November Winter Meat CSA

Brrr, its cold and windy this morning! Days like this are perfect for a nice roast or steak in the evening, and yippee, we've got those for you! November shares include either an eye round roast (regular shares) or a top-round roast (no-pork shares). The top rounds tend to be a teensy bit bigger and helped balance the no-pork share weights better than the eye rounds. I'll try to make sure we swap those around in a future month.

Making up shares is always fun, although it can be challenging to hit 7 lbs each with the natural variety in meat cuts. My target is 7 to 7.1 lbs for everybody, but there will be the occasional share in the 6.9 range or the 7.2 range. It should all balance out over the season. This month, with relatively heavy cuts, there are more in the 7.2 range, so it's a bonanza. But, ok, you're thinking, a beef roast, but what else? Let's unwrap:

On the left we have the regular share, with 2 porterhouse steaks, bacon and a ham steak in addition to the roast. I figured bacon might be a nice treat for a family breakfast over the holiday weekend, and hamsteak could get cubed into a variety of dishes or go into another breakfast. 

On the right we have the no-pork shares, with the same porterhouse steaks, plus a pound each of ground lamb and ground beef. As I was packing these I was thinking about shepherd's pie and stuffed cabbage leaves. (There are a lot of stuffed cabbage recipes out on the internet, but this picture is of the our copy of Good Meat by Deborah Krasner, which I heartily recommend. The roast recipe below is based on one of hers as well.) 

I didn't include any lamb in the regular shares this month, but will do so in December--if you'd prefer not to get lamb in your shares please send me a note at meatcsa@thetrustees.org. Scroll down for a nice roast recipe, although with a little cream in the sauce it may not work for the kosher/halal no-pork folks. Sorry about that, and I'll find something for you next time!

That's all, but before I go I wanted to share this great shot Desiree got through her binoculars of a frosty hawk the other morning: 

Spice-Rubbed Eye Round Roast with Beer Sauce

I found the original version of this recipe for oven-roasted eye round in Deborah Krasner’s Good Meat (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2010), which if you don’t already have you should seriously consider buying. Allow almost 2 hours total preparation time, starting with defrosted meat, but actual cooking time is under an hour. Have a good sharp knife to slice the finished roast thinly.

For the spice rub: kosher salt, sugar, sweet paprika, ground coriander, ancho chile (or chili powder), ground ginger. I use about a tablespoon of each; some may prefer to go a little lighter on the paprika and chile.

For the sauce: 1 bottle dark beer, 2 Tbs heavy cream

Rub all but 1 tablespoon of the spice mix over the beef and let sit at room temperature for an hour. Preheat the oven to 350, and roast the beef, fat side up, in a pan that fits it as closely as possible, like an oval oven-proof frying pan or small sheet pan with sides. (The idea is to capture the juices while minimizing evaporation.) Roast about 15-20 minutes at 350, then increase to 425 for another 15 minutes or so to an internal temperature of 130 degrees. Let the roast rest on a platter, lightly tented with foil, while you make the sauce.

Use about 2/3 of the beer to wash all the juices and crispy bits from the roasting pan, scraping if needed, and add the last tablespoon of spice mix. (With a 2-3 lb roast you don’t quite need an entire beer, so its ok if you drink a little.) Add any juices that have settled from the resting roast. On the stovetop (you can use the roasting pan if its stovetop safe, otherwise use a saucepan), boil the beer and beef juices until reduced to about a cup in total. Remove from heat, and whisk in the heavy cream.

Slice the roast thinly across the grain, and serve with a drizzle of sauce. Delish!