Monday, February 24, 2003

A disastrous day of software holocausts and endless rain, coming as it did on the heels of our Parents’ Bacchanale, somewhat reduced my ambitions for Sunday dinner.  A menu of stuffed leg of lamb, gnocchi in mornay sauce, and charlotte Malakoff au chocolat got chipped away, bit by bit.  Though the grocery store had, miracle of miracles, semi-sweet chocolate, I forgot to get wax paper, which was enough to kill the charlotte.  No leg of lamb, and no car to drive to Costco, put an end to the lamb.  And the thought of making gnocchi just kind of melted me down.  So we ended up with roast beef with Jus Lie, a plain corn-starch thickened sauce.  Two things came out of it.  First, I learned Julia’s way to make canned beef broth more palatable, when it has to be a central ingredient for a sauce or something, as it was for the Jus.  Mince some carrots, onions and celery and add it to the broth in a pot, along with a bit of red or white wine, some parsley, bay leaf and thyme.  Simmer it for half an hour or so before draining.  Then to make the Jus Lie, all you do is mix three tablespoons with the same amount of broth, and beat that in with the rest of two cups of broth, and simmer a few minutes, until it’s thickened up some.  You can also throw in some cognac or port and let simmer a couple minutes more, until the alcohol’s evaporated off.  I’m not going to blow sunshine up your ass, Jus Lie is no miracle or anything, but it’s a nice enough simple clear sauce, good on top of roast beef. The other thing I did was cook roast beef all by myself, making it up as I went along, which turned out okay.  I’ll admit, no great feat, but it was nice to do something without looking at a book even once.  I browned the meat, a rump roast, on high heat in the oven – just a couple of minutes per side.  Then I added quartered potatoes, carrots and red onions, and turned the heat way down – to 250 or so.  After an hour or so I had nicely rare roast beef with potatoes and stuff.  Exciting it was not.  But sometimes, when you’re feeling a little defeated by life, exciting is the last thing you need.   7:47:23 AM    comment []