Daily Post / 10-4-10 – Dinner!

Posted on October 4, 2010 
Filed under Daily Writing

This morning, before trying my hand at doing 3 things at once and not mixing the client’s materials up, I started dinner.

Over the weekend, my wife, daughter and I  went to one of the warehouse stores to stock up on some items that we had been running low on.

While there, I went past the meat counter, as I had been successful in picking a rather large roast up, and wanted to see if it was a fluke or if the quality of the meat here was actually not too bad. After a short search, I found one that would be at least two trips to crock-pot land.

So, back to this morning.  I used my very sharp boning knife to divide the roast into two parts, one of which went into the freezer for later.

Putting about a quart of hot water into the crock, I then gently placed the roast fat side up in the water.  Next, I liberally sprinkled granulated beef broth into the hot water, sliced up two medium onions and added those, and then finished up with large amounts of Mrs. Dash and black pepper, flipping the switch to high at the end.

There – dinner’s done.

Well, not exactly.  One of the things that I truly enjoy with roast beef is gravy.  Yep – the American Heart Association Official Condiment (TM). (Not to be confused with the American Heart Association Breakfast – 2 eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast.)

I don’t particularly like the type you find at some restaurants, where it is a light brown, somewhat pasty, opaque gel that is covers everything.  No, I like my gravy just a little transparent, and a dark, savory brown. (I was probably spoiled by my Aunt Helen’s cooking.  She and her husband owned the YoGo Inn in Melvin, Iowa for many years.  Every once in a while we would go to her house for Sunday dinner and this was the type of gravy she made.)

I start by fishing all the caramelized onions from the beef broth in the crock.  Then I add a ladle or three of the broth to the onions in a saucepan.  Next, I heat this over a high heat, to bring it to a rapid boil, taking a moment to add a couple tablespoons of sliced mushrooms and a liberal shaking of pepper.

If I have more time, I add another two cups of broth and mix up some corn starch and cold water to add and thicken the gravy.  Tonight was not a night of a lot of extra time, so I did the next best thing.  Two jars of Heinz Brown Gravy.  This is pretty close to homemade and tastes pretty good as well.

The end result was a nice dark brown savory sauce that was transparent enough that you could see the food through it, but was thick enough to stay where placed and not runaway from the food. A perfect companion to what turned out to be a very tender, not too dry, mouth watering roast.  Coupled with mashed potatoes, rice and noodles on the side, and a perfect glass of fresh brewed iced tea.

Nap time at about 6:30.

Later,

Chris

Oh, by the way, no posts last week.  Just that kind of week. I’ll try better this week.

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