Easy Cranberry Pot Roast

A fellow teacher recommended this easy recipe for me, which the family appears to enjoy.  The house smelled wonderful all day, and even Ben ate some of the pot roast.  (Or at least chewed on it for a while until he spit it back out.)

• 1 (1 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1 (3 pound) beef chuck roast
• 1 (16 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Place onion soup mix in the bottom of a slow cooker. Place roast in the slow cooker, and top with cranberry sauce.
2. Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low.
3. Remove roast, and set aside. Set slow cooker to High. Whisk together butter and flour, and slowly mix into the liquid remaining in the slow cooker to create a thick gravy. Serve with the roast.

Back-to-School Pot Roast

Brian has taken up watching "America's Test Kitchen" on PBS to see how to best make certain dishes, and he seemed pretty enthusiastic about their rendition of a classic pot roast, so when Jack and I found a chuck-eye roast at Meijer today, I decided to live it up on my last night before school started and make a "fancy" pot roast dinner.

We were pretty impressed with the results -- tender, yet not overly fatty, and deliciously rich.  I served it with mashed purple potatoes (with some onion chive cream cheese blended in), baby carrots, and homemade apple sauce.


Why This Recipe Works:
Pot roast can be boring and bland full of dry, stringy meat, stubborn bits of fat, and wan gravy. We wanted a meltingly tender roast sauced in savory, full-bodied gravy.


To start, we separated the roast into two lobes, which allowed us to remove the knobs of fat that stubbornly refused to render and also shortened the cooking time. Salting the roast prior to cooking improved its flavor, as did sautéing the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic before we added them to the pot.


Some recipes use water as a pot roast cooking liquid but when we tried this, the gravy turned out as you’d expect—watery. We had better luck with beef broth. Other flavor-boosting ingredients went into the pot as well: garlic, tomato paste, red wine, thyme, and bay leaves. The resulting gravy boasted a rich, complex character but its flavor didn’t stray from the dish’s simple roots. Finally, sealing the pot with aluminum foil before securing the lid concentrated the steam for an even simmer and fork-tender meat.

Serves 6 to 8

INGREDIENTS

• 1(3 1/2- to 4-pound) boneless beef chuck-eye roast , pulled into two pieces at natural seam and trimmed of large knobs of fat
•  Kosher salt
• 2tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2medium onions , halved and sliced thin (about 2 cups)
• 1large carrot , chopped medium (about 1 cup)
• 1celery rib , chopped medium (about 3/4 cup)
• 2medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
• 1cup beef broth , plus 1 to 2 cups for sauce (see note)
• 1/2cup dry red wine , plus 1/4 cup for sauce
• 1tablespoon tomato paste
• 1bay leaf
• 1sprig plus 1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
•  Ground black pepper
• 1tablespoon balsamic vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. Sprinkle pieces of meat with 1 tablespoon salt (1½ teaspoons if using table salt), place on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet, and let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
• 2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Heat butter in heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium heat. When foaming subsides, add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add carrot and celery; continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes longer. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in 1 cup broth, ½ cup wine, tomato paste, bay leaf, and thyme sprig; bring to simmer.
• 3. Pat beef dry with paper towels and season generously with pepper. Using 3 pieces of kitchen twine, tie each piece of meat into loaf shape for even cooking.
• 4. Nestle meat on top of vegetables. Cover pot tightly with large piece of foil and cover with lid; transfer pot to oven. Cook beef until fully tender and sharp knife easily slips in and out of meat, 3½ to 4 hours, turning halfway through cooking.
• 5. Transfer roasts to cutting board and tent loosely with foil. Strain liquid through mesh strainer into 4-cup liquid measuring cup. Discard bay leaf and thyme sprig. Transfer vegetables to blender jar. Allow liquid to settle 5 minutes, then skim any fat off surface. Add beef broth as necessary to bring liquid amount to 3 cups. Place liquid in blender with vegetables and blend until smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer sauce to medium saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat.
• 6. While sauce heats, remove twine from roast and slice against grain into ½-inch-thick slices. Transfer meat to large serving platter. Stir chopped thyme, remaining ¼ cup wine, and vinegar into sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon half of sauce over meat; pass remaining sauce separately.

Braised Beef Quesadillas

Yesterday I tried a Sandra Lee recipe for Braised Beef Tacos. Because they fell apart as tacos, we ended up turning them into quesadillas. The result was delicious.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 pounds london broil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, stems and leaves separated
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can beef broth or 2 cups water
2 scallions, sliced thin
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
8 corn tortillas
cheddar cheese


Directions
In a large skillet over high heat, add the oil. Season the steak with salt and pepper. When the oil is hot, put the steaks into the pan and cook until browned on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side.

In the sleeve of a slow cooker, add the onion and cilantro stems. Put the steak on top and sprinkle with garlic and chile powder. Add the tomatoes with their juice (set aside 1/2 cup of the tomatoes for the salsa), broth, and 2 cups water. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until the steak is tender and shreds easily. Remove the meat and shred using 2 forks.

While the meat is cooking, combine the reserved 1/2 cup tomatoes with the scallions, lime juice, salt and pepper, to taste, and 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat the tortillas in a skillet or griddle, then top with cheese, shredded meat and salsa. Top with another tortilla and cook on griddle until cheese is melted (about five minutes total, flipping once).

Pot Roast (That I Actually Like)

Today I made pot roast for the first time in my life. I always hated it growing up, but I needed a quick and easy meal and Paula Deen made it look good, so Ben and I went to the grocery store this morning to get a chuck roast. Here's how I made it:

Paula Deen's Pot Roast
1 (3 to 4-pound) boneless chuck roast
salt
pepper
garlic powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion wedges
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup red wine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon beef bouillon granules
3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sprinkle both sides of the chuck roast with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Heat oil in a large skillet and brown the roast, searing it on both sides. Place the meat in a roaster pan. Add onions and garlic to skillet for 1 to 2 minutes to absorb leftover roast juice. Place into roaster pan with meat and bay leaves.

Combine the mushroom soup, wine, Worcestershire sauce and beef bouillon into a bowl. Pour over the roast. Add water.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until tender.

Remove and discard the bay leaves. Transfer meat to serving dish and spoon gravy over top.


The pot roast was delicious. Brian said it was "restaurant quality" and suggested we serve it to company. Then he started flipping through the Meijer ad to see if chuck roast was on sale this week so we can have it again.

If pot roast had tasted like this when I was a kid, I would have eaten it!

Great Summer Meal

Tonight I tried another Giada creation: Spaghetti with Beef, Smoked Almonds and Basil. The recipe sounds bizarre -- smoked almonds on a raw tomato, basil and lemon sauce? Really?! But the results were amazing. The lemon and basil gave a fresh kick and the smokey almonds added some hidden crunch and tasty flavor. We made it with filet mignon, but I would try it again with chicken, too, for an alternative.

Jack ate his spaghetti one strand at a time to savor the flavor. At least that's what I'm telling myself.