I know, I know. This time of year is rough for me. Believe me that it was in your best interest that I'm not around to post. If I had, it would have been full of angry ranting, rather than the gooey, delicious tasty goodness that todays post will include.
For today, I have a lucious, delicious Pina Colada cake and a wonderful Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding dinner. Just look at this glorious Yorkshire:
Let's start with the entree course first:
Roast Beef and Yorkshire
1 small roast (if you choose a large roast, adjust the cooking time)
3 large carrots cut into large chunks
12 baby potatoes (ish, I used however many were in the bag)
1 large onion cut in large pieces
salt and pepper
olive oil
water
3 eggs
1 cup of milk (don't add it all)
3 cups of flour
salt
butter
bisto gravy powder
Ok for the directions... I should preface all of my recipes with the caveat that when I cook from scratch, I adjust as I go. I rarely write down what I'm doing, and I never measure. You should absolutely do the same, it's easy to get the hang of.
1. Preheat oven to 450. In a large oven-safe pot or roaster on the stove, on high heat, put about a tablespoon of olive oil. Rub roast with a little salt and pepper and put the roast in the pot and sear all the sides.
* Bonus instructions on searing. Searing means to brown the outside of the meat, this keeps all the juices on the inside of the meat. Put the roast down in the pot. It's side will be seared adequately when the roast easily comes off the bottom of the pot. If it sticks, leave it down a little longer.
2. Remove the roast to a plate. Add whole baby potatoes, carrots, and onions. Place roast on top. Cover and place in oven. Cook for an hour. Add 2 cups of water. Cook for another hour to hour and a half. (Start your Yorkshire batter while you're waiting the last half hour or so).
To know when your roast is done, use a meat thermometer or poke it in the thickest part with a knife, it's done when the juices run clear. While your Yorkshire and gravy is being finished remove the roast to a plate and cover tightly with foil, keep it somewhere warm (I put mine in the microwave to stay warm but DON'T TURN IT ON!). Remove the potatoes, carrots and onions from the pot using a slotted spoon. Put them in a bowl, cover and also put somewhere warm. Leave the beef juice in the pot for gravy.
Yorkshire and Gravy
1. Crank up the heat in your oven to 500. Heavily grease a 9 x 11 pan (or something similar, I use a glass casserole dish) with butter. Keep the pan somwhere warm while you make the batter.
2. In a large bowl put 2 cups of flour and a pinch of salt. Add a half a cup of milk and 3 whole eggs (one of very few recipes I'll use real eggs for, I don't recommend egg substitute for this one). Mix until smooth. This batter should be the consistancy of thick pancake batter, add more milk or flour as necessary.
3. Pour the batter into the pan. Drizzle a little of the beef juice on the top of the batter. Put in the oven. Do NOT open the oven door more than a crack to check, and don't thunder around your kitchen or the yorkshire won't rise. The yorkshire is done when it's puffy and golden on top.
4. Heat the beef juice and water up to boiling. Stir a tablespoon of Bisto into some room temperature water until dissolved. Add to beef juice stirring like CRAZY or it will chunk right up. Lower the temperature. Add more bisto to achieve desired consistancy.
5. Serve sliced roast beef alongside whole veggies, with large squares of yorkshire. Gravy as desired.
Mmmmm....and now, dessert course. Pina Colada cake. This cake is a delicious, moist, puddingy pineapple cake, with a light and fluffy coconut icing.
Pina Colada Cake
Cake
1 small can pineapple "tidbits" with juice(small chunks, about one and a half cups, drain and reserve the juice and tidbits seperately)
2 + 1/3 cups flour
1 + 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsps baking powder
pinch salt
2 eggs (I used egg substitute)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup butter (I used low fat margerine, but butter would have been better)
optional pure vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. Add butter, cut into chunks. Squish butter through flour mixture using fork tines until flour forms little crumbly balls. Add eggs, milk and about a half cup of pineapple juice.
2. Mix until smooth. Add pineapple chunks. Add a little vanilla if you like (I found the cake did not hold the pineapple flavour as well as I thought. The pineapple chunks were certainly flavourful, but if I was making this again I'd add vanilla).
3. Pour into 9 inch cake pan (Warning, this is a lot of batter and with a low cake pan, could overflow). You could double this recipe and make a 2 layer cake. Bake for 30 minutes and check with a toothpick (if the toothpick is clean, the cake is done). I had to reduce heat (to prevent burning the top) and bake for another 20 mins at 300. For the last 10 minutes I covered the cake in foil. Keep a close eye on this cake.
4. Remove the cake and cool completely while you're making the coconut frosting.
Coconut Frosting
1 can coconut milk (pick a good quality thick milk, shake the cans at the store and listen to the slosh if you have to)
2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup of butter (I did not use margerine here)
1. Using a mixer, beat butter until fluffy, add icing sugar and coconut milk in small amounts until you achieve desired flavour and consistancy. (Coconut milk for taste, icing sugar to thicken).
2. Firm up in fridge for a little bit before icing cake. Frost the cake however you like. I prefer the glob it on and smush it around method. It's not beautiful, but I'll have eaten it in a few minutes anyway.
