I now not only own a crock pot but I also know how to use it! I definitely put it to good use today when we had some guests over... plus Jr and Lorena LOL It all started last night when I seasoned and prepared my 5 lbs piece of meat! I seasoned it with salt and pepper and then coated it all around with flour. I wish I had taken step by step pictures but my words will have to do for now. It laid there in the fridge all night until 7 this morning when I woke up ready to sear my meat on some bacon fat. I saved the bacon for breakfast with eggs and toast! Yum! During my searing process I chopped up some carrots, some onions, some celery, and some golden potatoes (peeled). I laid it all down inside my crock pot. I then placed the meat on top of the vegetables. Along the sides I put in some chopped vine tomatoes, 3 bay leaves, and some tomato paste. Next came 2 cups of beef broth and 1 cup of red wine. I set it and forgot it! lol It cooked on high for 8 hours!!!
I got home and there was still one hour left for the pot roast to finish cooking so during that time I prepared an awesome mimosa for cocktail and bruschetta for appetizer! I know everyone liked it because they devoured it all! I didn't even get a chance to take a picture! lol Anyway, the mimosa is very simple and easy to make. Just use the same ratio of champagne or sparkling wine to orange juice. I then splashed some triple sec just to make it more interesting! I folded orange slices in each cup for garnish. For my bruschetta ( I love bruschetta) I chopped some tomatoes, parsley, and fresh mozzarella. I then poured a good amount of extra virgin olive oil and seasoned it with kosher salt and pepper. Ciabatta is a great bread for bruschetta (did I mention I love bruschetta?). Basically just cut 1 inch slices of the bread and fry it on a hot pan with olive oil. It took about 3 minutes. Just enough to make the bread kinda toasty but soft. It's definitely not too oily. Then carefully lay the tomatoes on top of each ciabatta slice and serve! Total crowd pleaser!
I got an awesome yellow rice from BJs. It cooked in 30 minutes and made a perfect side for the pot roast along with the onion farofa I made. Farofa is really easy to make and is great with stew like dishes. Basically just put a stick of butter on a hot pan. Once it's melted add about 3 medium sliced onions. I added some salt and pepper and let the onions swim in butter until they were tanned but not completely browned. Then I added about a cup of yuca flour. You can find this flour in any Brazilian market. It is a very popular flour in Brazil especially for farofa making. Since I forgot to mix in some raisins during my preparation of the farofa I just sprinkled some on top after it was done.
I was extremely pleased with the whole crock pot experience and I recommend it to everyone! After dinner everyone was really tired from eating so much but I was ready for dessert! Another first for me: Banana Fosters!
I have learned that most of the time when it comes to cooking you are better off not measuring things too much. So, with that in mind, making banana fosters is actually very easy. I sliced 3 bananas half way. I wish I had a banana split type of dish to serve it with but the regular plate did the job too. Then I melted 3 tbls of unsalted butter and added about a cup of brown sugar to the medium hot pan along with some nutmeg and a little bit of allspice! Everything mets pretty quickly so right away I added a couple of splashes of banana liqueur and my bananas. The bananas cooked in about 2 minutes. I then placed them on my serving dish and put some good rich vanilla ice cream on top of them. Now for the fun part! With the remaining sauce going on medium heat I added 1/2 a cup of spiced rum! Yum! I took my flame tool and ignited the rum! The fire burned down the alcohol as I added some orange zest to the sauce. Then it was basically time to just pour it over the ice cream and the bananas! This was really, really, really good!
I had a great time entertaining friends today and cooking for them! From the mimosas to the banana fosters it all blended in quite well! I think we ate enough for the week but then again that's what Sundays are for! Great dinners! Remember to season your food!
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