Lasagne

Victor made an outstanding lasagne yesterday. It was so outstanding, I wanted it for dinner again, tonight!

Lasagne is one of those dishes we don't make really often because there's just no way to make a small one. I definitely don't mind leftovers, but those days of making a pot of something and then eating it all week are far behind me. I want variety in my dotage!

But now and again, one is presented with something that defies the rules - and this lasagne did just that.

Layers of pasta, sauce, ricotta, quattro formaggio, peas, broccoli, pancetta, parmesan blended and baked together into gastronomic heaven on earth.

There are a million ways to make a lasagne - from simple to complex and everything in between. Back in my Pirro's days, we made an outstanding lasagne in a deep hotel pan, baked it, and then chilled it. For serving, we cut slices and re-baked it in rarebit dish covered in sauce and cheese. Our signature ingredients back then were ground salami, crumbled meatballs, and hard cooked eggs. Delicious, but way too big for home use. I made it once in a half pan and then portioned it and froze it. There was lasagne in the freezer for years until I finally tossed it out.

We shan't have that problem this time around!

Everything about this worked - from the sauce to the noodles to the blending of flavors and textures. Peas, broccoli, and chunks of pancetta made every bite a pleasure.

And just to make the night complete, Victor made an Apple Cake for dessert. I brought home apples yesterday and dropped a broad hint along the lines of do you think these are enough apples to make an apple cake?!?

There were.

It's another fun night at our house!


Fig and Polenta Cake

Tonight's dessert is brought to you by a little 118 ml bottle of Grappa we brought back from Italy in 2012.

For five years I have looked at that bottle and said i was going to make something with it. Today, I finally did.

Grappa, for the uninitiated, is a liquor made by distilling the leftover skins, stems, pulp, and seeds from wine making. It can be pretty harsh.

Polenta is to northern Italy what pizza is to southern Italy - and this cake hails from Veneto.

I could see myself eating a slice of this on the Grand Canal and swooning over every morsel.

Sitting on the couch watching Jeopardy?!? Not as much.

It wasn't bad, it just wasn't really good... As I said, overlooking the Grand Canal in Veneto, it would be stellar... It just needs the salt air of the Adriatic Sea...

Polenta Fig Cake

adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

  • 4 large egg yolks2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 cup grappa
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal; do not use instant)
  • 1/2 cup diced dried Calimyrna figs (about 6)
  • 1/3 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 1 tablespoon fennel seeds

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 8-inch-diameter cake pan. Beat egg yolks and sugar in large bowl. Bring milk, grappa, and salt to boil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into egg yolk mixture. Return to saucepan. Whisk in polenta. Whisk over medium-high heat until mixture thickens and begins to bubble, about 8 minutes.

Fold figs, raisins, pine nuts, and fennel seeds into polenta mixture. Pour into prepared cake pan.

Bake cake until golden brown, set in center, and beginning to pull away from sides of pan, about 40 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Cut around pan sides and invert cake onto platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I may play with it...

 

 

 


Sausage and Escarole

I had no idea when I walked into the kitchen what I was going to make for dinner.

I had gone grocery shopping this morning and knew what we had in the larder... It was really more a matter of how I was going to throw a few things together. I zeroed in on the sausage - fresh onion and apple pork - and then the escarole. A huge head that's going to take many meals to consume. I figured Nonna won't eat the escarole, so I pulled out some small shell pasta and then a can of cannellini beans. She won't do beans, either... I figured I could start the sauce and then pulls some out for her and finish it off with all the goodies we like.

My new ingredient, today, was a bottle of Passata. Passata is a tomato puree of sorts, made with uncooked crushed and strained tomatoes...

no skins or seeds that you don't need...
Acapulco Gold is bad ass...

Oh, wait... where was I?!?

Back to Passata... I have seen it in recipes, lately, and thought I'd see what the hype was all about. So far, I like it. It tasted like ::drum roll:: tomatoes. The Wegman's Passata is organic, made in Italy, and, at $2.99 for a 24oz jar, is a mere 20¢ more than three cans of their 8oz sauce - without the added salt and herbs and such. And... It's in a glass bottle with a resealable top. As handy as the little tube of tomato paste...

It tastes like tomatoes.

I'm thinking that we could put up a few dozen bottles of this this summer from our garden bounty. I did a fresh chunked tomato sauce last year... I could break out the food mill... It's really easy to sit back in February and think of all the things you're going to do in August...

On the other hand... I will be retired...

Tonight's dinner...

I cooked up leeks and sausage and added about a cup of passata.  A bit of salt & pepper. I pulled some out for Nonna and then added cannellini beans, a bit of crushed red pepper, some chopped  escarole, and cooked little shell pasta. Parmesan cheese on top. Nonna just got the pasta in her sauce.

I heated everything through and called it dinner.

Naturally, I had more than enough, so Victor packed the leftovers up for lunch, tomorrow.

Life is good!

 


Sourdough Pizza

Looking back through pizza posts and it seems like I'm in a rut - while every one of the pizza doughs have been different, they've all been topped with pepperoni. Pepperoni really is my favorite pizza topping, followed closely by salami.

While I was a real purist back in my Pirro's pizza-making days, I've gotten older and wiser - well... definitely older - and have had some truly stellar pizzas. Especially in Italy and Sicily. Just about anything goes. But when I'm home making pizza for two? Invariably, it's pepperoni.

I have to work on this.

Yesterday, I switched up my sourdough recipe a bit to make it a bit drier, with the thought of making bread and pizza, today. Pizza dough and bread dough are inherently different, but I figured I could make it work.

I haven't finished the bread, yet - but the pizza worked!

It was a really crispy thin crust that had a great chew to it. But while I really really liked it, I think I like my slow-rise 2-day pizza dough, better. The slow-rise just has a more traditional pizza flavor. I guess I'm more of a purist than I think...

The dough recipe is:

  • 600 grams flour
  • 300 grams water
  • 100 grams starter
  • 12 grams salt

Mix dough according to basic sourdough instructions. Take about a third of it for the pizza - the rest for a loaf of bread. Or - make all pizzas or 2 medium-sized loaves of bread.

For the pizza...

Let dough rise overnight.

Place dough ball on a lightly-floured surface and pat into a circle.

Form into a pizza and place on a floured pizza peel.

working quickly, top with sauce...

Then cheese...

And any other toppings you choose.

Bake in a 500°F oven for about 12 minutes - or until crusty, browned, and bubbly.

Enjoy...

I will probably just go back to my old pizza dough recipe, but I'm really glad I tried this out. And... It's more than probable that I'll make another one one of these days - but topped with something other than pepperoni.

Even stubborn purists have to switch things up once in a while...

 


Eggplant Rigatoni Timbale

And another gastronomical delight has been prepared in our kitchen!

Whilst I was diligently working, today, Victor was working as well - in the kitchen making a Timbale. A timbale is something usually wrapped in a pastry or mold - resembling a drum. At our house, the pastry has been replaced by eggplant, and the mold is a springform pan. Ya make do with what ya have...

We have made these in the past... there's no real recipe, it's more of a style and procedure than a cup of this and a spoonful of that. Think of a pasta dinner completely encased in an eggplant skin - top, bottom, and sides.

From there, it's all imagination.

Tonight's imagination was a fresh tomato sauce with spicy Italian sausage and mini rigatoni.

Eggplant Timbale

  • eggplant
  • pasta sauce
  • rigatoni
  • ricotta
  • shredded cheese
  • olive oil
  • bread crumbs

First step is to slice the eggplant and cook it. You can oven-bake, grill, or fry. Victor oven-baked it, today by brushing it with olive oil and cooking it in a 350°F oven for about 25 minutes.

Have your sauce ready. Cook the sausage.

Cook the rigatoni and mix it with the sliced sausage and sauce.

Oil and liberally coat a springform pan with bread crumbs. The breadcrumbs help to release the timbale when it’s cooked.

Line the pan with the cooked eggplant…

Add a layer of ricotta and shredded cheese…

Next, a layer of the sausage and pasta mixture…

More cheeses…

More pasta mixture…

More cheese and then fold the eggplant over the top, pressing down to compact and encasing everything.

A few crumbs on top…

And into a preheated 350°F oven for about an hour and 15 minutes. Add a bit more sauce and cheese to the top midway through.

Remove from the oven and let sit at least 20 minutes before serving.

Cut into wedges, and enjoy!

Totally awesome. Even Nonna cleaned her plate. Rich and filling without being heavy. It hits all of the gastronomic senses.

And if you happen to have some homemade sourdough bread ... all the better!

I love a man who can cook!


Avanzi di Pane

Avanzi di pane means leftover bread in Italian. At least, it does by Bing translate standards. Google translate called leftover bread pane avanzato which translates to advanced bread. Technically, I guess that's reasonable, however, when I put avanzi di pane in Google, it came out as leftover bread.

The suffering I do for my art...

This all started because we had leftover bread. What a surprise, eh?!? The upside to baking is having all of this fabulous bread. The downside is having all of this fabulous bread. We do make our own breadcrumbs, but... there's a limit there, too.

As luck would have it, I remembered a blog I had seen several years ago called Rustico Cooking. The blog belongs to a cooking school in NYC, and, while it hasn't been updated in a couple of years, it does have some fun ideas - like sausage and escarole over cheesy bread cubes.

I started reading the recipe to Victor this morning and the first thing he said was it needs white beans. I thought it needed pancetta, as well. And some white wine... Part of the fun of cooking is looking at an idea and seeing how it can be changed... bouncing ideas back and forth... I don't want to say improved because I'm not improving it - I'm changing it. Semantics, I know, but... I do think it's different.

Here's my take on it...

Avanzi di Pane con Scarola, Salsiccia e Formaggio

adapted from Rustico Cooking

for the sausage and escarole:

  • 8 oz hot Italian Sausage
  • 2 oz pancetta, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 large head escarole, chopped
  • 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup white wine, divided
  • pinch red chili flakes
  • S&P to taste

Remove sausage from casings and place in bowl. Add about 1/4 cup white wine and break up. Set aside.

In a large skillet with lid, saute pancetta until slightly crispy. Add sausage, chili pepper, and garlic and cook until sausage is cooked through.

Add remaining wine and cook for a minute to very slightly reduce. Stir in beans.

Add escarole and mix in well. Cover, reduce heat, and cook a few minutes until escarole begins to wilt.

Meanwhile, make the bread...

  • 4 cups leftover bread cubes
  • olive oil
  • garlic powder
  • 4 oz fontina or other Italian cheese
  • 4 oz fresh mozzarella
  • S&P, to taste

Drizzle bread with oil and sprinkle with garlic powder and a pinch of salt and pepper. Place on rimmed baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes at 375°F. Remove from oven and sprinkle cheeses over bread. Return to oven and bake until cheese melts - about 5 more minutes.

to assemble:

Divide cheesy bread among plates and top with sausage escarole.

Talk about something that could use a runny fried egg on! But even without the egg, this was good! Really simple, lots of flavor, and ready in about 15 minutes. It's the ultimate fast food.

One thing to keep in mind is you do want some liquid in with the escarole and sausage - but you don't want a lot. Keep your eye on it and if you have too much - keep it in the pan when you're dishing it out.

The cheesy sourdough toast was the perfect foil for the slightly spicy, slightly bitter, and slightly creamy topping.

We shall make this one, again!

 


More Sourdough

This is classic the more I learn, the less I know. Which, of course, means I need to learn more. To know less. Or something...

Yesterday's sourdough got me thinking about the things I liked in bread. Today, I started out with a new idea - and immediately screwed up the measurements. I had to go back and redo things a bit - so I ended up with more dough than I had anticipated.

I decided to use the microwave as a proofing box. I boiled a 2 cup measuring cup full of water, set it off to the side, and put the bowl of dough inside. For the first hour, it just sat there. It seemed like it didn't want to rise. Victor told me I make good bread, so don't worry about it. Dump it and move on. Great advice except I'm stubborn and pigheaded. Or, indefatigable. Or... stubborn and pigheaded. Then... I noticed a bubble. It was tiny, but it was there! I did a pull, fold, and stretch after an hour and a half. It almost looked promising. After two hours, it had actually increased in size a bit. In three, the dough was like magic. Rising, folding, forming, resting... Another classic lesson in patience. I have so much of it. I formed two loaves and patiently let them rise, again...

I really wanted to see if I could mimic the Larraburu sourdough of my youth. My starter isn't nearly sour enough to accomplish something like that and I didn't want to do an 18 hour or overnight-in-the-refrigerator rise to increase the sourness. I wanted the bread today! Plus, my oven isn't big enough for a real loaf. Nor do I have steam injectors. But... I am stubborn and pigheaded. I hit a few San Francisco websites and searched for Larraburu - and got some good ideas and information.

What's interesting about this is I have never in my life tried to replicate something I had elsewhere. I have gotten great ideas and I have made often things based upon things I've had or seen, but I've always been too much of a realist to think I could make at home something a commercial kitchen produced. I've worked in too many commercial kitchens. I know better.

But knowing I couldn't make it the same meant I needed to delve into it more deeply if I really wanted a certain outcome. It started me thinking - and learning - more about the science of bread making. I know how to bake bread. I know what different types of dough should feel like. I have made lots of breads - my favorite Italian rustic breads use bigas - starters. And, it seems I've been doing a lot of things right - without actually knowing why it was important or necessary. But there's so much more to learn...

I finally have a bit of a grasp on Baker's Percentage in a recipe - so that's a start. The more I know the more I need to learn...

Here's the basic recipe for today's bread. I actually made almost 1 1/2 of this because I screwed up my initial measurements - and I wasn't going to toss out perfectly good flour and water! I made two loaves - the recipe should only make one large loaf.

Measurements are in grams.

Sourdough Bread

  • 565 gr flour
  • 339 gr water
  • 11 gr salt
  • 85 gr starter

**About an hour before baking, preheat oven with baking stone to 500°F. Have a sheet pan on the rack under for boiling water for steam.

Mix the flour and water in a stand mixer for 1-2 minutes. Cover the mixer bowl tightly and autolyse* for about an hour.

*Autolyse is a method whereby the flour and water (of a bread recipe) are first mixed together, then rested for a period of time. This helps make exceptionally extensible dough.

Sprinkle the salt on the dough and add the starter. Mix for 1-2 minutes to incorporate everything and then mix for 5 minutes.  If necessary, adjust the dough consistency by adding small amounts of water or flour.  The dough should be tacky but not sticky and should clean both the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.

Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly oiled bowl. Cover tightly.

Ferment at 105º F for 2 1/2 to 3 hours in a humid environment. A microwave with a cup of boiling water works well for this. Stretch and fold once at 1 1/4 hours.

Remove from bowl, form into a ball, and let rest on the counter for 20 minutes - covered with a towel.

Shape into a boule or bâtard and place on cornmeal-covered peel.

Cover with a towel and let proof another 30-40 minutes.

Make several slits on dough with razor blade or very sharp knife. Transfer the loaf to the baking stone. Pour 1 cup boiling water into pan under baking stone and quickly close oven door. Turn down the oven to 450º F.

Bake about 40 minutes for a bâtard or 40-45 minutes for a boule. Look for a nice, dark crust.

Cool on rack completely before devouring.

If I only made this bread for the rest of my life, it would not be a bad thing. It really came out great! But it won't be the only bread I ever bake, again, because I have a dozen ideas forming in my little mind...

I just put a loaf in the freezer so I'm not going to be making any more bread for a few days, at least... but I see a sourdough walnut raisin in our future...

This is fun!

 

 

 

 


Sourdough Bread

The sourdough bread of my youth doesn't exist, anymore. The very best - in my not so humble opinion - was Larraburu. Dark, crusty, crunchy crust and a rich interior, filled with holes. The kind of bread that when you toasted it, the butter - or peanut butter - would flow through the holes making a mess everywhere. It was a kid's gastronomic dream come true.

Larraburu went out of business in 1976 - the result of a lawsuit over a 6 year old being hit by a bread delivery truck - and that left Parisian pretty much the sole sourdough survivor. Boudin calls itself the Original San Francisco Sourdough, but I don't remember them at all until they started up a bakery/cafe at the remodeled Stonestown Galleria. The 1976 San Francisco Chronicle article talking of Larraburu's demise doesn't mention Boudin, either...

Larraburu also had the best sourdough rolls. Edgewater Delicatessen right up the street from us sold them for 10¢ each. I'd buy a roll and 25¢ worth of salami and have a feast - when I actually had 35¢ to spend.

Quite a while ago, I bought the Tartine Bread cookbook, read through a bit of it, and decided that making starter from scratch was a waste of time and energy. The tone of the book just came across as a bit elitist, to me. Lord knows I'm not even remotely opinionated or food-snobish, myself... ::ducking the lightning bolts aimed at me from the sky::

Once again, I was wrong. It's not, and creating a starter is actually really easy. What I ended up doing, though, was buying a starter from a bakery called Breadtopia. It was after buying the starter and dealing with the 3 days of feeding and regenerating it that I read the Tartine book, again, and realized I had just done what they were talking about - minus something like one step.

Okay... I'm not the brightest color in the crayon box... what can I say? I have live starter and a loaf of really good bread - and the ability to make many more.

So here's my take on a loaf of sourdough... It's a bit Breadtopia and a bit me. I didn't want to use the Dutch Oven process so I played with it and baked it on oven tiles.

Sourdough Bread

  • 16 oz flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup starter

Instructions

Mix together the dry ingredients.


Dissolve 1/4 cup starter into purified water


Add water / starter to dry ingredients and stir until the water is incorporated.


Cover with plastic and let sit roughly 10-14 hours at room temperature (~ 68 - 72F).

Stretch and fold dough over itself several times.

Cover loosely with plastic and rest for 15 minutes. Form into boule.

Transfer to floured parchment on a peel, cover with a towel,  and let rise about 1 1/2 hours.


Bake at6 475°F for about 33 minutes.

Let cool completely on rack.

This particular bread had a very lightly-sourdough flavor. Great taste, but just a tad gummier than I like. That probably had nothing to do with the fact that we cut into it almost straight out of the oven! It is a wetter dough than I'm used to dealing with. I think future loaves will be a little less so.

The crust was excellent and had a really great crunch and texture, but the bread I remember so well had a dull crust - thick and dark and it crackled and crunched when you bit into it. And it left crumbs everywhere.

I think I may try a loaf without the steam to see what a dry oven will give me.

Stay tuned...

 

 


Orzo and an Egg

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the fact that I wanted something different.

We have really been in a rut - and the only way to get out of a rut is to just say no. Or something. The rut-ending started with the Sourdough bread. It took three days to get onto the table so I needed something that would compliment it. I was thinking a risotto and while that thought was formulating, I remembered a recipe I had seen about making risotto with orzo. A rut-free dinner was born!

The concept is pretty much identical to making risotto - and pretty much the same ratios of ingredients.

I used:

  • 1 cup orzo
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 cup green beans, sliced small
  • 1 cup cooked beef, diced
  • 1/2 pkg Boursin cheese
  • butter and olive oil
  • 1 egg per person

Saute the vegetables in oil and butter until they begin to soften. Add the orzo and saute until lightly browned.

Add the wine and cook, stirring, until almost fully evaporated. Add the broth, one cup at a time, stirring as you would a risotto.

With the 4th and final cup of broth, add the coked beef and stir everything together.

Turn off heat and let sit about 5 minutes.

Stir in Boursin and check for seasoning.

Serve with a runny fried egg on top.

It really was a fun dinner. It was comforting and familiar, but just different enough to jump-start the rut-removal.

It's snowing outside and I have a lot more sourdough starter, so I think I may play with more bread tomorrow... maybe even a sourdough pizza...

Stay tuned...

 


Ravioli

Have you ever had one of those meals where you just wanted to keep eating... and eating... and eating...?!?

I had one, tonight.

On the surface it was just ravioli. But the sauce... Oh, the sauce... It was simplicity, but it was sublime in its simplicity. Victor took the last jar of his homemade sauce and added ground beef and pancetta. Simplicity. And utterly delicious.

Over cheese ravioli.

Did I mention simple? And delicious?

Every now and again I eat something that really hits the spot - and this was one of those times. It resonated on every level - it was rich, it was meaty, it was flavorful in an almost unexpected way. The big chunks of pancetta were genius. It just worked.

I ate just a little too much, but it was worth having to change into pants with an expandable waist.

And there's more sauce left! I'm thinking it's going to be worked into something fun for Sunday!

Stay tuned...

 

 


Pork Scallopini Marsala

Tonight's dinner would probably be more fitting on a colder night - but it's in the mid-60s outside. Saturday night, the weather gurus are calling for 3"-5" of snow. Or rain and snow. Or a wintry mix. Sunny on Sunday and back to 67°F by Tuesday.

I could have held it off for a couple more days but I wanted to use up some mushrooms before they became compost.

When we first moved back here in 2001, we could pretty much expect cold weather in the winter and hot weather in the summer. But not anymore... Mentally, I'm still cooking calendar-wise. One of these days I'm going to need to really start adjusting to the reality of what the weather is and not what the weather should be.

Old dog, new trick...

So... back to dinner...

I've been a Marsala fan since forever. My birthday dinner was Veal Marsala when I was a kid. Actually, it was Beef Marsala because we never had actual veal in the house except for Pop's breaded veal cutlets - and come to think of it, there probably wasn't much actual veal in those things, either.

When I was grown and out of the house, I asked her for the recipe and she meticulously wrote it out. I made it a few times but it didn't taste quite as good as hers. I played with it a bit and realized she had neglected to add one ingredient - sage. When I asked her about it, she turned beet red and denied she had intentionally left it out, stammering all the while.

My own mother.

Fast-forward 40 or so years and here I am making a variation on the theme - with a pork tenderloin. Pork tenderloins make absolutely the best scallopini this side of the Tyrrhenian Sea - and at a fraction of the cost of veal. And it's guaranteed tender - not always so with veal scallops, today.

There's not a real recipe for this, anymore... I've been making it for so long - with the sage - that I do it by rote.

I start off by pounding the scallops and then dredging them in a seasoned flour - salt, pepper, garlic powder, and sage. I then saute them in olive oil and butter just until lightly browned.

Out of the pan and I then add mushrooms and cook them down. I might add a bit of onion or shallot... When they're nicely done, I add a hefty amount of Marsala. I tend to use dry for cooking and sweet for desserts, but if I only have one or the other, I don't let it stop me.

When it's boiled down a tad, I add some beef broth and then slide the meat back in, let it simmer until the meat is cooked through, and then thicken it with a bit of the dredging flour, if it needs it. Check for seasonings and adjust, as needed. Stir in a bit of chopped parsley, if you have it.

It's usually served over buttered noodles, but it also works over rice or even mashed potatoes. I haven't bought egg noodles in quite a while since we have so much damned pasta in the cupboard, so I just used the Gigli pasta we had.

It worked. Quite well.

Mom would be proud...

 

 

 

 

 

 


Eye of the Round Roast

I did my weekly shopping at the Acme, today, because I needed to get Nonna's Apple Strudel Bites and Mini Corn Muffins. They're the only store around that sells them - and she's definitely hooked on them. She gets an apple strudel bite and a mini corn muffin every morning with her juice (summer) or tea (winter) after she gets up for the second time. The first time she gets up is at 0-dark-thirty for her morning meds, coffee, and potato bread toast.

I'm not a huge Acme fan because they really are the most expensive grocery chain in the area. But... you go where you need to go - and since I had just switched out tanks last week, I filled up the spare propane canister while I was there. Always have a full spare, says I!

I had called yesterday to make sure I could pick up two packs of the strudel bites because they are often out of them when I go looking for them. They were at the Bakery with my name on them!  That put me in a jolly mood so I meandered through the aisles looking for things I normally don't buy.  At Wegmans, I use their shopping list and phone app. It tells me exactly where and in what aisle in their 70,000+ sq ft store the things are that I want. I don't do a lot of meandering there. It just takes too long. I try and plan my trips to Acme around days I don't need a lot of groceries and paper goods so I can either take a look and see if something catches my eye - or just grab what I know I need and bolt.

Today was a meander.

One thing that caught my eye was an eye of the round roast. On sale. I will sometimes buy a whole eye and cut it into steaks, stew meat, and maybe a roast. It is not the most tender cut of meat, so it needs TLC when cooking. This was inexpensive. Into the cart it went.

When I got home, I thought I'd see what ideas Chef Google had, and the very first thing I saw was a method of cooking at 500°F! I thought that was downright strange, and looked at several others - all with a 500°F start time. The concept is season your roast and then into a 500°F oven for 5 minutes per pound, turn off the oven and let the roast sit in there  - without opening the oven door - for two hours. No liquid, no covering. Hot oven, turn off. Guaranteed tender. It sounded so easy I had to try it!

I did have mixed results - the beef was definitely medium and not the medium rare I was promised - but a bit of time adjustment can remedy that. It was tender, juicy, and lots of pan juices that weren't burnt! It made a really rich, dark gravy - my favorite part of a roast beef dinner!

Old dog learned new trick, today! Where have I been that I never knew of this cooking method?

I rubbed the roast with olive oil, sprinkled it liberally with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and into the oven it went. For the gravy, I just added some red wine to the drippings, cooked it down a bit, added flour and then beef broth, and let it cook until thickened. No need for anything else.

Fresh peas, mashed potatoes, and slices of yesterday's bread made for a great dinner. And there's plenty left over for dinner tomorrow!

I like learning new tricks...