Jalapeño Garlic Roast Beef

Our slowcooker is one of the least utilized kitchen appliances second only to the microwave oven.  I much prefer using a stovetop pressure cooker to the slowcooker.  On the other hand, one of our kids uses the slowcooker a few times a week.  A slowcooker is also a very popular kitchen appliance at our vacation home in the south.  It's all about what is available, what fits your needs and what you get used to. 

In February of 2020, I decided to use the slowcookers a bit more frequently.  My primary use had been soups and stews.  So, I lightly seared a rib roast then put in the slowcooker with stock, sliced jalapeño peppers, garlic cloves  on low for about 7 hours.   When finished, I thinly sliced the roast as it didn't shred nicely.  The flavour was quite lovely though with a nice heat, perfect for serving over rice.  

The meat warmed nicely the following day for buns.  I froze about a 500 ml bag to see how it would freeze.  I am curious as to whether this could be canned.  As far as safety, there isn't an issue but flavour and texture may change. 

Notes:  

A rump or chuck roast would have shredded better.  There was nice heat but was in need of a bit more depth of flavour.  Next time I will add tomato stock or whey to help tenderize the meat.  Other possibilities are onion, bayleaf, Worchestershire sauce or red wine.

Slow-Cooker Tuscan Chili

I have enjoyed receiving Kraft Foods Canada's formerly free What's Cooking for several years.  I have kept every single copy!  It was with a bit of sadness to read that they will now be charging for a subscription.  The thing is every single recipe in What's Cooking uses one or more Kraft products so in essence the magazine is one big advertisement for Kraft products.  I pay enough for Kraft products as it is so will not be paying for a subscription just to find out how to use one of their products.  Instead I will be visiting their website for free recipes.

I browse though all the delicious dishes in the magazine, marking each one I want to try with a post-it.  As always the newest copy of What's Cooking (Festive 2011) had several interesting recipes.  Yesterday, I made the Slow-Cooker Tuscan Chili modifying it to use home canned diced tomatoes and home canned white kidney beans.    One problem in substituting home canned for commercially canned anything is the size difference.  The recipe called for 19 oz of diced tomatoes and the same amount of undrained white kidney beans but home canned sizes are 1L or about a quart (tomatoes) and 500 ml or about a pint for beans.  In order to make the chili according to the amounts in the recipe I ended up with part jars of tomatoes and beans left over.  The interesting aspect of this chili is there's no chili powder yet it is a rich and flavourable chili, sure to please.  I served the chili with fresh baked French bread (first bread baked in new natural gas oven) and extra virgin olive oil seasoned with basil for dipping.

Slow-Cooker Tuscan Chili
modified from:  Kraft Canada, What's Cooking (Festive 2011), Pp. 25

1 lb mild Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
20 oz home canned diced tomatoes
20 oz home canned or fresh cooked white kidney beans
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
5½ oz tomato paste
½ tsp dried basil leaves
½ tsp dried oregano leaves
2 tbsp Italian shredded cheese mix per serving*

Carefully remove the casing from the sausage.  Break the sausage into pieces while browning.  Drain and spoon sausage into slow-cooker.  Chop peppers and onion.  Add vegetables, tomatoes and beans to the slow-cooker.  Stir well then stir in herbs.  Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.  Ladle into bowls.  Top with shredded cheese.  Serve with fresh baked bread and extra virgin olive oil for dipping.

*Shredded Italian cheese mix (brand name or store brand) can be found in the dairy section or you can make your own by combining shredded provolone, mozzarella, parmesan and emmental cheeses.

Beef Stew Presentation

We all get into a rut with cooking. Sometimes it's because we are too tired to be creative and other times it is easier to fall back to what we know works. This is one reason I have never got into regular menu planning other than Friday's dinner is either fish or homemade pizza. Simply changing the presentation of foods can keep them from becoming boring.

Tomato Soup

One of my favourite recipes for home canned tomato soup was posted last year. For those who do not can this recipe can be frozen. Once you taste the soup you will never go back to store bought condensed tomato soup again. I don't pay for tomatoes so a batch costs me $1.57 to make including the electricity. The yield is 14 - 500 ml (pint) jars at a cost of 11¢ per jar so it is significantly less expensive than store bought. But even paying as high as 99¢ per lb for tomatoes it is still a good deal. Home canned tomato soup can be used as is in other dishes or add milk or water for soup.

Tired of the same old soup? Spice up the presentation with a simple garnish. Serve with an open faced sandwich to make the meal feel different. Pictured is the tomato soup garnished with dried parsley and open faced grilled cheese sandwiches. The parsley was from my garden. This meal took less than 15 minutes to prepare! When I was growing up this was the only grilled cheese sandwich I knew. They were always made with real cheddar cheese never American processed cheese slices. I make them the same way today.

Beef Stew

March continues to be March with blustery winds and a snow storm predicted for tonight. Last night was also cold, damp and blustery so I made beef stew. My stew is always a bit different because I add extra vegetables in depending on my mood so it is never really boring. What I decided to do instead of serve the stew with fresh baked bread is to serve the stew in a bread bowl.

I made the dough for basic white bread using the KitchenAid^® stand mixer instead of the breadmaker. The method that is working well for me when using the stand mixer is to mix all the dry ingredients on speed 2 then mix the wet ingredients together in a large measuring cup and slowly pour into the dry ingredients while continuing to mix of speed 2. Then I knead the dough on speed 2 until smooth and elastic, remove the dough hook, cover the bowl and let the dough rise either in a warm spot or in my oven on bread proofing setting until doubled. I punch down the dough then form into desired shape, let rise again until doubled then bake.

Once the dough was finished the first rise I divided it into four equal sized pieces. Then I formed the dough into large rounds and left to rise again. I was a little concerned as the mini loaves looked a bit on the flat side but they rose nicely while baking. When the loaves were golden brown and sounded hollow, I removed them from the oven and while still hot cut a rounded portion out of the top. Then I hollowed out the bottom leaving about 1 - inch of bread forming a bowl. I was a bit worried the stew would leak through so I sat each bowl on a plate lined with baby spring mix greens. I ladled the hot stew into each bowl and served with the top. This presentation was a huge hit with my husband!

Slowcooker (Crockpot) Pork Shoulder Roast

I've mentioned in other entries that I am not a huge fan of crockpots even though I have two. They are mainly used during bulk cooking sessions. With the house being on the market I decided to do a few more meals in the crockpots for a couple of reasons. These include having a ready to eat meal without a lot of mess since for some obscene reason people insist on viewing the house during the dinner hour. The side effects are the house smells wonderful and if needbe a short delay doesn't mean a burnt dinner. But I think what it is also providing is nice homecooked meals consistent with our lifestyle or in short giving us comfort food to help ease the stress.

Crockpot Pork Shoulder Roast

Normally I like cooking pork shoulder roast in the oven but I knew the day was going to be hectic so hauled out the crockpot. I knew I would be away for the morning but the house was pretty much ready for showing. This was so easy!

Method: I placed a frozen pork shoulder roast in the crockpot, added about 1/2 c of water then tossed in a medium onion chopped and set the crockpot to low. That was about 8 am in the morning. I had no idea what sides I was going to serve but already had an idea for the sauce. When I got home about 2:30 pm I poured in 3/4 of a bottle of Dianna Sauce® Original Flavour over the roast then let it continue cooking. About 1/2 hour before serving, I thickened the juices with a little flour slurrey (flour mixed with water to a runny consistency).

Serving Suggestion: This meat literally melts in your mouth, it is so tender! I served it with balsmatic rice, homecanned green beans and a tossed salad. Left overs are ideal for sandwiches the following day.

Homemade Beef Stew

With the house being listed and already shown, I've decided this is a good time to haul out my slowcookers. Life is already busy and it just got busier. Besides a meal cooking in the slowcooker fills the house with yummy smells. This just dawned on me when unexpectedly yesterday a couple wanted to see the house right this minute and since they were from out of town I figured the real estate agent should go ahead and show it. I had put stew in the crockpot for dinner so it was cooking as the house was being shown. The house smelled good and the three of them were pretty close to staying for dinner.

Beef Stew

Like soups, my stews tend to vary with what I have on hand. I don't measure but rather do a toss in thing. I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of crockpots even though I have two. They are used for stews, pulled meat, hot apple cider and sometimes chili. They are used more during bulk cooking sessions.

My beef stew always starts out with about two and a half pounds of stew beef, olive oil, potatoes, carrots, onion, corn, fresh mushrooms, bay leaf, Montreal Steak spice and Worchestershire sauce. From there any vegetable is fair game and I have even added kidney beans to stew. I added rutabegga to this stew. So while there is no actual recipe, here is the method.

Method - Brown the stew beef in olive oil in a large frypan. Sprinkle a little Montreal steak spice over the browned beef. Pour the beef mixture into the crockpot. Splash 2-3 good dashes of Worchestershire sauce on top of the beef. Stir in prepared vegetables (bite size) and bay leaf. Pour in water or beef stock just until you can see it. Set the crockpot to low and leave it alone for about 8 hours. If adding greens like broccoli add just before thickening. For thickening use a flour slurry seasoned with salt and pepper 15 minutes before the stew should is ready to serve.