The Call of the Pan Yummies and Selles-sur-Cher

Okay, so I'm a freak. But after the Crown Roast episode we had a spectacular roasting pan filled with gooey crusty caramelized drippings, which I like to call "pan yummies." Normally you can use that to make a sauce, although for our T-day dinner, Eric had already made a brilliant classic brown sauce for the occasion.

But I couldn't possibly let those pan yummies go to waste -- it would be criminal to let all that marrow wash down the drain! So up early Saturday morning and haul out the equipment to make sauce.

It was mostly improvised with a lot of help from Eric, who is, after all, our sauce master. We deglazed with red wine -- a lot of it. ("Ooops! Was that too much?") Then I tossed in some chopped onions and celery (we always have a ton of it left over because a recipe will call for one stalk, but of course you have to buy a whole bunch.) There was tomato paste, beef broth, bay leaf, basically whatever we had on hand. and the whole thing simmered for a bit.

I made a roux ("Is it nutty enough smelling now? How about now? Now? What about now?") and we thickened. Then I got to use Eric's favorite implement, the chinois. Ahh.... smooth lovely creamy sauce. We corrected flavors with some lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Here's my sauce -- the dark one, and Eric's original, which was probably better suited to the pork roast. mine will be used for something. I don't know what -- but something....


And so another day of dirtying every pot in the house ....


And to reward ourselves for another job well done....some lovely Selles-sur-Cher goat cheese. Oh so good. We warmed this in the oven and it really brought out that tangy goatiness. Mmmmmmm....