ROAST ROUND BEEF

April 2019

This has been a week for beef. I finally defrosted and cooked an eye of round that has been in the freezer. I never cooked one before. I mistakenly thought of it as a fine and tender piece of beef. That is not the case. It is a great bargain at $2.39 a pound. There is no bone. There is no gristle or irregular parts. But my reading told me that if cooked in a normal roasting fashion, it would probably be tough. What they suggested was coating it with spices (no salt for me). I used garlic and black pepper. Place it fat side up and cook it in an oven preheated to 500 degrees for fifteen minutes. Then turn the oven off. Do not open the door. Let it cook in the cooling oven for a couple hours. It worked perfectly. When cut, the inside was uniformly rare without those pesky almost raw sections we get in undercooked steak. A nice pink and very juicy. And it was plenty tender enough except for the small ends. Delicious and very cheap.
We also had a piece of left over steak on the bone. Elizabeth thought it had dried a bit in the refrigerator. So, in went the boned piece as well as some bits from the roast. I boiled it with about seven cloves of garlic that had dried out over the winter and were a bit hard. Perfect broth for my favorite Sopa de Ajo con juevo. We cooked it down a long time. Then we put bowls of it in the microwave with one whole egg. I covered the bowls because eggs with yoke in tact can explode in the microwave. These did not. And so we at a fine bowl of soup that reminded me of the one I first had in Avila, Spain years ago.

Jume 2022

A nice square piece of roast on sale.  I browned it on all sides, coated it with peanut oil, and put it in the oven for the 20 minutes at 505

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October 19, 2019

I did another one and it turned out exactly the right redness, but it was just too tough.  I think this is my third one and none were like this.  I pounded some slices for breakfast meat, and the rest got chunked up and put in the slow cooker with potatoes, onion, garlic powder and beef broth to make a soup/stew.  

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November 8, 2020

I did a nice round roast which was perhaps thicker than the other pieces.  I put it on 500 for a half hour, then turned the stove off for 2 hours.  It turned out great, but had begun to cool a bit.  Perhaps an hour and a half might be enough.

I sliced this one using our new meat slicer and it worked just fine.

What I like is that I like the meat red but not raw.  The way this cooks it gave us plenty of red.  Only the very ends were well done.

Slicing it I'm sure made it more tender.

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One facebook person published this technique for prime rib along with this math

Roast at 550 at 5 minutes per pound for RARE, or 6 minutes per pound for MEDIUM and 7 minutes per pound for WELL DONE.

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January 8, 2021

I thought 550 too high.  I set at 515.

I put a bit of canola oil in the glass baking dish and then put in both the 3 pound roasts.  I like using garlic, but if I put it on the top side it will burn, so I put some granulated garlic on the side that would sit in the oil.   I put black pepper on the top.   I decided I wanted a gravy this time, so I did not use parchment.  Also, the dishwasher has been doing a fine job getting these pans cleaned up, so it is not so necessary to protect with parchment.

Then I took a full two hour nap.

When I woke up, the beef was just as we wanted, very pink with no rawness.

I am not saying that this is as tender as prime rib, but it was more tender than most of the steaks I've had.  I'll cool most of it in the refrigerator and slice it on the slicer tomorrow, freezing batches for future us.

2022

I had a nice square piece of beef and roasted it for 20 minutes, then turned the over off.  I did not get to it while it was still hot, but it was in perfect shape and I sliced it up in fine thick slices using the meat slicer.

2023 November

A nice lean roast.  I put it in a glass baking dish with the smaller side laced with fresh garlic the way they do lamb in Spain, knive pokes and the garlic slide into the resulting hole made by the poke.  

I turned it fat side down in some peanut oil.

In at 510degrees for 24 minutes

Cancelled and the stove left with door shut. 

no salt INSTAPOT TOMATO SAUCE

photos  Vhttps://www.simplyhappyfoodie.com/instant-pot-marinara-fresh-tomato-sauce/

Since I used powdered garlic and onion, I did not saute.   Cut roma tomatoes and red peppers.  Put in pot with spices below.  Cooked for 25 minutes.


March 20,2019
Tried this sauce again using Roma tomatoes in the pot for 22 minutes.  Just a half cut of water left this sauce much more condensed.  Basil, Italian Seasoning, tarragon, garlic powder, onion powder, Paprika.    No chocolate this time and I found the sauce sweet and good.
Even Elizabeth had some.
I used mine in this recipe
March 30, 2019
Basically, did the same thing.  No red peppers this time.  It did not taste as good.  Tomatoes need to be riper.  Red Pepper needs to be used.

https://weightlossveggie.blogspot.com/2019/03/fettucini-with-home-made-sauce-and-no.html


March 10, 2019   Just finished.  Put instapot in fridge until tomorrow.

The odd ingredient, cocoa powder, seemed to work great.  And a tablespoon added just 1 milligram of sodium.  It is a very tasty sauce.
However, it is watery.
Perhaps when I blend it from chunky to smooth some of that will go away.  However, if I make it again, I'll use Roma tomatoes and only one half cup of water.
Spices were garlic powder, Italian seasoning, Basil, black pepper, paprika.

FORGOT THAT I USED INSTAPOT AND USED SLOW COOKER

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August26, 2019

Made the sauce with vine tomates.  I used the new no salt tomato paste, a whole jar.  That made it thicker.
Slow cooker for 25 minutes.
Added paste and cooked another 25 minutes.
Letting the steam out after the first session seemed to reduce the sauce a bit.  I did not add red pepper this time, but still liked the outcome.  Again, underspiced to please Elizabeth's palate.  I'll add more spices to mine.  Garlic and black pepper in the basic sauce and some onion powder.




I had some nicely ripe romano tomato.  Added some onion, garlic powder, turmeric, black pepper and basil.  Skipped the Italian spices and tarragon as Elizabeth does not like them.
It was tasty, but it was not really sauce.  We ate the chunky stuff over pasta and it was good.  I should have added the Italian spices to mine.  I did add Benson's salt and some Afro hot pepper sauce.  I did not have time to add tomato paste and felt there was little to thicken.  Perhaps I';; try the left over jar in the blender first.
I'll go back to Instapot.
May 27 2019

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June2, 2019

I used vine tomatoes and they did seem a little bit watery.  I added tomato paste.  I had almost as much red peppers and used garlic powder, paprika. black pepper, turmeric, Italian mixed seasoning, chopped onion.
I cooled Instapot on Manual for 25 minutes.  No water added.  Then I cooked again for 30 minutes.  I had it over Miracle noodles in a bowl and it seemed fine.  I added some Afro Hot Sauce and Benson's in the bowl.  The sauce was nicely sweet although I added nothing sweet.  It much have been the tomatoes.
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This time I did the Instapot without any added liquid for 25 minutes.  I worried that it was the wrong choice, but it worked just fine.  Nothing burned.  There was still too much liquid perhaps.  I started with beef steak tomatoes and red pepper.  I did not add spices other than black pepper and some powdered garlic (very little flavor) as Elizabeth likes to add her own.
I took off the steam myself and then stirred a can of tomato paste into the hot cooked sauce.  It seemed to thicken it a bit.
I was tempted to blend it smooth.  However, I know I can do that with a small batch and see, so I froze it in chunk form. 

October 2019
Pretty much what I did last time.  I used vine tomatoes that were very ripe and on sale.  I had two sweet red peppers and added chopped onion and jarred garlic powder and turmeric.
I cooked on manual for 50 minutes.  I let it take the steam off itself and opened after another half hour. 
Seems just fine.  I froze all of it, so I only have a taste.  Luckily, Ellen remembered to bring me some jars.  I filled them.

November 19,2019

Sautéed chopped red pepper and chopped sweet onion in olive oil with last of a cheap garlic powder and black pepper.  Kept it plain as Elizabeth likes that better, and it turned out that she did.
Manual for 50 minutes.
Released steam myself this time.
Added in a jar of tomato paste.

Tossed some sauce over the zero everything pasta.  Added Italian spice, Oregano and 4 mixture cheese.  Micro wave for a minute.  Very good.
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APPLE WALNUT BRussel sprouts

Take a bag of Brussel sprouts and heat in olive oil and veggie juice with black pepper.
When they are thawed and somewhat cooked, put in chopped apples and walnuts.  Cider is called for, but I skipped it.
It was not my best dish.

Leftovers got mashed with kale.  Added turmeric and curry.  Fried with an egg mixed in.  Thought I could make patties, but no.  Hash was pretty good, however.

ROAST CHICKEN

Roating two 5 pound chickens, one with poutry seasoning, one with just black pepper.
Made a dressing from the no salt Eziekiel bread, onion, celery, sesame seeds, black pepper.

Put in the over at 400 for 15 minutes.
Brought it down to 350 for the rest of the time.
Total cooking time should be under two hours, unless doing two makes a difference.

Internet says:  If you roast two chickens at the same time, the thickness from surface to center doesn’t change. That being said, here is the magical formula for juicy and tender but cooked through chicken: 20 mins / lbs + 20 minutes In words: twenty minutes per pound (450g) plus twenty extra minutes.

PORK LOIN

November 2, 2019

This is not the tenderloin but the whole loin.  It is larger, but just as good in my opinion.

I sliced it far down in pieces that would make good portions.  I made a paste of a bit of pork belly grease left from making the bacon, some olive oil, garlic from the jar, Herbs de Provance (I did not have rosemary and this was close)  black pepper.  I pushed this down in the sliced pork.  Some stayed on the top, but some of that burned a bit.  I cooked it fat side up and still covered the rest of the grease and olive oil.

I baked in an hour at 350, but it did not seem completely done.  I baked it another half hour at 360, but this was a bit too long.  I basted it as I went.  It turned out very tasty.  I used the round oven dish with parchment paper.  I certainly preferred the result to any chops I have had.  Some much juicier.
I particularly liked the slicing and subsequent paste of spices.  The spices on top get overcooked, but those tucked into the pockets of meal are perfect.  Afterwards the partially sliced loin pieces give a good portion.  Finally, any worry that the pork might be undercooked is alleviated.

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Novemeber 12, 2019

Larger loin.  Basically, I did the same thing  except I cooked a butternut squash with the pork.  Both I put on silicone in long glass baking dishes.  I used rosemary in this paste rather than herbs de province.
To get pork belly fat I cooked up some pork belly and put a bowl of fat in the freezer until it solidified and was ready for a paste of spices.
I cut farther down into the loin this time, and I tried to push the spices down.  I put no spices on the top to prevent the burning.  I set the oven a 360 right away.


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September 2020

I wondered about cooking it fat side up, but I had done it before, so I did.  I made the fine cuts and spread a spiced paste in each cut.  I did not have pork belly fat, so I used some of the white palm kernel oil.

I refriderated all of this as I fixed it too early in the day to cook it.  while wrapped for thawing in the refrigerator the pork juices leaked out all over everywhere.  What a mess!

So I just got it oven ready.  Perhaps refrigeration with spices will help them penetrate the pork.

I sprayed the top with olive oil.