Saturday, January 12, 2008

Don't ya wish your pot roast was hot like me?




This is a perfect example of the American part of my Cuban-American Heritage kicking in. I love pot roast. It is the perfect winter meal; hearty, filling, and belly warming. This is the kind of meal that brings a smile to your face, and then sends you off to bed. What I really love about this dish, besides how yummy it tastes, is how visually aesthetic it is. The purple in the red onions, the orange of the carrots, the yellow in the lemon zest, and the bright green of the parsley really turn up the dial when it comes to color. They say that you eat first with your eyes than with your mouth and all of the colors in this dish make it really pretty.  So here’s how you make it.

Ingredients:

1 chuck roast

1 quart chicken stock

2 large red onions

1 white onion

2 heads of garlic

1 lemon

2 cups dry red wine

baby carrots

2 tbsp. tomato paste

flat leaf parsley

thyme leaves

rosemary

salt

olive oil

Take the roast and rinse it. Pat dry with a paper towel. In a large lidded pot, add about ¼ cup of olive oil and turn the heat to high. Once the pot gets hot, add the meat and brown on all sides.


Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Remove the meat from the pot and set aside. Remove some of the oil from the pot, but not all of it, leave about 2 tbsp. in there. Cut the white onion into large chunks and run 4 or five large cloves of garlic through a microplane or garlic press.


Let the onions and garlic cook for a bit. Then add the chicken stock- Make sure you use stock, not broth. Broth is really light and tasteless. Stock is richer and has much more flavor. Next, add the wine. I like to use a dry wine like Chianti or Burgundy. Throw in 3 large bay leaves and then add the meat back into the pot. Use butcher’s twine and tie a sprig of rosemary and thyme together and add to the pot too.


Create an airtight seal between the lid and pot by lining the pot with parchment paper, then placing a sheet of aluminum foil under the lid.


Ok, folks the trick to making melt- in- your- mouth, cut -with- a- spoon kind of pot roast is to cook this baby "slow and low".. Put the pot in the oven for 3 ½ hours on 300 degrees. Once done, remove the pot from the oven. Take the meat and set aside. Run the liquid through a sieve and only keep the liquid. Discard the bay leaf, herbs and onions- don’t worry, we’ll add fresh ones in a minute. Put the liquid back in the pot and add the meat. Next, coarsely chop the Red onions, and run 3 large garlic cloves through your microplane. Add to the pot.


Next, take a lemon, and wash it off. Using your microplane, take the zest of the lemon and add to the pot. Cut the lemon in half and add the juice to the pot. Adding the lemon juice and zest really brightens the flavor of this dish. Add the carrots. Chop up ¼ cup of parsley and add to the pot, also, add a few thyme leaves. In a small cup, mix ¼ cup of water and arrowroot, then add this mixture to the sauce to thicken up a bit. Lastly, add the tomato paste into the pot and whisk into the sauce. Let the carrots and onions cook on med-high heat. Transfer to a platter to serve. Top with freshly chopped parsley and a little lemon zest for garnish. You can serve this with some mashed potatoes and some garlicy green beans.

3 comments:

Debbie said...

my goodness...that looks AMAZING! :)

susiej.com said...

It IS the perfect meal -- and perfect for busy days. Thanks for this twist -- and all the photos.

Nathan said...

I love making "Boliche" with chuck roast or "Carne Con Papas" yours looks good to :)


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