One and only one snowfall has occurred, and it was a blasted blizzard!
What in the world is going on around here? To top it off, my family and I had to make a trip from here to DC on Saturday during the storm. Needless to say, it was a hair-raising ride.
I consider myself a sturdy snow-driver, but even with my eons-worth of confidence it was still tossing me around the ice-capped asphalt. With a little tenacity and a great deal of time (over five hours to be exact), we were in DC for an event that we simply could not miss, but that is for another day.
Upon returning home, it was both warming to the soul and downright frigid, with temperatures in the teens. After building a fire it was time to take a survey on the amount of work that I have to do before classes resume; no small task, I can assure you.
It seems like only yesterday that I started decorating for Christmas, and now I realize that I’ll be taking down tinsel and lights or one form or another for at least a month. Our overindulgence in shiny, blinky things in the front yard comes at a price, and I will be paying said price for some time to come. And now that the outdoor paraphernalia is covered in snow, I can tack on another week before I get it all straightened out.
Yes, the holidays are over, and once again I roam around the house trying to get motivated for the upcoming semester. We have some of my favorite classes this term to include Garde Manger, and as much work as it is, I am excited to see what students discover in this most unique class. Since the crux of the GM kitchen is to utilize all scraps, bits and pieces in everything such as terrines, pates, soups, salads and sandwiches, you can imagine that it doesn’t take too much imagination to use up what you have in the fridge.
There is nothing quite like mingling multiple sauces to find surprisingly satisfying concoctions and combinations. With a focus on contrasting and complementing flavors, there are myriad directions in which one can go to create new and simple foods.
Looking at a slab of rare roast beef that we have left over from one of our last get-togethers, I automatically think about using a horseradish sauce. Yes, I know it is a touch pedestrian, but food is food in all forms.
As I literally had bacon bits and fat on the stove leftover from the previous day’s breakfast, and some julienne red onion in the icebox, it was a short leap to make a bacon jam with some brown sugar and balsamic vinegar, the latter being something I’ve written about many times in this column over the years.
Now, I honestly could not have told you how Horsey Sauce and Bacon Jam would go together, and in my own mind I thought it was going to be pretty disgusting. But, I was bored, so I whipped up the bacon jam (which my oldest daughter then used on cheddar toast, much to my admiration) and made a roast beef sandwich with a liberal dosage of both.
I felt like a champion; a god among men. This is a relatively divine combination with the sweet and hot, rich and vinegary components. I would not have pegged this as a winner, but I now have a new combo that I can use (for at least a month before the kids tire of it).
Either way, we’re home safe-and-sound, school is about to start, and I have one hell of a sandwich to eat. Take that, 2017.
Roast Beef Sandwich
enough for 2 sandwiches
4 pieces Artisan garlic bread
2 Tbsp. Horsey Sauce (recipe follows)
¼ cup Bacon jam (recipe follows)
1 tomato, sliced
Romaine hearts
12 ounces Rare roast beef
• Toast bread if desired and spread both pieces with Horsey Sauce
• Place some lettuce on the bottom slice of bread
• Top with roast beef
• Top with bacon jam
• Top off with tomato slices and top piece of bread
• Slice sandwich in half and have at it
Horsey Sauce
makes 1 cup
½ cup Mayonnaise
¼ cup Sour cream
¼ cup Grated horseradish, or to taste
Dash of lemon juice, salt and pepper as needed
• Combine all ingredients, and adjust the heat from the horseradish to your liking
Bacon Jam
makes about 2 cups
6 pieces bacon, uncooked
1 ½ cup Julienne red onion
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup Balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
• Cut bacon into lardons, or small bits
• Cook bacon bits until crispy and keep in the pan, reserving all of the fat
• Cook onions in the bacon fat until they are translucent
• Add brown sugar and vinegar and place on low so that the onions and the bacon can have a ‘little conversation’ as some cooks like to put it
• Stir occasionally, but allow to cook on low for up to two hours, or until it is reduced but not burned or bitter in the least
• Chill, and it will thicken because of the reduced vinegar and the sugars. Serve with cheese platters, on burgers, or here on this roast beef sandwich
What in the world is going on around here? To top it off, my family and I had to make a trip from here to DC on Saturday during the storm. Needless to say, it was a hair-raising ride.
I consider myself a sturdy snow-driver, but even with my eons-worth of confidence it was still tossing me around the ice-capped asphalt. With a little tenacity and a great deal of time (over five hours to be exact), we were in DC for an event that we simply could not miss, but that is for another day.
Upon returning home, it was both warming to the soul and downright frigid, with temperatures in the teens. After building a fire it was time to take a survey on the amount of work that I have to do before classes resume; no small task, I can assure you.
It seems like only yesterday that I started decorating for Christmas, and now I realize that I’ll be taking down tinsel and lights or one form or another for at least a month. Our overindulgence in shiny, blinky things in the front yard comes at a price, and I will be paying said price for some time to come. And now that the outdoor paraphernalia is covered in snow, I can tack on another week before I get it all straightened out.
Yes, the holidays are over, and once again I roam around the house trying to get motivated for the upcoming semester. We have some of my favorite classes this term to include Garde Manger, and as much work as it is, I am excited to see what students discover in this most unique class. Since the crux of the GM kitchen is to utilize all scraps, bits and pieces in everything such as terrines, pates, soups, salads and sandwiches, you can imagine that it doesn’t take too much imagination to use up what you have in the fridge.
There is nothing quite like mingling multiple sauces to find surprisingly satisfying concoctions and combinations. With a focus on contrasting and complementing flavors, there are myriad directions in which one can go to create new and simple foods.
Looking at a slab of rare roast beef that we have left over from one of our last get-togethers, I automatically think about using a horseradish sauce. Yes, I know it is a touch pedestrian, but food is food in all forms.
As I literally had bacon bits and fat on the stove leftover from the previous day’s breakfast, and some julienne red onion in the icebox, it was a short leap to make a bacon jam with some brown sugar and balsamic vinegar, the latter being something I’ve written about many times in this column over the years.
Now, I honestly could not have told you how Horsey Sauce and Bacon Jam would go together, and in my own mind I thought it was going to be pretty disgusting. But, I was bored, so I whipped up the bacon jam (which my oldest daughter then used on cheddar toast, much to my admiration) and made a roast beef sandwich with a liberal dosage of both.
I felt like a champion; a god among men. This is a relatively divine combination with the sweet and hot, rich and vinegary components. I would not have pegged this as a winner, but I now have a new combo that I can use (for at least a month before the kids tire of it).
Either way, we’re home safe-and-sound, school is about to start, and I have one hell of a sandwich to eat. Take that, 2017.
Roast Beef Sandwich
enough for 2 sandwiches
4 pieces Artisan garlic bread
2 Tbsp. Horsey Sauce (recipe follows)
¼ cup Bacon jam (recipe follows)
1 tomato, sliced
Romaine hearts
12 ounces Rare roast beef
• Toast bread if desired and spread both pieces with Horsey Sauce
• Place some lettuce on the bottom slice of bread
• Top with roast beef
• Top with bacon jam
• Top off with tomato slices and top piece of bread
• Slice sandwich in half and have at it
Horsey Sauce
makes 1 cup
½ cup Mayonnaise
¼ cup Sour cream
¼ cup Grated horseradish, or to taste
Dash of lemon juice, salt and pepper as needed
• Combine all ingredients, and adjust the heat from the horseradish to your liking
Bacon Jam
makes about 2 cups
6 pieces bacon, uncooked
1 ½ cup Julienne red onion
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup Balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
• Cut bacon into lardons, or small bits
• Cook bacon bits until crispy and keep in the pan, reserving all of the fat
• Cook onions in the bacon fat until they are translucent
• Add brown sugar and vinegar and place on low so that the onions and the bacon can have a ‘little conversation’ as some cooks like to put it
• Stir occasionally, but allow to cook on low for up to two hours, or until it is reduced but not burned or bitter in the least
• Chill, and it will thicken because of the reduced vinegar and the sugars. Serve with cheese platters, on burgers, or here on this roast beef sandwich