Whatever... and Roast Beef...

If I could figure out a focus for this thing, I might post more often. I no longer have the excuse of not having a camera, because I got one for Christmas. Just to prove it, here's a picture.






So there. Beautiful isn't it?

Here's another picture. Just because I can. Cats! The black one is Jaguar, the striped one is Lynx. They are probably half brothers (same mother, different litters). They are alternately best friends and bitter rivals. Most of the time, if you see one, the other is not far away. This includes playing with the birds and other small animals that they enjoy bringing into the house. If they would catch the gopher that is playing hob with my front garden, I would be very happy. I wouldn't even complain very hard about the resulting blood stain. Or the next explosion of bird feathers and parts.

Cats lower one's blood pressure. It has been scientifically proven. Although not by me.

Oh. Roast beef. The man invited friends over for Super Bowl Sunday. Only, instead of watching the Super Bowl, they played Gran Tourismo. It was highly amusing. The Friend (hereinafter referred to as Big N) brought his son (Little N) and his (Big N's, not Little N's) girlfriend (S). I was expecting S, but not Little N, not that it was a problem because I like kids in general and Little N in particular. Anyway, all of this has nothing to do with Roast Beef. Other than the fact that having guests gave me an excuse to make it. It's a super simple recipe (not that roast beef should ever be complicated, but that's another post for another time) that I got from Fine Cooking. The main feature of this recipe that was different from the usual was the use of dry white wine in the braising liquid for the beef.

In brief. You sear the beef (rubbed first with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper, although you can skip this step with on ill-effects) in your dutch oven. When it's browned all all sides, set the meat aside and pour a combination of chicken broth and dry white wine (about two cups total) into the dutch oven and bring to a simmer (scrape up any bits of meat that stuck to the pan during this process), return the meat to the pan, add the herbs and vegetables (two carrots, cut in half widthwise; one onion, peeled and quartered; three (or more) garlic cloves, smashed; one bay leaf; three sprigs fresh time; three whole cloves or allspice berries) return to the simmer, cover tightly and cook in a slow (250 degree) oven for about four hours or until the meat is very tender, turn once or twice so the top of the meat doesn't dry out. When the meat is cooked, remove and set aside (tented with foil), strain cooking liquid into a medium saucepan, discard solids (or not if you have something better to do with them, like eat them up yum). Reduce broth to about half, add brandy (2 Tbsp), grainy mustard (1/2 tsp or to taste) and horseradish (1/2 tsp or to taste) and bring to a boil. Stir 1 tsp flour into 2 Tbsp sour cream, whisk into broth mixture and cook 5 minutes (or more) to thicken slightly and combine flavors. Slice the meat, serve with gravy and whatever side dishes you like (in my case, mashed potatoes and a spinach and mushroom "braise"). Yummy.