Greg came home from the grocery store the other day proudly toting a 6 pound pot roast that he wanted me to cook for sandwiches. I took one look at it and said to myself, "thats a great piece of roast beef.....no pot roasting for this baby!" Not being a red meat cooker, I googled what to do with a top round roast. I decided to go with the Italian beef roast, which made the house smell great all evening.
Though James Beard told me not to put the roast in a pan without a rack, and NEVER add liquid to the pan for fear of steaming the meat...I threw caution to the wind and decided to go my own way.
I took the roast and slathered it in olive oil, cut slits in the top and shoved in fresh garlic, and then peppered the hell out of it with both black and red pepper. Added some garlic powder and then rolled the whole thing in oregano. I put the beast back in the roasting pan and then added 1/2 a cup of red wine and 2 cups of water, with about 1/2 a cup of chopped onion. It took approximately 3 hours to cook at 325. When done save the juice and put aside
I let the beast set and then shoved it in the fridge, but not before cutting off a few tasters for the dogs and me. I'm supposed to slice it thin and then soak the slices in the juice and reheat in the oven....its pretty tender, I made a sandwich out of it with cheese and it was excellent.

I'm going to have a taste test today and see if this might be appropriate to make into sandwiches for the fashion show this weekend. Ever been to a party and they have those tiny roast beef sandwiches? I love that! hmmmmmm...thats an idea.

Enjoy,
Seth