Asian In America

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It’s game day! This time of the year our menus gear up for the Super Bowl. The excitement around us is infectious. Our own kitchen gets busy with huge platters to enjoy while watching the games, the new TV ads and my favorite part, the entertaining half time show. And to get ready for this year’s exciting football event, the Super Bowl XLVII here’s how it all went down in our household.

We had a splendid beef roast as the centerpiece of our dinner table. My son, Tim took charge and made this expertly. This roast beef was completely indulgent yet so simple and easy to do. I bought a whole rump roast beef cut, with no bone. When Tim got home, he seasoned the entire beef cut aggressively with the coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, the garlic and seasonings. After a few hours of letting the beef sit and wait for the dry rub flavors to blend in, Tim got ready for the next step of cooking. Quickly, he pan seared the whole slab on a large hot skillet, then after a good browning, roasted the beef in the oven. It didn’t take long for the heady garlic aromas combined with the pine-like thyme to remind us that a great meal was about to happen.

In a few minutes, I was staring longingly at the whole cooked roast beef resting languidly on the counter. The browned roast looked majestic, and when Tim started to slice it thinly, I couldn’t help but pick a small sliver that fell off the cutting board. It was velvety soft, succulent, and pretty spectacular. Tim served this with his homemade mashed potatoes on the side, a good bottle of wine, and the gougeres I just baked. It was sheer beef magnificence.  Make this part of your game day menu and definitely score high points with everyone!

As a side to this beef entree, I baked these petite puffy Gougeres, filled with a cream cheese-chorizos spread (see blog post)

Beef Roast with Thyme and Braised in Red Wine

By Elizabeth Q, January 26, 2013

This Beef Roast with Thyme and Braised in Wine is one of the easiest entrees to make when you need a large dish to wow the game day crowd. This is a winner in every way. It's simple to cook, yet lavish and regal. Braise and roast it in the oven and before you know it, you'll be slicing one of the most marvelous flavored beef roasts ever. My son Tim prepared and cooked this for us and definitely scored a touchdown with it. This recipe was adapted from Michael Tusk and served 4 to 6.

Ingredients:

• beef roast rump - 4 to 5 pounds, whole piece, no bone
• garlic - 1 whole head plus 3 cloves, peeled and mashed
• fresh rosemary - 1 bunch
• freshly ground black pepper - 1 Tablespoon
• coarse sea salt - 3 Tablespoons
• horseradish - 3 Tablespoons
• extra virgin olive oil - 1 cup
• unsalted butter - 1/2 cup
• fresh thyme - a few sprigs
• dry red wine - 1 cup
• chicken stock - 1 cup or best quality demi-glace

Instructions:

• Prepare the whole roast beef cut. Start by cutting shallow incisions all over the beef, and insert the garlic slices and rosemary leaves into these slits. Mix together in a small bowl the black pepper, sea salt and horseradish, then press this dry rub all over the roast. Let the roast rest at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours before cooking.
• When ready to cook, set the oven rack to the lower middle part of the oven. Preheat the oven at 350 F degrees.
• In a large, wide skillet pan, heat half of the olive oil over medium heat. Lay the whole roast on the pan slowly and brown the beef on all sides. While the meat is browning, baste the beef by spooning some of the cooking fat from the pan. Add more olive oil as needed. Place the whole head of garlic cloves, together with a few sprigs of fresh thyme and butter. Pan searing the beef should take about 10 minutes.
• Transfer the roast and garlic cloves to a roasting pan with a wire rack. Cover with aluminum foil and cook in the oven between 45 minutes to 1 hour. You will need the browning pan later at the end of cooking the beef, so leave it aside for later.
• The beef will cook at medium rare when an internal thermometer reads 125 to 130 degrees at the thickest part of the meat cut. Remove the whole beef from the oven and let it rest on a cutting board, while the sauce is prepared. (Allowing the beef to rest after cooking will make it moist and juicy when sliced).
• To make the sauce: use the same browning pan from earlier. Over medium heat, add the red wine. There will be cooked meat bits and herbs at the bottom, so scrape these. Simmer the red wine until almost dry. Add the chicken broth or the demi glace, and a little water if needed. Simmer for about 5 minutes more. Then pour sauce through a fine mesh strainer and set aside.
• To cut and serve the roast: Slice the roast thinly, across the grain. Lay the slices on a platter, drizzle with the reserved pan sauce and roasted garlic cloves. Garnish with extra sprigs of thyme. Serve this with homemade mashed potatoes (see previous blog post).