Sunday dinner in my household is a big deal. It has always been since I can remember. It often involved family and friends sitting around a table for hours.
Well the weather here at the cabin is 'wicked' today. It's 38 degrees and the rain is coming at us horizontally from the south. This is the kind of day you grab a book, throw another log in the wood stove and braise a nice piece of beef.
Here is my recipe that always puts a smile on someones face. If I leave the window open slightly, friends will come out of nowhere.
Ingredients:
> Olive oil 2-3 tbls
> 3 C beef broth
> 2 1/2 - 3 #'s of chuck that is well marbled. A good rule of thumb is 8 Oz per person
> 3-4 cloves of garlic
> Assorted dried spices. I like pepper, rosemary, oregano, parsley, etc
> 1 big sweet onion (Wala Wala's or vadalia)
> Course salt
> 1/2 C flour
> One carrot per person plus one for the pot
> Couple of stalks of celery
> potatoes one med-lrg per person...2 per if they are small
> Green beans
> 1 C red wine or white wine & apple cider vinegar
- Cut and peel garlic and cut into thin slivers. Then make slits with a sharp knife and inject the sliver all over both sides of the
roast.
- Put ground pepper, rosemary, oregano, and course salt over both sides of meat.
- Dredge meat in flour and then lay the meat into the hot olive oil that you have heated up in a dutch oven type of pan
- Brown both sides. I purposely come close to burning the meat before I turn it over.
- While that is sizzling away I cut up the onion, celery and 1 carrot. Once the meat is done I pull it and throw in the cut up veggies
- With the veggies I throw in some more pepper, rosemary, oregano and some parsley. Cook veggies until the onions break down.
- Once onions have broken down I throw in a cup of red wine to de-glaze the pan. Today I didn't have red wine so I use a cup of
white plus a Tbsp of apple cider vinegar.
- Cook the wine down about 75% and then add back in the meat.
- Add beef broth till it is about 3/4 of the way up the meat cover and either:
+ cook on top of stove at a low heat or
+ (My favorite, put into a 300 degree oven)
- Either way, every hour turn the meat and add liquid if needed. If you use the oven method you probably will not need more
liquid.
- About one hour before it is done add your potatoes, carrots and green beans.
How do you know when it is done, you ask? Well start out thinking it will take 1hr & 15 minutes per # as a starting point. I can tell how far along we are every hour when I turn it over. When it starts to break up as you turn it over, that is when I add the veggies.
Serve the meat and veggies on a serving plate if wives are present*. When it's just us guys I leave it in the pot on the stove and we just line up with empty plates and serve our self from the pot.
* If I feel like it (Usually depends on how much wine I have consumed) I make gravy. After putting meat and veggies on a platter I stick it back in the tuned off oven. I put a strainer over a 4 cup cup and pour the cooking juices into it. In a saucier pan, I put three tbsp of salted butter and 3 tbsp of flour. Whisk over low heat until the roux changes to a very light brown. Then take the strained cooking juices and whisk into the roux. Then let it cook until it thickens. I use a teaspoon to determine when the gravy is done - Cook the gravy under low heat till the teaspoon comes out coated like you would see if you stuck a spoon into half & half.
Enjoy!
