Veal chuck roast with potato wedges and strawberry purée // Cachaço de vitela assado com quartos de batata e puré de morango

No, I didn't go out for Women's day. Seriously, what was I thinking? After a long day of running, sunbathing and lots of picture-taking, I barely had the energy to have a bath, slip into comfy pjs and drag myself towards the couch, let alone spend more than 1 minute thinking what I would wear to go somewhere and probably fall asleep one minute after ordering the easiest item on the menu.

Today was a much quieter day: mostly at home, enjoying the powers of the fireplace. Perfect to use one of Anne's wonders - which some of you might remember from this post.

For the recipe for veal chuck roast just click here. I cooked the potatoes according to the recipe on the back of the Puréety Gourmet Flavours Ultimate potato wedge seasoning - cajun style. What I thought, after tasting it, was that quite often I had something similar before. A quick look at the ingredients and I found out why: durum wheat, chilli, ginger, cumin, sea salt, garlic powder, sugar. Meaning: I wouldn't buy this myself as I have and use these ingredients anyway (not the garlic powder, I prefer garlic cloves, though), but I admit this is a nice blend to have if you don't cook that often and don't have all those ingredients at home or are in a rush.

 

The seasoning.

For those of you who have never bought this blend but want to give it a try by using the same ingredients, the recipe is easy:

  Boil water in a pan. Season it with a tablespoon of salt.

Cut the potatoes into wedges and let them simmer in the water for 3 minutes.

Put 12 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a tray and place it in the top shelf of the oven, to 200ºC.

Strain the water and in a bowl sprinkle the seasoning over the potatoes, gently tossing them around the bowl.

Add the potatoes to the roasting tray and let them roast for about 45 minutes, turning them every 15 minutes until golden brown. 

I would recommend serving the potatoes with  greens and a touch of sweet fruit, as they are a bit on the dry side. This time I served mine with a strawberry and sugar purée (pun intended) and an arugula salad - seasoned with salt, vegetable oil and balsamic vinegar.

 

If you have any other ideas, please use the comment box. I would really love to give them a try. 

Have a great weekend!...

Não, não saí no Dia da Mulher. A sério, no que é que estava a pensar? Depois de um longo dia a correr, a lagartar ao sol e a tirar fotografias a tudo o que mexia, mal tive energia para tomar um banho, deslizar para dentro de um pijama confortável e arrastar-me em direcção ao sofá, quanto mais passar mais de 1 minuto a pensar no que iria vestir para ir a um sítio e provavelmente adormecer um minuto depois de pedir o artigo mais fácil na carta.

Hoje foi um dia muito mais calmo: maioritariamente em casa, a apreciar os poderes da lareira. Perfeito para usar uma das maravilhas da Anne - de que alguns de vocês se devem lembrar deste post.

Para a receita de cachaço de vitela clica aqui. Cozinhei as batatas de acordo com a receita na parte de trás do Puréety Gourmet Flavours Ultimate potato wedge seasoning - cajun style. O que achei, depois de provar, foi que já provei bastantes vezes algo semelhante. Uma espreitadela rápida à lista de ingredientes e descobri porquê: trigo, chilli, gengibre, cominhos, sal, alho em pó, açúcar. Ou seja: eu não compraria propriamente este artigo uma vez que tenho e já uso estes ingredientes de qualquer forma (não o alho em pó, prefiro dentes de alho), mas admito que é uma mistura simpática para ter se não cozinhares assim tão frequentemente e não tiveres todos estes ingredientes à mão ou estiveres com pressa.

Para aqueles que nunca a compraram mas querem experimentar esta mistura usando os mesmos ingredientes, a receita é fácil:

Ferve água num tacho. Tempera com uma colher de sopa de sal.

Corta as batatas em quartos e deixa-as cozinhar na água durante 3 minutos.

Adiciona 12 colheres de sopa de óleo vegetal num tabuleiro de ir ao forno e coloca-o na prateleira superior, a 200ºC.

Escorre a água e numa taça deita o tempero por cima das batatas, agitando-as cuidadosamente para que o tempero fique bem repartido.

Coloca as batatas no tabuleiro e deixa-as assar durante cerca de 45 minutos, virando-as a cada 15 minutos até ficarem douradas. 

Recomendo servirem as batatas com verdes e um toque de fruta doce, já que são um pouco a atirar para o seco. Desta vez servi-as com um puré de morangos e açúcar (trocadilho intencional) e uma salada de rúcula - temperada com sal, óleo vegetal e vinagre balsâmico.

Se tiverem outras ideias, por favor deixem-nas na caixa de comentários. Adoraria experimentar. 

Desejo-vos um grande fim de semana!

Chuck Roast - the unsuspected stranger

If I may say so, I might have lost a couple of pounds this morning, after sweating so much to make everything just about right. And I don't mean just the end product: I don't know if the same happens to all of you, but there's something about trying to cook at my mom's house that is somewhat nerve-wrecking. Well, it might be her saying "Don't you want me to put some olive oil in it?" "No, mom, this recipe doesn't need olive oil, thanks anyway" "Are you sure?" [Imagine a loooong pronunciation of that "u" sound in the last word, with some very disapproving and scary eyes. Got it? Yes, that's it.]

How I did it? With a bit of a juggle here, a bit of a distraction there, you know: the usual. 

While I sliced the onions and garlic cloves much to my darling mom's distress ["Don't you want me to do that for you?"], I asked her to bring me the hot sauce because I "didn't know where it was". 

Then I added a generous pinch of salt and some of the hot sauce [2 coffee spoons will do the trick]. 

I noticed my mom's questioning eyes while I added about 5 spoons of margarine into it, but that was ok: I knew the end result would convince her. 

Finally, I poured a bottle of beer. You can pour wine if you want to, but I tend to find beer provides a lighter and sweeter taste to the meat and potatoes, which I prefer.

Then it was time to take care of the meat: two big pieces of veal chuck, cut in smaller pieces. I placed it all in an oven-proof dish.

Then I poured some of the dressing [just a little bit, because the potatoes I was going to add later would need to be drier rather than soggy to roast well]. Then I asked my mom to open the oven [pre-heated to 180º] and place the dish there.

By then, my mom was even more excited than I was, so I invited her to do the part I dislike the most: cutting the potatoes. So, after about 45 minutes of cooking to 210º and turning the meat over and over so it could get that beautiful "sun-tanned look", she [yes] added the potatoes, with a little more of that juice - again, not too much: you can start adding it later, when the potatoes start getting a delicious golden colour.

I let it cook for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, giving it a little turn every 20 minutes. 15 minutes before I turned off the oven I cooked rice [just water and salt] and asked my mom to prepare a lettuce and onion salad [in a salt, oil and vinegar dressing] - that is one thing I will never do as well as her, no matter how hard I try to get the portions right.

This was the result:

Except for the veal, it's not an expensive dish. It might take a while to cook, but as soon as you taste the flavour you'll know why I say it's worth it. Besides, it's a nice and easy one to make for the whole family. If you try it, do say how it all went.

Enjoy!