Greco-Roman Lunch
Sep. 5th, 2009 02:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peteyfrogboySo when ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
adelavanbrugge went shopping earlier this week, she picked up some London broil that was on sale. I wasn't too enthused about the prospect of making it, since I've been out of the pot roast mood for a while. Yesterday she was shopping for lemons for something else and expressed a desire for hummus and tabouli. We laready had most of what we needed, so that became today's lunch plan.
The hummus was nothing special, just the usual recipe. It did give me an opportunity to use up some of the chopped garlic in the freezer, so that was good. I told her to get parsley for the tabouli, but I forgot that I really meant cilantro. The parsley she came home with was curly instead of flat, and didn't smell very appetizing, so it went away. We also only had one tomato. In the end the proportions ended up a bit skewed, with a lot of couscous, a little tomato, and the usual amount of green onion. Still, it turned out plenty tasty.
The beef I cooked using this Roman recipe for wild boar as a starting point. For the roast itself, I coated it liberally with a mixture of kosher salt, pepper and cumin. I heated up a cast iron skillet with some olive oil and seared it on all sides, then covered it with foil and put it in the oven. I originally had it set at 350°, then turned it down to 300°, finally settling on 325°. It stayed in for about an hour, I think. I forgot to time it. About halfway through I poured in some of the bacon grease left over from breakfast, though I think I ended up taking it back out in the end. Room for further experimentation later. Eventually I got curious about how done the meat was, so I stuck the thermometer in it and it read 156°. That was good enough for me, so it came out to sit under a foil tent.
I reserved the juice from the pan (and siphoned off the fat from the top), then put the leftover white wine from Monday's catfish adventure into the pan. I reduced it, then added some honey and Worcestershire sauce (having no garum at hand). I added the meat juice back in and kept reducing until I got bored. This got set aside while I fixed the hummus and tabouli above.
By the time we fed the kids and sat down to eat, everything was pretty much at room temperature, which was actually just fine. The beef didn't taste like much on its own, but with the sauce it was very tasty. A little of the sauce found its way into the tabouli as well, and was well received there. A little toasted pita and feta with the hummus and everyone was happy.
The whole meal took some doing to make, but should last for several days worth of munching. It would probably do well for a Sunday supper to make lunches from for the week.
adelavanbrugge went shopping earlier this week, she picked up some London broil that was on sale. I wasn't too enthused about the prospect of making it, since I've been out of the pot roast mood for a while. Yesterday she was shopping for lemons for something else and expressed a desire for hummus and tabouli. We laready had most of what we needed, so that became today's lunch plan.The hummus was nothing special, just the usual recipe. It did give me an opportunity to use up some of the chopped garlic in the freezer, so that was good. I told her to get parsley for the tabouli, but I forgot that I really meant cilantro. The parsley she came home with was curly instead of flat, and didn't smell very appetizing, so it went away. We also only had one tomato. In the end the proportions ended up a bit skewed, with a lot of couscous, a little tomato, and the usual amount of green onion. Still, it turned out plenty tasty.
The beef I cooked using this Roman recipe for wild boar as a starting point. For the roast itself, I coated it liberally with a mixture of kosher salt, pepper and cumin. I heated up a cast iron skillet with some olive oil and seared it on all sides, then covered it with foil and put it in the oven. I originally had it set at 350°, then turned it down to 300°, finally settling on 325°. It stayed in for about an hour, I think. I forgot to time it. About halfway through I poured in some of the bacon grease left over from breakfast, though I think I ended up taking it back out in the end. Room for further experimentation later. Eventually I got curious about how done the meat was, so I stuck the thermometer in it and it read 156°. That was good enough for me, so it came out to sit under a foil tent.
I reserved the juice from the pan (and siphoned off the fat from the top), then put the leftover white wine from Monday's catfish adventure into the pan. I reduced it, then added some honey and Worcestershire sauce (having no garum at hand). I added the meat juice back in and kept reducing until I got bored. This got set aside while I fixed the hummus and tabouli above.
By the time we fed the kids and sat down to eat, everything was pretty much at room temperature, which was actually just fine. The beef didn't taste like much on its own, but with the sauce it was very tasty. A little of the sauce found its way into the tabouli as well, and was well received there. A little toasted pita and feta with the hummus and everyone was happy.
The whole meal took some doing to make, but should last for several days worth of munching. It would probably do well for a Sunday supper to make lunches from for the week.