Recipe: Old Fashioned Harvest Root Vegetable Pot Roast

Nothing says fall like a hearty pot roast with lots of fall veggies! This one has carrots, red potatoes, turnips, onions, and parsnips, along with tender beef which makes lots of great gravy. It's making me hungry just thinking about it!

Old Fashioned Harvest Root Vegetable Pot Roast

Ingredients:

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2 Tbsp oil
1 beef chuck roast
1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp chopped rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 cup dry red wine
4 cups beef stock
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp fresh black pepper
8 small red potatoes, halved
1 yellow onion, peeled, quartered
4 carrots, peeled, coarse cut
2 small turnips, peeled, quartered
2 small parsnips, peeled, coarse cut
1 tsp chopped fresh dill
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
• In a large Dutch oven or other oven-safe big pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
• When hot, add the beef chuck roast and cook on both sides until browned very well.
• Remove the beef from the Dutch oven and set aside.
• Add the onion, rosemary, bay leaves, and rosemary to the Dutch oven and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, for about 2 to 3 minutes or until herbs are fragrant.
• With the heat still on, pour the wine in the Dutch oven and stir, loosening the brown bits.  Continue cooking and stirring until the liquid thickens and reduces.
• Pour in the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce and bring back to a simmer.
• Add the black pepper, then lay the roast in the Dutch oven and put the cover on.
• Put the Dutch oven in the oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
• Remove and add the potatoes, onion, carrots, turnips, and parsnips; put cover back on and return to oven and continue cooking for 30 minutes more, or until the veggies are fork tender.
• To serve: Remove the beef roast and vegetables from the Dutch oven and set aside, covering to keep warm.
• To the Dutch oven, add the dill and parsley, taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.
• Serve plates with meat, vegetables alongside, and spoon the sauce from the Dutch oven over everything.

Recipe: Slow Cooked Campfire Pot Roast In A Bag

Relax under the stars and let the delicious smells of this easy meal roasting on the coals stoke your appetite. Like a traditional pot roast, but more fun, the beef and vegetables will form their own rich gravy inside the foil pouch, and you'll dine like a gourmet no matter where you are! And if you just want to bring the campfire to your backyard, this one works great on a regular grill as well.

Slow Cooked Campfire Pot Roast In A Bag

Hot campfire (Photo credit: Murky1)

Ingredients:

1 pkg onion soup mix
1 cup water, heated
2 tsp flour
1 beef roast (3 lbs)
1 small onion, peeled in cut into quarters
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks
4 medium red potatoes, washed and each cut into quarters
2 stalks celery, cut into 2 inch chunks
salt and pepper to taste
Large heavy duty foil cooking bag

Directions:

1. Put the onion soup mix in a bowl and pour in the hot water, stirring until the soup mix dissolves; set aside.
2. Sprinkle the flour into the foil bag and shake around. Put the roast in the bag and shake it around to coat well.
3. Add all the veggies to the bag and shake again.
4. Pour the onion soup from the bowl into the foil bag. Add salt and pepper to the bag if you wish, but remember the soup mix has salt in it already.
5. Seal the bag tightly by folding it over several times.
6. Put the bag, open side facing up, on a grate over a campfire over medium coals or on a grill over medium heat.
7. Cook turning once or twice (keeping open side up) for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on the heat of the coals.
8. If you want you can use instead an 8" x 8" heavy duty aluminum foil cooking pan and just seal the pan with aluminum foil.

Recipe: Mini Pot Roast Packets On The Grill

Enjoy the rich flavors of pot roast, without having to heat up the house cooking for hours. Try this tasty and simple recipe on the grill for a quick dinner that is sure to please everyone - especially the person who normally has to scrub out the pot roast pan! This grilled meal offers great taste and minimal work, plus easy cleanup - it's a winner all around!

Mini Pot Roast Packets On The Grill
(Serves 4.)

Ingredients:

1 lb. beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 green onions, chopped
2 Yukon gold potatoes, diced small
1 regular carrot, diced small
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp water

Directions:

• Prepare the grill to medium-high heat.
• Tear off 4 large sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil.
• Divide the beef and all the vegetables evenly between the 4 sheets of foil; fold the sides up but leave unsealed for now.
• Whisk together the Worcestershire sauce, butter, and water, then pour carefully into the contents of the packets.  
• Fold up the sides and tightly seal into a packet, leaving a little air space at the top.
• Set on grill on indirect heat, close cover, and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, spinning packets around once or twice during the cooking time.
• Cook until meat and vegetables are tender and cooked to your liking.
• Remove and let rest for a few minutes then carefully open packets and serve.

Low-Carb Recipe: Crockpot Pot Roast And Vegetables With Savory Gravy

This classic comfort food, the pot roast, is good old-fashioned low-carb cooking at its best! An easy dish to make in the crockpot, with this one, you can have a delicious dinner waiting for you when you get home from work - just prep the vegetables the night before, and put everything in the crockpot before leaving in the morning. It will cook slowly all day, releasing the nutrition form the meat, and creating its own savory gravy. Yum - I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!  (Note: If you don't have time to brown the meat, it's fine to put it in the crockpot uncooked - it just won't have quite the same depth of flavor.)

Crockpot Pot Roast And Vegetables With Savory Gravy
(Serves 6.)

Ingredients:

(Photo credit: sundaykofax)

3 lb boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and tied with butcher string to secure
coarse black pepper to taste
light oil for browning meat
3 large carrots, peeled and coarse cut
3 stalks celery, coarse cut
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup dry red wine or beef broth
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp crushed dried thyme
2 large bay leaves
salt
* (Optional: 1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp cold water, or substitute almond flour mixed with water.)

Directions:

1. Sprinkle roast all over with black pepper. (Add salt if desired.)
2. Spray a heavy non-stick skillet with cooking spray or coat with oil. Put skillet over medium-high heat.
3. When skillet is hot, add the roast and sear until browned well, flipping after side is browned - do not flip continually, just once per side. Brown all over, not just 2 sides.
4. Arrange the carrots on the bottom of the crockpot, then the celery, then the onion, and sprinkle the garlic over all evenly.
5. Set the browned roast on top.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wine, tomato paste, Dijon mustard, thyme, and bay leaves, then pour gently over the roast and vegetables. 
7. Cover the crockpot, set the heat to LOW, and cook 8 to 9 hours or until beef is fork tender.
8. When done, remove beef and vegetables to a platter.  You may thicken the gravy at this point if desired.  Turn heat on crockpot to high.  Mix the cornstarch and cold water (or almond flour and water) in a cup until dissolved, then stir into the crockpot and stir until liquid thickens; turn heat off.
9. Spoon vegetables on each plate and serve thin slices of beef alongside.  Spoon the thickened gravy over all. 

* (Note: Cornstarch is not low carb, but the almond flour option is low carb. Another low-carb option is to add okra to liquid and allow to cook together for 5 minutes.  Eggplant is another low-carb thickener.)

Braised Meats: Healthy, Tender, & Tasty

Remember visiting grandma's house and walking into a kitchen overflowing with the most luscious smells you've ever encountered?  There was always a large pot on the stovetop simmering away.  And when that pot was opened at dinnertime, you found yourself face to face with a plate of the most tasty meats and vegetables you've ever eaten.  Nobody could cook like grandma, right?

Beef top round with parsnips, carrots, onion, gold beets & rutabaga (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Not to diminish your childhood memories, but you can now cook every bit as good as grandma.  Chances are, in that stovetop pot, grandma was braising.  Braising is a method of cooking meats and vegetables.  It is especially effective for tougher, cheaper cuts of meat such as shanks, briskets and rumps.  This is a primary technique taught in culinary school.  Braising is not only great for home cooked meals, it is also a method for gourmet preparations straight from New York or Hollywood.  Cooking school graduates have developed some wonderful variations to the meats, liquids, vegetables and spices included in braising to create some truly elegant meals.

Regardless of what you include in your pot, one thing is certain.  Because braising involves cooking in liquid for longer periods of time, your house is sure to be filled with the most delightful aromas, and your meat will be fork-tender… just like grandma’s. Not only that, but studies have shown meats cooked at higher heat, such as fried or grilled, are more likely to contain carcinogens. Braising is a slow-cooking method at lower heat, so it brings out the flavor and nutrients of the meat in a healthier manner.

In culinary arts school, professional chefs learn to start the braising process by searing the meat in hot oil.  The reason for this is twofold.  First, searing seals the meat (trapping the juices inside) so the meat doesn't become dry when cooked.  Second, searing your meat before braising brings out a lot of flavor.  The caramelization of the meat on the bottom of the pan gives an extra layer of rich essence to the recipe.

Once the meat has seared and is browned on all sides, remove it from the pan.  Create a bed of chopped vegetables (called a mirepoix) on the bottom of the pot.  In culinary school, professionals are taught to pair the meat with the flavors of the vegetables.  For beef or lamb, you might select carrots, onions and celery for your veggie mix.  Allow the vegetables to sweat (cook just until they begin to produce liquid) then add your meat and liquid.

Braised venison shank (Photo credit: izik)

Add the meat back to the pan, add your spices and pour in your liquid.  This is where your creativity will come in.  In the south, you might find braised dishes such as traditional pot roast with carrots and potatoes.  Seasonings could include garlic, salt and pepper.  Liquids might be a combination of beef stock and Worcestershire sauce. 

In the Los Angeles or Hollywood area, you may be more likely to find lamb shanks braised with rosemary, tomatoes, garlic, onion, chicken stock and red wine.  Culinary arts school instructors usually tell would-be chefs to pick up on local flavors whenever possible to bring authenticity to their creations.

Once your favorite seasonings and liquids are in place, reduce the heat to a low setting for stovetop cooking or transfer your pot to the oven and bake at approximately 300 degrees.  (Be sure you have an ovenproof pot.)  Cook for about 3 hours on the stovetop or 2.5 hours in a 350-degree oven.  Plate up your meal and serve with some of the delicious sauce left in the pot!  It's a meal everybody will love - and it's really pretty darn easy.

A Few Tasty Braising Recipes:

• Recipe: Balsamic Braised Short Ribs (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Braise 'til your heart's content (goerie.com)
• Drunken braised short ribs.....a pot of deliciousness! (momgonepaleo.com)
• Chilly Nights Cozy Suppers - The Art of Braising (marysnest.com)
• Brasato Al Chianti-Beef Braised in Chianti (mpitellaitalianfood.wordpress.com)
• Beer-Braised Beef with Onions (atomickaleidoscope.wordpress.com)