Pampering our Roast Dinner

My friend dropped off my new Pampered Chef® stoneware covered baking dish and gravy separator. Yippee!!!

I was going to make a chicken dish, but thought that I should christen my new cookware with a roast dinner. We had roast beef in the freezer, so I put it in some water to quickly defrost it.

I just winged the recipe for the meat and vegetables. I had learned about a mirepoix from my cooking class last month and wanted to try it. I didn't think I had any onions, but I found a red onion in the fridge to cut up. I then sliced some carrots and celery to make my mirepoix, and decided to add in some potatoes. I cut some thin slits into the meat and placed slivers of garlic in the slits before grinding some mixed herbs over the meat and vegetables.

I decided to try a new recipe for the Yorkshire pudding. I won't post the recipe until I get to try it again because I don't think I made it right. I needed ½ cup eggs, but two eggs was a little under ½ cup, and three was a bit over. I decided to go with the three eggs, not realizing it might make a difference to the taste and density of the pud. Given the excellent reviews most people gave, I think I should have gone with the two eggs and will try that another time. Yorkshire Pudding should not taste like scrambled eggs! I don't feel it's fair to the recipe or the person who put it out there if I give it a negative review because of my error.

The meat and vegetables turned out really well. I think I overcooked the meat a bit, but it still tasted very well and wasn't too dry with the gravy and red currant jelly we had with it. The vegetables had a night flavour that I believe came from the stone cooker. It's supposed to get better with each use since it needs to be seasoned. I can't wait to see how it does after it's well-seasoned! By the way, I just looked up the proper cooking temperature in my cookbook and I accidentally cooked it to the proper temperature for poultry, way too hot for beef!!!



Stoneware Roast Beef with Garlic and Mixed Herbs

¾ red onion, cut into chunks
3 large carrots, cut into three inch long sections
3 red potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
3 stalks of celery, cut into three inch long sections
2 cloves of garlic, cut into slivers
2 teaspoons mixed herbs
pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. On the bottom of the pan, place onions, celery, and carrots in a single layer. Place meat over mirepoix and place potatoes and remaining onions, celery, and carrots all around.
   
3. Cut thin slices into meat and place slivers of garlic in each slice. Sprinkle pepper and mixed herbs over top of meat and vegetables. Cover and roast in oven for about 1 hour.
4. Uncover and cook until internal temperature reaches 135°F for medium-rare (let carry-over cooking heat beef to 145°F internal temperatre) or 150°F for medium.
5. Cut and serve with red currant jelly and gravy.
   

Gravy
pan drippings (add beef stock until you have 4 cups juices)
4 tablespoons flour
pepper

1. Separate fat from pan drippings. Add beef stock until juices reach volume of 4 cups.
   
2. Place fat in pan and cook with 2 tablespoons flour until browned. Slowly add juices, while whisking. Add pepper to taste. Continue whisking while boiling until thickened and no lumps remain.