Weeknight Dinner: Roast Beef with Cabernet Sauvignon

I've written before about California cooking as a microcosm of the American table. While on one hand it is simply a regional cuisine, on the other it is informed by both the geography of this large state and the sociology and history of that distinctive geography. Any Californian will tell you that there are two Californias: northern and southern, and that’s the least of it. But throughout there are common threads, and not just via referenda, agriculture and gas prices. The common thread of California is the breadth of its diversity, and a vital expression of that diversity is the abundance at the California table. 

Redwood country is true to the pacific northwest with an emphasis on the day’s catch on the shore side and the log cabin hearth inland. The Barbary Coast gives us everything from cioppino to sourdough to Ghirardelli chocolate. If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear a flower in your hair, and be sure to thank those hippies for the role they played in advancing the back to earth movement that led, among other things, to a reassertion of California’s importance to the American table via its fresh cooking. Influences migrated into California northwards from Mexico and eastwards from Asia. San Francisco’s Chinatown is legendary both for the vibrancy of the community and as one of the hubs of Chinese American cooking. A stroll along the San Diego boardwalk isn’t official without a messy, spicy fish taco. Los Angeles just wouldn’t be LA without sushi bars, ramen huts and luaus, but that’s also true of its taco trucks, burger huts and hot dog stands. 

Just as the Pacific Coast Highway links both the population hubs of northern and southern California with the agricultural communities along the way, wine culture is the thread that runs throughout the history, study and, most importantly, practice of California cooking. The movie colony might voice an opposing viewpoint but agriculture is the bedrock of California’s economy. Other crops may triumph via the media of acreage or receipts, but culturally, no crop is as influential in California culture as wine grapes (berries, to viticulturists). From the culinary destinations of Napa and Sonoma to the hidden gems of Monterey and the central coast, much of California food culture grows from grape vines and orbits around wineries.

I always joke that wine is so common in California that they sell it in grocery stores, but I’m not really joking: it may horrify teetotalers, but it’s true. Cooking and eating revolve around wine in California kitchens and dining tables in a way unparalleled in any cuisine I can think of except French. Meals and dishes revolve (hopefully not from the spins) around wine. It is expected that both a cook and a diner will understand pairing, and that the cook will find ways to work as much wine into the cooking as into the guests.

Along with spiking your spaghetti sauce with wine, one of the classic wine-food pairings is red wine with roast beef. It is de rigeur to order a big glass of red with your steak, and considerate to bring a bottle of the same at the next backyard cookout. Cookbooks about California cuisine always contain a recipe for a braise of beef, aromatic vegetables and red wine. This dish is so important to this cooking that versions of it abound, broken into specifics fussy enough to concentrate on cut and varietal and often to be identified by locale. These dishes are studies in local cooking. In a California pot roast, beef shanks meet pinot noir and potatoes in a dish that is substantially different from grandma’s Sunday supper of red gravy and cooked carrots. “California beef” is a stew of cubed beef and onions in a thick paste of tomatoes and merlot. And California stew trades the usual bottle of assertive burgundy for a local zinfandel and augments the braise with a sauté of mushrooms.

Prior to the ascendance of pinot noir, California viticulture’s red berry of note was cabernet sauvignon. In part, this was due to the triumph of a Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon over those from established French chateaux at the 1976 Judgment of Paris, but this was also a culmination, for as would follow for a gold medal wine, cabernet sauvignon was by then an established presence in California winemaking. All wines are sensitive to terroir but California wines really live that, and despite or maybe because of its survival skills, this varietal of vitis vinifera found a sturdy foothold on California slopes. The grape began to develop a reputation for its distinct flavor profile of spice, black fruit and garden produce. That last is a characteristic tasters know – in fact, expect -- as the “green bell pepper flavor,” and it is so common to the wine’s flavor profile that it has come to be known as “Monterey veggies.”

Those veggies are as good a reason as any why cabernet sauvignon agrees so readily with beef. Remember that the next time you’re at the steakhouse, but for this month’s Weeknight Dinner, we celebrate both the wine and the California cuisine that it exemplifies with an original recipe built around this pivotal red wine. It is a roast beef dinner served with braised vegetables. It is true to the traditions of California cooking, but as usual at Urban Home, we have added our own touches: a muscular salt and pepper rub, a profile of fragrant woody herbs, and – though it looks like a lot of steps - an easy technique that exemplifies another great California tradition: ease of good living.

ROAST BEEF WITH CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Any cook will tell you not to cook with any wine you wouldn’t drink. At the wine store, ask for a good California cabernet sauvignon for cooking; it should be on the dry side with noticeable fruit and vegetable flavors. Wente and Line 39 are good choices and would also pair for serving at table, but with this nice dinner, we like to serve Atticus John. 

For the beef

One 4-5 pound high quality roast, such as blade, round or round-eye, or tri-tip

One 750 mL bottle quality California cabernet sauvignon

1 small Spanish onion

2 medium cloves garlic

4 dried bay leaves

1 bunch fresh thyme

2 teaspoons black peppercorns

¼ teaspoon fresh allspice berries

Coarse salt (grey sea salt works well)

Extra-virgin olive oil 

For the vegetables

1 pound baby Yukon Gold potatoes

1/2 pound fresh carrots

1 large bunch fresh leeks

2 medium cloves garlic

Freshly ground black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

12 hours before serving

1.      Rinse the roast and pat it dry with paper towels. Set aside on a cleaned and disinfected cutting board devoted to meat.

2.      Open a food-safe storage bag large enough to accommodate the roast and place it, open side up, in a bowl.

3.      Place the bay leaves and ½ of the fresh thyme into the bag.

4.    Peel the garlic and remove the root end. Half each clove; remove and discard any sprouting from the center. Use a garlic press to press the garlic into the bag containing the bay leaves and herbs.

5.    Measure the peppercorns and allspice berries into a mortar. Use the accompanying pestle to grind the spices together until they are coarse and release their fragrance.

6.    Rub the beef with the spice mixture and then lightly sprinkle the beef with salt. Be sure to cover the entire surface of the roast.

7.    Gently transfer the roast to the plastic bag.

8.    Carefully measure ¾ cup wine into the plastic bag. Recap the bottle and set aside until ready to finish the dish.

9.    Carefully bring the sides of the bag up, taking care not to spill the marinade. Secure the bag so that there is as little air as possible. Gently maneuver all of the ingredients so that they cover the full surface of the beef.

10.  Place the bowl containing the marinating roast in the refrigerator. Marinate, disturbing as little as possible, 12 hours. 

2 hours before serving

1.    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2.    Remove the roast from the refrigerator and set aside to come to room temperature while you prepare the vegetables. Place a roasting pan near the roast and place a large sauté pan on the stovetop. Position an in-sink colander into place.

3.    Align the leeks side-by-side. Use a sharp knife to cut off and discard the root ends of the leeks. Moving up the body of the leeks, cut the white and pale green parts of the leeks into coins about 1/4" inch wide; stop when you get to the rough dark green upper leaves. Scrape the leeks to the colander and rinse them well until all grit has dissipated. If necessary, rinse the cutting board.

4.    Inspect the potatoes for buds or soft brown or black spots; use a small paring knife to remove and discard any such. Cut the potatoes in half. Scrape the halved potatoes into the colander.

5.    Peel the carrots. Align them side by side on a clean cutting board devoted to vegetables. Remove and discard the tops and bottoms of the carrots. Cut across the carrots to form chunks 1 – 2 inches in length. Scrape the cut carrots into the colander.

6.    Rinse the vegetables under cool water. Leave the colander in place so that the vegetables can drain.

7.    Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into crescents. Scatter the onion across the cooking surface of the roasting pan.

8.    Peel the garlic and remove the root end. Half each clove; remove and discard any sprouting from the center. Roughly chop the garlic (large pieces are fine) and scatter the garlic across the cooking surface of the roasting pan.

9.    Scatter ½ of the remaining fresh thyme across the cooking surface of the roasting pan.

10.  Drizzle the sauté pan with a five-count of olive oil. Heat the oil on medium until it shimmers.

11.  While the oil is heating, carefully open the bag containing the marinating roast. Gently lift the roast out of the marinade and hold it over the bowl so that excess marinade falls into the bowl. Discard the marinade.

12.  Once the oil is shimmering, carefully transfer the roast to the oil. Sear the roast on all sides including the ends until it is richly browned; approximately two minutes per side. Use cooking tongs to gently turn the roast as you sear it.

13.  Once the roast is seared on all sides including the ends, gently transfer it to the prepared roasting pan. Do your best to place the roast so that it is resting on the herbs, onions and garlic.

14.  Carefully pour the remaining wine into the roasting pan. Do your best not to disturb the roast as you pour the wine. Season the roast with a few grindings of fresh black pepper.

15.  Cover the roasting pan with its lid or a layer of aluminum foil shiny side down. Gently transfer the roast to the oven. Roast 1 hour for medium-rare.

16.  Once the roast is in the oven, give the colander containing the vegetables a shake to express any residual water. Gently place the vegetables into the sauté pan.

17.  Use a silicon spatula to coat the vegetables in the pan juices. Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and several grindings of fresh black pepper.

18.  Place the lid on the sauté pan and reduce the burner heat to low. Braise the vegetables while the roast is in the oven, checking the vegetables occasionally to stir them. Add a drizzle of olive oil if the pan is running dry.

19.  While the meal is cooking, strip the remaining thyme of its leaves by stripping down each stalk in the opposite direction of the growth. Distribute half of the stripped thyme over the vegetables the next time you check them. 

Before serving

1.    After one hour, gently remove the lid/peel back the foil from the roasting pan, standing aside to avoid escaping steam. Use a meat thermometer to check the roast’s internal temperature; it should read between 145 – 150 degrees. If necessary, continue roasting until the thermometer reaches this temperature. Once it reaches this temperature, remove the pan from the oven.

2.    Turn off the oven and remove the lid/aluminum foil from the roasting pan. Let the roast rest 10 minutes while you check the vegetables. The vegetables should be cooked through to softness with nice caramelization and savory fragrance. When they’re ready, use a silicon spatula to place the vegetables into a serving bowl.

3.    Position a sieve over a small sauce bowl.

4.    After 10 minutes, gently transfer the roast to the cutting board reserved for meats. Place the roasting pan on the burner and turn the burner to low.

5.    Use the tongs to steady the roast while you use a sharp kitchen knife to carve the roast into nice-sized slices. The roast will express some liquid as you carve; gently tilt the board into the heating pan juices to release the roasting juices into the wine sauce.

6.    Gently transfer the carved beef to a serving plate. Garnish the beef with fresh thyme and a few grindings of fresh black pepper.

7.    Turn the heat off under the roasting pan and use hotpads to position the roasting pan over the sieve. Carefully pour the pan juices through the sieve into the serving bowl.

8.    Serve the beef, vegetables and wine sauce immediately.