FoodNerd!

while i get organized

to post about my food adventures in europe, here is what i made for dinner last night. There was a big sale on beef chuck roast at Whole Paycheck, and I'd been eyeing the daube provencale recipe in Cook's Illustrated, and this is what happened.

Put the oven on 325F. Trim the fat from the roast and cut it into big chunks, 2-3" or so. Salt & pepper them, then brown in olive oil in your dutch oven. Take them out when brown on all sides, and add a bit more oil, along with a sliced onion, 2-3 carrots cut into chunks, and 2-3 potatoes (i used yukon gold) cut into chunks. Sprinkle with salt & fry until they've taken on most of the color from the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle them with several tablespoons of flour and cook until it browns. Add in most of a bottle of red wine. Also add 2 cups of hot water in which you've soaked some broken up dried shiitakes and about 1/4 of a bouillon cube that was left over. Add some dried thyme or savory, a bay leaf (i didn't have one last night, fresh out), a few shots of vietnamese fish sauce, a tablespoon of harissa, a cut up head of fennel and strips of zest from about half an orange. Bring it up to a simmer, then put the meat and juices back in, submerging them. Add some olives if you like. Bung it in the oven with the top on partially and leave it there for 3 hours. You might want to stir it once or twice as the surface does get a bit grotty looking from the dry heat. Makes the house smell lovely. The magazine recipe asked for tomatoes and parsley at the end, but i just ate it as it was and didn't miss them.