Monday, January 14, 2008

Dark Days Eat Local Challenge: Week 12

This week Jim made some delicious fried chicken from the farm along with some drop biscuits that Julia made though we didn't get a picture. I'd been at the MOFFA (Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association) meeting and came home to this tasty zero mile meal.

Later in the week, we enjoyed a local chuck roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade ciabatta bread, and a lovely salad from the garden with homemade bleu cheese dressing—made from scratch, but with non-local ingredients. Everything else was local or homegrown, and the dressing was well worth the cheat.

3 comments:

Christy said...

How did you do the chuck roast? I made one with grass fed beef and it was really dry, I guess because there wasn't much fat in the meat.

Danielle said...

Well, I'm guessing that was the meat you won in the raffle, in which case it was either off the same cow or one in the same herd, and ours was melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Disclaimer: this is a variation of Jim's recipe, as I've only recently begun to cook roasts. But I must say that mine comes out even tastier because I tend to use more herbs and seasoning.

I start by rubbing the meat with olive oil, coarse sea salt and cracked pepper, inserting some sliced garlic in the meat. I brown the meat on all sides on top of the stove in a couple tablespoons of butter and crushed garlic.

Once it's browned and nicely seared to keep in the juices, I add about 3/4 to 1 cup of red wine. We usually save the stuff that's undrinkable for this kind of cooking. I also add about 2 cups of homemade beef broth. All of this deglazes the pot and adds loads of flavor to the liquid.

At this point, I add a handful of fresh thyme and maybe some rosemary on top of the meat, cover the pot and place in an oven set at about 325°. I cook it about 3-4 hours, basting occasionally and turning about half way through.

Hope that helps!

Christy said...

That is essentially what I did but I didn't turn it. So I'm not sure what went wrong but it was barely edible. I was really disappointed, especially because the recipe I followed said it would fall apart with a fork.