Seeryously Gude Cooking

I usually equate a pot roast with a hunk of beef that is cheap (true) and tough (only if you do it wrong) and so, I have never attempted to make a pot roast. The pot roast stars seemed to align last week and I decided to give large hunk of meat cooking a try after a work colleague (and total sister in cooking) told me how fond she is of cooking meats, giving me some pointers AND I read this post on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. The fact that the meat is very inexpensive and it could be served with other ingredients that I already had in the house made this one worth trying.

Guess the key to not making a pot roast taste like a piece of tire is slowly baking the meat in liquid at a low temp. Good!! I enjoy making meals that need to bake in the oven for long periods of time with me watching over them like a new baby (minus the sleepless nights and screaming) - such meals automatically feel like a holiday to me. This faux-holiday meal was definitely inexpensive, which fit the bill so to speak, but making this during the week e.g., during conference calls and email and finishing a proposal, admittedly took some of the joy out of it - but thankfully none of the flavor! It was YUMMY. Having my sister Kristen over to enjoy it with us made it extra special. You can watch the video that we did take here.

The Recipe | Seeryously Gude Pot Roast

INGREDIENTS

Pot Roast
6-8 tbs Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups Red Wine
1/2 cup White Wine
1 Medium Onion, Quartered
5-7 cloves of garlic, minced
5-7 Carrots, Sliced thick on an angle
2-3 cups, sliced white mushrooms
3 cups Beef Stock
2-3 lbs Shoulder Roast
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3 sprigs, thyme
2 sprigs, Rosemary
Kosher Salt
Cracked Pepper

Yogurt Horseradish Sauce
1 cup, Greek Strained Yogurt or Sour Cream
3 tbs, prepared horseradish
2 tbs, chopped parsley
Salt/Pepper to taste

Potatoes
5-6 Smallish Yukon Gold Potatoes
Chicken Stock
Butter
Salt/Pepper
Parsley

DIRECTIONS

Gather all of your ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub the roast with a liberal amount of salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet on about 5 (medium) and brown the meat on all sides. Browning = flavor. As I learned, the key to tender pot roast is a technique called braising where you cook the meat slowly in liquid. You need to make sure that you have as much flavor on the meat, and anything else going in the pot with it, as possible before it enters the liquid to roast.

On another burner, make a few cups of beef bullion or get a few cups of beef stock ready. Take the meat out of the skillet and add it to the deep pot (with a lid) that you are going to bake it in. Brown the quartered onions in the same skillet where the roast was just browned. Brown and set in the pan with the meat. Put the sliced carrots (peel ‘em if you want, not necessary) in the skillet, brown them as well, and add to the pan with the roast.

Turn up the heat on the skillet a little, (6-7) medium-high, and add your wine to deglaze the pan. Use a fork or a whisk (unless you have a nonstick pan, cause you this will scratch it) to scrape all of the cooked bits off of the bottom. Now add the beef broth or stock.

Once all of the flavor from the bottom of the skillet has been incorporated into the wine and broth, pour it into the pan with the meat and veggies. Add the sprigs of thyme and rosemary (be sure to dunk them under the water for maximum flavor release). Put the top on the pan and place in the oven for 2 1/2 - 3 hours depending on the weight of your meat.

The Yogurt Sauce
You should make this right after the meat so that the sauce has time to sit in the fridge and let the flavors really meld together. Take about 1 cup of the yogurt (you can use sour cream too, but Greek Strained yogurt is yummy, has the consistency of Sour Cream, and is SO much better for you. Mix in the horseradish, salt and chopped parsley. Mix until completely combined and return to fridge. Take out just before serving the meat and put in a serving dish.

Preparing the Potatoes
When the meat has about 35-40 minutes to go, begin making the potatoes. These are as easy as can be. I got these from Rachael Ray who said on her show that she got them from Chef Pepin. Whoever gets the credit - they are awesome. Put your potatoes in a deep frying pan (6 is the most I can get in mine. If you have a bigger pan, cook more)! Salt the potatoes to taste. i actually find that a bit more salt here is really really good. Add some chicken stock into the pan until about halfway. Add in your butter and cover the pan, cooking until just tender, about 10-12 minutes for mine, could be less if you have really wee potatoes. Take off the tops and cook until the stock evaporate and the potatoes can begin to brown on the bottom. The potatoes should be soft now. Take the bottom of a glass and gently “pop” the potatoes careful not to smash them (yes, I smashed one of mine). Turn the potatoes over so that they can brown on the other side and then add more salt, pepper and little parsley if you like.

The Mushrooms
Heat butter or olive oil in a skillet on medium. Add about 3 cloves of minced garlic and let cook about 2 minutes. Wash your mushrooms and then add to the skillet. Season with some salt and pepper and then allow to brown, try not to mess with them too much so that they flavor can caramelize about 5 minutes. Add the white wine and about 1/4 cup of the liquid from the roast. Serve once most of the liquid has evaporated - about 3-5 minutes more.

Check your roast. The meat should be very soft and tender when you pull at it with a fork. Let the roast rest for about 15 minutes before you cut into it. Transfer the veggies to a serving dish and I served the remaining liquid as an au jus. Serve up this feast and enjoy!!

The Outtakes
We could take very little video with the meal until I was finally done with my conference calls (notice I am still wearing my jawbone headset in one of the pictures) - and that wasn’t until well into the cooking. My sister came over for dinner and there was a lot of Vodka and Orange Juice. That really is all that needs to be said

Give this one a try. I am no longer nervous about how to make an inexpensive cut of beef delicious! Have Fun!

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Categories: Beef, Cocktails, Cooking How To, Cooking Videos, Cooking vlog, Drinks, Lunch & Dinner, Potatoes, Show Notes, recipe
Tags: beer recipes, cooking, Lunch & Dinner, pot roast, Potatoes, screwdriver, seeryously gude cooking, yogurt sauce