 |
|
|
| A smoky Christmas yielded a delicious roast |
|---|
|
|---|
It's nice to start the New Year off on the right foot, but I'm not. I made a mistake in last week's recipe for Creamy Wild Rice Soup when I omitted the half-and-half from the ingredient list. Oops. You need 1 cup.
I hate it when I make mistakes like that. And it sure doesn't bode well for the New Year when the first thing I have to do is correct a mistake.
The other bad thing that's going on right now is that my computer has been infected by a Trojan - again. So I spent all of New Year's Day working on that problem and it still isn't fixed. I need help.
My misadventures in computer land are equaled only by my kitchen misadventures over the holidays. We spent a week visiting my sisters-in-law in Pennsylvania, and it was just wonderful.
I loved helping my sister-in-law Karen cook a fabulous Christmas Eve dinner, featuring a beautiful rib roast that cost a small fortune. She had a great recipe for it, and since neither of us had cooked a rib roast before, we followed it to a tee.
During the first half hour of cooking, the oven started smoking a little. I thought it was probably fat from the roast hitting the top of the oven, so I put some tin foil on the rack above it hoping to contain the grease splatters a little.
About halfway through I checked the meat with a thermometer to see how things were going. Not long after I put the roast back in the oven smoke started rolling out. It got so thick I'm surprised we didn't set off smoke alarms in the house next door.
Other relatives showed up for dinner, only to be blinded by the smoke. I mean, it was bad. The oven light was burned out so we couldn't see inside the oven too well, but I finally decided something must have dripped on the bottom of the oven and we'd better throw baking soda on it before things ignited.
That's when I discovered the entire bottom of the oven was filled with grease, awash in grease. Apparently, when I poked the meat thermometer into the roast, I poked it all the way through the bottom of the disposable aluminum pan. All the grease from the roast drained out of the pan and sat smoldering on the bottom of the oven.
The roast was delicious, but the smoke smell persisted into Christmas Day, so I spent that night cleaning the oven, scraping a good half inch of cold, coagulated grease off the bottom. What a mess.
I did manage to fix one exceptionally good recipe of Karen's, Sweet Potato Casserole. I love sweet potatoes, but most casseroles use too much sugar for my taste. This one seems just right.
Don't wait for a holiday to make this. It would go beautifully with a pork roast or pork chops.
Sweet Potato Casserole
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish.
3 cups baked sweet potatoes, mashed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter
In a bowl, mix sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk and butter until thoroughly blended. Transfer to baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with Praline Topping. Bake uncovered at 325 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
Praline Topping
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans
In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, butter and pecans until thoroughly blended. Sprinkle on top of sweet potatoes.
Makes 6-8 servings
Sharon Vail lives in Powell Butte, where she continues to do battle with Trojan.zlob. She sends an evil eye to anyone who spends time creating these kinds of problems. Readers may contact her at svail3@netzero.net. "Cooking from the heart of Oregon." |
| Go to top. |
|
|
|
