For information about our plans for adapting our”urban homestead” to meet the looming challenges of peak oil, climate instability, and economic irrationality, see Gatewood Urban Homestead, the permaculture design for our home.
Roast beef can be a great value for your frugal kitchen. The less expensive roasts can make as fine a meal as anything else in the meat department. There are many uses for leftover roast beast.
Your Basic Very Easy Pot Roast
Trim off any membranes that stretch across parts of the roast. Brown the roast in a skillet on all sides, top and bottom. Saute chopped onions, celery, and carrots with some herbs in olive oil. Classical chefs call this mixture the “miripoix”. Place the miripoix in a covered roasting pan, put the roast on it, and add some beef stock. Cover tightly and simmer over low heat or cook in the oven at 325 degrees. If it gets dry, add some more stock. A 3 pound roast that is 2 inches thick will need to cook 2-1/2 to 3 hours. A five pound roast that is 3″ thick will need to cook 3-1/2 to 4 hours. You can also sprinkle the roast with herbs and spices – rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, sage, crushed red pepper, and I always add garlic to the miripoix.
Your Basic Very Easy Beef Stew
Cut the meat in uniform pieces (leftover roast can be used) about 1 inch square. Coat with flour mixed with black pepper, Brown on all sides in hot oil – a few pieces at a time – sliced or chopped onions and minced garlic should be added at this point. Cover meat with beef stock, put lid on pan, and simmer slowly until the meat is tender. Add vegetables in the last half hour or so are cooking, so they are done but not overcooked. Increase the heat a bit, if you want to keep it low, add the vegetables in the last hour of cooking. Good veggies for stew include corn, green beans, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, sauteed celery, carrots, tomatoes and tomato sauce. You can also add rice or pasta – add rice in the last half hour of cooking, pasta in the last 15 minutes of cooking. To thicken the stew, make a medium brown roux, and add it to the stew, stirring vigorously. This stew can also be made with hamburger. For hamburger stew, brown ground meat in skillet or pot, add beef stock (skip the coating with flour step), and continue as described for Basic Beef Stew.
Beef Stroganoff
1 small roast | 1 pint sour cream | 2 cups red wine | 1/2-1 lb noodles | cream of mushroom soup or gravy |
chopped onion, garlic, salt, pepperrosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley
Slice roast thinly. Coat with flour, fry briefly in oil until brown on all sides. Place in crockpot, add onions, garlic, wine, seasonings, and enough stock to cover the roast. Simmer 8 hours until beef is tender. Add soup to crockpot and reheat. If the sauce is thin, make a medium brown roux and add to pot and cook until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat, mix in sour cream. Serve over hot cooked noodles. Hamburger variation: eliminate the flouring step, brown hamburger, simmer with wine, stock, onions, garlic, and seasonings in pot on top of stove for 1 hour, add mushroom soup or sauce. If sauce is runny, thicken with a medium brown roux. Stir in sour cream, serve over hot noodles or rice.
Chipped Beef
1 cup white sauce or gravy | left over roast
Slice the leftover roast thinly, cover with gravy, heat until warm. Serve over potatoes, noodles, toast, or rice.
Redneck Salisbury Steak
Make hamburger patties (about 1/4 lb each). Season the way you like ’em. Garlic and onion powder, seasoning salt, black and ground red pepper, garlic powder, dried “Scarborough Faire” herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, also oregano). In a separate pan, make a brown roux, enough to thicken 3 cups of liquid.. Add 1 cup beef stock to pan the hamburger patties were fried in, and deglaze the pan. Add 2 more cups beef stock and mix with roux. Put hamburger patties back in pan, and pour thin gravy over the patties. Cover, cook under a low heat for 30 – 45 minutes, until hamburger patties are done (length of time depends on how cooked the hamburger patties are. Serve with rice, potatoes, or noodles. We like to cook sliced hot peppers, onions, and garlic with our hamburger patties and include them in the gravy. For Round Steak in Gravy, prepare with small round steaks instead of hamburger patties.
Chicken Fried Steak
Cut round steaks into small pieces, about the size of a silver dollar. Dip in milk, then in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, then back in the milk and dip again in seasoned flour. Fry over medium heat in cast iron skillet until brown on both sides.
5 Uses for Leftover Roast
Sandwich Spread. Think deviled eggs, egg salad, or chicken salad, only made with roast beef. A food processor helps grind the mixture finely, but you can also chop it by hand.
Hot Beef Sandwich. Slice, heat and serve with gravy over rice, toast, biscuits, or mashed potatoes. Freeze slices of roast beef with gravy for a quick meal later.
Make hash. Combine one cupt minced roast with 2 or 3 cups of vegetables (such as the ones you roasted with the meat), add gravy. Simmer a half hour or so, thicken if necessary.
Stew. Chop some leftover roast, add vegetables, stock, and rice, noodles, or dumplings, and make stew!
Casserole. Use the pan drippings and leftover roast to flavor a casserole.
MEATLOAF: Frugality and Taste!
There are five essential categories of ingredients for meatloaf:
Meat, Binder, Filler, Vegetables, Sauces/spices,
Meat: Any minced or ground meat can make a meatloaf. If you have a large hunk of leftover roast, chop and mince it for meatloaf.
Binder: This is usually eggs, but if you are watching your cholesterol, the egg whites work fine by themselves.
Filler: Fillers are chopped or minced foods of many kinds that extend the meat and sometimes add their own flavor. These can include rice, whole wheat (or cracked wheat or bulgur wheat), barley, cracker and bread crumbs, pasta. They absorb liquids in the dish so the loaf doesn’t fall apart, extend the meat, and add flavor and texture.
Vegetables: Any cooked vegetables you like can be used in a meatloaf – shredded carrots, cabbage, green peppers, onions, beans, peas, lentils. Mince or shred the vegetables.
Sauces and spices: Season the meatloaf with the spices, herbs, and flavors that you like. Many sauces work great – tomato sauce, cheese sauce, steak sauce. Garlic, onions, cumin, cayenne pepper, sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, chili powder. Be generous with the seasonings.
Leftovers are fine for meatloaf. Leftovers from yesterday’s main meal can make today’s meatloaf. Serve it with gravy, a sauce, slice it and fry the slices in hot il. Use your imagination!
Robert Waldrop