Pot Roasts - Working Towards Perfection

Usually in my household my husband goes away to the big grocery store every weekend to do the shopping for the week. My assignment is to do the shopping list, so I usually keep a list in the kitchen that I fill with what we need to get during the week.

Some weeks are busier than other, about a month ago I had hardly managed to jot down anything onto the list. My husband said something like, I'll walk around the store and see what I find. Ok, I said. This strategy doesn't normally work for us, but I didn't have any better ideas myself at the moment. Guess if I was surprised when he showed up with this big lump of beef, saying, I figured it would be really nice to do a pot roast!

Now, we haven't ever done a pot roast before, so I consulted my cookbooks. Julia Childs "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" had a recipe that looked good. It said the meat should be marinated with (among other things) lots of wine, booze and olive oil for about a day. Can't go wrong with that, we thought. But it didn't turn out as good as we'd imagined. The meat just didn't taste very much in itself, dragging the dish down along with it. And we had yet to understand that a digital oven thermometer really is a must, so the meat was sadly overdone.

First attempt of pot roast, served with classic Swedish condiments of pickled cucumbers and gelées

Next week we had a new try, using elk meat this time. We used a recipe that called for marinating the meat with beer, veggies and spices. This time the meat was ok but the marinade turned out very bland. We tried to use it to make gravy but the whole thing just tasted wrong.

As we are very stubborn, or just do not know when to take a hint, the next week we were at it again. This time I had ordered grass-fed speciality beef from Gröna Gårdar, supposed to be especially suitable for making pot roasts.

First we made a type of pot roast that in Swedish is called Rostbiff. It's very easy, you just rub the meat in salt and pepper and braise it in 125°C until a thermometer inserted into the meat shows  60°C (or a bit more or less depending if you like your meat bloody or not). Now we were going places, this one was awesome. We served it as a part of a French themed dinner party along with French potato salad (potatoes and spring onions with a mustard vinaigrette) and baked tomatoes.

Marinating

Then, earlier this week, I made a pot roast that I'm finally very happy with. It's a bastardization of a type of pot roast that is called "Slottsstek" in Swedish and the French type using lots of wine :) Here goes the recipe:

Bastard Pot Roast

1 kg rump steak piece (fransyska in Swedish)
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter

Marinade:
0,5 litre of red wine
1/4 pice of celery root in small pieces
2 onions in small pieces
3 carrots in small pieces
10 white peppercorns
5 allspice berries
3 bay leaves
5 anchovies fillets, mashed
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Gravy:
Used marinade from above
Heavy cream
Butter
Salt and pepper

Make the marinade by mixing all marinade ingredients in a big baking pan.

Rub the meat in salt and pepper and dump it into the marinade.

Let the meat soak in the marinade for about half a day.

Heat the oven to 175°C. 

Brown the meat quickly on all sides in a frying pan.

Put the meat back into the marinade.

Insert an oven thermometer into the meat and put the baking pan with meat and marinade into the oven and let it bake until the thermometer shows 58°C (or more or less depending on your preferences).

Remove the meat and let it set for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make some gravy by spooning the "used" marinade into a pan (only the liquid, not the veggies). Add some cream, butter, alt and pepper until it tastes really good.

Serve the meat with the gravy.

Mmmmm, meat, with blood, my favourite

Blog remake

To be honest I'm getting a little bored with the cookbook reviewing theme I've been running. I very seldom follow a recipe accurately anyway, I like to do my own thing. So from now on I'm going to focus more on my own creations and maybe I'll throw in a review or two when I feel like it. This way I can freely print any recipes I like and I think that will make the blog a lot more interesting.

Hobgoblin Bread

This might be the best bread I've ever had. Seriously. The only liquid used in the dough is ale, but you wouldn't be able to tell that If you didn't know. The beer taste is subtle, but adds overall depth and a tiny bittersweet edge.

Hobgoblin Bread
One big loaf

760 grams bread baking flour (Vetemjöl Special in Swedish)
60 grams graham flour
2,5 teaspoons instant yeast
500 grams ale, at room temperature (I used Hobgoblin 3, 5%, but probably any flavourful dark beer would do)
2,5 teaspoons salt

Mix all flours and yeast in a food processor. While running on low speed, slowly pour the ale in and wait until the flour is all incorporated into dough.

Let the dough rest for 20 minutes

Sprinkle the salt over the dough and run the food processor again, at medium speed this time, for 7 minutes.

Let the dough rise until doubled in bulk, should take about 2 hours.

Move the dough onto a baking sheet and shape it into a ball.

Let the dough rise until doubled in bulk again, should take about an hour.

Bake the bread at 200°C for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 175°C and bake for 30-40 minutes more until your kitchen smells really good.


Adapted from the "Beer Bread" tin Rose Beranbaums "The bread Bible".

Real Chocolate Wafers

It's a bit of a mystery why these are called "Real Chocolate Wafers" since they're actually made with cocoa. But apart from that they are good, basic chocolate cookies, made with your normal chocolate cookie ingredients, rolled out and cut into different shapes.

I made these for my sons birthday about a month ago. The cut-out letters are the first letters of the names of the kids invited to the party. The cookies are a little bit bitter from the cocoa, but the kids really loved them and gobbled them up in no time at all. The big rounds I've put in the freezer, they're waiting for the right occasion to become ice cream sandwiches.

Roasted Squash Soup with Cocoa Bean Cream

A great thing about "Bittersweet" is that there is an entire chapter of savoury foods using chocolate and cocoa. I love the idea, but I've had some mixed experiences about using chocolate in food before so I thought it would be really interesting to see if the recipes here would work or not.

The first dish I've tried out is "Roasted Squash Soup with Cocoa Bean Cream". This soup is made by roasting a butternut squash in the oven with some olive oil. The squash is then mixed with some stock and sage, drawing on the classic combo of pumpkin and sage. Then the twist is added, by first boiling some cocoa nibs in cream, ladling the cream on top of the soup, and then sprinkling some cocoa nibs on top as well.

This soup was divine. The flavours came together and played off one another just beautifully. The squash contributed sweetness, the sage was dry and, well, herby, the stock was salty and the cocoa nibs added bitterness and crunch. I'm really intrigued by the chocolate and sage combo. I don't think I've ever seen them together before. I've been thinking of using it again in all kinds of preparations. What about "Dark Chocolate and Sage Truffles" or "Milk Chocolate and Sage Pannacotta" or in home made ice cream? There is just an universe out there waiting to be explored!

Bittersweet by Alice Medrich

Time to pick a new book. As I've been talking about nothing but chocolate for a while, the natural choice for a cookbook is "Bittersweet" by Alice Medrich.It's a 370 page book containing nothing but chocolate recipes.

 

Chocolate Festival Loot

My main objective, going to the Chocolate Festival, was tasting lots and lots of chocolate, preferably for free, and maybe buy a few morsels as well to take home. The exhibitors were, of course, all into selling chocolate, luring innocent (or not so innocent) bypasses into spending lots of money on their warez by offering a first little taste for free. A marriage made in heaven!

I had set myself a mental budget of 500 Swedish Kronas (=74 USD). That much I could spend without having to feel bad about my chocolate habits. And I ended up on nearly exactly that. I also had a plan to skip most of the ready made pastries, truffles, boxes of chocolates etc. and instead go for more baking ingredient like stuff that can be harder to come by doing the everyday shopping.

First, the chocolate. Before going I had my mind set on buying a couple of Valhrona bars, but after a big tasting around I found this label, Barry Callenbaut. It was half the price from Valhrona and I thought it tasted at least as good. Also, the pellet format is much handier when baking, so I got these ones instead. There is 200 grams in each bag, and the chocolate is made from beans from Grenada, Madagascar, Ecuador, San Tomé, some palce starting with an F that I cant make out and then there is a bag of common white cooking chocolate as well.

"Plaisir Miel", a chocolate and honey paste. Similar to Nutella but with a more caramel like taste. According to the vendor, great in cakes and pastries.

Italian Licorice powder. Also for use in baking. I have never used it myself but it's supposed to be divine used in ice cream, panna cottas etc. I'm dying to find out.

Chocolate and sea salt covered almonds. This one I've already given away to my mother in law who babysat my 4 year old, giving me the free time to go to the chocolate festival.

Filipino unrefined sugar. I've been meaning to buy one of these for a long time.

I'd never seen one of these before so I bought it out of pure curiosity. The vendor told me they're commonly used in savoury dishes in South America. It contains cocoa and spices such as nutmeg and bay leaf and you're supposed to grate it in order to use. Will be interesting to try out!

Not chocolate at all, but salty licorice with a salmiak, chilli and cranberry flavour. This is, seriously, the best salty licorice I've ever had.

Chilli spiked fudge cake

Fudge cake (Kladdkaka) is a Swedish modern classic. If the food at high school had been bad, me and my friends used to make a fudge cake after coming home and preferably gobble it up before our moms came home and gave us a lecture about what would happen if we kept on ruining our appetites on food with questionable nutritional value.

This cake is based on a recipe I've used hundreds of times, with a little twist - the addition of cocoa nibs and ancho chilli, in order to make more interesting.

Chilli Spiked Fudge Cake

100 grams butter
2 eggs
3 dl sugar
2,5 dl flour
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons of Santa Maria Cocoa Chilli mix (if you don't know this brand, see my approximation below)

Stir everything together.
Pour into an oiled pan.
Bake for 18 minutes in 200 degrees C (=400 degrees F). It's supposed to be very sticky.
Serve with whipped cream alongside a cup of freshly brewed coffee.


Santa Maria Cocoa Chilli Mix approximation

1,5 tablespoons cocoa nibs
0,5 tablespoons ancho chilli flakes
0,5 teaspoon cassia cinnamon
Splash of vanilla extract.

Stir everything together.
Use in fudge cake.

Scandinavian trends in chocolate

Last Friday, me and my friend Anna-Karin visited the Chocolate Festival that is held annually here in Stockholm. The exhibitors are a mixed lot, there are bakeries and patisserie shops, chocolate importers, manufacturers, magazine companies and a big stage with live pastry making going on. A great place to be if you love your chocolate, that is :)

The far biggest trend this year was using salt, licorice and salmiak with chocolate. About every vendor had some truffles sprinkled with flaky sea salt or chocolate bars with salt ground in with chocolate. "Salty licorice" was another big thing, it's a traditional Swedish licorice preparation where the licorice is spiced up with salmiak. I'm not sure if salmiak is used at all outside Scandinavia, I've never seen it abroad. It's a very intense tasting salt that takes the skin off your tongue if eaten to much.

The main coming thing, I think, is preparations with raw cocoa. There have been bars with cocoa nibs around for a while, but now there were bars made from just pressed raw cocoa of different granularities and brown sugar. I suppose it's an extension of the global "going natural, no additives" trend.

Chilli was the biggest thing last year, there were still lots of chilli preparations, but I felt that one has peaked by now.

Summary - The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook

Time to wrap up my Italian Vegetarian theme. I found these dishes very useful for a quick lunch for myself but my son was unfortunately not very impressed with the veggies...

The author of the book, Jack Bishop, has a blog containing lots of  vegetarian recipes at: http://captious.wordpress.com/

Quick data:
Title: The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook
Author: Jack Bishop
Length: 568 pages
Recipe quality: 5 out of 5
Recipe complexity: 1 out of 5 (seriously, they are very easy)
Organization: 2 out of 5
Index quality: 4 out of 5
Food Porn Vale: 2 out of 5

Pros:

• LOTS of very easy to prepare vegetarian recipes. As long as there is one vegetable in your kitchen I can near guarantee you that there will be a recipe in this book you can cook.
• All recipes come with serving suggestions
• Italian + vegetables = Healthy but hardly ever bland or boring.
• I'd say this book is very useful even if you're not a vegetarian. This is the best resource for Italian style side dishes  I know of.

Cons:

• This book is WAY to big. Each recipe gets at least a page, even if the text takes up just half the page, and lots of recipes are very similar. I'd liked more master recipes with variations, in order to make the book easier to carry around in the kitchen.
• I would have liked more main courses. This is an issue with all my vegetarian cookbook, there is lots of salads, soups and sides but the main course chapters usually have a somewhat lesser feeling about themselves.