Sunday is Father’s Day, so go ahead and celebrate your fathers with a delightful homemade Sunday lunch. As the old adage goes, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach! Happy Fathers Day!
WENDY’S POT ROAST
31/2 to 4 lb beef roast, prime rump
12 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup fresh thyme
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
2 cups thinly sliced onion
4 cups beef or chicken stock
METHOD
Mince six cloves of garlic and combine with two tbsps of oil, thyme, mustard and black pepper and vinegar and wine, rub onto roast and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
Heat oil in a heavy frying pan and sauté onions with garlic until translucent, add carrots and sauté for a few minutes more, remove from pan and set aside.
Add roast to pan and brown evenly on all sides, place onion mixture into a casserole dish big enough to hold the roast, then place the browned roast onto the onions. Preheat oven to 350F.
Add about 1/2 cup stock to roast and cover roast with the lid and bake. Baste every 20 minutes until done.
Add only about 1/2 cup of stock at a time during the roasting process, keeping the roast tightly covered at all times to prevent sticking.
Your roast should be done in about two hours. Check after one-and-a-half hours. It is done when a pronged fork will go through it fairly easily.
If you check it should be fairly chewy but reasonably tender.
If you have a meat thermometer a reading of 110F to 125F is a medium rare roast, very pink in the middle. This is a good reading for beef.
A reading of 125F to 140F is an overdone or well-done roast.
Your liquid that has remained should be a delicious aromatic and flavourful broth.
Remove the roast from the pan, strain the liquid and place in a saucepan, you can thicken it with a little cornstarch if you like or simply remove the fat and boil to intensify the flavour.
Season with salt and black pepper if needed. Slice your roast against the grain.
SWEET POTATO CROQUETTES
2 lbs sweet potatoes
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped herbs
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Salt
Vegetable oil to fry
1 cup each bread crumbs and flour to dredge
1 egg
METHOD
Boil, peel and mash sweet potatoes.
Warm milk with butter and add to potatoes. Mix well, add herbs and nutmeg, season to taste with salt.
Beat egg and set aside.
Place the flour in one plate, and the breadcrumbs in another.
Form the potato into two-inch balls, dredge in flour, shake off excess, then dip in egg and roll in crumbs, flatten and pan fry until golden.
Makes 6 to 8 cakes.
PINEAPPLE CARROT CAKE
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple drained,
3 cups carrots, peeled and grated
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
11/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
METHOD
Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease. Line and flour a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan, or 2 nine-inch cake pans.
Beat eggs with sugar until light and tripled in volume, add vanilla, with beater on medium speed slowly pour in vegetable oil, beat for one minute.
Sift together dry ingredients, reduce mixer speed to low, and add the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated.
Using a spatula, fold in carrots, pineapple, and walnuts
Pour batter into prepared tin/tins.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes for large cake, or 35 minutes for smaller cakes.
Remove from oven cool and frost.
Makes one 9x13 inch cake or two 9-inch round cakes
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1 lb cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup butter
21/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp grated orange zest
2 tbsp milk
METHOD
Cream butter with icing sugar until creamy, add cream cheese and stir to a creamy consistency, add a few drops of milk at a time if needed to bring batter to a spreadable consistency.
Stir in orange zest.
Frost cake.
Will frost and fill two 9-inch round cakes or one 9x13 inch cake.