Cooking for Alan – Dinner #3 Main Course

I’m not sure why I’ve avoided cooking brisket over the years, but I have.  My husband does a nice smoked brisket.  So we’ve never tried making it any other way.  However, since my goal is to prepare all of Ina’s recipes from Cooking for Jeffrey it was time to give it a go.  The recipe includes red wine and fresh thyme, things that I love, which made it an easy choice.  Since this brisket tends to be very rich and tender, I chose to pair it with crispy roasted potatoes.  My friends brought a very nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and a bottle of Merlot – both paired well with the beef.

Beef Brisket with Onions and Leeks

I followed Ina’s instructions closely.  Instead of a 5.5 pound brisket I cooked a 4 pound one.  I kept the cooking time at the recommended 3.5 hours.  Roasting it low and slow gets the most tender results.  The red wine also works to tenderize the meat as it roasts in the oven.  I did have to add additional broth at about the 2.5 hour mark and was glad I did.  Doing that gave us plenty of delicious sauce.  I wasn’t able to source her exact recipe online as it was originally created by someone else.  But click here to get a very close version.

 

Tuscan Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary

To be honest I thought the potatoes turned out so-so.  Nothing very special aside from the lemons and fresh rosemary. But I guess they didn’t need to be the star of the main course did they?  I found them to be crispy, as advertised, yet a little dry.  Maybe I over cooked them a bit.  To remedy some of the dryness I drizzled them with some extra virgin olive oil before serving.  They also were improved by pouring some of the brisket sauce over them.  I couldn’t find a link to the exact recipe online so you’ll need to get a hold of her book, borrow mine or try a variation like this one.

If you’re wondering why I’m not bothering to share her full recipes in the format I usually use (the one that has a print button) is because it’s not okay for someone who didn’t actually write the recipe to reproduce it.  It is always better to provide readers with a link to the original version whenever possible or link them to the cookbook that contains the information.  I respect these major culinary talents too much to ever suggest that one of their original recipes is my own.

Check out my next blog post for Limoncello Ricotta Cheesecake to see how I did with the dessert course.