An attorney writes about stuff she'd rather be doing: cooking, eating, wining, dining and traveling.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Beef Barolo

I am not a fan of pot roast. It was one of my least favorite dinners growing up. However, I've learned that if you braise it in red wine, it's so much better (as most things are).

Beef Barolo
One 2-3 pound chuck roast
Salt and pepper
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 yellow onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
Olive oil
1 bottle dry red wine (you are supposed to use Barolo, but anything dry and red works)
1 can beef broth
4 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick

Sear the meat and saute the veggies:
Season the roast with salt and pepper on both sides.
Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy large pot.
Sear the meat until browned on both sides, about 5-6 minutes per side (only flip once so it gets nice and brown).
Remove the meat, set aside.
Add the onion, celery and carrot to the pot. Saute until just softened, about 3 minutes.

Get it braising:
Return the meat to the pot with the veggies.
Add the broth, wine, garlic, cloves, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and allow to simmer on low for about 3 hours or until the meat is tender.

**Crockpot variation** Sear the meat and saute veggies as above. Throw everything in a crockpot, dump in the wine, broth and spices. Cook on the low setting for at least 6 hours, 8 is even better.

Make the gravy:
Remove the meat and set aside.
Strain the liquid into a saucepan and discard the solids.
Bring liquid to a boil. When hot, ladle some of the liquid into a Pyrex measuring cup and add a few tablespoons of flour. Whisk this together.
Slowly add the flour mixture back into the pot, whisking constantly. Repeat until your gravy is the desired thickness.

I serve this with mashed potatoes.

2 comments:

Angie said...

That sounds so good. I really like pot roast (the way I make it) but I'll definitely give that a try sometime soon.

Amy said...

delish...perhaps for this Sunday's dinner.