MISS ISS I PP I Pot Roast Sans Packets

The Improbable Rise of Mississippi Roast 

I'm not known for using packets of anything, with very few exceptions. Here is a recipe I found on Pinterest that called for a packet of ranch dressing and au jus mix....Both definitely out for me.

I start with my garden and pick a large handful of each of these herbs:

Parsley

Dill

Lovage

Carry to your prep area, wash and dry, then set aside.

Then I carmelise a large onion.  Just use a smidge of oil and add sliced onions, sprinkle with a pinch of brown sugar.   Cook slowly, about 20 minutes with a stir now and again.  Place in a slow cooker.

Next, Brown both sides of a 3 lb. chuck roast in the same pan as the onions.  Place the roast on top of the onions in the slow cooker.  Deglaze the pan with 2 cups veg, or beef stock and a splash of Marsala, and a dab of Marmite.  Pour all this into the cooker. Next mix together dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, and smoker paprika, salt and pepper into 1/4 cup of cornstarch.  Put this mixture over the meat rubbing it in a bit.

Now comes the fresh herbs, grind them up in a food processor and put on the meat.  It is time to adorn the roast with 6 pepperoncinis chopped into rings. The shining glory on the top is a stick of butter. 

Slow cook for 8 hours.  Forget about it!

You will left with a tasty gravy ready to serve with the meat and over potatoes of your choice.  Garnish with a few more pepper rings for a bit of jestiness and color.

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Capers with Dandelions

The word is out about the health benefits of dandelions.  Here we will talk about the edible treatments of the flowers, buds.  In a future time we can discuss the benefits of the leaves and roots.  On another blog we made infused oil and hair rinse - Salve, Rinse, Repeat

The buds can be used as capers!  The capers shown here are pickled in a sweet and sour brine.

 I also used some flowers to make an infused syrup.  

Collect your flowers and buds.

 

Leave some for the bees!

 

 

Dry the flowers in a low heat oven.  As low as your oven will go.  Leave for a few hours, until dry.  

The buds will be placed in a jar waiting for the company of the rest of the ingredients.

For the caper brine:

1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. honey

Heat until bubbly and pour all at once into the jar with the buds.  Add a few pinches of juniper berries and a few pinches of pink peppercorns.  Let cool and then cover.  Put into the refrigerator to mature, about a week.  Use as you would use bought capers in dishes like chicken piccata. 

For the syrup:

1 c. dried dandelion flowers
1 c. cane sugar
1 c. water

Bring the sugar and water to the boil.  Pour over the dried flowers in a jar.  Cool.  Cover and put in the refrigerator to infuse over night.  Strain.  This can be used in any dessert you want to try it on.

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