Fresh Tart

OK, I gave in, but just a teeny tiny bit.  I'm still grilling, but I was so chilly last night and today that somehow a chuck roast found its way into my grocery cart and lo, a pot roast was born.  We need some braising birth control around here stat - aka sunshine! warmth! - or I'm going completely over to the dark side of soups, stews, and all things slow-roasted.

In September.

This can't happen.

This honeymoon baby is pretty straightforward - browned, braised until falling apart, and finished with vegetables.  I added sherry to the pot, along with thyme, and finished the pan sauce with a little sour cream.  All completely recognizable, with perhaps a bit extra flavor.

There are three keys to a terrific pot roast: 1) season liberally with garlic and salt, 2) brown deeply and thoroughly before adding liquid, and 3) cook as low and slow as you can.

I've found that I can achieve the lowest, slowest braise in a 225 degree F oven, even with extra low burners on my cooktop.  I also like that it's out of sight, if not out of smell (what a fragrance!), and I tend to leave it alone for a solid three hours before I start poking at it.

When it's falling apart tender, it is not only irresistible...but also, of course, done.

Yes.

Pot Roast with Sherry, Onions, Thyme, & Sour Cream
Serves 6

3-4 lb. chuck roast
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into slivers
coarse salt
1 Tbsp. oil
1 medium onion, peeled, trimmed, quartered
1/2 c. dry sherry
1/2 c. chicken or beef broth
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
3 large carrots, peeled, cut into 2x1/2-inch sticks
4 medium red potatoes, quartered
2 Tbsp. sour cream
freshly ground black pepper
handful of fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.  Poke chuck roast in several places with a small sharp knife and press slivers of garlic into the holes.  Sprinkle coarse salt generously over roast.  Heat a Dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add oil to pan and brown the roast thoroughly on all sides.  Remove roast to a large plate.  Add onion to the pan, sprinkle lightly with salt, and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Settle roast on top of onion, pour any accumulated juices into the pan, then pour in sherry and broth and add thyme and bay leaf.  Bring to a simmer, cover, and transfer to the oven.

Bake roast for 3 hours (make sure it's gently simmering; if not, increase heat a bit), until falling-apart tender.  Add carrots and potatoes to the pan and cook for another 30 minutes, until vegetables are just tender.  Remove roast and vegetables to a serving platter, cover loosely with foil, and transfer to a warm oven.  Skim fat from pan juices, remove bay leaf, and whisk in sour cream.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Slice roast, top roast and vegetables with fresh parsley, and serve with pan sauce.

Happy Labor Day!  Are you stopping by for a little last-minute holiday cooking inspiration?  I have to confess that this day rather snuck up on me too - denial that summer is ending, I suppose.  If you're running to the market today, wanting to pull something festive together for later this evening, here are some quick-to-make ideas:

Pork Tenderloin Tacos, easy to pull together, fun to eat, great for a crowd
Souvlaki, more pork (as you know, I do love pork), packed with flavor and everyone's favorite, especially with copious amounts of grilled naan or pita bread
Perfect Burgers, topped with whatever your heart desires, nothing more to say
Summer Tomato Soup, since it's a bit chilly out there, alongside Grilled Corn - a meatless meal, straight from the farmers market
Grilled Steaks with Herb Butter feel decadent and celebratory, but are really easy and fast to make (shhh!)
Farmer's Market Potato Salad, substitute green beans for asparagus, enjoy the delicious basil vinaigrette for weeks on everything
Gazpacho with Poached Eggs Over Potato-Green Pepper Pancakes, my personal fave lazy-day meal of the season

And for dessert, Blueberry Kuchen, baby, The Dessert of Summer 2010! It's my dear friend Susie's recipe, and won the Kingfield Market Berry Bake-Off when I submitted it earlier this summer.  Substitute other fruit for blueberries (as my friend Kelli at I Had A Delicious Time beautifully did) if you like.  Plums, peaches, apples...just don't forget the whipped or ice cream to melt over the top, mmm.

No matter what you make or eat, enjoy the end of summer, friends. Here's to a lovely fall!

I'm a bit ahead of the curve here, assuming that you have leftover roast of any sort in early September.  (Reveals my fatalistic if-summer's-over-then-it-must-be-winter attitude.)  But just in case...

I personally had a few lovely slices of leftover boneless, skin-on turkey breast, which I'd rubbed with herbs and olive oil and grilled until nicely crispy.  John and I hardly made a dent in it, but that's OK. We enjoyed hearty sandwiches and then...heavenly hash, God's gift to leftovers.  Yeah.

Too many people picture hash from a can, I think, and assume that they don't like it.  But really, what's not to like about aromatic vegetables slowly sauteed with a lovely bit of roast?  The whole emerges crusty and tender and pretty much to die for, especially topped with a poached egg (which I did not include in the pic, my apologies).  Hello Brunchy Autumn, aren't you a handsome fella?

I picked up parsnips today at Kingfield Farmers Market so in they went.  Fresh parsnips are sweet and rich-tasting, snag a few if you see them.  Roasted, mashed, tossed into stew (or hash!) the way you would potatoes.  Outstanding.

A Good Hash
Adapted from The Tenth Muse, My Life in Food by Judith Jones
Serves 2

2 Tbsp. butter
2 fat shallots or 1 small onion, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
½ large green or red bell pepper, chopped
2 or 3 small mushrooms (optional), chopped
2 medium russet potatoes, diced small (1/4 inch)
About 8 oz. cooked beef, lamb, pork, corned beef, or poultry, cut into small dice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ c. lamb, beef, veal, or chicken stock (or even better, gravy)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
salt and freshly ground pepper

Optional: 2 poached eggs

Melt the butter in an 8-9-inch skillet and sauté the shallots, celery, bell pepper, and mushrooms (if using) until almost soft, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the potatoes and the meat, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  When everything is beginning to sizzle, pour in the stock (or gravy), and cook over low heat, partially covered, about 10 minutes.  Turn the hash over with a spatula, and cook, uncovered, another 5 minutes or so.  By now the liquid will have evaporated and a crust should be forming on the bottom.  When it is browned to your liking, turn the hash over again and brown the other side.  Serve topped with a poached egg (if using) and parsley.

Judith’s note: it is always important to include some aromatic vegetables, to lend moisture and just a touch of sweetness, which helps to encourage the glazing.  I sometimes include a little finely chopped carrot or parsnip or white turnip – whatever I may have on hand.  It came as a surprise to me to learn from Julia (Child) that a good hash needs some stock or even gravy, if you have it, not only to keep it from drying out but, as with the vegetables, to form the slightly crusty glaze.

I posted this recipe a few weeks ago at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly magazine.

Here's a light, refreshing take on the familiar chicken skewer.  While the chicken marinates in wine, heat the grill and chop the cucumber, olives, and herbs.  Grill the skewers, grill some bread brushed with olive oil, serve with the rest of the bottle of wine you opened for the marinade.

That's pretty much it.

Use the same marinade for pork or fish - you'll find it's fantastic.  Finely dice other combinations of vegetables (or fruits) and herbs.  Keep it simple.  Always finish with a drizzle of excellent olive oil.

This is how to eat in the summer.  Agree?

Chicken Skewers with Chopped Cucumber, Arugula, & Olives
Adapted from La Cucina Italiana Magazine August 2010
Serves 4

These skewers are delicious with grilled bread - drizzle thick slices of crusty bread with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt, then grill slices on both sides until lightly browned.

1 3/4 lbs. boneless chicken thighs with skin on, cut into 1-inch pieces (Stephanie's note: skin-on boneless chicken thighs are not readily available; I've used both boneless, skinless chicken thighs and breasts to excellent result)
1/2 c. dry white wine
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary

Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

1 c. finely chopped peeled and seeded cucumber (from 1 medium)
1/3 c. fine chopped arugula
1/3 c. finely chopped pitted Kalamata olives
3/4 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

In a large bowl, combine chicken, wine garlic, and rosemary; stir to combine.  Cover and marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

Thread chicken onto skewers; drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill skewers 4 minutes/side, turning once, until chicken is just cooked through, 8-10 minutes total.  Transfer skewers to a large plate.

In a small bowl, stir together cucumber, arugula, olives, thyme leaves, and red pepper flakes.  Spoon mixture over skewers.  Drizzle with more olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Greek food and I had a shaky start, which is hard to imagine given how much I love it now.  My first exposure to a fully-loaded gyro - hours into my freshman year, University of Wisconsin-Madison, with my just-met roommate -  completely freaked me out.  So much garlic, with yogurt on meat (wha?), and juices running everywhere...my inner North Dakotan fainted a little bit.  Where are my parents?  Who is this girl I'm living with?  Why doesn't she shave her legs?  What am I doing?  I wasn't ready for feta cheese, not yet.

But after a couple of months of cardboard dorm food, and far too many pizzas, I started to crave food with...flavor.  I fantasized about going home for Thanksgiving dinner when it had never meant anything to me before.  I started exploring flavors outside of the Americanized Mexican-Italian-Chinese food I'd grown up with.  On a whim, I succumbed one hungry afternoon to the intoxicating smells from the falafel cart outside the UW Bookstore and ate the best sandwich I'd ever tasted.  Emboldened, I hiked back to the gyro place and got hooked on Greek salads and that damn sandwich, tender and spicy and dripping with yogurt, yeah.

And then...then I met Mary Pappas, almost 20 years ago, and my love of Greek food was cemented.  Mary would bring Greek treats - made by her mother-in-law and Yaya (grandmother) - into our office to share.  We would shamelessy attack and devour them.  Our staff birthday lunches often took place at It's Greek to Me, or Christo's, or Gardens of Salonica, and as a group we would eat obscene amounts of our favorite mezze, namely warm pita slathered with taramosalata, melitzanosalata, skordalia, and htipiti.  When I was pregnant with Nathan, Mary threw me a baby shower and had her mother-in-law and Yaya prepare all the food (I'll never forget that party, The Best, sigh)...spanikopita, pastitsio, meatballs, salad, baklava, on and on...

So many happy memories.  Which now include my son!  Was it the amount of Greek food I ate at the end of my pregnancy, including that shower?  Whatever the reason, he loves it, and I'm thrilled.  Sharing a favorite dish with a child is an incredible experience.  Overall, we have many more misses than hits, but Greek food in general, and souvlaki (below) in particular, are now among his favorites.  Garlicky grilled pork, wrapped in warm pita bread and topped with tzatziki, the yogurt sauce that scared the crap out of me way back when.

The marinade is delicious with chicken too.  Serve with rice instead of bread to change things up.  Make extra marinade and toss with tomatoes, zucchini, and red onion - skewer and grill alongside the meat.  Use leftover sauce to make this tomato-feta sandwich for lunch the next day - also fabulous.  Lots of variations - have at it!

For more pork grilling ideas, and a whole menu for a Memorial Day barbecue (pork ribs, crunchy-creamy coleslaw, & strawberry shortcakes), check out my post this week for Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly magazine.  I've got grilling pork on the brain - but only because the options are deliciously endless.

Souvlaki
Serves 4

Note: you can marinate the pork for up to 24 hours before griling.

2 lbs. pork tenderloin or pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for the bread
3 Tbsp. red wine
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. coarse or Kosher salt, plus more for the bread
several grinds of freshly ground black pepper
2-4 loaves of pita bread (I like the flatbread loaves, not the pocket bread; I actually use the 365 brand of naan at Whole Foods)
Tzatziki (recipe below)

Put pork into a large Ziploc bag.  In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over pork.  Seal bag, massage the marinade into the pork a bit, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.  Heat grill.  Lightly brush or rub olive oil onto both sides of the pita bread.  Sprinkle one side lightly with salt.  Skewer pork loosely on metal or soaked bamboo skewers (discard Ziploc and marinade).  Grill pork for 5 minutes on each side, or until pork is cooked through (do not overcook for optimum tenderness).  Transfer skewers to a cutting board and let rest while you grill the bread.  On the still-hot grill, lay bread on the grate.  Grill for a couple of minutes on each side, just long enough to leave grill marks and soften/heat the bread.  Remove pork from skewers and serve with the warm bread and tzatziki.

Tzatziki
Makes about 1 cup

1/3 c. grated peeled cucumber
1 Tbsp. grated onion
1 Tbsp. minced fresh dill
2/3 c. Greek-style yogurt (Fage is an excellent brand)
salt and pepper to taste

Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl and chill.  Keeps for up to one week in the refrigerator.

Grillin' and chilin', a real warm-weather day.  Puppy Louis spent all day outside, playing in the park and back yard, snoozing on the deck, and acquiring a fair number of burrs (luckily, they slide out of his fur pretty easily).  We spent all day outside too, reading and...playing with Puppy Louis.  I might even be a little pink, which is miraculous given that these days my sunbathing includes long sleeves/pants, a scarf, a hat, sunglasses, and a boatload of sunblock.  The sun is not my friend, even though it makes me so very, very happy.

We had a late din, nothing more than a burger, kind of perfect.  I've said this before, but I reiterate each season...

Great Burgers

1. Buy best-quality ground beef, not too lean.

2. Gently work generous salt and pepper throughout the meat before you form the patties.

3. Gently form the patties (if you pack 'em, you puck 'em), until they just hold together.

4. Press the center of the formed burger to make it a bit thinner than the rest (the sides seize up as the burger cooks; a thinner center ensures even cooking).

5. As you cook them, do NOT press down on them (who started that?), you'd just squish all the juicy goodness out of them.

My initial dinner plan - being all Spring feverish and such - was grilled lamb chops with a pea shoot salad.  Then I walked outside, into 26 degrees, and changed my mind.  I couldn't forgo the lamb chops (on my brain and all that) but a salad alongside seemed too...cold, so roasted vegetables stepped in to keep things (kitchen, fingers, tummy) toasty.  I knew I had a mess of radishes in the cooler, and baby carrots to boot, so I took a note from White On Rice Couple and roasted my radishes, as well as carrots, and they turned out beautifully.  (Do you read their blog, White on Rice Couple?  It's so gorgeous it's a little sickening.  In other words, I love it.)

My little trick with lamb chops, which I've written about before, is to buy a rack and then cut it up into two-chop segments.  Why?  Starts with an F, ends with an R, with an AVO in the middle (flavor, if you're not following).  Actually, it's all about surface area, which translates into flavor.  By cutting the rack into segments, each chop is smeared with seasoning and fabulously crusty on one side, rosy and tender on the other (after slicing) - you see?  Lamb chop perfection, truly.  And so easy - preheat the grill, then mince a couple of cloves of garlic, sprinkled with salt, into a paste, stir in some olive oil and dried rosemary (fresh is even better), and smear the segments with the mixture.  Sprinkle the chops with a little extra salt when you're done.  You can do this several hours ahead if you like, or right before you grill them - your choice.  Grill them on three sides, over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes/side.  I like them barely medium, just a hint of pink.  If you like yours pinker or not pink at all, adjust grill time accordingly.  Let them rest for a few minutes on a cutting board, then slice in half and serve.

And then...it's bedtime.  What?  Yeah, that's just the way I feel these days.  All excited about Spring, walks with Puppy Louis, grilling lamb, and then falling asleep like an old lady in the middle of winter.  It's...a transition season.