Pumpkin mash

Beef short rib stew

Posted 2023-05-13 by Gary

If you don’t want to read the introduction, click here for the recipe.

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed your week. Mine has been smooth going apart from a near miss last Sunday. The cold front mentioned in last week’s post resulted in hail, sleet, and snow in the region. I was driving on Sunday and had to go through a slurry of ice. As I slowed down, I watched a car in my rear vision mirror slide off the road. Fortunately, the occupants appeared to be okay.

I’m not used to driving on ice; I’m grateful for modern automotive technology, such as anti-lock brakes.

On Tuesday evening, the Australian treasurer moved the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2023–24. I dare not comment on the appropriation bill; apart from knowing in its depths, some exciting work is ahead for my area.

Recipe

Ingredients

Olive oil
Bone-in beef short ribs, trimmed of excess fat (0.8 kg at $23.50/kg)
Salt – Iodised
Black peppercorns
Onion, chopped
Carrot, chopped
Celery, chopped
Garlic, minced
Tomatoes
Cooking sherry
Beef stock
Black beans, rinsed and drained
Lentils, rinsed and drained

Instructions

Ribs

Brown the ribs in a hot oven first.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.
Add the dripping juices from the oven tray.
Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to the saucepan and cook until softened.
Add the sherry and cook until reduced by half.
Add the beef broth, peppercorns, black beans, and lentils, and bring the contents to a simmer.
Transfer the contents to a pressure cooker and add the ribs.
Cook under pressure for one hour.
Allow the pressure to equilibrate, and then remove the lid.
Remove the ribs and set aside.
Transfer the remaining contents of the pressure cooker to a saucepan.
Bring the saucepan to a simmer to reduce the fluid.
Pull the beef from the ribs and add it to the saucepan.

Pumpkin

Cut a pumpkin into chunks.
Season with salt and rub the pumpkin with olive oil.
Cook the pumpkin in an oven at 180 °C (fan forced) for 45 minutes.
Mash the pumpkin (keeping the skin on) with a fork and flavour with sesame oil as the pumpkin is mashed.

Plating up

Place a smear of pumpkin mash on a warmed dinner plate.
Spoon some of the rib stew onto the mash.
Serve with some crispy Brussels sprouts.
Give thanks to the Lord.
Eat with a fork.

Thoughts on the meal

You may have noticed I’ve got into a groove with lentils and beans. I figure I can extend the value of the meat with the legumes.

This stew will keep me going all week like the oyster blade and lentil stew did last week.

Final thoughts

Do you have much experience with driving on ice?

Do you get excited by the passage of appropriation bills so you can undertake new work?

I hope you fill the coming week with happiness and joy.

Photographs

Here is a gallery of photographs. Click on one image and then scroll or swipe through them.

Rump roast and pumpkin mash

Posted 2022-01-22 by Gary

Dear reader,

Happy Saturday! I hope you’re well.

After some unseasonal, although not unusual for Canberra, cold days, the sun was shining today! If you’re a first-time reader and from somewhere in the northern hemisphere of our amazing planet, I live in Canberra, the capital city of Australia.

Belconnen Owl Statue. Canberra’s best public art!

We’re continuing to see case numbers of COVID-19 rise in some jurisdictions while the growth slope in others is falling. Unfortunately, we’re now seeing the fatality numbers rise. I’m not impressed that healthcare professionals and politicians quip that the people dying are older or have comorbidities. These are humans who are dying. Most of the dead had families and friends who loved them and would mourn and grieve. I’m not getting any younger, and I have close friends who are vulnerable, or they have vulnerable children. I don’t want to mourn the loss of a friend or family member. I don’t want to grieve with a friend who loses a son or daughter.

Enough of the moroseness. I’ve had a great week, made better by the love and kindness of those who are closest to me.

Ingredients

Rump roast
Pumpkin
Sour cream
Marmalade
Instant gravy
Frozen peas

Instructions

Undress the beef from its environmentally unfriendly see-through plastic.
Dry the meat with absorbent paper.
Season the roast with salt.
Dry brine the roast in the refrigerator. (Preferably overnight).
Heat the oven to 220 °C (200 °C fan-forced).
Insert the meat thermometer deep into the flesh. Ram it in up to the root.
Put the meat on a rack over a baking tray and put it into the oven.
Set the cooking app according to how you want the beef finished off. I like my meat rare to medium-rare. I like it to be juicy with the meat juices flowing. It gives me a bit of a thrill to give it a poke and see the juices running from it.
Cook at this temperature for 15 minutes to get the surface well browned.
Reduce the temperature to 170 °C (150 °C fan-forced) and cook according to the instructions provided by the app associated with the thermometer.
When instructed, remove from the dish, transfer to a carving board, cover with foil and rest according to the app before carving.
Lovingly sharpen your carving knife (as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend Proverbs 27:17 NLT). I add this proverb because real friends are brave enough, to be honest with each other. That honesty is an expression of love. Honesty leads to growth and stronger relationships. I like that I can be honest with those who I love and cherish.
When the meat is well-rested, carve the roast into slices. I like my beef to be thick and meaty. Resting the meat gives it an almost tumescent quality as the flesh retains its juices until you make your incision with your blade.
Make the instant gravy according to the maker’s instructions. I nearly wrote “manufacturer’s instructions for use”. I’ve been using that phrase all week for advice I’ve been writing at work. I’m tired of writing it.
Cut the pumpkin into small pieces and massage each chunk with some oil and marmalade.
Place the pumpkin into the oven, which has been heated for the meat.
When the pumpkin is soft, remove it from the oven, put it into a metal or glass bowl and begin to get a little rough with it. I use a fork, but you could use a dedicated masher or even a ricer. It depends on how you want your mash. I also leave the skin on for the extra fibre, and with all the mammal meat I eat, my bowels need all the dietary fibre I can consume.
Season the mash with salt and pepper and add a dollop of sour cream. I also like some spring onions in my mash, whether made with pumpkin or spuds. I know some people like chives, but spring onions are more versatile for my cooking style. When I say cooking style, that’s overstating it. I don’t think I’m stylish at all.
Cook the frozen peas. You can choose microwave radiation, boiling water, or bunging the peas into a skillet.
Plate up the meal however you choose.
Give thanks to the Lord.

How was the meal?

I feel like I’m in a bit of an afterglow with this meal. As I was cooking, I was thinking deeply about someone extraordinary.

When I make a mash, a lot depends on how I feel at the time. Sometimes I enjoy a more refined form of mash, almost pureed, and that’s when I’ll use a ricer or blender. Tonight I wanted something more rustic to match the rump roast.

Rump may not be as tender as ribeye; however, in my opinion, it has more flavour. While I never think of ribeye as insipid, roast rump has a more corporeal mouthfeel, and who doesn’t want corporeal mouthfeel? 😉

Final thoughts

How was your week?
What sort of mash do you like? Do you prefer potato or pumpkin? Do you enjoy them equally?
Do you like to treat your spuds or pumpkin a bit roughly or with tenderness for a smooth result?

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments or let me know via Twitter or Facebook.

Rump roast seasoned with iodised salt. Ready to dry brine in the refrigerator. — Rump roast

Pork belly, beef cheeks, and pumpkin mash with blue cheese sauce

Posted 2021-12-05 by Gary

Dear Reader

Two posts in a weekend! I hope you’re well. Last night’s post about the dates, cheese, and prosciutto was quick.

As I type this, it is Sunday. It’s been a good one. Yesterday was gloriously warm and sunny and perfect weather for thongs, shorts, and a T-shirt. Today has been cloudy and colder. I woke up feeling a little out of sorts, but chatting with a friend and then attending online church had me in better spirits.

This week has seen much of my work thinking about the SARS-COV-2 Omicron Variant. While I won’t discuss work on the blog, personally, my hope is focused on being able to spend Christmas with my daughters, parents, and brothers in Brisbane.

Mixing pork and beef may seem odd, I know. With work being so busy, I’m relying more and more on leftover meat from the weekend to form the basis of evening meals and lunches. The slab of pork and the cheeks of beef will be more than enough to see me through the week.

Pork belly Beef cheeks Peppercorns Pumpkin mash Blue cheese sauce — Pressure cooker pork belly, beef cheeks, and pumpkin mash with blue cheese sauce

Ingredients

Pork belly
Beef cheeks
Master stock
Soy sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Pumpkin
Sour cream
Iodised salt
Pepper
Blue cheese
Butter
Flour
Milk

Instructions

Pork and beef

Lovingly sharpen your cook’s knife (as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend Proverbs 27:17 NLT).
Cut the slab of pork into three parts.
In a metal basket insert the pork and beef.
Place the basket into the pressure cooker.
In a jug add the congealed master stock (after removing the solidified layer of fat). Liquefy the jellied stock with microwave radiation and add a good slug of soy sauce and an equally good slug of Worcestershire sauce. Mix and pour the flavour concoction over the basket of meat.
Cook your meat in the pressure cooker for one hour.
At the end of the cooking time, allow the pressure to equalise and then give the meat another 20 minutes to rest in the juices and stock. I’m told this is for maxium moistness and maximum tenderness. My aim is to be able to push my finger through the flesh.
Open the pressure cooker and remove the meat basket.
Pass the liquid through a sieve and keep it as the new master stock.
Keep some of the meat aside for dinner and store the rest in containers and refrigerate.

Dick butchers knife — My butcher’s knife

Pumpkin mash

With a sharp knife cut the pumpkin into pieces. I like to keep the skin on. It’s added fibre. It’s edible and with a stick blender you won’t know the mash has pumpkin skin in it.
Put the pumpkin in a large mixing bowl and add some salt, sugar, and oil.
Using your hands, pick up each piece of pumpkin and caress each surface ensuring a smooth even coating of the sweet salty oiliness. The point of the sugar is to aid caramelisation of the pumpkin flesh.
Transfer the pumpkin to a baking sheet and out into a 180 °C oven until you can take a sharp paring knife and penetrate the flesh with no resistance.
Place the pumpkin into a jug and add a good dollop of sour cream.
Process with a stick blender for a rough mash.
As optional extras you could add some chopped chives.
I think freshly cracked black peppercorns are a must.

Blue cheese sauce

Make a roux with even weights of butter and plain flour. I gently melt the butter first and then add all the flour and with a whick mix it and cook it in a saucier pan (or whatever you have) for a full three minutes.
Then add a little milk at a time until you get a consistency of your sauce which is a little more runny than you’d like.
Add in the cheese which will add a little stiffness to your creamy buttery sauce.
Whisk to a smooth consistency.

Plating up

Trowl the pumpkin mash to the bottom of a plate. You could do this with a flourish like a cook with some artistic ability. You could also just plonk the mash into the middle of the plate and flatten it a little like I do given I am artistically bereft.
Next add your meat. Given how soft and friable your meat will be, pinch off pieces and place them on the pumpkin mash.
Next take spoonfuls of sauce and from a great height drizzle sauce over the meat and pumpkin. Of course you could just pour it over. The reality is once you’ve masticated it all becomes chyme in your stomach and emerges past the pyloric valve for digestion in your small bowel where the nutrients are removed and then onto the large bowel for the recovery of the water. At that point, you know what comes next!
Anyway, give thanks to the Lord for the food and tuck in to this good tucker.

Final thoughts

How has your week been?
Are you worried about SARS-COV-2 Omicron Variant?
Have you made plans for Christmas yet?

Feel free to leave a comment. I like hearing from readers. Have a good week.

Pumpkin mash

Beef short rib stew

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions