Dinner Party. Roulade Out!

It's been a while since a dinner party has been had but this past May we had an epicly meat filled one. It started with an idea. Stuffing. So, with the help of my Co-Dinner Planner Brett (and Katie, by proxy), we planned a dinner to feed all the peoples lots of stuffed meat. 

Stuffed Pork Roulade

Makes enough for 2 X ~2kg (~4 lbs) pork loin roasts

1 lb bacon, thick cut, chopped (I used smoked applewood!)
7 small onions, chopped (I used yellow)
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 tsp garlic, minced
1 cup fresh parsley, stems removed, chopped
2 tsp ground thyme 
2 tsp ground sage
2 tsp fresh coarse ground pepper
1 tsp salt
1 lb artisan bread loaf, cut into 1 cm cubes (I used garlic peppercorn)
1/2 cup apple juice

2 X ~2 kg pork loins, filleted by your local butcher

Twine

  1. Chop all the veggie things. Onion, celery, (garlic if its not pre-minced).
  2. In a large dutch oven, fry bacon over medium heat until fat renders and bacon is crisp and cooked. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon leaving fat in dutch oven. Set aside. (Try not to eat them all! They smell so goood.)
  3. Increase heat to med-high. Add onion and celery to hot bacon fat. Cook, stirring, until onion is clear, about 15 minutes. Be careful not to brown veg or it will stick to the pan.
  4. Add garlic. Stir. Cook until garlic is fragrant.
  5. Add parsley, thyme, sage, pepper and salt. You can add more sage and thyme depending on your tastes. Mix well.
  6. Cube bread. Reduce heat to low. Add bread cubes to dutch oven. Mix together carefully. Pour apple juice over bread. Stir together until bread is evenly mix in. 
  7. Remove from heat. Let cool before using. (If cooling in the fridge, stir every 10-ish minutes to ensure the centre cools too.)
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Filling the roasts: Lay pre-filleted pork loin flat, fat side down, on a raw-meat only surface. Make sure the fat is face down on the left or else the fat will end up rolled in your roast instead of on top of it. Divide stuffing in half and place one half mountained on top of laid out roast. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, spread out stuffing in an even layer, leaving about an inch of room from the inside and outside rolling edges. 

Carefully roll meat and stuffing, starting from the right side. Roll as tightly as you can without squeezing stuffing out. After it's rolled, take twine and slip it underneath the roast. Retighten roll and then tie twine around the centre. Repeat for both ends. The pork roulade should now be secure enough to move!

Cooking the roasts: Pre-heat the oven to 500F. Place roast in a roasting pan, fat side up. Season the roast with salt and pepper. Place roasting pan in oven, uncovered. Reduce oven temperature to 300F. Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (~30 min/lb or ~1 hour/kg) or until a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat reads between 150F-155F (check at the 1 hour mark!). Remove from the oven and the pan. Tent with foil and let sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting. Then it's slicing time!!

I am definitely going to miss all the lovely dinner parties. I'll have to cook for strangers in T.O.! I'm sure the BF would Love that! Haha.

Bon Appetit! 

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

Homemade 'Chinese'

Every now and then I crave good old fashioned "Chinese" food (more like North American Chinese than Real Chinese, but hey!). But every time we order it, we order way to much, and subsequently, we eat way to much. So when my cousin's BF suggested a homemade recipe for ginger beef I sprang into action. 

Crispy Ginger Beef

(as seen from Food.com)

1 lb steak, sliced into narrow strips (I used stir fry beef because my butcher pre-cut it thin)
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water
2 eggs
canola oil

1 large carrot, peeled and grated
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup fresh ginger, minced (I bought the pre-minced stuff in a jar)
5 garlic cloves, minced (same deal as the ginger, store bought)

3 TBSP soy sauce
4 TBSP rice vinegar
1 TBSP sesame oil (or peanut oil)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

  1. Prep all the veg. Mix them together in a bowl. Also, prep the sauce in a separate bowl. Set aside.  
  2. In a third bowl, pour water into cornstarch. Mix together. Add eggs and beat together until combined. 
  3. In a frying pan, pour in oil, 1 -2 cm up sides of pan. Heat oil over high heat until near boiling (aka very very hot). **Warning** Boiling oil is super dangerous if handled incorrectly. If you are more comfortable using a deep-fryer please use it.
  4. Dip beef strips in cornstarch mixture to coat. Place coated strips in hot oil. Cover with a splatter guard if you have one. Cook meat, in batches, flipping until all golden brown, about 2 minutes a side. Be careful not to crowd the meat in the pan or it will clump together. Remove cooked beef and place on a paper towelled plate. Repeat till all beef is cooked. 
  5. Pour off excess hot oil into a can (or other oil receptacle), leaving about 3 TBSP hot oil left in the pan. Add vegetables to remaining hot oil in pan. Cook until carrots are tender and garlic is fragrant. 
  6. Add sauce, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens a little. 
  7. Add back the meat, stir to coat and serve immediately on rice or noodles. 

Sooo yum! And pretty easy (if you're not to afraid of boiling oil...>>).

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

 

Wine Stew? Yes Please.

The BF and I are going on a food adventure this year. It started with making homemade Massaman curry (thai beef stew) and then a cousin's BF gave us the low down on making Ginger Beef (most likely the North American version... but we have to start somewhere). After perusing through my Joy of Cooking book, I stumbled upon a french beef stew made with red wine. Wine + cooking = count me in.

Beouf Bourguignnone 

2 - 3 lb boneless beef roast, cut into 1 inch cubes (make it a tougher piece of meat, like a chuck roast)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 cups dry red wine (like a Pinot Noir, from France perhaps?)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
2 TBSP parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

4 strips bacon, chopped

2 TBSP flour

2 cups white mushrooms, quatered

Lovely Red Wine

Lovely Red Wine

  1. In a large bowl, add the cut up meat through to salt. Stir till everything is well mixed and covered in liquid. Cover and refriegerate for at least 1 hour, and up to 24 hours (for the best flavour).
  2. After marinating is complete, remove the beef, reserving the marinade. Pat the beef dry. Strain the marinade to separate the liquid and the vegetables. Set aside. 
  3. Heat a large dutch oven over med-high heat. Add and cook bacon until golden brown. 
  4. Remove bacon and set aside. Using the fat from the bacon, cook the beef in batches. Brown beef pieces on all sides. Be carful not to crowd the pot. Remove browned beef and set aside with bacon. (Keeping the lovely brown meat fats in the pot. Mmmm.)
  5. Add the reserved vegetables to the pot and cook until lightly browned. Add flour and stir, cooking for about 1 minute. Stir in liquid from marinade, then return beef and bacon to pot as well. Stir together.
  6. Bring stew to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer stew, covered, for 1 to 1 1/4 hours. 
  7. After, add mushrooms and stir together. Cover and cook for another 20 minutes. 
  8. To serve, garish with parsley, if you want. Then Nom!

I think this food adventure will be amazing (especially when we get to T.O. and I can get my hands on some strange vegetables and spices). So let it continue! And let my hips not hate me too much when eventually the stretchy pants don't fit!

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

Spring Rollin' By

Spring has sprung, or so to speak. Edmonton just got a healthy dusting of snow on March 20th, the supposed first day of spring - Mother Nature is laughing her ass off at the irony (me: not so much). And because the weather is warmer and the sun doesn't set at 4:30pm anymore, it's time to break out the cooking skills and make spring rolls! 

I first learned how to make spring rolls when I was a kid. My dad, sister and I went to a local chinese place pretty often and one of the ladies who ran the place would make all the spring rolls, by hand, sitting out in a booth in the dining room. I was always looming around her, watching how she mechanically rolled the things, so she invited me to sit down and learn. Total free child labour... but I had lots of fun and learned how to make spring rolls. Looking back, it was probably super unsafe foodwise to have an 11 year old hand roll spring rolls at a restaurant table, but it was a fun learning experience! 

Below is the recipe I made up (based on my childhood spring rollin' days and an old test kitchen recipe I made a billion times - over 300 spring rolls produced! Mmmm.)

Spring Rolls

1 lb ground pork
1 TBSP ground pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
1 cup shredded carrot

White rice vermicelli
Wonton Wrappers or Egg Roll Wrappers
Water

Oil for frying (optional)

  1. Mix together ingredients (pork through carrot). Use a fork to make sure the mixture is thoroughly mixed.
  2. In another bowl, soak vermicelli in lukewarm water until it's limp (~2 mins). Drain remaining water.
  3. Fill another bowl with water - this water is used to wet the wrappers to seal them up. 
  4. Place a wrapper on it's diagonal (so it looks like a diamond).
  5. Put ~1 1/2 TBSP of pork mixture in the lower centre of the diamond. Form it into a cylinder-type shape. (Meat tuuuube!)
  6. Place some vermicelli above pork. 
  7. Wet bottom corner of wrapper and wrap it firmly over pork and vermicelli. (Making sure the wet part contacts a dry part on the other side of the meat to seal).
  8. Wet the side corners and stretch them inwards and slightly forwards, to seal.
  9. Wet the top corner. Roll spring roll up over top corner, to seal.
  10. To Cook: 1) Frying - either use a deep fryer or the pan frying method. Cook for ~8 minutes, until wrappers are browned and meat is cooked. 2) Pre-heat oven to 400F. Brush spring rolls with oil. Bake for ~15-20 minutes, turning them over at least once, until wrappers are browned and meat is cooked. Makes ~20 spring rolls. 

These spring rolls freeze super well too so you can make a bunch and freeze them for later. Nom!

Super glad that the lady at the chinese place didn't have any problems with an 11 year old kid rolling her restaurant's food. Mmmm. Strange learning experiences. 

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

My German Roots

 As previously mentioned, I have had much more experience cooking German fare than French. Rouladen and red cabbage are two foods that my Oma used to make when I was a little kid. (Although back then I hated the pickle. Rouladen blasphemy.) I've made up my own recipes based on helping my Oma make them.

Rouladen

8 thinly sliced beef roulades (usually called rouladen beef)
8 slices bacon (Thick or Thin, personal preference)
1 white onion, sliced thinly and cut in half
8 garlic pickles (or 4 huge ones sliced in half)
Salt and Pepper

  1. On a meat cutting board, lay out one peice of beef.
  2. Layer bacon, then onion, then salt and pepper. 
  3. Place pickle at one end and roll up beef into a roulade, using a metal (oven-safe) skewer to hold it together. 
  4. Repeat!
  5. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
  6. Once all the rouladen are done, in an oven-safe frying pan, heat 2 TBSP of oil over med-high heat. (Watch that it doesn't start to smoke.)
  7. Place all rouladen in hot pan. Sear all sides of each rouladen until golden brown. 
  8. Place frying pan, with all the rouladen, into the oven. 
  9. Fill bottom of pan with 1/4 cup water. 
  10. Bake rouladen for about 50 minutes. Checking every ~15 minutes to baste rouladen in pan juices. (If juices run low, add more water. Make sure you don't let the pan run dry! If the fats burn your gravy will be ucky.)
  11. After rouladen are finished, place on a plate and tent with tin foil (to keep warm). 

Gravy

  1. Start the gravy! No heat to start. In rouladen pan, add flour to soak up all the fat, using a whisk to break up the chunks. (Add more flour until all fat is adsorbed.)
  2. Add COLD water to pan, whisking ferociously to get lumps out. Add enough water to dissolve all lumpies. 
  3. Turn on the heat (med-high). Bring gravy to a boil. It should start thickening. Add water to thin gravy as it comes to a boil (I like to use the potato water from the boiled potatoes because it's salty).
  4. After the gravy has re-thickened again, season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve!

Now, the red cabbage is a different story. Traditionally made, it's much like sauerkraut in that's it supposed to be fermented. But that takes forever. So I make my own fresh. 

Rot Kohl (or Red Cabbage)

Oil
1 head red cabbage, cored and sliced thinly
1 Granny Smith apple (or other tangy green apple), cored and chopped
3 - 4 TBSP balsamic vinegar (depending on the size of your cabbage, add more or less)
2 TSBP brown sugar

  1. In a large dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. 
  2. Add red cabbage and apple. Stir. 
  3. As cabbage starts to soften, add balsamic vinegar and sugar. 
  4. Cook, stirring often, for 45 minutes to an hour (or until cabbage is soft). 
Shortbreadcookies.jpg

When I was a kid we usually served the rouladen with mustard. For me, gravy is just fine. Mmm Mmm childhood memory meals.

Also! The BF made sure we had dessert. Lovely shortbread cookies! 

But yah, basic german fare. I think I'll track down a goose for the next german cuisine experiment. Dun Dun Duuuun! (And make some klose -potato dumplings- too.)

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist