FFwD: My Go-To Beef Daube

I actually found some time last Sunday to make something other than grilled cheese.  Around our house lately, that is nothing short of a miracle!  I planned ahead.  I shopped.  I prepped.  I cooked.  It was awesome.

As much as I loved eating this recipe for Dorie's 'Go-To Beef Daube,' I think I may have enjoyed getting back to cooking the way I love even more.  I really don't get to do it very often any more.  While this recipe - which is basically like a really good, thoughtful, beef stew, isn't really anything fancy, it is just the kind of dinner I like to make.  Especially in the cold months.

I bought a nice sized (just over 3lb) beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut it into large chunks, just like Dorie suggests, then browned those in my Dutch oven.  I followed all the directions, adding the shallots, onion, carrots, etc.  The only change I made to the recipe was to just substitute good beef broth in place of the wine.  The recipe was definitely more time consuming than when I usually throw a roast into the slow cooker and walk away, but I tend to think that is partly the point of a book like this.  It is thoughtful food - not just food for the sake of eating.  I guess that is when something actually becomes nourishment.

Here's the thing though.  Remember above when I said that the recipe was thoughtful?  I felt like I took the time to slow down, enjoy what I was doing and get in touch with the process.  Choosing the ingredients, prepping them and taking the time to get them ready with some actual thought and care - not just hurry, hurry, hurry.  Now, the fact was that often the hurry, hurry, hurry happens when the hubs isn't here and I feel like I have to run in a million different directions all at once.  Last Sunday, he was home.  He helped with the kids while I made dinner.

I even made some crusty French rolls (recipe at the bottom) to go with the beef daube, as well as some really good mashed potatoes.  I started the roll dough right after I slid the daube into the oven and they all ended up being done around the same time.  I just let the daube rest in the covered Dutch oven on the stove top while the rolls baked.  The rolls were also great for making little sandwiches with leftover beef the next day.

When we finally sat down to eat dinner it was more relaxed and I felt more in touch with what I was eating than I have in a while.

The point of the story.  I need to find a way to slow things down again more often.  I seem to have forgotten that this is my therapy.  Taking time to take a deep breath is good for you.  Turns out breathing onion fumes can be good for you too. Who knew?

For more reviews of this month's recipes from my fellow French Fridays with Dorie participants, head on over to the site and click on the LYL post for today (or any Friday).  As always, this recipe can be found in Around My French Table (which incidentally would be the perfect gift for any food / cooking lover you know - or anyone who wants to learn for that matter).

Crusty French Rolls (aka Pistolets or Split Rolls)
Makes 8 large rolls

2 1/2 teaspoons active-dry yeast
1 1/4 cups water + up to 1/3 cup more, as needed
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Put the 1 1/4 cup water into a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top.  Set aside and let dissolve for 5 minutes, then stir.  Meanwhile, mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, make a well in the center.  Pour in the dissolved yeast, then stir enough of the flour in from the sides to make a thick paste.  Cover the bowl and let it sit for 20 minutes.

Mix the remaining flour into the wet mixture and add a little of the extra water at a time to make a soft, sticky dough.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough until it is soft, smooth and slightly elastic.  Try not to add too much extra flour to the dough while kneading.  This process will take about 10 minutes of kneading.  You can do all this part with a kneading attachment on a mixer, and it will only take about 6 minutes.

Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover it again.  Let the dough rise for 1 hour or until doubled, then deflate the dough (punch down), cover it again and rise for 45 minutes more, then punch the dough down again, cover and rise 45 minutes again.  This process seems drawn out, but it lets the dough develop a really nice flavor and helps get that crust.

Deflate the dough gently one last time and divide the dough into 8 equal pieces (you could do smaller rolls if you want and easily get 12 - these rolls were fairly large, about 1 per person).  Roll the dough pieces into a tight ball and place them on a lined baking sheet, or sprinkle a little cornmeal onto the baking sheet.  The rolls shouldn't be touching, so leave a couple of inches between the dough.

Use the handle of a clean wooden spoon to push a 'split' down the middle of each dough ball, going all the way to the bottom, but not hard enough to cut the dough in half, just to leave a huge indentation - it will spring up some anyway on this last rise.  Sprinkle a little flour over the indented rolls then cover them and let them rise 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F and bake the rolls 20 minutes or until lightly golden.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

CEiMB: Beef Tenderloin with Rosemary and Chocolate

Well, this week I am finally back on track with the  Craving Ellie in My Belly crew.  The holiday season was exceptionally crazy this year and I'm sad to admit that, though I did cook, I never got pictures of any of it.  I am trying to do better.  My apologies to my fellow CEiMBer's on my lack of participation in December.  I am going to try to do better this month.

In the spirit of doing better, I did make the Beef Tenderloin with Rosemary and Chocolate, hosted this week by Beckett Bakes It.  This one of the recipes I had immediately bookmarked as soon as I got my copy of The Food You Crave.  I love beef tenderloin and was intrigued by making this sauce.  

The only changes I made to the recipe (linked above) were to omit the dry red wine (we just don't have it).  I just substituted extra beef broth.  I also didn't use a whole beef tenderloin roast.  I had some beef tenderloin 'steaks' in the freezer.  I've mentioned it before, but we are very lucky to get all of our beef from my in-laws who have a small farm in Northern Idaho. Otherwise, this could get to be a rather expensive dinner to make.  Ellie does mention in the book though that any cut of beef will do nicely with this sauce, so I imagine you could use this with whatever you have on hand.  So, how was the tenderloin?  Yum.  Need I say more?  Well, ok, I will.  But just to say that, really, a bit of oil, salt and pepper is all a good cut of beef needs.

Making the sauce itself was really fun.  I like building sauces because of the process of building flavor, layer by layer.  The taste itself was wonderful and I will definitely make it again.  Think about your favorite steak sauce... now imagine the feeling of accomplishment when you make one yourself that tastes far better than anything store bought.  The tastes are all more well melded together and it is a rather mellow and satisfying kind of sauce.  I imagine you could turn up the heat quite easily if that was more your style too though.

Make sure to check out all the other beefy goodness from the rest of the CEiMB crew at the blogroll.

CEiMB: Sweet & Sour Brisket

Or in my case Sweet & Sour Corned Brisket. Yes, you heard that right. Sometimes it is difficult to find what we need here with ingredients. Anyway, I was out of time and patience and didn't have time to run to a 'specialty' butcher shop in the next County (as if brisket should be 'specialty' - ugh!). Anyway, I went with it. The butcher said that 'nothing' had been done to the brisket cut, and the spice packet was intact in the package and not open. I was 99.9% sure that he didn't know what he was talking about, but I didn't want to just give up, so I just decided to try it with the partially corned (brined anyway) brisket.

So, now you know why the meat is pink. Which is pretty darn off-putting in my opinion, but what can you do. I have never been a corned beef fan, but as someone recently pointed out to me, sometimes you just have to make due with what you've got. This dish for me was just 'okay'. If I had a brisket, I doubt I would make this again, but who knows. I don't blame the recipe, I blame my cut of meat. To try to make it as close to recognizable as possible I did trim the heck out of the brisket and rinse it really, really good, which I'm sure helped, but who knows.

I had every intention of making some yummy roasted baby red potatoes my parents brought me from the last weekend at our local farmer's market and some glazed carrots... but, we are having a heck of a week here at our house. Let's put it this way. There are four people in our house and I am the only one without strep. Yipee for me. That just means that I get to take care of everyone else who is really sick. So, I was just pretty glad that I ended up making this to begin with. So, you get rice from a bag and some steamed frozen green beans. That's as good as it gets. Hopefully we'll get around to those potatoes soon!

You can check in at What’s for Supper? for this week's recipe. Even though it wasn't my favorite, I'm still glad that she chose it because I had it bookmarked anyway! As always, check out the rest of the Craving Ellie in My Belly crowd, created by Leigh of Lemon Tartlet, for more reviews of this week's recipe from Ellie Krieger's Foods You Crave.

Scarborough Fair Pot Roast - Eat to the Beat

Are you goin' to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there,
she once was a true love of mine.

I always imagine a medieval fair in Britain with fair maidens and this song being sung by a troubadour. I don't know why, but it has that kind of dreamy quality and always feels a little sad and poignant to me. It just gets stuck in my head, so it's no surprise it popped into my head as I pulled out the ingredients for dinner.

Yes. It's another event. Let's face it. I am depending on the culinosphere for inspiration these days for things to make. Since D is always at work and I am home with the boys there isn't anyone to really share the meals with (that's over 3 feet tall). On a lot of the days that it is just us, all Aidan wants is pancakes, soup, pizza, chicken and the things he is used to. That is probably why, other than desserts, there is a lot of comfort food on my blog. Either way, I appreciate everyone out there for coming up with great events that I can spend time on to keep myself sane this winter.

To that end, I was checking out IMBB and there was this event that sounded really fun - it is time to Eat to the Beat! The mastermind behind this bash is Elly Says Opa! who wanted food bloggers to post about something that was either inspired by a song or related to a song or music for her Eat to the Beat event. I actually had another post for this that I was thinking about, but when I started to make dinner tonight, the hilarity of what I was doing that I hadn't really thought about, and hadn't intended to blog about either, just hit me as perfect for her event. I think that this captures exactly what she was talking about with how we relate music to food.

I should start out by mentioning that I am a HUGE Simon & Garfunkle fan. HUGE. I grew up on their Greatest Hits on 8-track that my parents had, and yes, we still had a working 8-track player too. Then, in high school I graduated to buying my own CD. I think I've actually gone through a couple of CD's. The earliest song I remember learning in 1st grade for music class was Simon & Garfunkle's Feeling Groovy. I loved it then and still do. Until a few years ago one of the things I was most sad about in the music industry was the fact that Simon & Garfunkle had a falling out and were no longer together. Then, miracle of miracles, then reconciled, toured the country and I got to go. Granted, the seats we got weren't as good as we thought they would be, but it was still great to be there and the concert was absolutely amazing. Other than the U2 concert I got to go to several years ago, this was probably the best concert of my life.

What I loved about it most was that there was true musicianship. Don't get me wrong, I love almost all music, electronic poppy stuff included, but I am a true band geek at heart (clarinet, 7 years). I live for "real" music made with instruments. My life has a soundtrack and so when I started making dinner tonight and was pulling out ingredients, it's no surprise that one of my favorite songs that always goes through my head popped in.

Thanks Elly for a great event that really did trigger a lot of fun and happy nostalgic memories.

Oh, and because I made all of this in one dish, I am sending this to Meeta for her Monthly Mingle over at What's For Lunch Honey? too.

Scarborough Fair Pot Roast
1 beef chuck crossrib roast (approx. 5-6 lbs)
5 red potatoes, washed and quartered rinsed and dried
6 medium sized carrots, peeled, washed and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut in half, then thirds
1 whole bulb of garlic, split in half
1 bouquet of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
water (enough to come half-way up the roast in the pan)
2 tablespoons canola oil

Heat a large dutch oven over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Season the roast with the salt and pepper.

Place into the hot oil to brown well on each side (approximately 5 minutes per side).

Turn heat to low and add the vegetables to the pot.

Place the bulb of garlic and herbs on top of the roast.

Pour in the water and cover the dutch oven with the lid. Simmer on low, approximately 30 minutes per pound or until tender. You can also braise in the oven at 325 degrees F until tender. Try not to open the pot very often or you will add a lot more time to your cooking time.

When the roast is done and the vegetables are tender remove to a platter and reserve the juices for serving.