Thursday, January 6, 2011

My favorite comfort food Beef Roll-ups, ranch mashed potatoes and buttery peppered corn

Beef roll ups, also known as Rouladen, with mashed-ranch potatoes & peppery buttered corn.

I've taken a menu I previously posted because I haven't been cooking in a while. We've been going out with friends that we, unfortunately, only see around Christmas, as well as going to dinner with family. I had to have dental surgery this past week involving two teeth and my jaw, so let me say this to sum it up, OUCH! To top it all off I'm coming down with a cold. Needless to say, eating and cooking are not a priority at the moment. But I can dream can't I? I dream of beef roll-ups, they are so incredibly delicious. When I feel better, I will most difinately make this menu.

My favorite dish in the world is Beef Roll ups. It's a delicious dinner and it's fun too. I have made these twice and I think I did pretty good. They still don't taste as good as my Mom's. Maybe because I have to put forth the effort to make them, or maybe they just lack Mom's special touch, either way they're still my favorite!

I posted the recipe on my Big Oven web page, along with some other recipes I came up with. If you want to go see them, go to www.bigoven.com/~BunnysOven you'll see several recipes I've posted. Let me know what you think!
Make sure you give plenty of cooking time for the roll ups, they'll take a couple of hours to cook. If you rush, you'll end up with raw hide roll ups, and that would be so YUCK!

Beef Roll ups (Rouladen)
Ingredients
12 1/4 inch thick sirloin slices (have butcher cut for you)
3 tbl. canola oil
12 wooden kabob skewers or tooth picks
Worcestershire sauce
12 kosher dill pickle sandwich slices
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons pickle juice
4 cups hot water
3 slices of bacon
1 Heavy deep skillet with good fitting lid
1 jar plain American mustard

Assembly & cooking instructions for Beef Roll ups (Rouladen)

Cut bacon slices in 1/2 and then cut lengthwise in 1/2 (1 slice will yield 4 slices)
Cut kosher dill pickle sandwich slices into approximately 1/8" slices and cut those slices into 1/4" strips
Spread each slice of sirloin with a thin layer of mustard
On one end of the sirloin slice place 1 bacon strip and 1 pickle strip
Roll up and push the skewer through to hold the meat together, trim the skewer as needed.
Heat oil until very hot and add the roll ups with tongs to the pan
Brown on all sides
Drizzle Worcestershire sauce on each roll up (it will sizzle and smoke)
Immediately pour in enough hot water to come 1/2 way up the roll ups
Put on the lid and turn down to low and cook until the water is almost gone
Add more hot water and let that cook down so you have about 2 1/2 cups of gravy
Remove the roll ups to make the gravy, retain liquid from cooking in the skillet
Add 2 tablespoons pickle juice, 1 tablespoon mustard and the cream
Start with 1/4 cup of cream and add more if you like
Salt and pepper to taste

Mashed Ranch Potatoes:

4 large potatoes
Milk
butter
salt & pepper
ranch dressing

Boil a pot of water
Peel and cut your potatoes into thin slices (this will speed up cooking time. If you don't mind a few extra steps, you could always steam your potates with the skins on. Once they are fork tender, peel off the skins and mash. Leaving the skins on adds flavor and vitamins.)
Pour out the water, retaining a 1/2 cup
Mash the potatoes adding the retained water, milk and butter until they are light and fluffy and taste like you like. Add salt and pepper, then add a few squirts of the ranch dressing, to taste.

Corn:
No brainer
Frozen corn
water
salt and pepper
butter

Pour frozen corn into a pan, add water to cover, add 2 tbl. butter, and lots of freshly cracked black pepper. Heat on medium high until the water is gone and all that's left is butter. Add salt and pepper to taste. Yummmmyyyyy!

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