The Roast Debate

Since the beginning of my marriage there has been a great debate...the roast debate. My husband likes roast cooked in the crock pot with a can of cream of mushroom and Lipton onion soup mix. I like my roast cooked in a dutch oven with herbs and carrots and potatoes (recipe below). In the beginning, I always made roast his way; because I loved him and just wanted him to love what ever I cooked. But really I find his way rather dull and tasteless.

Well, a couple months ago I decided it was time. It was time to do it my way. Too bad if he didn't like it. After almost 4 years together, I deserved to have the roast my way. To my surprise, he loved it. He even admitted that it had much more flavor, while still being "fall-apart" tender.

I'm just thrilled that I can once again look forward to Sunday pot roast!


HERB STUFFED POT ROAST
(Recipe adapted from Cuisine at Home)

For the roast:
1 beef chuck pot roast (2 ½ - 3 lbs.)
3 T. fresh rosemary, chopped
2 T. garlic cloves, sliced
1 t. kosher salt
½ t. pepper
2 T. olive oil

For the sauce:
2 medium onions, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
1 T. tomato paste
¼ C. all purpose flour
3 C. beef stock
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. Dijon mustard
1 bay leaf

For the veggies:
2 C. baby red potatoes
2 C. Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Trim the exterior fat from the roast. Pat the meat dry.
3. Combine rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper.
4. Cut 1 inch deep slits into the meat with a paring knife, in several areas all over the roast. Stuff the herb mixture into the slits. Season the roast well on both sides with salt and pepper.
5. Heat oil in a large, oven proof pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear roast on all sides until well browned, 8-10 minutes. Transfer roast to a platter.
6. Sauté onions, celery, and diced carrots in the pan drippings, stirring often, until onions start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste; stir until it starts to brown on bottom of the pot. Stir in flour.
7. Deglaze the pot with beef stock. Scraping up any browned bits. Bring liquid to a boil; return seared roast to the pot. Cover pot, place in the oven, and braise for 2 hours.
8. Remove pot from the oven. Transfer roast to a platter. Strain sauce, discarding vegetables. Stir Worcestershire, Dijon, and bay leaf into sauce. Return sauce and roast to the pot.
9. Add potatoes and carrots to the pot. Cover pot; return roast to the oven. Cook until meat is fork-tender, 1-1 ½ more hours.
10. Remove from the oven and transfer roast and vegetables to a platter. Bring sauce to a simmer; skim off and discard fat. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
11. To serve, spoon sauce over pot roast and vegetables.

As promised...

a yummy dutch oven recipe.

We ventured into the woods this weekend with our good friends for some last minute summer camping. We've been meaning to go all summer, but life just kept getting in the way. I'm so glad we made it though. Reese had the time of her life. She couldn't get enough of the unlimited rocks, dirt, sticks and water to play with and in. Here are a couple shots of her playing in the water.



In my family camping is really all about the food, and it usually involves a lot of dutch oven food. We're best known for our dutch oven baked beans, but I've already been warned that if I ever post that recipe I'll be disowned. So dutch oven apple crisp will have to do. This recipe can also be easily adapted to the oven. Simple put all the ingredients into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

I of course completely spaced taking a picture. But I did take a picture of my husband putting the coals on the dutch oven.

This is pretty much what it looks like. Of course ours was served on paper plates, sans the ice cream. I borrowed this picture from closetcooking.blogspot.com.

DUTCH OVEN APPLE CRISP

Filling:
4-6 large apples; peeled, cored and sliced (I use a combination of granny smith, Macintosh, and pink lady)
1 T. lemon juice
1/3 C. sugar
¼ C. flour
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
1/8 t. cloves
½ t. salt
6 oz. caramel ice cream topping

Topping:
1 C. brown Sugar
1 C. flour
1 C. oatmeal
¼ C. chopped nuts
½ C. butter; melted

1. In a buttered 12" Dutch oven add apples and lemon juice; stir to coat apples.
2. In a separate dish combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt; stir to mix.
3. Pour dry ingredients over apples and stir until apples are well coated.
4. Spread out apples and pour caramel sauce over the top.
5. In a medium bowl combine brown sugar, flour, oatmeal, and walnuts; stir to mix.
6. Using a fork mix in melted butter to form coarse crumbs.
7. Spread topping evenly over apples.
8. Cover Dutch oven and bake using 10-12 briquettes bottom and 16-18 briquettes top for 60 minutes.

*The recipe above has been cut in half from the original recipe. I cut it in half because my family is smaller. Originally it serves 12-15 people. Feel free to double it, if you have a large group to feed.