Sunday, February 20, 2005
Braised Beef in Red Wine Sauce
For some reason, we were having an issue coming up with the meal this week (ok, like every week). As a last ditch resort, we went to Cooks of Crocus Hill in Southdale Mall, sat at the table, and flipped through cook books. Actually I flitted around the store looking at stuff while BY, TS, and Robin hunkered down. Ok, TS just sort of stared off into space waiting for the free samples to be ready. After having picked out a new can opener and deciding to finally get a homemade ravioli tray I'd been looking at for a while, Robin and BY were settling on braised Beef in a red wine sauce.
As this is the first post, let me explain the meal choice process a little. I've been pretty set on not repeating a meal, and since last October [when we started], we haven't. But coming up with a new main course every week to feed anywhere between four and sixteen people can be pretty rough, especially through the winter when it's too cold to grille (with charcoal at least). I'm also pretty picky about doing something too plain. I want to wow people, so even when we do something like a roast, it gets fairly extravagant. Meanwhile, there's TS sitting in corner yelling that we're all nuts and that it's ok to go simple (he's a big fan of Irish cooking, as in throw a bunch of stuff in a crockpot and ignore it). Add to this that several of the regulars have dietary restrictions (or tastes) we have to consider. So some weeks someone gives us an idea, or maybe there's a theme for some reason, but most weeks Friday/Saturday sees us sitting around trying to think something up...
This week's meal:
We thought we were going simple this week, however the number of times BY and Robin had to remove and re-add the beef to the sauce added a considerable amount of work. I admit that I sort of took the week off in terms of cooking. Earlier in the day, the crossword puzzle was too addictive, and then when I was about to jump in and help get things on the table, I was paged by work and had to spend an hour and a half getting three freaking web servers to start.
The food was fantastic (at least in my opinion). The beef was fall-apart tender yet retained enough chew to have substance. The sauce blended the flavors of the onion, porcini mushroom, carrot, and herb bouquet garnis with the wine in perfect balance. While the potatoes were supposed to be a bit crisper, there were just too many to cook that way (six pounds). However the butter and rosemary still imparted their flavors without overpowering the potatoes. The biscuits were moist and flaky yet substantial. It's possible that I was just really in the mood for angelfood cake, but even that was perfectly light and spongy.
In entertainment, this week seemed a bit more movie intensive than some others. We started watching Goodfellas, but when RS got there, we stopped it to accommodate his aversion to graphic violence . We switched to Galaxy Quest, and once again noticed how many of the background actors have been in everything else. I think they started Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels while I was working, but then it was dinner time. After dinner, desert, and clean-up, the conversation seemed to gravitate to music, punk-rawk, hardcore, and me playing different tracks for BK to illustrate some of the post-hardcore splinter genres.
As this is the first post, let me explain the meal choice process a little. I've been pretty set on not repeating a meal, and since last October [when we started], we haven't. But coming up with a new main course every week to feed anywhere between four and sixteen people can be pretty rough, especially through the winter when it's too cold to grille (with charcoal at least). I'm also pretty picky about doing something too plain. I want to wow people, so even when we do something like a roast, it gets fairly extravagant. Meanwhile, there's TS sitting in corner yelling that we're all nuts and that it's ok to go simple (he's a big fan of Irish cooking, as in throw a bunch of stuff in a crockpot and ignore it). Add to this that several of the regulars have dietary restrictions (or tastes) we have to consider. So some weeks someone gives us an idea, or maybe there's a theme for some reason, but most weeks Friday/Saturday sees us sitting around trying to think something up...
This week's meal:
- Braised Beef in Red Wine Sauce
- Butter & Rosemary Fried/Steamed Red New Potatoes
- Shoepeg Corn
- Baking Soda Biscuits
- Angelfood Cake with Berries
We thought we were going simple this week, however the number of times BY and Robin had to remove and re-add the beef to the sauce added a considerable amount of work. I admit that I sort of took the week off in terms of cooking. Earlier in the day, the crossword puzzle was too addictive, and then when I was about to jump in and help get things on the table, I was paged by work and had to spend an hour and a half getting three freaking web servers to start.
The food was fantastic (at least in my opinion). The beef was fall-apart tender yet retained enough chew to have substance. The sauce blended the flavors of the onion, porcini mushroom, carrot, and herb bouquet garnis with the wine in perfect balance. While the potatoes were supposed to be a bit crisper, there were just too many to cook that way (six pounds). However the butter and rosemary still imparted their flavors without overpowering the potatoes. The biscuits were moist and flaky yet substantial. It's possible that I was just really in the mood for angelfood cake, but even that was perfectly light and spongy.
In entertainment, this week seemed a bit more movie intensive than some others. We started watching Goodfellas, but when RS got there, we stopped it to accommodate his aversion to graphic violence . We switched to Galaxy Quest, and once again noticed how many of the background actors have been in everything else. I think they started Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels while I was working, but then it was dinner time. After dinner, desert, and clean-up, the conversation seemed to gravitate to music, punk-rawk, hardcore, and me playing different tracks for BK to illustrate some of the post-hardcore splinter genres.
Comments:
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I have an idea! Tater tots and grilled cheese sandwichs!
P.S. I'm anonymous, so you'll never know who this was. Bwa haha!
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P.S. I'm anonymous, so you'll never know who this was. Bwa haha!
# posted by 
: 12:23 PM
: 12:23 PM 
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