BEEF ROAST - see recipe belowCooking Terms
• Blanch: Partially cook vegetables in boiling water. I can be used to soften the skins of vegetables for easier removal, especially great for skinning tomatoes. It's also used to prepare vegetables for canning or preserving.
• Bouquet garni: A French cooking method of tying whole herbs into a piece of cheesecloth, securing it with cotton string, and using it to flavor soups, sauces and other dishes. It keeps your cooking liquids clear of bits and pieces, preventing the "burst tea bag" phenomenon. I love the flavor of rosemary, but when it's stuck in your teeth the flavor quickly becomes old and irritating!
• Braise: To cook slowly in a covered pan, with a small amount of liquid -- can be used for meat or vegetables. The result is always extremely tender and very juicy.
• Caramelize: To cook until the sugar in the food has browned, as with onions or garlic. This process brings out the sweetness in the food and adds color. Brown food is good food. This simple concept escapes many, but it is so true! When making French Onion Soup, the onions reduce to about a 6th of their original volume and the pan looks nearly ruined by the time they are ready to have liquids added. (See "deglaze" for the correct method of saving your "ruined" pot)
• Cream: A method used in baking, in which sugar and butter are combined in small amounts, mixing thoroughly between additions. This method incorporates air into the sugar/butter mixture and makes for a tender baked result.
• Deglaze: To pour water, wine, broth or other liquid into a hot pan where meat or vegetables have been cooked. The process loosens the browned crumbs in the pan, and may provide a base for gravy or sauce.
• Dredge: To coat meat or vegetables in a dry mixture such as flour or breadcrumbs, prior to cooking.
• Flambé: To ignite warmed spirits(alcohol) in a pan of food, often a dessert, for effect, and to caramelize the dish. To be honest I've never done a flambéd dish at home. Being married to a firefighter, I really don't know why I've not tried it. Perhaps I'll have Caleb grab a fire extinguisher and stand by one day soon and I'll let you know how it goes.
• Fold: To gently incorporate ingredients together, usually with a scraper or spoon. Often used to blend whipped cream with other ingredients. The idea is that you do NOT stir the ingredients. Usually if you are folding something into something else one of the "somethings" has had air whipped into it (i.e. egg whites or whipped cream). Stirring them would release the air, but folding is a much gentler process that keeps in the whipped air.
• Parboil: To partially cook vegetables in boiling water, to be finished by another cooking method.
Pretzels and bagels get their chewy texture from parboiling, but meats such as ribs can be parboiled, too)
• Poach: To simmer a food in liquid at just below the boiling point -- usually eggs or fish. Can be very tricky! Eggs should be cracked into a small dish or cup and then gently slid into boiling water from right over the bubbles, not from any height at all! Some people use white vinegar in the water, but it's not really necessary. Poached food are also very easy to digest and don't require any added oil to cook while retaining moisture.
• Rolling boil: When a liquid is boiling, and cannot be stirred down to below boiling point. In other words, if you stir it and the bubbles don't stop, you're good!
• Sauté: To quickly cook vegetables or meat on the stove top at a high heat. This method uses only a small amount of fat. (or chicken broth)
• Scald: To heat milk or cream to just below the boiling point. Milk is scalded when steam rises from it. Always heat dairy products on medium heat to avoid them sticking to and burning onto you pan.
• Sear: To brown meat all over to create a crust, to be finished with another cooking method. I always sear meat before putting it into a crock-pot or roasting pan. Only exceptions are ground beef, while mush be full browned, and whole turkeys. Whole chickens can be seared, and since "brown food is good food", I do recommend searing them.
• Soft/stiff peaks: When beating egg whites, a soft peak is reached when the beaters are pulled out of the whites and the peaks that form droop. Stiff peaks do not droop, but hold their shape.
• Sweat: To slowly cook vegetables in a covered pan until they are soft, but still hold their shape. This is often done with onions or garlic.
• Temper: To gently heat a food, often before adding it to a hotter substance. One example is adding a teaspoon or so of hot sauce to beaten eggs. The mixture is blended and then added to the sauce. This keeps the eggs from turning into scrambled eggs, which are no good in a sauce. The method is also used in candy-making with chocolate.
I know I just did a past recipe, but this recipe uses several of these methods of preparation. The recipe may look overwhelming, but it's actually quite easy and very impressive! ( A simpler recipe for Beef or Pork Roast follows.) Please don't be put off by the amount of wine in this dish. It cooks off quite nicely.
BRAISED BEEF WITH TORTELLINI
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 lbs beef short ribs, cut into 1-2 inch medallions (pieces)
- 3 onions, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cans (28 oz each) whole tomatoes, undrained, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups Marsala wine
- 4 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
- hot boiled tortellini (Cheese filled)
- 2 tablespoons of parsley (for garnish)
Over medium-high heat, preheat oil in large deep skillet or pan. Sear the short ribs, transfer to large plate when done (don't drain liquid from pan.)
Over low heat, soften chopped onions in the fat remaining in the skillet. (Saute)
Add and cook minced garlic for about 1 minute, stirring. (more sauteing)
Return short ribs to pan (to parboil!) . Deglaze pan with 2-3 tablespoons of the Marsala. After loosening the browned bits add remaining Marsala wine and cook until liquid is reduced by at least half. Pour in chopped, undrained tomatoes, crushed basil and thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a rolling boil, transfer to casserole dish.
Place in preheated oven (300-350 degrees F) for about 2 1/2 hours, until meat is tender or a crock pot for 6-7 hours on low.
Serve over pasta. Garnish with parsley.
Serves 6-8
BEEF OR PORK ROAST
- 4-3 lbs. roast
dreg in flour, salt and pepper
Brown in frying pan with cooking spray.
Do not rinse or clean pan. You will use again.
- 2 large yellow onion (slice in ½ rings)
- 2 c. beef stock (broth is alright, too)
- 1 c. red wine (optional)
- salt and pepper
After roast is browned placed in crock pot (also coated with cooking spray)
Separate onion rings and place over roast. Add stock and wine.
- 4 T. corn starch
- 2/3 - 1 c. beef stock
- 1 c. dry milk
- 1 ½ t. thyme
Mix corn starch and 2/3 c. stock. Add to frying pan that had browned beef. Deglaze pan to loosen brown bits. Add dry milk and thyme. Cook over low heat and whisk while it thickens. When thick pour over roast.
Place lid on crock pot and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours.
Optional and recommended: Add carrots and or potatoes (cut in wedges) to crock pot when you add onion.
Leftover beef and gravy mixed with cooked egg noodles is a killer Beef and Noodles, best served over mashed potatoes.
So what song is in my head as I write? I taught a couple voice lessons today, and one students is working on a song from The Secret Garden called "Hold On". It's not really a soprano piece, sitting firmly in the alto range much lower than I am used to, but the lyrics and music are wonderful.
What you've got to do is
Finish what you have begun,
I don't know just how,
But it's not over 'til you've won!
You can live a life full of beautiful peace and beautiful food without stress and with time to spare for you and your God-instilled needs.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. — John 14:27Jesus said that. Awesome!
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