WEDNESDAY
Pot Roast with Parsley~Garlic Sauce | Applesauce
I am sitting here at my desk, staring at the blinking cursor on my computer screen, twirling my hair {a nervous habit of mine} and thinking of something witty to say in order to engage you to read on about this absolutely lovely pot roast we devoured for dinner last night. But my thoughts are scattered in a hundred different directions at the moment and that part of my brain I exercise to string various words together into complete, coherent sentences for your reading enjoyment is otherwise occupied with an assignment. An item added to my “to-do” list this week, of all weeks, when I am trying to prepare for the mobilization this weekend of girls, horses, stuff {lots of stuff} and one feisty terrier from San Francisco to San Diego for a horse show next week as well as organize a birthday celebration for Mallory prior to our departure.
Yesterday, as I sat down to write about this wonderful dinner enjoyed the evening before…
…with the aroma of a simmering pot roast in the oven filling the house, I felt somewhat accomplished. After all, dinner preparations were finished before noon; the tailcoat Madison needed at the eleventh hour {which coat could only be found in the UK} had just been delivered; the new bit for her horse, another recent change implemented days before our departure, also found its way to our doorstep with time to spare; the validation sticker for the horse’s passport {a required document for the upcoming competition}, which can only be obtained from an office in Lexington, KY, was securely affixed in its proper place as of yesterday; and that special birthday gift for my soon-to-be thirteen year old was on its way! Now, with a cup of tea in hand, I was looking forward to telling you about these perfect little toasts…
…sweet & salty, creamy & crunchy with the faintest hint of thyme. And then it came, silently delivered via email, sitting there in my inbox like a ticking time bomb, the assignment from Madison’s high school counselor: write a parent letter of recommendation for her college admissions portfolio, due Friday. At that moment, the wheels came off the proverbial bus. I had recently braved the waters of international shipping and the bureaucracy of an authorizing agency yet this assignment left me feeling overwhelmed. After a few moments of shock and disbelief, the blog post was tucked into the drafts folder while the magnitude of the task before me slowly sunk in. Letters of recommendation…written statements of fact, evidence and objectivity…which provide a favorable description of a person, in three paragraphs or less. The essence of my daughter…in three paragraphs or less!
Now, I can’t tell you how this story ends because it hasn’t yet. The letter is still a work in progress but I will meet the deadline. In the meantime, I fear that the draft post for the Roasted Grapes & Thyme with Ricotta and Grilled Bread will never see the light of day so I urge you to head over to Alexandra’s Kitchen for details on how to make these wonderfully easy toasts…they really are quite good! The perfect complement to fall soups and/or salads.
As for our pot roast dinner last night, it was, in a word, OUTSTANDING! Not an unexpected result when you begin with a recipe from Alice Waters. I have made her Beef Stew several times with great success, but tonight I made a few simple changes to that recipe…using whole chuck roast rather than stew pieces, adding Yukon Gold potatoes, substituting a rich tomato paste for diced fresh tomatoes and adding a parsley~garlic finishing sauce.
A key step towards getting, rich, fork~tender meat in the finished dish…begin with a good browning of the roast in olive oil and some bacon drippings…
Instead of browning the herbs with the vegetables, I tied a few sprigs each of parsley and thyme together with some string and placed it in with the meat and vegetables just before the pot went into the oven…
A finishing sauce of parsley, garlic, olive oil & champagne vinegar was drizzled over the meat just before serving…
- 3-4 pounds, boneless chuck roast
- Salt & freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 onions, peeled & quartered
- 2 whole cloves {stick them into onion quarters}
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
- 2 Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered
- 2 sprigs each of thyme & parsley, tied together with some kitchen string
- 1 bay leaf
- 3-4 whole black peppercorns
- 3 tablespoons brandy
- 1 3/4 cups red wine
- 3 ounces tomato paste
- 5-6 garlic cloves, peeled and pushed through a garlic press
- 1 thin strip of orange zest
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and pushed through a garlic press
- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- 3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees farenheit.
- Season the meat generously with salt and pepper.
- In a large, heavy-bottomed pan heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and then add the bacon. Cook until the fat is rendered and the meat lightly browned. Remove the bacon and add the meat, browning well on all sides. Remove the browned meat from the pan and place into a heavy, deep pot.
- Pour off most of the fat, lower the heat and add the onions, cloves, carrots, potatoes, bay leaf & peppercorns. Cook until slightly browned and then add to the meat in the pot.
- Return the pan to the stove, raise the heat and pour in the brandy {this may flame up so use caution} and then add the wine. Cook until the liquid is reduced by two-thirds, scraping up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour this over the beef and vegetables in the pot.
- In a saucepan or small pot, heat the beef stock to boiling and then remove from heat. To the stock, add the tomato paste, 5-6 pressed garlic cloves and the orange zest. Stir to combine and then add the liquid to the meat, vegetables and wine mixture in the pot.
- Check the level of the liquid in the pot; it should only come halfway up the roast. {Add water if more liquid is needed}
- Add the herb bouquet to the pot, and a few pieces of the cooked bacon if you would like, and then cover the pot tightly and cook in a 325-degree oven for 4 hours or until the meat is fork tender, checking occasionally to make sure the liquid is simmering {not boiling} and that there is enough liquid. When the meat is tender, remove the pot from the oven and allow to sit for a few minutes. Skim off all of the fat. Discard the bay leaf, herb bouquet, cloves and peppercorns. Taste for salt and adjust as needed.
- While the meat rests, combine the parsley, garlic, olive oil and the vinegar in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
- Serve the meat, with a few of the vegetables on the side. Drizzle a bit of the parsley sauce over the meat and enjoy!
A chunky applesauce was served alongside our pot roast. This is an easy and quick sauce featuring our favorite apples in season right now: Honey Crisp. Hardly a recipe, I simply peeled, cored and diced 8 Honey Crisp apples, placed them in a pot with 2 tablespoons of organic apple juice and cooked over medium heat until the apples were tender enough to be mashed with a fork. You can add a dash of ground cinnamon if you would like but tonight, we kept it simple.
