(please ignore my mismatched plates)
Ah, weekends. Despite having another busy busy weekend, I chose to set aside Sunday and make a semblance of “Sunday Dinner” from years gone by. Not years in my house growing up, but you know, from movies, books; the Sunday dinner that took all day to prepare and perfumed the house (in this case, apartment) with gentle, warming scents and everyone looked forward to eating. Sunday dinner was not to be missed. Sunday dinner is a tradition I’ve been hoping/waiting to start, especially once I have my own family, Sunday will be the one day of the week where everyone comes together, sits down for an entire, lazy meal together and just enjoys, catches up on each other’s lives, whatever it is we’ve been doing all week… this is sanctuary.
Of course, growing up in an Asian household, Sunday dinners as these were only read about or seen on TV. My boyfriend’s dad apparently used to do them frequently, always with a big pot of sauce on the stove, pasta, garlic bread, mm, I can just smell it now. I should really get to that, actually…
In any case, Fresh Direct had a sale on bottom round roast- $3.99/lb- this past week as a President’s Pick. (Seriously… I’m considering becoming the Fresh Direct Foodie.) I purchased myself a 6 lb. roast without considering, once again, the fact that I’d never made such a cut of meat. But a bit of perusing recipes and brainstorming my own concoction came up with…. this beautiful spread.
For the roast, I first seared it on all side, after seasoning it with kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper. I set it aside, deglazed the pan with butter and veal stock (what little I had left over from another President’s Pick sale on Fresh Direct- veal stock is so rich, flavorful, it really adds a depth to anything), then added minced onions and garlic. After that had frizzled up a bit, I added some roasted chicken stock that I’d frozen months ago, and let that come to a simmer. Gently added the whole roast, along with celery and carrots roughly chopped (NOT that celery/carrots pictured above, mind you), a few sprigs of thyme, a bay leaf and… honey. I’d read honey in a recipe online and decided to keep that part. The aroma was wonderful… But I’ll get to that in a second.
After a few hours (really, closer to like, 8), during which I turned the roast a few times, stirred it, made sure to keep it at a good low simmer, I removed all of the now-sogged up veggies and chucked those (yeah, I could have blended them for a thickener, but I was feeling a bit hungry). Then, I added some freshly chopped carrots and celery and let that go for a bit. Once that was almost done, I removed the roast to a platter and let it rest, along with the veggies around it on the platter. I added some cornstarch slurry and let the gravy thicken up a bit, then served the whole darn thing.
How did it turn out? Silly me, it turns out I’ve never had pot roast before because no one’s made it and I’ve never ordered it at a restaurant. So I’m not sure if it came out the way it should- it tasted fine, not bad, but the meat was incredibly dry (tender, though) without any gravy. Thankfully, the gravy was super tasty, so I just ladled that on generously. The carrots, however, well, the honey flavor didn’t shine much in the pot roast itself, but when eating the carrots, they just pulled out all of the honey and tasted of glazed carrots. Delicious. We’ve still got plenty of meat leftover, since I served a full meal, but we will both be happy eating this for the rest of the week. Yummy.
For the rest of the meal… the yummyness abounds! I took some grape tomatoes (usually I would suggest tomatoes easier to chop, but this is what I had on hand so they did in a pinch- normally I recommend Roma/plum tomatoes, they’re less watery than most tomatoes so they don’t sog up everything but these did wonderfully) and chopped them up with onion. Some Italian seasoning, freshly ground black pepper, kosher salt, and a nice happy stir before letting this sit in a bowl in the fridge to marry the flavors. I baked up some bread (it was parbaked by Fresh Direct, I just order it and finish the baking), sliced it up and toasted (most TV chefs recommend grilling with a bit of olive oil, and I’m sure that’s lovely, but my grill-pan is not up to par, and I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate my using a real grill in an apartment where the windows don’t open) it, then rubbed the cut end on a garlic clove all over the slices. It already smelled great but then I drizzled EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) over the slices, spooned some of the bruschetta (tomato mixture) on top, and for the final touch… grated some Parmagiana-Reggiano over the top, generously. This was really good… I love this because it’s easy but tastes so good. (PS I bought the cheese in a big hunk, my first time buying Parmagiana-Reggiano like so, during the President’s Pick a few weeks ago- $9.99/lb.) (Doh! I just realized I have fresh mozzarella at home, too! I could have added that, but then I guess the whole dish would be a bit too heavy when we’re already eating dinner. This is just a nice pre-dinner munch.)
And last but not least, the potatoes. I didn’t want to just throw these in with the pot roast and boil them in the juices, so I opted to roast them. I zested two lemons, then juiced them into a bowl, added some Italian seasoning, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and then streamed some EVOO into the bowl while whisking. I chopped the potatoes, roughly the same size pieces, and tossed them to coat, then threw them into a non-reactive (I used glass) baking pan at 350 degrees for a bit until a knife easily slide into the potatoes. Delicious.
So that was our Sunday dinner. Very yummy, filling and comforting, especially now that the weather has (finally?) turned and it’s getting cold out there. If someone can let me know if my pot roast was supposed to be like that- soft, tender, but dry- I would really appreciate it. Thanks and enjoy!!!
SkippyMom says
This is SO funny – because I blogged that this is what we were having on Sunday too!
We like ours done in the oven with carrots and potatoes, spices and a touch of water in a roasting bag.
It comes out incredibly moist and with lots of au jus to pour over everything….
I was telling SKH tho’ that I hadn’t made in on top of the stove in years [I like the taste/ease of the oven] but you’ve inspired me….looks nummy!
[and it sounds like you did it right! good job!]
SkippyMom says
Hey – I re read this and you know what the problem might be [you said it was a bit dry] It may be that beef stock would work better than veal/chicken.
I find veal stock/meat has no taste…and I would only use beef stock or broth for this….or boullion cubes….
I don’t know…just a thought.
HerBoudoir says
I typically do pot roast in a crock pot. It can sometimes be a bit dry, but it sounds like you may have overcooked it?
I usually give a 4 lb roast about 5-6 hours in the crock pot.
One of my favorite is what I call an Italian pot roast (no relationship to real Italian food, but I use tomato and lots of Italian seasonings). Sear the beef, and saute onions, celery and just one carrot until they start to caramelize. Hit the pan with about a cup red wine to deglaze. In the pot, add beef broth (I use a can of low salt), small can tomato paste, plenty of whole cloves of garlic, and basil/oregano/bay leaf. Cover the crock pot and resist the urge to peek (lets out the heat and steam).
Let that simmer for a couple hours. I saute or roast mushrooms, onions and 1 carrot separately. I take it easy on the carrot to not make so sweet a sauce. When the roast is done, puree the braised veggies in the sauce, then mix in the roasted mushroom mix.
Serve with polenta.
The bruschetta would be great with this, and I usually do a green salad to lighten up how heavy the pot roast and poltenta is.