Super easy- Sauerbraten (German pot roast, roughly sour beef)
Needed-
Two gallon zip top bags
1 3-4lb beef roast, should be something lean such as a top or bottom round, eye roast, etc. Nice variation is venison or similar wild game.
2 cups dry red wine
2 cups red wine vinegar
1 large onion, sliced
1 Medium Carrot, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbs salt
1 tsp caraway seeds
4 Cloves
10 Juniper Berries
2 bay Leaves
15-20 Ginger Snap Cookies, crushed into fine crumbs
Put one of the zip top bags inside of the other to help reduce the chance of leakage. Inside of the inner bag place everything but the cookies. Place this into a bowl and into the fridge for minimum of two all the way up to eight days. Every day give it a shake to slosh the marinade around the beef. The more time it sits, the more flavor it picks up.
Once your decide it's cooking day remove the beef from the marinade and pat dry, then lightly brown in a little oil or butter on all sides. Once browned dump the marinade into the pot with the roast, turn heat down so it lightly simmers, cover, and walk away for several hours until the beef is cooked through and tender about 3-4 hours.
Once cooked remove from the liquid and set aside to rest. As this time also strain the remaining liquid to remove the solids. Return the now strained marinade to the stove over a low heat and whisk in the crushed ginger snaps to thicken. The exact amount will depend on how much liquid is left and your preference.
Slice beef and serve with the gingersnap sauce. Best side? Spaetzle.
Little harder but easy with some practice- Cast Iron Roast Chicken
You will need-
One cast iron skillet large enough to comfortably hold a chicken (I use a 15")
1 Fryer sized chicken and it's nasty bits bag
2 medium shallots, diced
1 Garlic Clove, chopped fine
Handful parsley chopped fine, can be augmented with other herbs to suit your taste but don't go crazy
Salt and Pepper
Place the skillet in oven and turn to 375 to preheat while doing your prep.
Sautee your shallots and garlic over medium heat in a little butter until tender and translucent, remove from heat and mix in the parsley and salt and pepper to taste, set aside in a bowl to cool while getting the chicken ready.
Remove chicken from it's packaging give ti a good rinse then dry inside and out with paper towels. Trim any excessive skin and fat from chicken as well as the wing tips. Also carving will be made easier if you remove the wishbone now, but it is entirely optional. Then carefully use your hands to separate the skin from the breast. Try not to tear the skin if at all possible. By now the shallot mixture should be cool enough to handle, use your hands to distribute the mixture under the skin of the breast as evenly as possible. Do your best to not tear the skin and once done put the skin as closely back into position as possible. Then truss your chicken. How does one truss a chicken? Look here-
http://how2heroes.com/videos/techniques/trussing-a-chicken My only advice is to get the wings under the twine when they are trimmed. Once trussed season the skin with a little smear of butter, salt, and pepper.
By now your oven though be preheated. Open the oven and put the chicken into the skilled breast side down and leaning to one of it's sides. Add the washed contents of the nasty bits (aka gizzard) bag to the pan, these add flavor to the pan for the later coming sauce. Close oven and walk away. 1/3 through the cooking open over and rotate the bird, still on it's breast, but to the other side. Another 1/3 through cooking rotate the bird onto it's back. Turning the oven up to 400 will help make extra crispy skin if desired. How long does it take to cook? Figure on roughly 18-20 minutes per pound depending on how warm the chicken was, your oven, and a million other factors. Best bet? Get yourself a probe thermometer. When inserted deep into the thigh, and not touch bone, it should read 175-180 when the bird is removed from the oven.
Once cooked remove pan from oven and set the chicken aside to rest and discard the nasty bits bag contents. You should now be left with a bunch of chicken fat and crispy unappetizing looking stuff. Remove all but a tablespoon or so of the chicken fat. Discard if you like or save for frying potatoes or something similar. Turn the stove to medium heat and add to the pan about a cup of water and a splash of red wine. Whisk the liquid in the pan to dissolve all of the pan goodness into the liquid and continue cooking until it reduces down to your desired thickness. If allowed it will get fairly thick with no flour.
Carve bird and serve with the sauce.
