Snowy weather shenanigans...
...and my perfect pot roast & braised cabbage
Boy, there’s nothing like a beautiful, rare (and actually good!) snowfall with kids who want to build snowmen and go sledding to make you feel every bit of your 42 years. I may have sledded right into a tree. Don’t worry, I’m fine. Bruised shoulder. Bruised ego. But nothing that coming in to the fireplace and a mug of hot chocolate couldn’t fix.
Last week, we were in Sunny Orlando, hanging out with that famous mouse and all his friends, watching weather reports predicting a huge winter storm upon our arrival back home. Once we were assured that our flight would indeed make it home as scheduled, I immediately started planning my snow days. What to cook? What to read? What puzzle to do? Which fuzzy house shoes to wear?
So, plans were made for the 6 to 8 inches of snow and the, at least, 4 to 5 days we would be stuck in the house. Ha! I’ve lived here practically my whole life - I should have known. It turned out to be a much more manageable 2-ish inches, maybe 3 if you looked hard in some places, but we still had fun and did all the things!
I made sheet pan pancakes. I’ve been wanting to try this for a while, as I find making individual pancakes in a skillet a tedious task, and usually end up burning them anyway. This worked! And we all approved! I used this recipe from My Baking Addiction, and did some chocolate chip, some blueberry, and some cinnamon-sugar with walnut.
I started, and almost finished, Stanley Tucci’s newest book, What I Ate In One Year. Pretty sure he and I could be best friends. The way he talks about how a meal is meant to be shared. Yes. Plus it’s an easy, fun read with all his little quips throughout.
I made a big batch of cozy braised cabbage (more on that recipe below) to go alongside a big pan of chicken tikka masala. Perfect cold weather, warm-you-up kind of food.
Found a recipe for something called “Lazy Girl Sourdough”. And while any kind of bread baking is in no way “lazy”, this was pretty easy and came out great! I love that it uses my unfed sourdough starter, because it cuts out a step. I could see this being a once-a-week loaf for us.
Before sledding into that tree, we made a snowman! It was a really wet, packable snow. Somehow he came out looking like Grandpa on The Simpsons.
I took my Everyday Chocolate Chip Cookie and subbed in dried cranberries and walnuts for the chocolate chips. I did 1 cup cranberries and 1 cup chopped walnuts. I also changed 1 1/2 cups of flour to rye flour, which can be a little hard to find (I get mine on Amazon), but if you have it, it gives the cookies a nuttier, more complex flavor, and keeps them nice and chewy. This was a win in the cookie department.
I’m still working on trying to copy some gigante beans (big Greek white beans) I had at a restaurant on our Chicago trip. This recipe from Alexandra Stafford looked promising, so I gave it a try. It didn’t come out exactly like I wanted or how I remembered those beans from that Greek restaurant. (I think I might need another research trip…) But, the texture was really good, and they smelled amazing. I think I would have really liked them, but something I did gave them a bitter taste. I think it was me, not her recipe. I already have another bag of beans to try again.
I finally changed my front door wreaths from Christmas to “winter”, and when I pulled the wreaths down from the attic, I found this little bird nest full of eggs on the back side of one! I must have missed it last year when I put them away. I feel terrible about the whole thing. Lesson learned to always check the wreaths.
Cold, snowy weather is just the excuse I need to spend extra time working on projects in the kitchen. That whole flight home from Florida I was dreaming of all the soul-warming meals I wanted to make.
And close to the top of that list is the beef roast I have for you this week (recipe below). It’s made simply, basically just meat, beautifully sweet onions, and sauce - oh, the sauce! - which lets it go pretty much in any direction you want. Over mashed potatoes with roasted veggies on the side. Over a creamy polenta with a shaving of parmesan cheese. With pasta or rice or anything else to catch the gravy. And if you’ve never used leftover pot roast in a grilled cheese sandwich, you’re missing out.
I’ve also got a recipe for Braised Cabbage this week, because for some reason it just hits all the right points in winter. As it cooks down, the cabbage gets sweeter and becomes meltingly tender, giving it a sweet/savory/buttery identity. It would be great with that roast beef, or alongside any other roast. Or with bratwursts and fried potatoes (German girl here!). Or as part of any grain and roasted vegetable bowl. I hope you’re getting as excited about cabbage as I am!
That’s all for now - sorry about the lengthy newsletter, I guess I just had a lot to say after being off for a week! So, stay warm and go cook all the things! Back next week!
One last thing before we go on with meal plans and recipes and the rest of our day - it’s so hard to watch the devastation coming out of California right now and hard to just go on with our schedules as normal when so many other people are hurting. There are many great organizations on the ground providing comfort and help, and if you feel led to donate, this list from the L.A. Times gives information about many of those organiziations and their specific missions in disaster relief.
MONDAY - Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, and Peas
It’s a classic combination for a reason! And all that snow from the weekend had me turning to my favorite cozy dinners. Our favorite meatloaf, paired with creamy mashed red potatoes - and yes we make the hole in the potatoes to hold our peas.
TUESDAY - Chicken and Spinach Orzo Skillet
Working on an idea with chicken and orzo cooked all together in one pan. Trying to decide if I should make it creamy with a boursin cheese or just parmesan? Sun-dried tomatoes or not? Definitely adding some spinach, the question will be does the Kiddo eat it or push it to the side…
WEDNESDAY - Enchiladas and Rice
We haven’t had a Mexican inspired dinner in a while, and these ground beef enchiladas are just what we need. Rice and salad on the side.
THURSDAY - Marinated Chicken Drumsticks, Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli
I’ll do a honey-soy sauce type marinade for the chicken. Then cube up the remaining red potatoes from earlier this week and just roast them off until crispy. Broccoli is always a good choice for an easy vegetable!
FRIDAY - Friday Night Pick-Up
SATURDAY - Dinner at YaYa’s (the in-laws)!
She made a big batch of chili before the holidays and froze it, so we’ll probably do that with all the toppings and grilled cheese sandwiches.
SUNDAY - Dinner at Dad’s!
He’s been telling me all about a recipe he saw on America’s Test Kitchen that has thinly rolled sheets of pasta spiraled with ham and cheese and a beschamel sauce. It sounds amazing. But it also sounds like quite a project. So, if we don’t get to it, BBQ ribs are the back up plan!
LUNCHES for this week -
Earlier this week on a whim, I cooked some frozen sweet potato fries and chickpeas together on one sheet pan until crispy. Then I piled them over a smear of a za’atar yogurt dip (from Costco - I love it, which means they probably won’t have it again…) and topped it all with cucumber and a handful of whatever herbs were still alive on the patio. It was delicious, and I’ll be making that a couple more times for sure.
I may also make a batch of something like this lentil and sausage soup from Smitten Kitchen.
EXTRAS for this week
I have so many post-holiday/start of the new year projects that need to be tackled, and really I should focus on them and not get distracted by other cooking things, but who are we kidding? Reading through that Stanely Tucci book has me wanting all things Italian food, so I may try to get some simple marinara sauces put up for the freezer just so I can have the aroma wafting through the house.
Simple Beef Roast
Makes about 6 servings
· 1 beef Chuck Roast (about 3 ½ pounds)
· 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
· Salt/Pepper for seasoning meat
· 2 white, yellow, or sweet Onions, sliced
· ½ teaspoon kosher Salt (Morton or other store brand)
· ¼ teaspoon ground Black Pepper
· 3 cloves Garlic, minced
· 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
· 1 cup Red Wine (have the rest with dinner!)
· 2 cups Beef Broth
· 1 Bay Leaf
· Several sprigs fresh Thyme
· 2 tablespoons unsalted Butter, soft
· 2 tablespoons all purpose Flour
Preheat oven to 300. Arrange the rack in lower third of oven.
Starting on the stovetop, in a large, heavy pot with a tight fitting lid, such as a dutch oven, warm olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the roast on both sides with salt and pepper, then carefully add it to the pot and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Remove to a plate.
Add in sliced onions, ½ teaspoon of salt, and ¼ teaspoon of pepper, and cook until onions are slightly browned and translucent, 5-7 minutes.
Stir in the tomato paste and garlic, cook for one minute. Pour in the red wine to deglaze the pan – stir and scrape any bits stuck to the bottom. Cook until wine is reduced by half, 2-3 minutes.
Put the roast back in the pan on top of the onions. Pour in the broth and nestle in the bay leaf and thyme sprigs.
Bring to a simmer on the stove top, then cover and move to your preheated oven. Bake for 3 ½ - 4 hours until meat is very tender and almost falling apart.
In a small bowl, smash together the soft butter and flour to make a paste.
Remove the roast to a serving platter and bring the remaining liquid back to a simmer. Stir in the butter/flour paste until the gravy has thickened. Serve the gravy over the roast or on the side.
Serve with mashed potatoes, polenta, rice, or other carbs of choice.
Braised Cabbage
Makes 6-8 servings
· 2 tablespoons unsalted Butter
· 1 large Onion, sliced
· 1 medium Green Cabbage, cored and cut into 1-inch slices
· ½ teaspoon kosher Salt (Morton or other store brand)
· ¼ teaspoon ground Black Pepper
· 1 ½ cups Chicken or Vegetable Broth
In a large, deep skillet with a lid, heat the butter over medium-high heat until melted. Add sliced onions and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften.
Add the whole pile of cabbage. Just cram it in there. Add the salt and pepper, and as best as you can, stir it around. Sometimes tongs work better than a spoon. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. The bits on the bottom will start to get some color, this is good!
Stir in the broth, cover the skillet, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
After 30 minutes, the cabbage and onions should be nice and soft. Remove the lid, turn the heat back to medium-high and cook for 5 minutes to reduce the liquid in the pan a little bit.
Serve immediately.
NOTES – To easily slice the cabbage, I like to quarter it, remove the core, and then slice each section into the 1-inch pieces.
That’s all for now, thanks for reading! See you back here next week!
(Don’t forget you can see all of the past newsletters and recipes at the archive link below!)
All recipes categorized by type can be found in the index!
I want to try the Sheet Pan Pancakes the next time our house is full of visiting family. Sounds like a winner! Thank you for sharing!