So, last night one of my very best friends in the world called. During our chat she told me that she follows my blog, this blog. Wow! People actually read this? Great. Linda did have some advice for me about saving money in the kitchen. Being that she is a single mom of two boys I couldn't wait to hear what she had to say. It was simple: Stay out of the kitchen and you won't spend any money. Hum, I thought, I can't really do that besides I love being in the kitchen and everyone knows how much I love to cook. Our conversation soon changed and we were off to better subjects than food, kitchens and dirty dishes.
The next day when I was thinking about my friend and our conversation, I got to thinking about great dishes that require very little time in the kitchen yet taste like you were there all day...Ah, my kind of meal. The one that kept coming to mind was one I have done many times, everyone loves it and it uses beef (you all know by now that my freezer is full of this). Another 1 pot wonder, easy clean-up and rather inexpensive to make, even if you don't have half of a friendly, beautiful, kind steer in the deep freeze.
I got this from the paper years ago so I can't take credit and it is one I didn't change because it is so good. It is from a gal down in Etna Calif...no doubt a rancher.
CAN'T BE BEAT POT ROAST (true)
Gail L. Jenner
One 3 to 4 pound beef chuck roast (this also works well for venison and elk)
1 tbsp canola oil
1/3 c. sweet Marsala wine
2 tsp. dried crushed basil (or fresh if you have it)
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 c. plum preserves (I used the plum jam I made from our plum trees)
4 potatoes, peeled & cut in wedges
4 medium carrots cut into bite size chunks
1 large rutabaga peeled and cut into 1' chunks
1 medium onion cut into large wedges.
Preheat oven to 350. Brown meat on both sides in a 6-8 qt. dutch oven
In small bowl stir Marsala wine, 1/3 c water, basil, garlic salt and pepper. Pour over meat.
Cover and bake for 11/2 hoursMelt preserves and our over meat. Add pototoes, carrots, rutabaga and onion around the roast. Cover and bake about 1 more hour, untill meat is super tender
If you like, make some gravy with the drippings to use over the potatoes.
So, very little time in the kitchen. One could even squeeze a good hike or horseback ride in while cooking this. Also, great for these cold fall/winter days as it warms up the house as well as the belly.
I miss my friend Linda and even though we grew up together I don't think we ever cooked together. Hopefully in the very near future that will change. I realize that with a lot of the friends I have, food plays a major role in our friendship. We get to talking about trying different things then decide to make a party out of it. The one I have yet to do is the tamale one. Maybe I'll save that for the next time Linda and I are together. Sounds like a fun filled day in the kitchen to me. Maybe make a few margaritas to go with the tamales. Yep food, fun and friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment