When it gets up to temperature, add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. Using the whisk, add the wine. Continue to whisk until it reduces a little.
Add in a cup of beef broth. Whisk until it comes to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes, whisking as needed.
HORSERADISH SAUCE
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (if you don’t keep this in your kitchen by now, go get some). 2 heaping tablespoons of prepared horseradish. 1/3 cup of sour cream. 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise. 2 twists of salt. 3 twists of pepper.
Combine all ingredients.
Stir.
Yeah, it’s that easy.
Serve the meat with au jus, prepared horseradish, or the horseradish sauce, depending on the preference of the person eating it. No matter who’s eating it, the baked potatoes from earlier in the book are always a hit as a side dish.
Leftovers make great sub sandwiches.
Enjoy.
ITALIAN MEATBALLS
DIFFICULTY: The same as Play-Doh
TIME: 40 minutes
What you’ll need from the cupboard: A large skillet, mixing bowl, a plastic slotted spoon, and a plastic spoon without slots. Tongs.
What you’ll need from the pantry: Salt. Pepper. A pound of ground beef. A pound of ground pork (or mild Italian sausage), 3 garlic cloves, 2 cups of Italian breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese,1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, and parsley. Olive oil to fry them in.
Smash the garlic cloves with the edge of your knife blade. Chop fine. Chop some more. Chop even more.
Add all the meat, the eggs, the finely chopped garlic, the two types of cheese, and the breadcrumbs to the mixing bowl.
Mix by hand.
Get a cup and a half of water as hot as your faucet will make it.
Add the hot water to the meat mixture about 1/4 cup at a time, folding it into the meat as you add it. This isn’t a process that takes a tremendous amount of time, so don’t overthink it. Just mix in the water to saturate the breadcrumbs and moisten everything. Don’t dump it in all at once, though. You’ll have a fucking mess.
When you get done, the mixture will be extremely moist and gummy.
Make the meatballs whatever size you prefer. I like them about the size of a meatball. Haha. Between an 1-1/2 and 1-3/4” diameter.
Pour olive oil into a skillet about 1/4” deep. Heat the skillet over a slightly hotter than medium burner, but not quite medium high.
Fry the meatballs in the oil, turning them with tongs at the 5-minute mark. Cook for 8-10 minutes total, depending on size, or until the outside turns brown and crispy. For a meatball as described above, 8 minutes is perfect.
Drain on a paper towel lined plate.
These can be eaten on a hoagie bun with marinara sauce and mozzarella, added to your favorite spaghetti sauce, or eaten with sautéed peppers and onions.
If you want a real treat, do this:
Warm up some RAO’S Marinara.
Turn on the oven’s broiler.
Butter the faces of a 6” hoagie bun or Italian bun. Toast the bread in a skillet, butter side down until it’s toasty and browned.
Slice 6 meatballs in half. Place them on the face of the toasted bun. Set the open-faced bun on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet.
Cover the meatballs with RAO’S sauce. Cover the sauce with mozzarella. Broil for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
As far as sandwiches go, the above example is right up there.
My kids LOVE these meatballs with spaghetti (in sauce), including the impossible to satisfy 4-year-old girl, Charlee.
She always says, “Dad, can we have spaghetti with meatballs tonight?” even if we ate them two days prior.
Enjoy.
INSTA-POT ROAST BEEF AND VEGGIES
DIFFICULTY: Meh.
TIME: 2-1/2 hours (only 30 minutes of which you’ll be busy).
What you’ll need from the cupboard: An Insta pot. A whisk. A slotted spoon, A spoon with no slots. A sharp knife.
What you’ll need from the pantry: a 3 or 4-pound rump or chuck roast (a cheap cut of meat works well in the Insta-Pot). 16-20 little yellow potatoes (Yukon Gold, or whatever you like). Carrots. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried parsley. Worcestershire sauce. Beef broth and ketchup.
If you don’t own an Insta-Pot (pressure cooker), go get one. You’ll soon forget all about a Crock Pot (slow cooker).
Although I still use our Crock Pot occasionally, the Insta-Pot is my go-to cooker (now that I’ve taken the Insta-Pot plunge).
Cut the roast into 1-pound chunks. It doesn’t have to be pretty, nor does it have to be perfect. No, you don’t need to weigh them, just eyeball it. If you’ve got a 3-pound roast, cut it in 3 equal pieces. A 4-pounder? 4 pieces.
Wash your hands.
Measure out a teaspoon of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried parsley. Measure 2 teaspoons of pepper. Take this mixture and rub it into the chunks of roast.
Wash your hands.
Dump a cup of beef broth in the Insta-Pot. Add a tablespoon of ketchup (just do it). Add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.
Stir.
Add the seasoned chunks of meat. Again, don’t stack them like Lincoln Logs. Make a little beef circle, hugging the perimeter of the pot. I realize if you’ve got a 4-pounder that it’ll come close to filling the pot, but you don’t want a meat pile, it hinders cooking.
Wash your hands.
Lock the lid in place.
Set on the “Meat” setting and choose “high” pressure. Set timer for an hour and 45 minutes for a 3-pounder, and 2 hours for a 4-pounder. Don’t worry, you can’t really overcook meat in an Insta-Pot.
The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.
At some point during the window of nothingness you now have, chop the carrots into whatever size pieces you like. Gather your potatoes. Chop half an onion into big pieces if you like them (I do). If you’re weird about dirt, wash the potatoes (I don’t, and it drives my wife crazy).
Let the pot release naturally. If it hasn’t released after 10 minutes, release it manually.
Use caution removing the roast. It’s hot as ten kinds of fuck and filled with pressure pockets.
Carefully lay roast on a plate or platter and cover with foil.
Add vegetables to the pot immediately after removing the roast (yes, lower them into the liquid). On the “Meat” setting, choose “high” pressure. Set the timer for 3 minutes.
NOTE: The pot has to come up to pressure before the timer starts. If everything inside (liquid) is hot (and it should be unless you dicked around doing something that’s not listed here) it’ll reach pressure in a matter of a few minutes.
After that, the timer will set itself. So, in actual time, it’ll be 10-12 minutes, not 3.
When the pot beeps, letting you know the time is up, let the pressure release naturally. If it doesn’t in 5-6 minutes, do it manually.
Now, your meat and veggies are perfect.
Remove the perfect veggies with the slotted spoon.
If you want gravy, mix 1/4 cup of corn starch with 1/4 cup of water. Turn the pot on “Sautee” and whisk in the corn starch mixture a little at a time until the liquid thickens into your desired gravy-like substance.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Whether you’ve chosen a cheap chuck roast, or a decent rump roast is irrelevant. The collagen that makes a roast tough will be dissolved in the Insta-Pot. This is something a Crock Pot can’t always do, unless you cook your roast for 12 hours.