Goldy's Kitchen Cookbook (15 page)

During the blizzard of 2003, when we received a remarkable sixty inches of snow over a three-day period
in March,
a nearby power line went down. We had no heat, no power, and no water for five days. The axe for splitting logs for the fireplace broke on Day Four. Our youngest son, in high school at the time, proclaimed that as soon as our electricity was restored, he was never again eating peanut butter or canned ravioli (which we heated in a pan over the fire). Jim laboriously shoveled a path out to the unplowed street. Each morning, we had to take our dogs out on leashes, because otherwise they would merrily run over the tops of our snow-buried fences. And in the morning, the scent of bacon cooking on our neighbors' propane grills was agonizing. So for Father's Day that year, Jim received a propane grill. But in the meantime, once we had the power back, I bought a grill pan to make these steaks, as a special treat. Allowing the beef to come to room temperature before grilling is key, as is allowing them to rest after they come out of the oven.
You must have a meat thermometer that has an oven-safe probe and cord to make this recipe.
(The cord is plugged into the read-out, which is outside of the oven.) I actually use two probes with cords attached, one in each of the two steaks, to make sure the meat is cooking properly.

1.
Allow the beef to come to room temperature.

2.
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Have your meat thermometer(s) ready.

3.
Pat the steaks on both sides with paper towels until they are thoroughly dry.

4.
Heat an ovenproof grill pan on the stovetop over high heat. (If the steaks will not fit in the
pan without crowding, you might have to use 2 pans. Alternatively, you could use a large ovenproof skillet.) When the pan is hot, add the oil. Heat for about 5 seconds, or until the oil shimmers (you do not want to burn the oil).

5.
Lay the steaks in the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-high, sprinkle the steaks lightly with salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute only. Turn off the heat.

6.
Using tongs, flip the steaks and remove the pan from the heat. Insert a meat thermometer into one steak, place the grill pan in the oven, and cook until the thermometer reads 125˚F (for medium-rare). Remove the pan from the oven, loosely cover the steaks with foil, and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 4 servings

This oldie-but-goodie recipe for Swedish meatballs was given to me by a dear church friend, Barb Coulter. While I was making variations and testing it (fifteen years ago), one of our sons was living in Boulder and coming for dinner. So I asked him to stop by a famous wine store to pick up a bottle of dry red Burgundy, and I would reimburse him. I told him to tell the famous wine store people I was just using the wine for Swedish meatballs. The bottle he purchased cost fifty dollars. (Remember, this was
fifteen
years ago. That bottle would probably be triple that now, at least.) Aghast, I said to our son, “Did you remember to tell them it was just for cooking?” He replied that he had.
This
was the bottle they'd recommended
for cooking.
I paid our son, made the dish, and was absolutely blown away by the resulting flavor. These days, all the major chefs recommend using the best wine possible for whatever dish you are making. So buy the best dry red Burgundy you can afford, and have the rest of the bottle with dinner. If the dish is to be served as an appetizer, provide small bowls or dishes and spoons. If the dish is to be served as a main course, serve over hot egg noodles.

For the meatballs:

1.
Preheat the oven to 300˚F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking mat (or grease the pan with butter).

2.
In a large bowl, mix the cornflake crumbs, cornstarch, onion, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste. In another bowl, mix together the cream and egg. Pour the egg mixture over the crumb
mixture and stir gently. Allow this mixture to sit until the liquid is absorbed.

3.
Gently mix in the ground beef until thoroughly combined. Using a 1-tablespoon (or slightly larger) ice-cream scoop, measure out the beef mixture into 36 scoops onto 2 plates covered with wax paper. Gently roll the scoops between your fingers to form balls.

4.
In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. Carefully place the balls into the hot oil and sauté, turning once, until the outside is browned. (Do not cook the meatballs all the way through; they will be finished in the oven.) Using tongs, place the browned meatballs on the baking sheet. (Set the skillet with drippings aside to use for the Burgundy sauce.) Bake the meatballs for 10 minutes. Test the doneness of the meatballs by slicing one in half. The interior should no longer be pink.
Do not overbake the meatballs.
Set the meatballs aside until you are ready to reheat them in the sauce, which should not be until shortly before serving: The meatballs are delicate and will fall apart if cooked too long in the sauce. (If making the meatballs ahead, cool them and place them in a container that can be covered.)

For the Burgundy sauce:

1.
Pour the fat from the meatball skillet (reserve the browned bits) into a glass measuring cup. Add melted unsalted butter to make ¼ cup.

2.
Return the fat to the pan and set over low heat. Whisk in the flour, and keeping the heat between low and medium-low, whisk and cook this mixture until it bubbles. (This should not take more than a couple of minutes.) Whisk in the sugar and pepper to taste, then slowly add the stock, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Finally, whisk in the wine.

3.
Allow the mixture to come to a slow simmer and cook for about 5 minutes. Taste and correct the seasoning. If the sauce tastes bitter, add a bit more sugar and allow the sauce to simmer another 10 minutes. (If the dish is not to be served immediately, cool the sauce and chill, covered, until ready to heat and serve. Then gently reheat.)

4.
With the sauce at a simmer, lower the meatballs into the hot sauce and bring the mixture back to a simmer. Check a meatball with sauce to be sure the dish is heated all the way through.

Makes 36 meatballs in sauce

Note:
  
If you choose to use crème fraîche instead of heavy cream in the meatball recipe, note that you have to start it 2 days ahead.

¼ cup active-culture buttermilk (do not use buttermilk powder)

2 cups heavy (whipping) cream

In a glass container, mix the buttermilk into the cream, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to sit at room temperature until the mixture is the thickness of commercial sour cream, usually about 2 days. It can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 3 days. Use the crème fraîche in sauce recipes (like the Swedish Meatballs) or dips.

When the same son who'd bought the expensive Burgundy had a bad ski accident requiring surgery, my husband (retired from a job that had required long hours) took care of him at home while I went to our son's classes at the University of Colorado, ostensibly to take notes. (“Don't say anything, Mom” was our son's whispered warning from the couch. As if!) There was another reason I needed to go to the classes, though. As any of you who have attended—or whose children have attended—state universities in the past twenty-plus years know, they are oversubscribed. What this means in practice is that if you finally
do
get into the courses you requested, they will be the popular ones, and there will likely be waiting lists for that class. Our son was in the second semester of his senior year. He'd finally made it into the classes he wanted. But then he took that fall at Copper Mountain. If someone named “Davidson” did not say “Here!” on the first day of class, he feared he would be bumped from the course. Since we were paying the tuition, I was willing to ask each professor if I could be the placeholder and note-taker for our son. (In fact, roll was never taken. I also told each of the professors before class why I was there. They said it was fine, and they wished our son a speedy recovery.)

So . . . I went to class, took notes, and kept my mouth (mostly) shut. One of our son's Film Studies professors invited me to a lecture being given by a visiting instructor from a Los Angeles studio. I thought the class was terrific, so I signed our son up for it. (Our son
needed
that course, I reasoned.) To make room for the extra class, I dropped a class our son had signed up for. (I told our son, but not the professor, that the class was not worth his time.) So I didn't interfere too much and I hardly said a word. Plus, I did take good notes.

In the meantime, I didn't want to commute to Boulder every day, so a lovely friend, the writer Julie Kaewert, invited me to stay with her family for one night. I volunteered to make dinner, and went back to the wine store where our son had
bought the fifty-dollar bottle. I splurged and bought the same wine, then was lucky enough to find a prime-grade standing rib roast at a fancy grocery store. I made this dish, and Julie recommended I put it into the book.

1.
Allow the roast to come to room temperature.

2.
Preheat the oven to 450˚F.

3.
Take out a roasting pan with a rack and line the bottom (underneath the rack) with either a very large piece of foil that completely covers the bottom of the pan and can be folded up over the sides, or two pieces of foil that have been rolled tightly in the middle to form one large piece. The bottom of the pan should be completely covered with a leakproof piece of foil.

4.
Use a paper towel to pat the roast dry, then season the roast with the salt and pepper. Place the roast, bone side down, on the rack. Insert a meat thermometer into the roast so that the sensor is in the middle of the roast.

5.
Place the roast in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 325˚F. Roast until the meat thermometer reads 115˚F. (At this point the beef is quite rare, and the cooking is not done yet.) Transfer the roast to another pan (even a large pie plate will do) and return it, along with the meat thermometer, to the oven. (To obtain medium-rare, the roast should be removed when the
thermometer reaches 125˚ to 130˚F; for medium, 135˚ to 145˚F.) When the thermometer reaches the desired temperature, transfer the roast to a serving platter and tent it with foil.

6.
Pour the fat from the bottom of the foil-covered pan into a glass measuring cup. You should have ¼ cup. If you have more, discard it. If you have less, add melted butter until you have ¼ cup. Pour the Burgundy directly into the bottom of the foil-covered roasting pan and let it sit while you start on the gravy.

7.
Pour the fat into a sauté pan over low heat. Increase the heat under the sauté pan to medium-low and whisk the flour into the fat. Whisking constantly, cook the flour in the fat until the mixture just begins to bubble and turn color, less than 5 minutes.

8.
Using a silicone spatula, scrape up the flavorful browned bits adhering to the foil in the first pan, so that they mix with the wine. Pour the wine mixture into the flour mixture. Whisking constantly, add the beef stock in a slow stream. When all the stock has been added, taste the gravy and correct the seasoning.

9.
Over medium-low to medium-high heat, whisk and cook the gravy until it thickens and bubbles. Serve hot with the roast beef.

Makes 4 to 6 servings