Perfect Pot Roast with Creamy Mashed Potatoes (My Way)-- and we have a Giveaway Winner!

I've made many pot roasts in my life.  I've made them in my slow cooker, pressure cooker and in the oven.    I've been reading The Pioneer Woman's food blog for three years.  I even bought her cookbook, when it first came out-- and I've posted many of her recipes.   Every so often, Ree will post something with salad greens... or vegetables....or soups.  She's not always about comfort food, you know!  However, when I recorded an episode of PW's new Food Network show, and I watched Ree make her Perfect Pot Roast... well, my mind was set on making it.  However, I didn't exactly follow Ree's recipe.  I will tell you, in advance, that this is the best pot roast that I've made so far!

 Behold, a nicely marbled piece of 5 pound chuck roast... (season with salt & pepper)

 Three yellow onions and whole carrots...

 A Dutch oven, in my opinion, is my favorite way to braise.  I liked Ree's idea of cutting the onion in half, instead of chunks.  With a little olive oil, just give them a nice brown, remove and set aside.

Add a little more olive oil, and toss in the carrots (cut in really large chunks). Give those a nice sear, and here's my own touch-- in the last 30 seconds, add two whole cloves of garlic. Set those veggies aside...

 Add some more oil. and keep that Dutch Oven hot!

 Now, sear the meat.  Hear that sizzle!

...and give that meat a beautiful sear on both sides, and all around. 

 

Remove the meat.

I'm lucky enough to have an herb garden, where I could cut three sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme. We're about to build some flavor for the braising liquid.

Ree tosses her herbs into the broth.  I wanted to tie them, so I could easily remove them. (I don't particularly care for bits of rosemary floating around in my gravy).  I have kitchen twine, but I save the rubber bands from when I buy celery.  I think they're easy to use, and then I just toss them.

I decided to deglaze all that beautiful brown bits with some red wine-- oh, about 3/4 cup.

 I added about 3 cups of beef stock.  I had to add something that Ree did not...

Tomato paste. I love that richness and depth of flavor and color it adds to sauces and braising liquids.

TIP:  At a restaurant supply store, I buy a package of those small plastic containers that you find in take-out foods.  I freeze 1-2 Tbsp. portions of tomato paste, once I open a can and only use a portion of it.  I also freeze leftover chipotle peppers and pesto sauce.

With a sharp knife, I carefully cut about 1 Tbsp. of frozen tomato paste...

...then, tossed it into the braising liquid.

Please pardon the out of focus Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.  Again, this was another layer of flavor that I added to Ree's original recipe.  Trust me, this adds a lot of flavor! Now, give it a taste... adjust the seasonings with more salt and pepper, if you feel it needs it. 

Now, add the meat back into the pot. Toss in the two garlic cloves. 

Set the tied herbs into the liquid.  Tuck those beautifully caramelized carrots and onions along the sides... nice, and cozy.

NOTE: In reading the many comments people left about pot roast, some people said that the carrots should only be added at the end, lest they become mushy.  I set aside half of the carrots, to test that theory. I'll let you know.

Now, add enough beef stock so that the liquid comes up to about halfway of the meat. Put the lid on, and put into an oven, preheated to 275F.  Relax, and let this cook low and slow for 2-3 hours.

Of course, you could put all of this into a slow cooker.  On a lazy Sunday, I'm content to use a Dutch Oven.  It's just my preference.  

So, it's been about 3 hours, and I have to tell you-- the pot roast smells so good!  I decided to add the remaining carrots and let this go for another 45 minutes.

Pot roast. From scratch. No onion soup mix.  This is home cookin'!

 Toss away the herbs. They've done their job well.

The meat is very, very tender.  NOTE:  I recently watch Anne Burrell (Food Network/Secrets of a Restaurant Chef) make a pot roast, and she ties it so that slicing the meat is much easier.  In the future, I'm definitely going to do this. 

Overall, the meat was easy to slice.  I debated thickening the braising liquid into a thick gravy.  But, I decided not to.  Truth be told, I was hungry!

I made these Creamy Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, earlier in the day.  My secret to terrific mashed potatoes is to use a food mill, and I don't peel the potatoes.  I stir in a combo of cream cheese and butter, and some heavy cream. Yes, the fat gram police aren't pleased.  Once in a while, I say, live it up... and these potatoes are the best you can make.  I simply heated these in the last half hour that the pot roast was cooking-- right next to it.  They were hot, and steamy.  Serve the pot roast, and veggies and gravy right over a mound of creamy mashed potatoes.  Dig in!

VERDICT:  Seriously, this is the best pot roast I have ever made!  Let's start with the sauce-- the red wine, tomato paste, garlic and Worcestershire sauce kicked up the flavor a lot.  The meat was tender.  I loved the caramelized large chunks of onion. Yummy! The carrots were not mushy. They were sweet, and I couldn't tell the difference between the carrots I cooked at the beginning vs. the end.  The rosemary and thyme herbs were perfect, and I much preferred not having them in my sauce.  I did not regret that I didn't make the gravy thicker with flour or cornstarch.  The next day, the pot roast was even better!  Sadly, there were not enough leftovers to make pot roast soup.  With all due respect to The Pioneer Woman, my additions to the her recipe were an improvement.  We loved this recipe, and I can hardly wait for that first  California frosty cold winter night to make this again.  

A printable recipe card, with my adaptions, is at the end of this post.

I need to  announce the winner of the Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway.  Using random.org, the winner is....

Congratulations, Simple Simon!  Please email me at foodiewife@gmail.com with your shipping address, so Tate's Bake Shop can send your prize.

Short-Rib Soup with Mushrooms and Israeli Couscous

Spring is beginning to make its presence known, in my part of California. I already spotted the first of the California grown asparagus-- yes!  Our Wisteria is in full bloom, and my rose buds are showing promise of rose flowers in our garden.

 If you've been following the news in California, we've had some really heavy rains.  Then, just when we were worried that our local river might flood, we were blessed with 80-degree weather for the last two days.  Today, we're back to overcast skies and chilly winds.  Crazy weather!   I am never sure if I can uncover our Weber grill, or it's time to braise something, or make soup.  Before the recipes for all the Spring vegetables start hitting blogsophere, I wanted to post the soup that I made with the leftover Red Wine Braised Short Rib recipe that I posted a couple of weeks ago.

Speaking of the last two weeks, I have been missing in action.   Suffice it to say that my work schedule doesn't leave me enough time to post recipes as much as I once did.  I miss it, terribly.  For now, it seems I can only post once a week... twice, if I'm lucky.

With that said, let's make soup.  I love making soups, year-round.  It's fun for me to transform leftovers into a delicious soup.  When I make pot roast, I always make souI. When I made the short rib recipe, I saved the vegetables that were used in the braising of the short ribs. I cut up the leftover short ribs and set them aside.

This recipe also comes from Chef Huber Keller, who inspired me to make the Red Wine Braised Short-Ribs.  He used Israeli Couscous.  I happened to find a bag of Harvest Grains, that I had purchased at Trader Joe's.

I cooked one cup the Harvest Grains, per the instructions on the bag...

...and set it aside.  Make a bouquet garni by wrapping the parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and 2‐ inch celery piece into a 2‐inch piece of leek. Alternatively, wrap in cheesecloth.

Chef Hubert Keller used Shitake mushrooms.  I used Cremini mushrooms, because it's what I had on hand. i decided to brown them in a little olive oil. You don't have to do this, and you can just add them to the soup sliced raw.  If you don't have leftover cooked vegetables, then simply saute a mirepoix of onion, celery and carrots, and saute them in bacon (or olive oil).

To the vegetables, add the remaining braising liquid, red wine, bouquet garni and some beef stock.

Add the chopped short ribs, couscous and mushrooms...

Truthfully, I liked the soup almost more than the actually braised short rib dinner. The braising liquid is what makes the soup so rich and flavorful.

So there you have it-- how to turn leftovers into something really flavorful and filling.  A printable recipe card is at the bottom of this post.  

I'm submitting this recipe to Deb and Kahakai Kitchen for her Souper Sunday weekly roundup of soup, stew, salad and sandwich recipes.  Please pay her lovely blog a visit!

I haven't been able to visit any food blogs for two weeks, and I'm regretting that I'm missing out on some terrific recipes. . I'll do my best to pop in and visit those of you who are on my blog roll-- and to my newest followers on my blog and my Facebook Fan Page.  I'm sorry I haven't been around much.   I'll find more time, soon.  I'm working on it!

Cheers!

Corned Beef & Cabbage with a Tangy Glaze

I don't have a drop of Irish blood in me, though I've been all over Ireland and I've kissed the Blarney stone.  Maybe that's why each  March  I crave Corned Beef & Cabbage?  All I know is that this traditional American-Irish dish, in honor of St. Patrick's Day has been on my mind for over a week!

Making Corned Beef & Cabbage is a no-brainer.  Seriously, over the last 30 or so St. Patrick's Day Dinners, I've faithfully bought a package of Corned Beef.  I've simply read the directions on the package, that  includes a seasoning packet.  Per the directions, I always added potatoes, carrots and whatever vegetables sounded good. Sometimes I added beer to the water.  How easy can it be?  Then, one of my dear Food Bloggers, Cathy of "Wives With Knives" posted her mother's own recipe for Corned Beef & Cabbage.  I love Cathy's photos, because they make me want to have a taste of whatever it is she's posted.  I especially liked the way Cathy talked about how she spreads a mixture of brown sugar, Dijon, cloves and red wine vinegar on the brisket, before serving.  Now, why hadn't I ever thought of that?  Cathy uses a slow-cooker, and think that's a great idea. The problem is, when it's 1:00 in the afternoon, and I'm craving Corned Beef & Cabbage on a Sunday afternoon-- I had to improvise.

First, I rinsed and drained the brisket (this is a 3-pound flat-cut piece of brisket. After trimming off the excess fat, I simply opened the seasoning packet and set it into a Dutch Oven.  I covered the brisket with water and simmered it very slowly for about 3 hours.

I had almost completely forgotten about these Cippollini onions!  They're cute, and a bit sweeter than yellow onions.  I peeled some carrots and quartered some red potatoes, and of course I quartered a head of green cabbage.

Preheating the oven to 350F, I removed the brisket (reserving the liquid) and I improvised a glaze of my own, remembering one I use for my Glazed Meatloaf recipe. I used brown sugar, cider vinegar, Dijon mustard and ketchup.

I love the taste of this glaze! I placed the brisket into the oven, and began cooking the carrots, onion and potatoes until fork tender (about 20 minutes.)  I wanted to broil the glaze, at the very end, for a minute or two, but I had bread baking at the same time (I wish I had two ovens at times like this.)

In the last five minutes of cooking, I stacked the cabbage onto the vegetables and liquid, put a lid on it and let it steam.  

The brisket was ready to be sliced, and it looked very juicy...

I'm on a glaze kick, if you haven't noticed!

Dinner is served!

TASTING NOTES:  The glaze is a wonderful alternative to either a horseradish or mustard sauce. My boys don't like horseradish (though, I do).  I like to splash a little cider vinegar on my cabbage, and the glaze has the perfect balance of sweet, tangy and a slight tomato flavor.  In retrospect, I wish I had added tossed the potatoes and carrots with butter- but, I'm trying to cut some calories wherever I can.  Then again, there's always room for a glass of cold Harp Beer to wash this down. 

Cathy, thanks for inspiring me to add a little more pizazz to corned beef, with a glaze by posting your lovely recipe idea.  A printable version of how I made this is at the bottom of this post. 

Irish Soda bread goes nicely with this dinner, too.

If you don't care for Corned Beef & Cabbage, then this Easy Shepherd's Pie might just do the trick!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!