Week 21, Recipes 2-4: Tyler's Ultimate Sunday Meat & Potatoes Dinner with Steamed Asparagus in a Paper Bag

My food goal on my list of 30 things to do before I turn 30 is to cook my way through Tyler Florence's Ultimate Cookbook.  So I tried 3 in one meal!

Ultimate Sunday Dinner Meat

Extra-virgin olive oil
3 lbs. top round, in one big hunk
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 onion, sliced
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1/2 bottle dry red wine you wouldn't mind drinking
2 cups beef broth
2 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Heat 2 count of olive oil in an oven-proof braising pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until smoking.  Season the meat well with salt & pepper, put in pan & brown 10-12 minutes.  Make sure it's well seared on all sides.  Remove meat from pan, put on plate.

Add onion, rosemary & thyme, stir & cook for about 5 minutes for a good sear on the onion.  Add wine, broth & bay leaves.  Bring to a simmer, return meat to pan.  Cover, put pan in oven until meat is fork tender, about 2.5 hours.

Put meat on platter.  Taste braising liquid for s&p, discard bay leaves.  Slice meat and serve atop a big spoonful of the potato purée.  Top with sauce, garnish each bowl with a drizzle of olive oil.

Results: SO GOOD!!  I'm not a big beef eater, particularly when it's not in a burger, but this was great!  I used a 70-30 Cabernet-Merlot.  It was certainly fork-tender.  Just pull the meat with a fork and it falls right into the juice.  Amazing.


Velvety Potato Purée

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled & quartered
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil, optional

Warm the cream with the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts; set aside.

Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan with cold water to cover. Bring to boil then add 1 teaspoon of salt and reduce the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are very tender. Drain. Pass the potatoes through a food mill or a ricer into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the warm cream and butter mixture until the cream is absorbed and the mixture is smooth. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and finish them off by stirring in 1/4 cup olive oil.

Results: I didn't have a ricer so I just cooked the potatoes about 5 minutes longer, put them back in the pot to dry out then added the cream, butter, s&p (I forgot the olive oil) and mashed with a fork.  AMAZING.   So ridiculously delicious.  Easily some of the best mashed potatoes I've ever eaten as much as a lie as that sounds.  You should absolutely try these potatoes and make way more than this recipe calls for.  Just double the recipe.  You will want every bit of these potatoes.

Steamed Asparagus in A Paper Bag

• 1 pound medium asparagus, tough ends trimmed
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and cracked black pepper
• 1/2 lemon, sliced paper thin
• 1 bay leaf

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and arrange an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Get yourself a paper bag large enough to hold the asparagus comfortable. Throw the asparagus in there and drizzle the outside of the bag with olive oil to keep the bag from burning. Sprinkle the asparagus with the salt and cracked pepper and toss in the lemon slices and bay leaf. Close the bag, folding it over several times and creasing the folds well to hold the steam in. Put the pan on a baking sheet, drizzle it with more olive oil, stick it in the oven, and bake for 20 minutes.

Take the baking sheet out of the oven and set it on top of the stove. Set a serving plate next to the stove. Using a kitchen towel or a pair of kitchen tongs, raise the bag over the plate, open the bag, and slide the asparagus out onto the plate. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and serve hot.

Results:  Pretty basic asparagus.  Tasty.  Not extraordinary but I could make this again for the enjoyment of all who like asparagus.  Overall, this meal was a huge success!  I was very proud & would be overjoyed to make this again on an actual Sunday!  :)