Roast Beef 101

Or maybe the title should be "Roast Beef 102", as I am not really a roast beef aficionado?  I found when I first started making roast that it was much easier to make a bad roast than I thought.  I have since perfected my roast recipe and eliminated many of the typical roast ingredients. No bags, packets or cans.  No fancy pans or cooking methods.  Just a simple recipe yielding a simple meal. 

* This recipe contains a small amount of white flour.  It can be omitted but it makes a much better "gravy" with it.

List of ingredients:

Eye of Round Roast cut - pick a roast with a modest amount of fat down the side. This cut is tender if cooked properly but can become tough and dry, especially if all the fat is trimmed.

1/2 cup organic all-purpose flour

salt and pepper grinders

1/2 cup minced dried onion

water

veggies for roast- I used red potatoes and carrots

Heat a 6qt pot on high heat to sear meat while prepping roast.  Dry the roast with paper towels and place on cookie sheet.  Pierce roast with knife on all sides.  Cover roast with liberal amounts of salt and pepper.  Rub spices into meat.  Sprinkle flour on roast and rub until entire roast is covered.  Dust off any excess.  You may need more or less flour depending on size of roast.  Next sear the roast fat side down first, then rotating until all sides are brown.  Once roast is seared on all sides, place the roast fat side up in the center of the pan.  Pour water over roast until it is 1/2 covered.  Bring water to a boil then turn heat to low and cover.  Simmer until tender.  For an average size roast, about 3 hours.  Check roast periodically.  Make sure water level doesn't drop.  If so, add more water.  About an hour into cooking add the onion to the pan, flip the roast and recover.  Add your veggies the last 30 mins of cooking.  If there is not enough room in your pot for all the veg and meat, remove the roast, let it rest in the oven and cook veggies in the roast gravy.  When veggies are fork tender, slice the roast  and return it to the pan.  Spoon the gravy over the meat to moisten the roast and serve at once.  

*The key to this roast is the sear.  Make sure you render the fat first so that the roast doesn't stick to the pan when you sear the other sides. You can also sear the meat on the stovetop and then finish cooking it in the Crock-pot.  It is not the preferred method but it does work if you need to make it that way.

No Time For Chit-Chat

Not sure where time has gone these past 2 weeks or why it has eluded me as of late but I have a pile of ironing that continues to grow while the "laundry fairy" attempts to keep the dirty laundry from overtaking the closet floor.  She is putting up a good fight but her powers are waining.  Meanwhile, I have found it is near impossible to keep a food blog going when you haven't made time to the grocery store in weeks and you only have some cheesesticks and almonds in the fridge. My to-do and to-call lists are lengthening and the mental list to keep up with the physical lists wakes me at 2am to obsess about its priorities.  So today is catch-up day.  Washer is washing, ironing board is set up, grocery list is ready to go and I am blogging.  I will sleep well tonight. So enough of this chit-chat.

Below you will find a recipe of sorts for a stir-fry I made last week.  It uses Baby Bok Choy and if you have never tried this veg; this is a great introductory recipe.  Bok Choy, aka a super food, is a little sweet, has a bit of a crunch and great Asian flavor.  I use the term "recipe" loosely, as it is really more of a list of ingredients I threw together and called it a stir-fry.  Look at your spice rack and play with the flavors.  Add other veg or meats if you wish.  Stir-fries are great go-to meals as long as you steer clear of the soy sauce and MSG found in most ready-made mixes.  Give these spices a try. You won't miss the soy sauce one bit!

Baby Bok Choy and Grass-Fed Beef "Stir-Fry"

Meat Marinade:

olive oil- enough to cover meat

smoked paprika* this is my secret to great meat dishes. it has amazing flavor.

garlic pepper grinder

steakhouse pepper grinder

ground ginger

Combine spices and oil a baggie, add in meat, toss and refrigerate until ready to use.

*Don't be shy with the spices.  Make sure all the meat is covered. Taste the marinade before you add the meat if you aren't sure about amounts.

I cooked the meat and veggies separately just because I didn't want the marinade to take over the taste of the veggies but you can cook them together if you want. Cook the meat in a a hot pan with olive oil until desired doneness.  (Don't let the olive oil smoke) Serve over veggies. I salted the dish right before serving but no other sodium was added.

Veg Portion:
baby bok choy-cleaned and chopped on the diagonal
purple onion-chopped in proportion to bok choy
matchstick carrots
Heat pan, add olive oil and onions.  Once onion begins to caramelize, add bok choy and carrots.  Cook until just tender. 

A Quiche By Any Other Name

Ah, Quiche Lorraine.  Smokey bacon and Swiss cheese in a yellow custard all baked and gooey. Always a crowd pleaser because who doesn't like cheesy, bacon goodness?  However, quiche of a "no-name" variety has become a regular around our house lately.  I found an Atkins' recipe that works well for low-carb diets and I just throw in whatever veg or meat I have in the fridge. (just for the record, the buttermilk pancake recipe from yesterday is a rare treat in our low-carb/gluten-free world, crustless quiche is our reality) It is a great way to use all those veggies in the fridge before they have to be thrown out.  I eliminate the meat for meatless meal days and am still left feeling full.  I have found the key to a good quiche is making sure all the moisture is cooked out of the veggies before adding them to the egg/cream mix. Very important! This eliminates a watery quiche because nobody wants that. Below I have listed the recipe I use for the low-carb version but search the internet and find a recipe that fits your diet restrictions if this one has too much fat for your eating plan.  Regardless of what filling you come up with, try it without the crust.  You will not miss it.  The pic to the left is from last night's dinner, aka today's lunch.  This quiche is made with green onions, bacon, kale, Tabasco, spinach and cheddar. Last week's version contained Swiss, red bell pepper, green onion, chicken sausage, mushrooms and kale.  The combinations are endless.  Oh, and be sure to double or triple your recipe so you have leftovers.  It is a great fast breakfast/lunch, reheated or cold. 

Crustless Quiche from Atkins

Ingredients

4 oz. bacon *look for low sodium and nitrate free

1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced

6 eggs *farm fresh eggs make all the difference

3/4 c heavy cream *organic

2 boxes (10 oz. each) frozen chopped broccoli or spinach, thawed and squeezed dry *organic

1/2 pound Swiss cheese, shredded *low sodium

1/2 tsp salt *I eliminate this

1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350*F. Butter a 10-inch tart pan or 9-inch deep pie plate ( I used a square 9 by 9 glass baking dish).
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels; coarsely chop.
3. Remove all but 1 tablespoon bacon drippings from skillet. Add onion and cook 5 minutes, until softened but not brown. In a large bowl, combine eggs, cream, broccoli, cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir in bacon and onion.
4. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes (tenting with foil, if necessary, to prevent over-browning) or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Number of Servings: 8
*recipe copied from sparkpeople.com

*italics are iheartgroceries remarks

Soup's On

If I were to list my favorite foods, soup would certainly rank near the top.  Ask my hubby, we eat A LOT of soup. However, it never tastes exactly the same way twice.  I am always adding different veggies, changing up the spices  or the base so it doesn't grow tiresome. Soup is a great comfort food and easy to make gluten-free, low calorie and low carb. Here is a soup I threw together the other night.  I made a list of ingredients but feel free to make it your own and add whatever veg or spice you have on-hand.


Last Minute Soup

Here is a list of what you will need.

1 lb. ground meat (I usually use beef or bison but turkey, pork or chicken work great too)*
3/4 cup matchstick carrots
1/2 white onion chopped or equiv. dried chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery or equv. dried celery flakes
1tbs minced garlic
1 quart broth (I used low-sodium, organic chicken)
1 14oz. can tomato sauce
1 can beans, rinsed and drained (I used red kidney beans)
granulated garlic to taste (I start with a tsp and go from there)
italian seasoning to taste (I use a grinder-about a tbs)
salt and pepper to taste
parsley for garnish (I used dried b/c the fresh didn't look very good at the store)
* look for meat with no antibiotics or hormones, as well as grass-fed for best nutritional value

Heat a medium saucepan to medium-high heat and brown meat. Drain fat from meat.  Add onion, carrot, celery and spices and continue cooking until veggies are just tender. If using the dried celery and onion go ahead and add them here and give them a little color.
Add broth, tomato sauce and beans.  Bring soup to a boil and reduce to simmer. This soup doesn't need much time to simmer, apx 10 mins depending on your use of dried or fresh ingredients. Add additional seasoning, salt/pepper if desired and chopped parsley before serving. If using dried parsley add it a few minutes before serving so that is has time to absorb liquid.
Serves 4.