Stormroast!

     I didn't plan on it.  I'd been checking the weather, and by Friday, it appeared we'd have rain off and on Saturday but Sunday would be overcast and dry.

     So I planned to make the weekend roast --  beef, this week -- on Sunday.  I had a turnip, a potato, an onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms and shishito peppers.

     Saturday, we did get a little rain.  I improvised dinner: mild chili with a pound of thawed-out hamburger,* a yellow onion, some finely-chopped carrot and thin-sliced celery,† a can of fire-roasted chilis, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of Amy's chili, a small can of tomato sauce, plus a couple of snipped-up pickled Piparra peppers and, near the end, four fresh Shishito peppers, cut in sections.  Browned the meat with some chili powder, smoked paprika and a little Cajun seasoning, drained it, sauteed the onion, added the rest and seasoned with this and that, three bay leaves, a little garlic.  There was plenty left to freeze and have later in the week.

     Sunday was every bit as overcast and smoky as predicted (oh, Canada!).  The roast was good-sized, 3.77 pounds before cooking.  Around ten a.m., I set it to marinating in a mixture of mostly balsamic vinegar, with some cider vinegar, truffle salt, soy sauce, garlic and ginger.

     Around three, I set up the grill.  Still overcast and a little breezy, but that just helped get the coals going.  I set up for indirect heat, put the roast (topped with three bay leaves) in the pan with the lid on, set it on the grill and poured the marinade down the drain.  After a half-hour, I added the turnip (cut in 3/8"-thick slices, quartered), followed by carrots and potato cut to match the turnip.  Onions and celery went in almost an hour later, with one Piparra pepper for luck.  My, weren't the skies looking gray!

     I was out of room in the pan, so I sliced the remaining mushrooms and a few Shishito peppers, put them in my small grill pot with aluminum foil over it for a lid and parked it on a back corner of the grill.  As I did, we had a quick rain shower -- and a little sunshine to go along with it!  Wind was gusting a bit, too.  The cooking needed at least another hour.

     There was plenty to do in the kitchen, so I got to it.  The next time I looked outside, it was full-on raining.  I unrolled a length of aluminum foil, went out into the rain, and improvised a little arch over the top of the grill, held in place by being crimped under the lid.  I've done it before and it works, allowing smoke to exit the top vent but keeping rain out.

     Time passed.  The rain waxed, waned, and thunder began to grumble.  The wind picked up, and a rattle outside caught my attention: it was hailing!  Pebble-sized, along with heavier rain.  The foil rain guard ripped loose from the grill.  I went out and got it back into place, got soaked in the process and decided enough was enough.

     Back indoors, I got my oven mitts and the meat thermometer, put on my rain hat and told Tam to corral the cats.  Outside, hail was falling on me and rain soaked through my top as I tilted back the lid of the grill, lifted the lid of the roasting pan releasing a cloud of fragrant steam, and took its temperature: well above 180°F in the middle, plenty done.  I hustled the pan indoors.  My oven mitts aren't that great, so I have to move fast.  I went back for the small pan, mashed the foil flat on the grill top, and almost burned my hands carrying the pan in: it had been right over the coals and was even hotter than the roasting pan.

    With the grill as battened down as it was going to get -- there's a latch on the lid -- I got the roast out of the pan so it could sit a little before slicing, and took a few pictures

     It was good, possibly all the better for having finished cooking in what the weather service warned was a severe thunderstorm!

     My oven mitts are still damp as of this morning. 
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* Of course you have a few one-pound packages of hamburger frozen, right?  I had restocked recently.  It's handy and versatile, and thaws well in the microwave.
 
† Purists will blanch, but it only adds to the flavor.  Besides, I had more than I was going to use for the roast and that stuff doesn't keep forever.