Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Click here for 'Alcatra, Part I.' Traditionally the alcatra is cooked for two days; I didn't have two days and thought that a colossal waste of energy anyway. So, after marinating overnight, I roasted the alcatra for three hours in accordance with some more modern recipes. At 375 degrees, the roast cooked for two hours. Then I added potatoes, reduced the temperature to 325 and cooked for another hour. To serve I smashed the potatoes, sliced the roast and sausages, and topped it all with the roasted onions. Delicious.

I decided a traditional beef pot roast dish from Terceira, one of the Portuguese-held Azores Islands, would be a great dish for Jake's real birthday dinner. Alcatra is a Portuguese recipe for a spicy piece of ass, the perfect dish for my spicy...well, you get the idea. Traditionally the alcatra beef roast is slow-roasted in a clay pot that's shaped like a flower pot with herbs and spices. The closest thing I have is a large stoneware baking bowl. Tonight was the first part of alcatra preparation: the marination. From all of my research, a few ingredients are key to the alcatra marinade - cinnamon sticks, whole allspice, onions, garlic, wine, bay leaves. So I placed all of that in the stoneware bowl with the rump roast and two nitrite-free Portuguese sausages. That will all soak overnight. Look for 'Alcatra, Part II' tomorrow night after we celebrate Jake's 36th birthday.