Proper Roast Beef

Growing up, roast beef was some dry crusty grey meat that wasn't even edible even when drenched in gravy. But beef is beef. A roast is no different than a steak. And I don't remember my father eating his beef well well done so I don't know why he treated his roasts that way. Oh well, I know better now.

The inspiration for this traditional meal came from two places: 1) my discovery of an organic beef farmer at the Dieppe Farmer's market who raises his cattle in pastures where they are free to graze and live a chemical free life, and 2) yet another recipe in Jamie Oliver's infinitely useful cookbook, Cook with Jamie. I also took out a meat thermometre, something I don't even think my father knows exists.

Mr. Oliver's recipe calls for roasted beets alongside the beef but seeing as we're past the season of variety at my local farmers markets I made due with root vegetables. I chopped up some ruttabegga, small potatoes, organic carrots (that actually taste like carrots) and the sweetest little onions you've ever tasted. I pressed some of the onions and garlic into the beef, topped these with a handful of thyme sprigs, wrapped the whole thing in bacon, and then slathered it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Propping my beef contraption on some carrots - for a roast mustn't boil - I cooked the whole thing, excluding vegetables, for an hour in a 400 degree oven. I then added the vegetables and cooked the whole thing for another hour, making sure to baste the whole thing from time to time. I also stuck the meat thermometre in at this point. I wanted my meat medium well. Not dry.

Once the meat was cooked, I put it in a bowl, covered it in aluminum foil and let it rest for 20 minutes. In the meantime, I drained the juice from the pan, reduced it and kept roasting the vegetables.

Thin slices of beef with sweet roasted vegetables (the onions were the best since I only peeled them and left them whole) and all deliciously swimming in reduced jus. Very good, very well cooked and very different from what my childhood memories.

My girlfriend even said that this was one of the best things I've ever made. Now that's an accomplishment!

Cook Tomato Salad with Jamie

At the top of my list of things I love are food and books. Therefore the natural combination of the two is a real treat. I like books that aren't only cookbooks but tell you a story for the recipes or are the recipes that a person gathered on a trip of some sort. Two books of this sort I'd been eyeing recently were given to me by my mother-in-law for Christmas. I got both Kylie Kwong's My China and Jamie Oliver's new book Cook with Jamie.

The basic principle of Jamie Oliver's book is that this celebrity chef's cooking program through his restaurant Fifteen is here presented to the general public as a sort of cooking textbook. I haven't seen recipes so far that are just slapped onto a page without any context or story or explanation. For example, the first recipe I prepared from this book was for a tomato salad. The introduction to the recipe is actually longer than the recipe itself and there are gorgeous photos to go along with all of them. And then you get to the recipe for the tomato salad and you're not just given steps to follow but little explanations that clarify why it is you're being asked to perform such and such an action. In the recipe in question, once you've cut you're fresh mixture of different tomatoes into odd sized pieces, you put them in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle them generously with sea salt. But the instructions don't just say do 1, then 2, then 3 and so on. They say that the reason why you're doing this is to draw out some liquid from the tomatoes to concentrate the flavour. It also explains that he's not expecting you to eat all of that salt...the salt will, for the most part, run off with the excess liquid of the tomatoes.

I've done basic tomato salads like this before. Tomatoes + olive oil + balsamic vinegar. All that's different here is the preparation of the tomatoes and the expected additions like garlic, fresh marjoram and basil and the not so usual addition of a hot red pepper. The recipe's additions were good. But it's the preparation and the learning that went along with the preparation that makes this book worthwile. Now I know that if I draw some water out of a vegetable that I'll be able to concentrate it's flavour. Simple in retrospect but it's one of those millions of little things that need to be learnt in the kitchen.

Cook with Jamie is a recipe book that reads like a cooking show. You get all the information that can be delivered in live action but in a format that allows you to move at your own pace. Isn't learning fun?!

Blue Cheese Steak with Balsamic Reduction and Purple Mashed Potatoes

I know I talk about the market pretty much every time I start writing a word but I'm really obsessed with the place. The cheese counter we go to every week always makes us taste something different. You tell them what you like and what you've had and they pull something new out. Like that tulip petal cheese I mentioned in my last blog entry. Or the subtle nutiness and fruitiness of the powerful blue cheese I used to stuff my steak with.

I prepared the steak by cutting a slit into the steak and working my knife around a bit to make a sort of pocket. You have to be careful when doing this not to make any holes or make the opening too big. The result of these simple mistakes is that you loose all your cheese to the buttom of the cast iron skillet or worse, the barbecue. I use my fingers to make the pocket larger and then stuff it with the best blue cheese I can find. What's great about blue cheese is that it's got an intense flavour but still let's the flavour of the steak shine through. Coupled with a drizzle of balsamic reduction (which is just balsamic vinegar boiled down to make it more concentrated) you've got yourself a steak worth any overly priced big city steak house. And if you really want to treat yourself, go with filet mignon. It's always tender and not having to cut around any bones, fat or cartilage always makes for a more pleasant meal.

Along with the steak, I served mashed purple potatoes. It doesn't look too purple on the photo but I just couldn't resist grabbing a bag when I saw how cool the farmer lady at the market thought her purple potatoes were. I'd seen them before, along with purple carrots and other such odities, but I figured it would be fun to eat. To tell you the truth, I'm not a big potato eater and these potatoes, though very cool, were not the best tasting. However, when standing aside a well browned blue cheese steak and a mound of sautéed mushrooms with onion and garlic, taste can take a backseat to coolness.

Simplest Tomato

As always, simple is best. Having produce that's in season also helps because it's only in the dead of winter that it's time for stews that cover up the fact that you might not be cooking with the freshest of ingredients. While perusing through the farmer's market this weekend, I couldn't help but notice that almost every vender was selling what I'd been anticipating all summer...tomatoes!

And the ones I bought aren't just your average beefsteak tomatoes. I got myself a nice little basket of bright red roma tomatoes. Even though they're fantastic on their own with just a touch of salt, I had to bring in a bit of variety. But not just variety for varieties sake like in all those fancy restaurants (ex: I saw one of Wolfgang Puck's recipes for celery soup that had 24 karat gold in it...WHAT'S THE POINT!?). This preparation is simple, let's the beauty of the produce show and is taken from Michael Smith's show Chef at Home.

Simply chop fresh tomatoes into cubes, splatter with good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar and that's it. Simple and delicious. To give it a bit more of a spin you can throw in some feta and fresh basil. I've tried it a few times with kalamata olives (thus basically short of cucumber which would make it a greek salad) but to really let the tomatoes shine it's best to go with the basics. And that's better than any $500 meal any day.

24 karat gold....I don't get it....I just don't get it....

Strawberry-Balsamic Granita

I had a case of strawberries and was getting to the bottom of it where the fruit was bruised and generally unapealing. Solution: throw them into a food processor with sugar, water and balsamic vinegar, freeze for 3 hours or so and enjoy. Yet another recipe out of my Fine Cooking / Fresh magazine.

Contrary to sorbet, granita is slushier. When thoroughly frozen it gives a nice aerie and sweet slush that's nice after a summer meal. Sad thing with my experience is that the granita wasn't freezing fast enough and melted fast...though it would probably have helped to follow the recipe completely (I did not freeze it overnight...just the 3 hours). I also found this recipe to be a little too sweet. Also, the balsamic vinegar went unnoticed amongst the very ripe strawberries. Anyways, here's the recipe in the magazine. If you have any suggestions on how to improve the recipe, feel free to comment.

Strawberry-Balsamic Granita
Yields about 6 cups scraped granita

10 oz. ripe strawberries (about 1 pt. or 2 cups lightly packed) rinsed and cored
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tbs high-quality balsamic vinegar

1. Throw strawberries in a food processor with sugar and process until smooth.
2. Add water and balsamic vinegar and blend well.
3. Pour mixture into a 9-inch-square shallow baking pan.
4. Put the pan in the freezer and stir every 30 minutes with a fork, being sure to scrape the ice crystals off the sides and into the middle of the pan, until the mixture is too frozen to stir, about 3 hours, depending on the individual freezer.
5. Cover the pan with plastic and freeze overnight.
6. When ready to serve the granita, scrape the shaved ice and fill you glasses and bowls.