Let’s cook!

Pot Roast

4 to 5 lb boneless beef chuck roast

4 carrots, chopped

2 yellow onions, chopped

4 celery stalks, chopped

3 leeks, chopped with the white and light green parts only

5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

olive oil

all-purpose flour

2 cups red wine

2 tablespoons Cognac

28oz can whole plum tomatoes

1 cup chicken stock

1 chicken bouillon cube

handful fresh thyme

3 branches fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 250.

Pat the roast down with a paper towel. Season the roast with salt and pepper all over. In a large Dutch Oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the roast and sear for 5 minutes, until nicely brown.

Sear all sides and then remove the roast and tie with kitchen string.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, salt and pepper.

Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned! Add the wine.

Add the Cognac.

Bring to a boil then add the chicken stock.

Bring back to a boil, then add tomatoes and bouillon cube.

Mix well and bring back to a boil. Tie the thyme and rosemary together and add to the pot.

Put the roast back into the pot, bring to a boil and cover.

Place in the oven for 3 hours, until the meat is fork tender or 160 degrees.

Remove the roast to a cutting board. Remove the herb bundle and discard. Place 2 tablespoons flour and 1 tablespoon of butter in small bowl and mash them together with a fork.

Using a hand blender puree 50% of the sauce.

Place the stovetop on low heat and simmer the sauce. Place the flour and butter mixture in the sauce until it has thickened.

Remove the strings from the roast, and slice the meat. Pour the sauce over it.

Here is a close-up:

Here is a picture of Sara and Kennedy:

Hope you enjoy and HAPPY COOKING!

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” ~Virginia Woolf

Ok now on to Pot Roast! Nothing is as simple as a crock pot dinner and what better night than Monday night? As I stated in my earlier post, the pot roast I do is a bit different than most because, like Iron Chef America, my secret ingredient is BEER! So lets get to cooking.

Pot Roast

1 beef round roast

1 tomato, sliced thick

4 cloves of garlic, whole minus the paper

1 shallot, chopped

4 celery stocks chopped

1 onion chopped

1 can or bottle of beer (I chose Bud Light-one of America’s finest beers, though a stout may give it even more flavor)

salt and pepper to taste

In the crock pot add beer, tomato, onion, garlic, shallot, salt and pepper.

Now add the roast on top.

Put the lid on and cook on low which I put the setting on for 10 hours.

So when I arrived home from work, all I had to do was cook the rice and make a salad. Here is how I plated the roast on the rice:

There you have it, you can now take the crock pot and use it as a teaser like I do since Jen works from home and she had to smell dinner cooking all day.