well, it snowed here today, so you can imagine what the temperature is. I found myself wandering the aisles of the grocery store yesterday trying to find the perfect comfort food for dinner...then it hit me "POT ROAST." I have never made it, haven't eaten it in years, since dear ole' mom used to shove it in the oven around noon and serve it up to us after school, while she and my dad had cocktail hour.

Anyway, pot roast happened to be on sale for about 2 bucks a pound..a real bonus. Got some fingerling potatos and some baby carrots and I was all set...a whole dinner in one pot..what could be easier.

It was so easy, in fact, that I invited some folks over to share.. we built a big fire and had a riot with the black meanies (our two XL dogs). I love low key evenings cooking for friends and eating on our laps in front of the fire. There are very few people in this world that are close enough to you to not mind eating on their laps...these are the people with whom you should surround yourselves. Listed below is the recipe I came up with for dinner. The great thing about pot roast is that you can throw anything in with it to simmer with it and it comes out pretty good all the time.

POT ROAST

I used a cast iron stew pot and did the whole thing on the stove.

Got the pot really hot and added olive oil and butter mixture.
Rub and coat the roast with a mixture of flour, salt and pepper and brown each side of the roast in the oil and butter mixture.
Add onions and turn the heat down a bit..cover and cook about 10 minutes until the onions are cooked through and brownish
Add baby carrots and spices----I used hand-ripped fresh sage (doesn't that sound snobby???--its wonderful) and threw in a bundle of thyme. added some ground ginger and a few cloves of garlic, a 1/2 cup of spiced rum, a bit of white zinfindel (we had it left over from a party...gotta use it for something) and a tablespoon of brown sugar. Let the whole thing come to a boil and then turn to simmer. REMEMBER: Cook the roast with the fat side up.
The whole should cook for 4-5 hours on low on your stove.
after two hours turn the beast over
after three hours add some potatos.

When you take this out of the pot, it should have trouble staying together and should crumble when you cut it.
Let the roast sit for a few minutes out of the liquid before carving.

strain out veggies from pot and turn the heat up. rapidly whisk in a touch of corn starch to the juices to make gravy.

Serve with a side of the veggies and homemade rolled parmesan butter biscuits..... :-)

My friend Anne called up today and raved about the pot roast, saying it was so tender and the flavor was excellent. We talked food for about 20 minutes and it was great to get that input. While eating last night our friend Vicky said that the roast was just the perfect thing and that it made her think of her Mom....can't get much better than that. Food that evokes memories...kewl!

Tonight I'm having stew (I cheated and just shoved the leftovers in the pot with the gravy, added some water and am serving over rice with bread from Chase's Daily.) Greg is refusing to eat stew and is having leftover clam chowder....have I written that recipe down yet???? I know it by heart after making it for 3Tides everyday for a bout a month. I still get compliments from people about it Best chowder they've ever had...don't know what I did, but it makes me proud to have done it and never, ever, tasted it!

Enjoy,
Seth