Spring. But make it cosy.

What about this pot roast with garlic rolls, horseradish cream and a crunchy salad?

Yes Spring has sprung here on the farm, but the nights can still be cool. We’re still (sometimes) lighting the fire, and blankets are still being deployed, as are the cosy recipes below.

How long is it since you last made a pot roast? Since you last tucked a piece of slow-cooking beef under a blanket of rich tomato-based sauce and cooked it low and slow until tender. Better yet, since you did this and also made some warm fluffy garlic rolls to put out with your pot roast. Yummm…

Here’s what to cook this weekend.

Sophie

Ps - I created these recipes for a collaboration with New Zealand company Ironclad Co who make the most wonderful cast iron pans. I have been using them for years now and a couple of months ago my collection grew to include two of their new satin enamel pieces.

The recipes are all below, and I’ve also added a downloadable PDF if that’s easier.

Sophie x

Garlic rolls

I love love love these rolls - they are soft, fluffy and truly not hard to make. But of course, if you’re tight on time, just buy some nice dinner rolls from your bakery, then warm them in the oven and brush with the garlic butter just before serving.

The recipe below borrows from the classic Japanese milk bread recipe, which starts with the tangzhong method. And this in turn gives our rolls a beautiful soft, pillowy texture.

Makes: 8 large rolls or 10 medium rolls
Prep time: 30 minutes (plus 2-3 hours rising time)
Cook time: 25-30 minutes

Tangzhong (starter)

• 3 tablespoons water

• 3 tablespoons whole milk

• 2 tablespoons baker’s flour (high protein)

Dough

• 2½ cups (300g) baker’s flour (high protein)

• 1 tablespoon instant yeast

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

• ½ cup (125ml) whole milk

• 1 large egg

• 60g unsalted butter, melted

Garlic butter (optional)

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1-2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped or crushed

• 1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

1. Let’s start with the tangzhong. Combine the water, milk, and flour in a small saucepan and whisk until smooth. Place the saucepan over low heat and cook the mixture, whisking until thick, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool to room temperature.

2. For the dough, combine the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, milk, egg, melted butter and the cooled tangzhong in a bowl. Knead, either by hand or using an electric mixer with dough hook attachment, until soft and elastic, about 5 minutes.

3. Cover with a tea towel and set aside for about 1 hour until it has almost doubled in size.

4. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape into balls. Lightly grease a your pan (in my case, my brand new Ironclad Legacy) and transfer the dough balls to the pan. Cover and let rest for another hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Gently brush the rolls with milk and bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden and beautifully risen.

6. For the garlic butter, melt the butter and garlic together in a small pan towards the end of the baking time. Once melted, season with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley.

7. As soon as the rolls come out of the oven, brush them with the garlic butter and serve warm.

Beef Pot Roast

Bring back the pot roast! I feel like this is a recipe/dish that has slipped off many of our radars recently. Not sure why - a good pot roast is one of the easiest, most delicious and cosiest things you can make for dins.

Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 3-4 hours

Ingredients

• 1 (1.5kg) boneless chuck roast (or bolar or blade roast - any slow-cooking piece)

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 200g bacon, fairly finely diced

• 2 carrots, diced

• 2 celery stalks, diced

• 1 onion, peeled and diced

• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely diced

• 1 cup (250ml) red wine

• 2 x 400g tins whole peeled tomatoes

• 1 small handful parsley

• 2 rosemary sprigs

• 2 sage sprigs

Method

1. Take the chuck roast out of the fridge at least 1 hour before you want to start cooking – we don’t want it fridge-cold when we start cooking.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

3. Season the meat generously with salt and black pepper. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over high heat and brown the meat really well on all sides, at least 5 minutes on the flat sides and a couple of minutes on the edges. Transfer to a plate.

4. Reduce the heat to medium and add the bacon. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until beginning to get crispy.

5. Add the carrot, celery, onion and fennel seeds. Cook on medium-low for about 10 minutes or until soft and almost jammy.

6. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.

7. Add the red wine, increasing the heat so it bubbles and reduces down for a couple of minutes.

8. Tip in the tinned tomatoes, using your wooden spoon to break them up a bit. Bring the mixture to a boil, then take it off the heat.

9. Return the beef to the pan and add the herbs, tucking them in around the meat.

10. Pop on the lid and place in the oven. Reduce the heat to 140°C and cook low and slow for 3-4 hours or until the meat is tender and falling apart.

Herby Horseradish Cream

A zesty, creamy saucy-thing that’s perfect with roast beef or smoked salmon.

Makes: About 2 cups
Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup (250g) sour cream

• 1 small handful dill, finely chopped

• 2 tablespoons horseradish (from a jar)

• A squeeze of lemon juice

• Sea salt, to taste

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well.

2. Adjust seasonings to taste. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
   

Sharp, Crunchy Salad

This is a gorgeous salad. And as I always bang on about in our classes, it’s got all the textures and flavours we want; it is crunchy, creamy, bitter, sweet, sour and salty. Mix the salad ingredients up according to what you have handy and please make double the quantity of this salad dressing. It’s delicious and lasts for ages in the fridge.

Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 20 minutes

For the dressing

• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• Zest and juice of 1 lemon

• 2 small garlic cloves, grated

• 2 teaspoons sea salt

• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tablespoon honey

• ½ cup (125ml) olive oil

For the salad

• 10 Brussels sprouts, trimmed

• 1 head radicchio, trimmed and fairly finely chopped

• 1 stick celery

• 1 head fennel, trimmed, or 1 cup (150g) pickled fennel

• 1 sharp green apple

• 1 cup (100g) pecorino ‘peppato’ (or other hard salty cheese), thinly sliced

• 1 handful caramelised walnuts (see recipe below)

For the caramelised walnuts

• 1 cup (120g) walnuts

• ½ cup (110g) caster sugar

• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

• 1 tablespoon sea salt

Method

1. For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a jar and shake to mix. Check flavour and adjust to taste.

2. Thinly slice the Brussels sprouts and place in a large bowl. Add the dressing, toss to combine and set aside while preparing the remaining ingredients (this helps soften the sprout leaves).

3. Slice the celery into small pieces. Slice the fennel thinly and cut the apple into matchsticks.

4. Add the celery, fennel and apple the bowl and toss to combine.

5. Add the cheese, toss again and pile onto a serving plate. Top with caramelised walnuts.

6. For the caramelised walnuts, line a flat tray with baking paper. Combine the walnuts, sugar, salt and fennel seeds in a dry frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook, swirling and stirring often, until the sugar begins to melt down into a caramel, then stir so the nuts are all well coated. It might take a while, and then the sugar suddenly melts so you have to work quite quickly at this point. Spread the nuts on your lined tray and leave to cool for a few minutes. Store nuts in an airtight container.

Pot Roast With Garlic Rolls, Horseradish Cream And Crunchy Salad

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