British Christmas Dinner, Mushroom Oat Porridge, Turkish Stove Top Bread, Veggie Pot Roast

 Veggie Pot Roast

This may look like a HUGE complicated list of ingredients. But it's not that bad, really. Basically its an onion/broth/beer gravy poured over and around chunky vegetables and then baked or roasted to  enhance the flavors. Not everyone has a large oven proof skillet – I transferred the veggies and sauce to a Pyrex dish for the roasting.

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion, sliced
4 cloves Garlic, minced
3 Tbsp AP Flour
1 bottle Stout or other dark beer
1-2 cups Vegetable Broth
3-4 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
3-4 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1 Tbsp fresh Sage, slivered
3-4 Tbsp chopped fresh Basil, chopped
2 Tbsp chopped fresh Rosemary, chopped
Salt & Black Pepper, to taste
2 Portobello mushroom caps, stems and gills removed
1 cup baby Carrots
2-3 Yukon Gold Potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch pieces

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Heat the olive oil in a large, ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the flour to make a roux. Slowly add the beer and vegetable broth to make a sauce.

Add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste and herbs. Add the mushrooms and vegetables. Coat the vegetables with the sauce.  

I placed the mushroom-carrot-potato bits in a 9x9 baking dish 

and then poured the gravy overall:

Transfer to the oven. Roast for 45-50 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Plate and serve.

Mushroom Oat Porridge/Soup
We got a great box of mixed mushrooms in our Co-op box the other day -- Oyster, Cremini and White, and I wanted a soup that wasn't pureed for once -- just unctuous chunks of mushroom, a simple vegetable or two, and a grain or beans in a broth.  We haven't had any grain-dishes lately (other than rice), so I found a recipe that utilized steel-cut oats, and of course "I did it my-y way!" as the song says.

1/2 Onion, diced
12 oz Mixed Mushrooms
2 sticks Celery, chopped
3/4 cup Steel-Cut Oats
1-2 Tbsp Mushroom Base
1-2 Tbsp Vegetable Base 
6 cups Water
3 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1-2 tsp Za-tar Seasoning - to taste
1-2 tsp Black Pepper -- to taste
a pinch of Truffle Salt
Green Onion, chopped, for garnish

Saute the onions, garlic and celery for a few minutes to soften.  Then add the mushrooms and cook a couple more minutes until they start to get fragrant.

Now add the water and the rest of the ingredients.  Simmer everything for 45 minutes to an hour until the oatmeal swells and the flavors all come together.  Garnish and serve.

Leftovers the next day were much thicker and porridge-like,

Turkish Stove Top Bread
A dulcimer friend in Ohio was asking about breads (yeast-risen or quick) cooked without an oven.  This is a Turkish risen version which makes a 10"-12" diameter loaf   2-3" thick.

1 pkt Dry Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
1 cup warm Water
1 cup Whole Milk
½ tsp Salt
5 cups AP Flour
1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Za'atar Spice blend, to taste

In a large bowl stir and dissolve together the first 5 ingredients. Add the flour and work into a dough ball. Drizzle oil over the ball and, while still in the bowl, knead the oil into the dough. Cover and raise for 45 minutes and the dough will about double. With oily hands, knock the rise back, and work the dough into a smooth ball again.

Put a splash of oil into a 10-12” heavy bottom skillet, set the ball in the center and spread the dough out into a disk. My heavy bottom copper clad pan is 10" in diameter and 3" deep.  Cover and cook on low heat (I used 3 on a 10 point dial) about 10 minutes. 

Since this is a Middle Eastern recipe, I figured the perfect spice to compliment the bread would be za'atar.  So I sprinkled that spice blend on both flats as they turned up "hot and vulnerable" as Alton Brown would say.  You could, of course incorporate the spice into the body of the dough as well.

Carefully release this first side from the pan, reaching underneath with a spatula.   Invert the dough onto an oiled plate and slide the loaf back in the pan with the just-cooked side up.

You can see in the 10 Minute photo above that I failed to get a good release and had sticking bits here and there which I pressed back into the round.   

This photo shows the nicely cooked side 2 after 20 minutes:

Notice too that the loaf has continued to rise.  Repeat the flip every 10-15 minutes or so until you get both sides nice and golden and an internal temperature of 190-220. A total 50 minutes on the heat was what my loaf need.    

There's a good crumb; it's dense but not heavy.  It cuts well, has good spring back, and tastes really great.  The za'atar gives it a very slight exotic "Yum, what is that..." taste.

Christmas Dinner
The one day of the year that I do not cook!!  Sally and Holly together make this traditional English style Beef Roast with roasted potatoes and parsnips, roasted green beans and Brussels sprouts, and molded Yorkshire Puddings.  For dessert, Christmas Pudding, of course.  Photos by Holly Decker.

Upper Left:  Christmas Pudding being double boiled to warm it through
Upper Right:  Two Bone Rib Roast
Bottom:  Molded Yorkshire Pudding trees and hearts

The full dinner.  Clockwise:  roasted potatoes & parsnip; green beans and Brussels sprouts, slab of roast with gravy, Yorkshire puddings to soak up the gravy and juices. 

Somehow we missed a photo of this year's Christmas Pudding, but here's one from a couple years back.  Brandy is poured over the 'Pud, and the vapors ignited for a dramatic presentation before being served with a dollop of custard.

Blackberry Custard
Here's another use of custard.   Simmer blackberries for about 15 minutes in water with a bit of brown sugar, grated nutmeg and ground clove.  Place berries in fancy dishes, top with custard made with scalded milk and Bird's Custard Powder.