I talk about food a lot. And other stuff.

But mostly food.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Pot Roast

The weather has turned on me.  I have a few posts yet about grilling, but they might have to wait for next spring.  I just can't bear to talk about them when it's overcast and 60 out there.  In the meantime, I made pot roast with mashed potatoes.



I have taken my mother-in-law's amazing pot roast recipe and made it even better.  How? By adding wine, of course.


Shake the roast in a bag with flour, salt and pepper.
Heat oil in the bottom of a pot.
Brown the meat.


Add a cup of red wine, a diced onion, 1/2 a can of tomato paste and a beef bouillon cube to the pot.
Stir and incorporate/melt the cube and the paste.
Let cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Turn the meat over.


Add 2 cups beef broth (or water).


Simmer, covered for 2 hours. I turn it over a couple of times because I have a hard time not futzing with my food.  It makes me feel like I'm doing something during those two hours.  You don't have to.
Add desired amount of baby carrots and simmer, covered for another hour.

To make the potatoes:
Boil potatoes until soft. I keep the skins on and cut them in 8 or so pieces to make the cooking time shorter.
Mash with an electric mixer, adding butter and milk or cream to taste.
Also, add an egg.  It makes them creamy and rich and awesome.  And adds protein!



But what to do with the other half of that can of tomato paste, you say?  Well, you could use it from a tube if you wanted and put the rest back in the fridge for your next endeavor.  I know many people who do that, but for some reason it just doesn't jive with me.  It makes me think of either anchovy paste or toothpaste, neither of which I want to eat.  Here's what I do while the roast is cooking:

Spoon out Tablespoon blobs onto plastic wrap and fold it over in half.


Cut between the blobs, making tomato paste filled plastic ravioli.


Bundle them up in cute little individual packets and pop them in the freezer, ready for their destiny.

Cute!





Let's have another look at that plate:












5 comments:

  1. Absolutely delicious looking! I haven't made pot roast in ages.

    Beautiful Mind

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  2. oh my
    that plate right there will haunt my dreams till I can talk my husband into making me pot roast....
    absolutely beautiful!
    yum

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  3. Now I have to go buy a roast! RIGHT NOW!

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  4. Great ideas there, what with the dredging in a bag and the tomato paste bombs - very Alton Brown!

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  5. This may be a very stupid question, but how do you make the delicious looking gravy?

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