Tuesday, August 14, 2012

One for the Recipe Box

I have been on a cooking streak for the past few days (to which the scale can attest).  I have devoted every free second of time to cooking - and I have cooked things that have brought tears to my emotional eyes.  In fact, tonight, as I tasted the deliciousness of my dinner, my eyes actually stung as they filled up with tears at how good it was.  I believe I could hear angels singing around me.  Ahhhh!!  It was a wonderful moment when we were all crowded around the kitchen table and I could hear all my boys talking at once... Things like, "Oh, this is good."  "MOM!  This is the BEST thing you've ever made!"  "It doesn't look like there is going to be enough."  "Mom, can you make me another one..."  All the while I was chewing ever so slowly so as to enjoy every microsecond of my dinner... And that's when I heard Brooke from the other room, "Oh no, Mommy..." 

Smile. Breathe. 

She was not with us in the kitchen while we had our crazy moment of meal bliss.  She was in the den.

With a Sharpie.

I walked in to her beautiful artwork all over one of the cushions on the sofa.  I looked at the sofa.  I gasped.  I looked at Brooke.  Brooke cried.  Not much you can do to remove Sharpie from microfiber.  I squashed my stress immediately as I put my 20 year hindsight rule into practice.  I WILL laugh at this in 20 years - so why not laugh right now... and laugh we did - at how much damage she did and how cute she was. 


That's what we get for letting the meal consume our every sense.  So, back to the meal.  From the Pioneer Woman's latest cookbook, I tried something she called Drip Beef.  If this says anything, Matt was hovered over the crock pot AFTER dinner lapping it up. 

You won't believe how easy this is.   And I am so excited to share it with you, I can hardly stand it.

This is actually 2 recipes.  Drip Beef served on "homemade" rolls

I bought a chuck roast (between 3 and 4 pounds) and seasoned it with salt and pepper.  Actually, Matthew seasoned it.



I melted a little butter and a little Canola oil in a skillet and browned the chuck roast on both sides.


While it was browning, I put 2 cups of beef broth and one cup of water into the crock pot.  Matthew chopped up 2 TBS of fresh rosemary. 


We put the chuck roast into the crock pot, and here is the crazy part - we added 1/2 jar of pepperonchinis (with juice).  I turned it on high (I would have cooked it on low all day, but we didn't assemble this until almost noon so I did a combo of high/low for the rest of the day) and as the day went on, the wonderful aroma of this meal filled my kitchen. 



When it was tender, I pulled the roast out onto a cutting board and shredded the meat with two forks - and discarded the fatty parts. 


Back in the crock pot the shredded beef went and I was ready to roll.  I snuck a bite and I knew without any doubt that this would quickly become a household favorite.

Now over to the rolls.  Oh, the rolls.  May I just say that I am going to steal my brother-in-law's holiday meal responsibility (sorry, Austin!) as I will now be taking over the job of bringing rolls.  These are so good that they spin you into some outer orbit of satisfaction and enjoyment.  Your taste buds have never had it so good.  And like all the recipes I love, it's a cinch!

Frozen bread dough - next time you're at the store, pick up a bag from the freezer section.  I mean bread dough - not frozen rolls that you heat in the oven - but little balls of raw bread dough.  My bag was Kroger brand frozen bread dough. 


I sprayed a small cast iron skillet (though I am going to start using something bigger like a 9x13 cookie sheet because my iron skillet doesn't hold enough) with Pam, pulled out about 7 or 8 rolls from the bag and arranged them in the skillet. 


I threw a towel over the top and let the dough thaw and rise over the course of several hours.  About 20 minutes before dinnertime, I brushed a tiny bit of butter on top of the rolls and sprinkled them with poppy seeds.  At 350 degrees, I baked them for about 20 minutes or until lightly brown. 


Ohhhhhhh.... now here comes the best part - the marriage of the juicy shredded beef with that little kick from the pepperonchinis - and the rolls - oh, the rolls - like they just came out of a French baker's oven... I sliced the hot roll in half, laid some shredded beef atop the bottom half, topped that with some sliced pepperonchinis and served that with a little bowl of the liquid in which the beef cooked - mmm mmm... A meal unlike any other. 


I would serve this for company.  Actually, I was thinking that this would be a GREAT game day meal.  If you're having some friends over to watch a Fall football game, throw this together that morning (all in, you might spend 25 minutes prepping and at that point, your work is done!) and they will be going nuts during half time as they indulge in the tastiness of this dish.

Tonight, I served this with roasted vegetables:  broccoli, red bell pepper, asparagus and okra.  My boys love fried okra, so I did a healthy variation - no frying necessary.  I cut up the fresh okra and tossed it in a bowl with a combination of breadcrumbs and corn meal - then I added that to the vegetables and roasted it all for about 30 minutes at 420 degrees. 


Go out this week and buy a chuck roast, a jar of pepperonchinis and a bag of frozen bread dough.  It'll be the easiest and most loved meal you will cook!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to try this, Christa! This looks amazing. Thanks for sharing.