French Pot Roast

Hello, friends. I hope your hangovers have dissipated by now. Also, can I just say - my 7 Layer Dip is officially gone! I took it home from the New Year's party, though it was half-gone already. We ate some of it before dinner on New Year's Day and then we polished it off last night. Fiance asked me to make it again last night, and even went so far as to almost fork over some cash so that I could make it right then and there. But it's his loss, right?

Let's get down to kitchen business, huh?

Good news: I have not one but TWO job interviews this week! WHOO!
Great news: the chuck roast defrosted! WHOOOOOO!!!!!

You know what that means? It's French pot roast night!

Aaah, pot roast. In France, it's boeuf bourguignon (or beef Burgundy). The Japanese call their version nikujaga. In Germany, their version is Saurbraten. Across the pond in jolly old England, they call it a Lancashire hotpot. Your Jewish bubbe (or your mameleh!) might call it a brisket.

Whatever you call it, it's meat and veggies in a savory broth, usually served over noodles or mashed potatoes. Is there a more comforting, tummy-warming, snuggly-pajama wearing, cold weather blowing, stick-to-your-ribs type dish? To me, this dish is best served while there's a blizzard outside, in front of a fireplace. Unfortunately, all my snow has melted already and I don't own a fireplace - but that sure as heck won't stop me from cooking the ultimate comfort food!

This dish is done in a crock pot. If you don't own one, why not? They are pretty much the best thing ever invented. They range anywhere from $16 to $130 on Crock-Pot.com, or you can find one at any home goods store. Slow cooker recipes can take anywhere from 2 to 10 hours to cook. So it's entirely possible to spend 10-30 minutes in the morning before you go to work in the morning to prepare your meal, and then you can come home to a hearty dinner without lifting a finger! There are endless possibilities when using a crock pot. Hell, I even made a CAKE in my crock pot once! That's a recipe for another entry, though...

This recipe takes about 4 hours to cook, which is perfect for me. I prepared it starting at 3pm and threw it all in the crock pot at 4pm, before I went to the gym (I like to watch Ellen DeGeneres while I'm on the elliptical). It was ready to eat by 8, which is shortly before Fiance comes home from work.

Here we go!

FRENCH POT ROAST
courtesy of Cook This, Not That

YOU WILL NEED...
2 strips of bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/4 cup of flour
salt and black pepper to taste
2 lb chuck roast, excess fat removed, cut into 1" pieces
1/2 bottle dry red wine (a Cabernet or a Merlot is preferable)
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 bay leaves
2 cups frozen pearl onions
1/2 lb button mushrooms, stems removed
1 cup frozen peas

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's my mise en place!

I know, right? Mushrooms! But Fiance loves them, and who am I to deny him of this? Besides, mushrooms are also there to add flavor. So I bit the bullet and bought some mushrooms for the first time ever.

Pretty simple. That bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon ran me only $10 at Bottle King. A quick note, though. See that little jar with the black lid, to the left of the salt? That would be a great product called Better Than Bouillon. It's a delicious little base used to make broths. It's a lot less cumbersome than those freeze-dried cubes and way lower in sodium. They come in a bajillion different flavors - beef, chicken, vegetable, lobster, even mushroom! One teaspoon of Better Than Bouillon + 8 ounces boiling water = delicious broth!

Oh, and if you don't know, the fat is the white part of the meat. Just remove it with your knife, like so. You don't have to remove all the fat, just the bigger chunks of it.

Also, they don't have to be exactly 1", just as long as you make sure your chunks of meat are bite-sized.

1. Preheat a large skillet or nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat. Cook the bacon until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels; set aside. Leave the pan on heat.

2. Combine the flour and plenty of salt and pepper in a sealable plastic bag. Working in batches, add the beef and shake until the pieces are lightly covered; remove the beef and shake off the excess flour.

3. Add the piece of beef to the hot pan and cook until all sides are golden brown.

4. Remove the beef and add to the slow cooker. When all the beef has been browned, add 1 cup of wine to the hot pan and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon.
(I do not have a picture for this step. It had to be done quickly and it was very hard to do it and take a picture all by myself. But trust me, it's easy. Also, red wine smells delicious when it's hot!)

5. Pour over the beef, along with the rest of the wine, the tomato paste, the beef broth, bay leaves and bacon pieces.

 

6. Set the slow cooker on high and cook for 4 hours, until the beef is tender and falls apart with a fork (during these four hours, it would be smart to cook the pasta, if using)

7. In the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the pearl onions and mushrooms. Right before serving, add the peas. Simmer for a few minutes to cook through. Discard the bay leaves.

8. Serve the stew by itself or over buttered egg noodles or mashed potatoes, with a good ladle of the cooking broth.

To quote Julia Child, bon apetit! I threw together a quick, simple salad and we had an amazing easy weeknight meal.

IT. WAS. DELICIOUS. Let me tell you, they don't call this kind of dish stick-to-your ribs for nothing. I think this is the first time I've ever cooked something and didn't go back for seconds! Talk about a filling dinner!

First of all, the four-hour cook time is awesome. I don't have to worry about remembering to check on it or stir or flip over. I actually left for an hour and a half to go to the gym and came back to an apartment that smelled like red wine and beef. Yum. I love my crock pot, have I mentioned this? It's amazing. Thanks to my future sister-in-law, I am never far away from a simple but delicious meal.

I have only one gripe about the actual recipe. It advises you to cook the bacon, leave the pan on, and then coat the beef cubes in flour/salt/pepper. Luckily, I read the whole recipe beforehand and noticed this. To me, it made more sense to coat the beef first, then cook the bacon. This way you don't leave a hot skillet on the stove while you prepare the beef.

Tomorrow is up in the air for dinner. I'm planning on making fish & chips sometime this week. I also have a recipe for Parmesan-Dijon chicken that I found just today, actually. I don't know if I want to make fish & chips tomorrow, but I should probably use the catfish sooner rather than later. As of right now, the catfish is in the refrigerator, but still frozen. Hopefully it can hold off until Wednesday. Tomorrow I think we'll either do the chicken or graze on leftovers. Both sound good right now.

Stay tuned for more delicious recipes!

Love!