The Last Supper

Now it's no secret that I love football. I more than love it because it puts me in the same room as my beloved sister every Sunday for 17 weeks in a row. More than that even because then we have the playoffs. And have I ever mentioned that her and I are each other's biggest fan? We only need to make eye contact most of the time and we're both running to two different bathrooms because our middle aged bladders turned their backs on us a few years ago. So we bet on Proline and every pool we can get into, we make money every year, but mostly we laugh our heads off. And that happens to agree with my soul very much! BUT- that puts me out of the house every Sunday for about five months of the year. Thank God my LadyGirls have moved out and have lives of their own. But there is no big Sunday roast dinner for my partner. And really, that's his loss because he is not a football fan. So tonight I made a major meal to say goodbye. I'll be back in February!

I roasted a sirloin. Served it on a bed of mashed potatoes, along with some roasted corn on the cob and roasted golden beets. And topped it with sautéed mushrooms with shallot, garlic and jalapeno. And because I love all the flavours of Mexico, I put my own flavour spin on it all. I'll break it all down into each item, and you'll have to make your grocery list on the overall picture.

First thing you want to do is to chop the top off a whole head of garlic and put it in a piece of tin foil. Add some olive oil and salt and pepper and seal it and roast it off at 350 degrees for about half an hour. Put it aside and forget about it. You'll be squeezing this into your mashed potatoes later.

For the roast:
Use a sirloin tip and pre heat the oven to 375 degrees. Season it with salt, pepper, cumin, coriander and chili powder. Just sprinkle a goodly amount and don't worry about measurement. Roast it off at 20 minutes per pound uncovered in a shallow baking dish. Take it out of the oven and cover with tin foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.

So you'll plan out your vegetables based on the timing of your meat. The mashed potatoes will take about 20 minutes. The beets will be about 15 minutes and the corn will be about 30 minutes. And 20 minutes for the mushrooms.

For the corn:
Cover a cookie sheet in tin foil and break the corn cobs into 3 inch pieces. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper and whatever seasoning you like. I used cumin, coriander and chili powder to marry the flavour with the meat, but you could use a bit of seasoning salt or whatever you like on your corn. Put this in the oven 20 minutes before you're going to take the meat out.

For the beets:
Peel and chop into 1 inch pieces and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and 1/2 a teaspoon of dried thyme. Add to the cookie sheet with the corn 10 or 15 minutes before you plan to remove your meat, making sure the pieces aren't too crowded or touching each other.

For the potatoes:
Boil the potatoes (use however many your need) in salted boiling water until they're tender (about 20 minutes). Drain and using an electric mixer, squeeze in your garlic, a goodly amount of butter and milk or cream and salt and pepper to season. Mix until smooth. Cover and set aside.

For the mushroom sauté:
Slice about 15 mushrooms. Finely dice 2 shallots. Finely chop 4 cloves of garlic and 1 jalapeno pepper. Melt some olive oil and butter in a fry pan. Add ingredients and season with salt, pepper, cumin and coriander. Saute until golden and add a squeeze of lime juice just before serving.

To assemble:
Smear the mashed potatoes on a platter. Top with sliced beef, Circle with the corn and roasted golden beets. Add the mushrooms to the top of all.

Easy and delicious my friends! And it really tells a story of how much you care before you go on your football sojourn for the next five months. And really, if you can't beat them, you really ought to join them! Cheers friends!