Thanks, New York Times!

I love the Dining section of the New York Times. I also love the food articles that appear in the New York Times Magazine every weekend. It is through the Times that I became acquainted with the amazing Mark Bittman - his simple recipes always provide inspiration. Too often, though, that's all they provide - I'll bookmark recipes, always with the idea that I'll try that recipe out, but the follow through isn't always there.

This past week, however, fate intervened. Among the meat selections for this month (or was it last? I should date the meat when it arrives) was a prime rib roast. Too big for the two of us for a single night's dinner, but having people over for dinner wasn't in the schedule for a few weeks at least. Previous uses of roasts meant one delicious meal, and then a hunk of meat sitting in the fridge until I threw it out a week later, ideas of sandwiches lost in the shuffle of the week. 


Happily, however, the Times Magazine came through not only with a roast recipe, but with a great way to use up the leftovers: hash. With a plan in hand, I forged ahead with the roast. The spice coating is tasty, but not overpowering - it makes the roast interesting, and the kitchen smells delicious while it cooks. Even without searing the meat beforehand, it develops a gorgeous brown color while cooking, likely because of the sugar in the rub. 


To round out the hash - and the dinner - were some pan roasted root vegetables. I used the method in the recipe, but not the same veggies - I had a giant carrot and two medium Yukon Gold potatoes, garlic, some dried thyme, and nothing else. And here's where I learned something interesting: I followed the recipe and used two pans. My go-to pan for this type of recipe is usually my All-Clad aluminum 12-inch frypan. I only own one, however, so the other ended up being my Hamilton Beach electric frypan. 


I expected nothing of the electric frypan; I anticipated poor browning, and thought those would be the veggies I'd throw into the hash. I was completely wrong: the electric frypan showed up the All-Clad amazingly, browning the vegetables perfectly, and cooking it all significantly faster and more evenly, to boot. 


Now, I have two theories about this. First, our stovetop sucks. It's an electric stovetop, circa who-knows-when, and the burner I was using can be iffy. So that's a possibility - the heating may have been inconsistent. Second, the electric frypan is non-stick; the All-Clad is not. The non-stick coating allowed the vegetables to brown, but not stick to the pan; in the All-Clad, the nice browned parts stuck to the pan, so when the vegetables were stirred, the nice brown parts just came off. 


Now, stick vs. non-stick pan issue can also be attributed to heating difficulties - and I may have stirred it too often. When things stick to pans, it generally releases when it reaches a certain heat. This happens with meat - at first when searing, the meat sticks to the pan - when it releases, the sear is ready. I'm not sure if the same is true for vegetables, but clearly the electric frypan was the winner in this bout, given the circumstances as they were.


I'll let you know how the hash comes out. Both of these recipes, though, are keepers even when hash isn't in their future.