Celebrate your fathers

Sunday is Father’s Day so go ahead and celebrate your fathers, with a delightful home-cooked Sunday lunch.

Pot roast of beef is simply an oven roast started on the stove and finished in the oven. Marinate it the day before and on Sunday morning you cook and roast it.

Sweet potato croquettes are breaded and fried mashed sweet potatoes made into cakes. These should be served warm so let this be the last dish you prepare, you can make the cakes the day before and on Sunday pan fry them before serving. Make a vegetable dish and a green salad to accompany.

Dessert is a must, whether you decide to make it at home or purchase it, carrot cake is easy to make and can also be done ahead of time. Happy cooking and Happy Father’s Day!

Wendy’s Pot Roast

3½ to 4 lbs beef roast, prime rump

12 cloves garlic, peeled

3 tbs olive oil

1/3 cup fresh thyme

1 tbs freshly ground black pepper

2 tbs red wine vinegar

1 tbs Dijon mustard

1 cup red wine

½ cup thinly sliced carrot

2 cup thinly sliced onion

4 cups beef or chicken stock

Mince 6 cloves garlic and combine with two tbs oil, thyme, mustard and black pepper and vinegar and wine, rub onto roast and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Heat oil in a heavy frying pan and sauté onions with garlic until translucent, add carrots and sauté for a few minutes more, remove from pan and set aside.

Add roast to pan and brown evenly on all sides, place onion mixture into a casserole dish big enough to hold the roast, then place the browned roast onto the onions. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Add about ½ cup stock to roast and cover roast with the lid and bake basting every 20 minutes until done. Add only about ½ cup of stock at a time during the roasting process, keep the roast tightly covered at all times to prevent sticking.

Your roast should be done in about 2 hours. But check after 11½ hours. It is done when

A pronged fork will go through it fairly easily, if you check it should be fairly chewy but reasonably tender.

If you have a meat thermometer a reading of 110 F to 125 F is a medium rare roast, very pink in the middle. This is a good reading for beef.

A reading of 125 F to 140 F is an overdone or well-done roast.

Your liquid that has remained should be a delicious aromatic and flavourful broth.

Remove the roast from the pan, strain the liquid and place in a saucepan, you can thicken it with a little cornstarch if you like or simply remove the fat and boil to intensify the flavour.

Season with salt and black pepper if needed. Slice your roast against the grain.

Sweet Potato Croquettes

2 lbs sweet potatoes

½ cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup chopped herbs

1/4 tsp nutmeg

salt

vegetable oil to fry

1 cup each breadcrumbs and flour to dredge

1 egg

Boil, peel and mash sweet potatoes

Warm milk with butter and add to potatoes, mix well add herbs and nutmeg, season to taste with salt.

Beat egg and set aside.

Place the flour in one plate, and the breadcrumbs in another.

Form the potato into 2-inch balls, dredge in flour, shake off excess, then dip in egg and roll in crumbs, flatten and pan fry until golden.

Makes 6 to 8 cakes.

Pineapple Carrot Cake

1 8-oz can crushed pineapple drained,

3 cups carrots, peeled and grated

2 cups, sifted, all -purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp grated nutmeg

4 eggs

½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1½ cups sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350F

Grease. Line and flour a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan, or two 9-inch cake pans.

Beat eggs with sugar until light and tripled in volume, add vanilla, with beater on medium speed slowly pour in vegetable oil, beat for one minute.

Sift together dry ingredients, reduce mixer speed to low, and add the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated.

Using a spatula, fold in carrots, pineapple, and walnuts

Pour batter into prepared tin/tins.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes for large cake, or 35 minutes for smaller cakes.

Remove from oven cool and frost.

Makes 1 9x13-inch cake or 2 9-inch round cakes

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 lb cream cheese, room temperature

2/3 cup butter

2½ cups icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp grated orange zest

2 tbs milk

Cream butter with icing sugar until creamy, add cream cheese and stir to a creamy consistency, add a few drops of milk at a time if needed to bring batter to a spreadable consistency.

Stir in orange zest.

Frost cake.

Will frost and fill two 9-inch round cakes or one 9-inch by 13-inch cake