Beef Pot Roast →

Slow cooked, braised Yankee Pot Roast with a rich sauce or gravy is a tradition in New England and a comfort food from my childhood. My adult sons still refer to “Grandma’s pot roast” as one of their favorite foods when they were kids. So this recipe aims to keep the Pot Roast tradition alive in my family and to share an up-dated version of this regional braised dish that came to this country with immigrants from England, Ireland, France and other European countries (pot roast, carbonnade, daube, fricassee, brisket, or stew). In addition to the traditional ingredients of onion, garlic, celery and herbs (typically thyme and/or marjoram), I like to add red wine and re-hydrated dried mushrooms for extra flavor. Both are optional and can be replaced by an equal amount of water or broth. Like most braised dishes Pot Roast uses an inexpensive, tough cut of meat with plenty of connective tissue (collagen) that turns gelatinous and allows the meat fibers to separate and transform into fall-apart tender flavorful meat during the slow, low-temperature braising process. This is a dish worth waiting for.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

*Special equipment: a dutch oven or other cast-iron pot with a cover that can go in the oven.

• 3 pounds chuck roast cut into 4 chunks

• 3-4 tablespoons flour

• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

• 1 medium onion chopped

• 3 tablespoons celery chopped (about 1 medium stalk)

• 2 large cloves of garlic (or 3-4 medium)

• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme (2 teaspoons dried thyme)

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1/8 cup dried mushrooms like porcini or shitake

• 1 cup water, plus extra water or broth as needed for the braise

• ½ cup dry red wine

• salt and pepper

Preparation:

*preheat the oven to 300 degrees

1. Place the dried mushrooms in a cup of boiling water to re-hydrate. Set aside.

2. Salt and pepper all sides of the chunks of beef generously and dredge the beef chunks in the flour shaking off excess flour.

3. Working in batches brown all sides or the beef in the dutch oven over medium high heat. Place the browned beef on a platter and tent to keep warm.

4. Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in the same pan you browned your beef in, adding a little oil if necessary.

5. Once the onion is translucent and the celery is tender, add the tablespoon of tomato paste to the pot and stir it around with the vegetables for a couple of minutes.

6. Strain the mushroom water (discard any sediment accumulated in the bottom of the cup) into the pot and add the wine.

7. Chop the re-hydrated mushrooms and add to the pot along with the chunks of beef and any juices left on the plate. Add ½-1 teaspoon of salt and half as much black pepper (to taste).

8. Add enough water or chicken or beef broth to the pot to just cover the meat and bring to a boil.

9. Put the pot or dutch oven in the preheated oven and cook for 1 ½ hours. Carefully take the pot out of the oven (it will be very hot!), take the lid off and turn over the pieces of beef. Carefully replace the pot in the oven and cook for an additional 1 ½ hours.

After three hours the meat should be almost fall apart tender and there should be a thick rich sauce in the pan. If the sauce is too thin, you can remove the meat to a platter and tent and reduce the sauce in the pan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally so the sauce doesn’t burn.

Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles and a vegetable or salad of your choice. I like roasted carrots and parsnips flavored with anise inflected tarragon: toss your cut-up inch thick pieces with olive oil, salt and pepper and a teaspoon of dried tarragon and cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until fork tender. Our friend Liz O’Shea from Ireland likes to boil and mash parsnips and carrots together with butter, salt, and pepper. You could add a little tarragon to that version as well.

A full-bodied dry red wine from grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, or Malbec from the U.S. or South America; a Super-Tuscan blend from Italy; or any of the big red wines from France, Spain or Portugal. Lots of choices, but you want something balanced and full-bodied with good tannins to complement the richness of the beef.

Beef Stew →

This hearty, rich stew is kind of a cross between a traditional Beef Stew and a Boeuf Bourguignon. The best of both worlds. I don’t remember where I got the original recipe, but over the years I’ve modified it to suit my tastes. Like most braised meat dishes using less expensive cuts of meat like beef chuck with plenty of connective tissue is preferred to using lean cuts of meat that can become dry and stringy during the braise. Serve with plenty of good crusty bread to sop up the delicious sauce. The flavor improves the next day. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

Serves 6-8

For the braised beef:

• 4-5 pounds boneless beef chuck (not lean), cut into 2-inch pieces

• 3 ounces pancetta, or slab bacon

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 carrots, quartered

• 3 celery ribs, quartered

• 2 medium onions, quartered

• 10 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

• 3 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1/4 cup brandy (optional)

• 1 (750-ml) bottle dry red wine (about 3 3/4 cups)

• 2 Turkish bay leaves or 1 California

• 2 thyme sprigs (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

• 12 juniper berries (optional)

• 3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth

• 3 cups water (enough to cover the meat and vegetables in the braise)

For the vegetables:

• 2 pounds small white boiling potatoes (or 4 large Russet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes)

• 5 large carrots peeled and cut diagonally into 1-inch slices.

• 1 cup of frozen peas (optional)
  

Preparation:

Braise the beef: 
Preheat oven to 325°F with rack in middle.

1. Pat beef dry and season generously with salt and pepper. (I use Montreal Dry Rub)

2. Brown the pancetta in an oven-proof heavy pot like a dutch oven; remove the browned pancetta and set aside. Leave any of the flavorful fat that accumulated in the pot

3. If needed add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pot and heat over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers.

4. Add the meat to the pot and brown the meat, in 3 batches, turning to brown on both sides, about 8 minutes per batch. Transfer meat to a platter and tent.

5. Reduce heat to medium, then add carrots, celery, onions, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned and caramelized about 12 minutes.

6. Push vegetables to one side of the pot. Add tomato paste to cleared area and cook paste, stirring, for 2 minutes, then stir into vegetables

7. Stir in wine, bouquet garni (see note) of bay leaves, juniper berries, and thyme, and boil until wine is reduced by about two thirds, 10 to 12 minutes.

8. Add broth and water to the pot along with beef, and any juices from platter and bring to a simmer. Cover and braise in oven until meat is very tender, about 2-2 1/2 hours.

9. Set a large colander in a large bowl. Pour stew into a colander. Return pieces of meat to pot, remove the bouquet garni and add the remaining vegetables to a food processor or blender.

10. Puree the remaining vegetable and return puree to the liquids in the pot. (This will add richness and thicken the stew.) Let cooking liquid stand 10 minutes.

Cook the potatoes and carrots:

1. While beef braises, peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes; slice carrots diagonally into 1-inch pieces.

2. Once the braise is completed, remove the pot from the oven, remove the bouquet garni, puree the remaining braised vegetables and add the puree to the stew. Add the potatoes and carrots to the stew (make sure they are submerged) and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until potatoes and carrots are tender, about 40 minutes. (Add frozen peas for the last five minutes.)

3. Serve with crusty bread.

   *Note: a bouquet garni is a tied pouch of cheesecloth filled with fresh or dried aromatic herbs often used when braising to infuse flavor into a sauce or stew; to be removed before finishing the stew.

   ** Note: the stew improves in flavor if made a day ahead. Allow to cool, cover, and chill up to 5 days. Reheat, covered, over medium heat or in a 350°F oven.

   A full-bodied red wine like a Cabernet Sauvignon, Rioja, Bordeaux, Haut Medoc, Barolo, Barbaresco, or Super-Tuscan compliments this rich stew.