Sunday, December 12, 2010

Braised Pot Roast With Carrots And Mushroom Gravy

When the weather outside is nasty, there is nothing like staying in all day, drinking beer, watching football, and braising a pot roast all afternoon. The house smelled so good all day. Braising is a method of cooking meat where by you sear it on all sides real deep, then add some sort of liquid such as wine or broth and simmer over low heat for hours until the meat is tender.

1 English pot roast
1 onion chopped
1 package of fresh mushrooms
1 package of baby carrots
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh rosemary chopped
1 bottle red wine
1 ½ cups beef broth
3 cloves of garlic - minced
Salt
Pepper
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS corn starch

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven until smoking. Cut roast into 2 inch chunks, place in Dutch oven, and sear on all sides about 3 min. a side. Pull out meat and add onions, mushrooms, thyme, and rosemary. Sauté 3 min. add garlic and sauté one more min. add beef broth, wine and finally the meat. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer on low heat for about three hours. Add carrots in the final 45 min. remove carrots, and meat.  Turn up heat to high. Add 1TBS corn starch to 2 TBS of water and Wisk into remaining pan juices to make mushroom gravy. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Chocolate Sheba with White and Dark Chocolate Lattice

My wife’s cousin came over for dinner last night. That gave me an excuse to try this dessert I saw the other day on Emeril Live. It was a lot of work, but well worth it, Very rich and very delectable. Everyone loved it, and it is now my wife’s favorite dessert. I  took a step further and made a raspberry sauce out of raspberry preserves and brandy cooked down in a pan. You could also sprinkle some powdered sugar over the to as well, or a few sprigs of fresh mint. Give this a try, you won't be sorry you did.


Ingredients

1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
10 large egg yolks
7 large egg whites
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup pecan pieces, toasted
1 cup chopped dark chocolate
1 cup chopped white chocolate


Directions

Melt the semisweet chocolate in a double boiler, stirring with a rubber spatula to facilitate even melting. Remove the bowl from the heat and add the butter to the chocolate. Stir to melt the butter and mix well. Add the egg yolks, 1 at a time, and whisk to thoroughly combine.

In a separate clean bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar and beat the whites to stiff, glossy peaks (do not overmix or the whites will dry out). Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Using a large spatula, gently fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Repeat with the remaining cream, folding just until the cream is incorporated. Do not overmix.

Line a 9-inch round cake pan with plastic wrap that over hangs by 4 inches on all sides. Sprinkle the pecan pieces on the bottom of the pan. Pour the mousse over the pecans and fold the plastic over the top of the mousse. Wrap the entire pan with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt the dark chocolate and place in a small pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch tip. (Alternately, place the chocolate in a small resealable plastic food storage bag and cut 1/4-inch from the tip of the bag.) Drizzle the chocolate back and forth over the baking sheet in vertical strokes. Melt the white chocolate and place in another small pastry bag or plastic bag. Rotate the baking sheet 1/4 turn and drizzle the white chocolate over the dark chocolate in perpendicular strokes to form a lattice-like design. Place the sheet pan in the refrigerator to cool. When the chocolate has hardened, break the chocolate lattice into pieces as needed for garnish.

When serving, unwrap the sheba and cut slices with a hot, wet long, thin knife. A slicer works best for this. Place slices in the refrigerator until softened slightly before serving, about 20 minutes. When ready to serve, place the slices onto dessert plates andgarnish with a piece of the chocolate lattice. Serve immediately.