Chuck Roast with Asparagus

Chuck roast

You'll need:

3 onions, medium size

5 to 10 cloves garlic, cut up

2 tablespoons olive oil, or cooking oil

5 to 6 pound chuck roast with bones

1 pig's foot or 1/2 pound cured pork belly with skin

2 12-ounce cans chopped tomatoes or 2 pounds fresh tomatoes

5 large carrots, cut in 2-inch pieces

1 large bunch of celery, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/4 pound fresh mushrooms (shiitake is best), cut in half

1/3 cup fresh thyme or 1/4 cup dried Italian herbs

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper

One day before serving, peel onions and cut into quarters, not slices, and put aside. Add garlic to 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and lightly brown garlic on top of the stove. Add the onion quarters and then use them to hold the roast off the bottom of the pan.

Put roast and pig's foot in the pan, uncovered, and broil in the oven until the outside is brown (about 10 minutes) then turn over and broil the other side. This browning produces a strong meaty flavor.

Remove pan from oven, and preheat oven to 250 degrees. To pan, add chopped tomatoes, carrots, celery and mushrooms. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of fresh herbs or Italian mix on the meat, add salt and pepper. Add water to cover the roast.

Put pan on stove top and heat to a simmer. Once pan is simmering, put the lid on and put in oven. Turn down if it starts to boil rather than simmer. Bake for two hours.

Add water if necessary to barely cover the roast. Tested with a fork at this stage of baking, the meat will be rubbery, yet in another couple of hours, it should collapse into succulent tender roast meat. Maintain the roast covered with liquid. It will take as long as another 2 to 3 hours to complete the cooking.

Then take the meat out, cut into serving size pieces, and put in bowl. Remove pig's foot, bones and any lumps of fat. Add water to pan, two inches deep, heat, and then strain, first with a colander to remove the vegetables, then with a fine strainer to get the particles out, leaving an almost clear liquid.

Put the vegetables into the bowl with the meat in the refrigerator along with the pan of the liquid. The next day the fat will have formed a solid layer on top of the liquid and can be removed and discarded. Then reduce the liquid down to 1 inch by boiling, and only then add the meat and vegetables, lower heat and let simmer a few minutes. Check if salt is needed. Serve in deep dishes with spoons as well as knives and forks. Noodles and boiled small potatoes go well with dish.  Serve with asparagus and Hollandaise sauce (see below.)

Tips

• You don't need to thaw a frozen chuck roast.

• It is very important that the liquid should never boil, only slowly simmer.

• Add more salt only as a last step after concentrating the liquid.

• The total cooking time is 4 to 5 hours over two days.

• Use a large baking pan with a cover.

• Any remaining sauce is excellent on spaghetti and will keep several days in the refrigerator waiting to be reheated. It is the acidity of the tomatoes that preserves the sauce.

• The advantage of this approach is that most of the cooking is done the day before a dinner party and the cook has more time with the guests.

Asparagus

For each person, have about 1/2 pound or a bit more, which should be 6 to 8 stalks 8 to 11 inches long.

Use a steamer liner, with holes, 10 to 12 inches deep that fits in a pot. Do not cut the bottom ends off the asparagus (unless the steamer is too shallow) or scrape the stalk. Put 1/2 inch of water in the pot and bring to a boil, then insert the preloaded steamer with the asparagus. If the asparagus doesn't fill the steamer put in an empty cup or two to hold the asparagus upright. The cooking time is about 8 minutes but it is best to judge the asparagus cooked when it becomes very slightly limp, not falling over and definitely not soft. This is the secret of excellent asparagus.  Top with Hollandaise sauce. 

Hollandaise sauce

Put 4 egg yolks in a cold upper double boiler pan. Add juice of 1 lemon (2 tablespoons) and 1/4 teaspoon of salt while stirring. Then cut two 1/4-pound cold butter sticks into 1/2-inch pieces and put aside. Bring the bottom of the double boiler to a slow boil and position the upper pan above the boiling water. Hollandaise is made at lower temperature than boiling water so don't put the upper pan in the boiling water. If it becomes too hot sit the top pan in cold water for a moment.

Add 4 teaspoons of warm water, one at a time to yolks and lemon juice while stirring rapidly. Then put the cold pieces of butter in one at a time to maintain the temperature below boiling while stirring. It is better if the mix is too cool rather than too hot or the yolks will cook and separate from the butter. The sauce should now be a smooth mixture seeming a little too thin, but it will thicken on the way to the table. If the yolks separate, you will need help from a blender.

The cooked asparagus can be put on a platter and the tips covered with the Hollandaise or the asparagus can be served on warm plates for each guest and the Hollandaise sauce served in a gravy pitcher with a ladle. Makes 6 servings.

Recipe courtesy of

Blue Grass Finished Beef

P.O. Box 1000

Paris, KY. 40362-1000

Tel 859-328-2401 Fax 859-328-2540

e-mail bluemoon@iclub.org