankenstein added to impromptu pesto!