Beef Roast and Orzo

Of all the Sunday Dinners I've made in my life, this was, by far the easiest. It is exactly impossible to screw up the meat, and virtually impossible to screw up the orzo.

First the meat. You need to have a very heavy pan with a tightly covering lid. I use my dutch oven. It is the best investment in the kitchen. Get one if you don't have one.

Next put in your meat. I used a 3lbs beef arm roast. Use any roast you want (round, pot, etc). The key is to have a cheap cut of meat with some fat on it. Throw it into the pot.

Cover the meat with a 28oz can of tomatoes. Break up the tomatoes with your hands, a fork, a knife, whatever. Then, break apart a head of garlic. No need to peel it, just throw it in.

Cover and put in a 300 degree oven. No need to pre-heat the oven.

Keep it in the oven for 3 to 4 hours. That's it. Salt and pepper to taste once you pull it out.

Orzo is just a pasta. Cook to package directions. Serve meat and tomatoes over the orzo.

Next weekend I'll have to do something more difficult, this was way too easy.

Chili, Rice, and Oh My Gosh!

Wow, it has been a long time since I blogged. Bad Kassie! But I've been busy, or something.

But the weather is right for cooking, so I guess I'll just pick up where I left off.

So, with the weather cool and football on TV, I made some chili today. I never have an actual recipe for my chili, but this one turned out pretty good, so I'll see if I can write it up.

Start by browning 1 lbs ground pork and 1 lbs ground beef. I used organic grass fed beef and organic pork for this. I think with chili, choosing high quality meat matters. You want the meat to stand out and be distinct.

Drain and set aside.

In a Tablespoon or so oil, saute a chopped onion and 5 cloves garlic. I add in a lot of my spices at this time so they can be toasted sort of in the oil. I added in about 2 T. of cumin, 2 T. of cinnamon, 2 t. of cayenne, 6 T. of chili powder, salt and pepper. I use a lot of chili powder because I used the cheap brand. I have a really good spicy Indian kind and 6 T. would be a killer. All these spices are approximate amounts and I adjust by adding more as I go along to see how it tastes. A bay leaf or two would be good here too, but I was out.

I let the onions cook down, careful to not burn them, for about 10 minutes.

Then I add 28oz can of whole tomatoes, 28oz can and a 16 oz can of chopped tomatoes, and a can of tomato paste. For the tomatoes I always use Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes. They have a really great taste.

Then add in 1 big box of organic beef stock, 1 bottle of dark beer, 1 small can of rinsed black beans, 1 small can of rinsed pinto beans, and the meat. Finally, add in some chipotle peppers from a can. I added in 4 chopped. CJ thought it was too hot. I thought it wasn't hot enough.

At this point, the chili will seem really runny, and it is. Bring the whole thing to a boil, then cover partially and simmer on low for the next few hours. I'd say at least 2. You want to condense all the flavors and reduce the liquid. I cooked mine for about 5 hours today.

You need to stir every 30 minutes or so to make sure it doesn't burn. It really needs to be on low heat or it will burn and ruin the whole pot.

I served with sour cream and cheddar corn bread. It was very good. We now have 3 big servings in the freezer and one in the fridge for my lunch tomorrow.

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Additionally, we got the greatest cooking contraption of all time today- A RICE COOKER. I already cooked up one pot full and portioned it into individual bags and put them in the freezer. This will change how we eat forever. We love rice, but have little patience for cooking it.

Tomatoey Pasta with White Beans and Tuna

I got this from Lynne Rossetto Kasper's new book, How To Eat Dinner. Basically, it is pasta, Cannellini beans, tomato paste, onions, tuna, garlic, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Tasty.

Weekend Treats

CJ and I were super busy this weekend cleaning the house, painting, and other stuff I don't remember. I did make something tasty for us:
Steak Tartare. It was delicious. The recipe came from The Gourmet Cookbook, which is my favorite.

I also made some tomato soup, did I mention I like tomatoes?

Salad

Tomatoes, I love them. Last week I made this super easy, super tasty salad.

Heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, salt, pepper, basil, and balsamic vinegar. What could be easier or more tasty?

The Homemakers

My new neighbor Tisha and I spent a large part of the holiday weekend canning and pickling. While we knew it was a lot of work, we really had no idea how much it would be.

On Saturday morning, we went to the St. Paul Farmers' Market. We bought a box of tomatoes, a bin of cucumbers, and a lot of shallots, cauliflower, chilies, peppers, and other such things.

Have you ever peeled a box of tomatoes? It takes HOURS. Ever peel shallots? Hours again.
(Not even close to a box of tomatoes)
(That's a lot of shallots to peel)

Luckily the cucumbers only needed to be soaked, for 12 hours.

After two days of work, we finally ended up with this:
Not Shabby.

There are pickles, two bottles of which have become refrigerator pickles because they didn't seal.
Here's a close up:
Unfortunately, some of the garlic turned blue:

We also made Acharro, or something like that. Sri Lankan for various pickles.

We made two kinds of tomatoes. Regular, without spice:
And some made as a Sri Lankan spicy pickle:

A lot of work, but it was worth it, I hope. As long as no one gets sick or dies, I'll call it a success.

Go To App

When asked to bring things to pot lucks and the like I have a couple go to EASY recipes. Bean Salad, Roasted Veggies and this:
I know there is some fancy name, but basically it is fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil cut up. Salt and pepper gets sprinkled on the top and it is drizzled with good balsamic vinegar. Serve with some crusty bread.

Stealing More Recipes

My new favorite cooking blog is Last Night's Dinner. She makes the greatest looking food almost every night. Tonight, I stole a recipe from her and changed it only the tiniest bit.It is Halibut with at Tomato, Leek and Fennel sauce type thing. It was good. It would have been better if I would have been willing to open a bottle of wine, but I've been drinking Mojitos pretty exclusively and will be out of town 5 of the next 6 days, so it would have been a waste. I subbed White Wine Vinegar, and there was just too much tart.

I over cooked the Halibut a tiny bit. I do well with fish like Salmon that you can eat rare, there is a lot less perfection needed there. But I don't know if you can eat Halibut rare, or medium rare. I need to use this fish more, because it is so tasty.

Oh, and I need to learn to plate things better, this is obvious.