Where’s the Beef?

After a long hot summer, winter finally arrived (for a few weeks) in Austin, Texas.  This gave us the opportunity to make a classic, heavy cold weather dish: Roast Beef with mashed potatoes and gravy.  This is one of those dishes that neither of our families had ever prepared.  Pretty sure the only time I’d had roast beef before was as a deli meat.

Fun fact: Roast Beef is a derogatory term used by the French for the Brits.



Yet again we have relied on the America’s Test Kitchen Family of recipes.  The recipe is reprinted here.

It’s rare for us  to cook beef, much less such a massive quantity of it.  This is a 4.5 lb. sirloin tip roast, which was on sale, luckily.



Thar she blows, mateys.  At this point, all that’s happened is that we sprinkled the roast with salt and let it sit wrapped in plastic overnight in the fridge.  Then it got peppered. As you can see, we’ve had to bring out the behemoth dutch oven to sear this bad boy.



Browning meat on all sides is one of the most patience-taxing parts of cooking for me.  I mean… All sides?  There are like 8 sides to this thing!  And the waiting… is it browning or burning?  You can’t tell, cause you’re not supposed to look… and the the fond in the bottom of the pan… it’s supposed to get dark, but how dark is too dark?  AHHAHHAHAHHHHHH!!!! 

Well, lets just say it worked out.  The meat acquired a lovely crust, which was definitely one of the tastiest parts of it at the end. 



After the searing, it goes into the oven accompanied by two of our favorite cooking tools:  the digital thermometer probe and the adjustable, collapsible roasting rack.  With their help, the roast was upright and cooked to precisely the right temperature.



In the meantime, put on some sweet  gravy-makin’ music.   Like Barry White or something.



The mushrooms are cooked in the pan leavings… all that good stuff at the bottom of the pan comes up and colors the shrooms.  One by one, all the vegetables, wine, and stock go on in.  This made a good gravy, though I think we should have reduced it more as it was a bit thin.





A perfect medium-rare.  I felt like the Reformed Grinch as I sliced this guy.





A nice thick slice, with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Aye, it warms the soul on a Texas Winter’s eve.



And since we had 4.5 pounds of the stuff, it also made awesome, tender sandwich meat for days to come!

The Gift of the Venzi

Merry Christmas from Chez Venza!  We’ve been a bit remiss in posting of late due to the holiday travel, but rest assured we’ll be back cooking soon enough!

In the meantime, here is a Christmas tale to delight young and old alike.  When we at Chez Venza got down to our last presents to each other, what should we each find upon opening the box….




We had each bought the other the exact same Le Creuset piece in different colors.

We probably need professional help.

Meringue Fever

Meringue is a strange concoction.  Light and fluffy like a marshmallow but with a crisp, browned exterior.  It’s typically found on top of a lemon pie but can also be found on key lime, coconut cream, or even chocolate pie.  So versatile, and yet a little tricky to get just right. We’ve made Lemon Meringue pies before, and there are basically three pitfalls:

1) The Meringue Shrinks – If you don’t “attach” it to the crust, as it cools, the meringue will recede towards the center of the pie.
2) The Curd is runny – yeah, self-explanatory.
3) The Meringue Weeps – After a day or so, these little brown caramel tasting drops of liquid can form on top of the meringue.  Unsightly, but still just as tasty.

Here’s the recipe we used, which seemed to nip these three problems in the bud.



We had some extra pie dough from Thanksgiving that we saved in the freezer, so we just defrosted that the day before and pre-baked this pie shell.  Pre-baking pie shells is kind of weird.  You have to weigh the crust down with beans while it bakes.  BEANS!



For the filling, you start with water, sugar, and cornstarch (Damn you, King Corn!).  Heat it slowly, whisking constantly, and it turns into a jelly-like texture (like what you would find in a jelly doughnut).   It’s pretty cool to see this transformation. 

 

Then you add lemon juice and egg yolks to make the custard.  The lemon juice here is part from fresh, and part from frozen lemon juice cubes!  We’re so thrifty, yo!  Speaking of thrifty, of the 8 eggs that go into this recipe, you only need four of the whites… so we’re freezing the other four (witness the 3 bowls pictured above.)

 

We strained it through a colander to get it nice and smooth.



Then it goes in the refrigerator to cool down completely.  We could have stopped here and had a simple lemon curd pie.  But you really need the meringue to help cut down on the tartness of the lemon.  Plus, it makes it look extra fancy.  The Saran wrap prevent a skin from forming while the pie cools. 

 

To make the meringue, you whip the egg whites that were leftover from the yolks we put in the filling.  You also make a syrup out of water and sugar and add it slowly to the egg whites.  This gives them a very glossy and stiff texture.  Its kind of precarious because you’re essentially adding really hot syrup into a running mixer.



So glossy!



It also turns into a MOUNTAIN of egg whites.



I smoothed it down and made it look pretty.  Notice the artful photography with the reflection in the mixer bowl. 

The key here is to make sure the egg whites firmly touch the edges of the pie crust to prevent it from shrinking over time.  If it shrinks, it will look like an island of meringue in the middle of your pie (not very attractive).



It only takes 6-8 minutes in the oven to brown the meringue.  Can you believe how awesome that looks?  You can’t, can you?



Looks like a mouse took off with a piece of this pie!  (The mouse appears to be in the background)

Eat. My. Grits.

 A classic Chez Venza breakfast consists of stone-ground yellow grits topped with bacon and Tabasco.  Yuuuuuuuuuum.  It’s perfect.  Don’t mess with a good thing right?

How about we take it to the next level?  What if you fried the grits, called it polenta, and then topped it with a poached egg?  Intrigued?  Let’s begin.

You have to start with stone-ground yellow cornmeal.  None of this instant stuff, no way Jose!  The process is kind of dull.  Water, milk, grits, and a little salt.  Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes.  Add cheddar cheese at the end.  Not much too it.  I have found that using a whisk is better than using a spoon because it makes it less lumpy.  No lumpy grits!

 
 

If you want to take your grits up a notch (and of course you do!), then you need to fry up some lardons.  That’s French for bacon bits (no joke, look it up).

 


If you REALLY want to take it up a notch, add Tabasco.  Spicy, creamy, bacony.  It’s brilliant! 
Now if you live up north (or if you’re Italian), you would merely change the name of this dish to polenta.  It makes it sound more sophisticated, but it’s really the same thing.  So what do you do if you make too many grits/polenta?  Let’s find out.

First, you take your leftover grits/polenta and put them in a baking dish.  Spread the mixture out evenly, and then put it in the fridge or freezer overnight.  If you’re going to put it in the freezer, pre-cut it into squares so that it’s easier to get out of the pan later.  The point is to make it solid enough that you can cut it into squares without them falling apart.



The next day, cut the polenta into squares and then fry them up in a pan until golden brown.



Nicely done.  This is good on it’s own, but you already know we are going to take it one step further. 
Time to poach some eggs.  Poached eggs are super easy, and probably the healthiest way to cook an egg (because with all that frying, you really need something healthy to go with it).

In a separate pan, boil some water.  After it’s boiling, turn off the heat.  That’s right…. we’re just going to coast on this bad boy.

Break an egg into a separate bowl and then slowly slip it into the water.  Repeat for as many eggs as you need.  Put a lid on the pan and set a timer for 4 minutes.  After 4 minutes, use a slotted spoon to fish out the eggs.

 

Top the polenta with a poached egg and add a little fresh cracked pepper.

 



Or, if you’re a Venza, top with Tabasco.  Ta-da!

UPDATED 1-29-12

Here's one more variation.  If you don't have the foresight (or patience) to make grits one day and then fry them up the next day, just top your bowl of grits with a poached egg.  I mean........why not?!  The egg yolk gets all mixed up in the creamy grits, along with a crunchy bite of bacon.  Delicioso!

I'm hot Buttered, check it and see

Ah winter… that certain nip to the air.  Grey skies, wind, and chilliness…  Taken on their own these things might be downers, but they enable us to prepare certain items that would be solidly out of place in a more pleasant clime.  Take for instance, the Hot Buttered Rum.  Outside of New Orleans, when are you going to drink one of these unless its just plain miserable outside? 
It has so many unexpected elements:
1.  Hot – How often does anyone really imbibe hot alcoholic drinks?  I know there are toddies and, of course, mulled wine, but again… unless you’re British, you’re not really drinking hot alcohol very often.  But that’s to our detriment.  The hot alcohol warms you two ways.  Its just the thing for winter weather.
2. Buttered – This part of the drink I’m convinced is just there for shock value.  A Buttered beverage?  It’s like we’re at Hogwarts (ok, Hogsmeade technically).  I say we need a bigger genre of buttered drinks.  Buttered Coke.  Buttered Water.  Buttered…. uh….Buttered Buttermilk? 
Anyhow the butter adds a substance, an unctuousness, that is quite nice to the drink.
3. Rum – Rum?  I mean, I know its great in all those fruity, frozen girl drinks, but to be the star of the show?  A rarity. 
I have the honor of having a Colombian brother-in-law and his family very graciously gave me a bottle of 12 year old dark rum from Medellin.  This isn’t froo-froo drink rum.  This is rich, star of the show rum.  This is Hot-Buttered-Rum Rum
Without futher ado:

Simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water heated until dissolved), butter, dark rum, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and cloves.  Not pictured…. boiling water.

The rum, syrup, 3 cloves and one stick of cinnamon go into the glass.  The boiling hot water will activate the flavors in the clove and cinnamon.


Boiling hot water poured in.  Butter, floating on top, but not stirred in.  Freshly grated nutmeg on top.
You can keep your wassail, you suckers.  Lets go caroling tanked up on these bad boys!

Blogsgiving Pies

It’s Thanksgiving…time to give thanks for pie!

Pie #1 – Buttermilk.

I had never even heard of buttermilk pie until a couple of years ago.  I think it’s somewhat old-fashioned.  I saw it at a café and was curious about it, but not curious enough to actually order it.  A few months later, I found a recipe for buttermilk pie in a Penzey’s catalogue.  It looked pretty harmless, so I gave it a try.  I don’t know why this pie isn’t more popular, because it’s pretty awesome!

I also used Cook’s Illustrated “foolproof” pie crust recipe.  The secret ingredient, Comrade?…

Vodka (shocker!)

Why vodka, you ask?  It’s flavorless and evaporates in the oven, so you’ll never even know it was there.  The alcohol also keeps the dough moist, but it doesn’t lead to as much gluten-formation as using water, so you get a nice, flaky, non-tough crust in the end.



You have to let the dough rest in the refrigerator, so I made the dough the night before.  It’s easy to forget this step.  If you are having a pie emergency and need pie RIGHT NOW, just buy the pre-made dough at the store.  It’s pretty darn good in a pinch!



The hardest part is rolling out the dough and getting it into the pan.  I won’t lie…it took some trial and error.  It’s all about having the right amount of flour on the board to adjust for the gooey-ness of the dough.



The filling is just eggs, butter, sugar, buttermilk, lemon zest, vanilla, a wee bit of flour, and a pinch of salt.  Pour it into the pie crust and then throw it in the oven.  Notice the beautiful crimping of the edges of the pie crust.  That’s probably the first time I’ve ever done that successfully!



Mmmmm….delicious.  It’s really rich and VERY SWEET, so I recommend cutting small pieces.  You have to let it cool down completely so that the filling will set, or else it becomes a gooey mess.  It’s also good completely chilled in the fridge.

Pie #2 – Mini Pecan Tarts

My great-aunt Wanda makes these amazing little pecan tarts.  These were always a huge hit when I was a kid, and they still are today.  A couple of years ago, I started seeing mini pecan tarts at the grocery store, and I was worried that the secret recipe had gotten out.  But never fear….those grocery store tarts are nothing like the original (those hussies!).  I think the secret is in the pie dough.  It’s made with cream cheese, so it soft, flaky, and a little sweet.  I won’t post the recipe online since it’s a family recipe, but if you’re nice to me I might give you a copy.



The ingredients are very simple.  This is all you need!  Unlike a traditional pecan pie, there is no karo syrup in this recipe (take that, King Korn!).  Just good ol’ fashioned pecans and brown sugar. 



The dough is super easy to make in the food processor.



The filling comes together in a flash.



And then it all comes to a screeching halt when you have to fill the mini- tart pan with the dough.  Ughh…it’s so annoying trying to fill these tins.  I got this handy little tool that cuts down on the manual labor, but it’s still a pain.  If it weren’t for this step, I would probably make these tarts all the time.  But I suppose it makes it more special if I only make them a couple times a year.



Almost ready for oven time!



Happy Thanksgiving!