Roast

WHO SAYS?...

• Roast has to be dry and stringy???


• Roast has to be bland???


• Roast has to have bland carrots???


• Roast has to have bland potatoes???

The past few times I've made a roast we've had company, and they've all loved it, like roast is supposed to be gross and bland... Well, I refuse to make gross/bland food, so I make my roasts flavorful and tender.

I think the difference in how I make roast than your traditional dry, tough and flavorless roasts is I add plenty of seasonings, sear the meat, cook it low for a long time and serve it a little different.

This is my roast cooking process...

First, season your roast with fresh cracked black pepper and kosher salt. Use kosher salt because it is big and flat, the salt sticks to the meat better. You can use other seasonings as well, such as an all seasoning or something. Get a big skillet with olive oil in the bottom on medium high to high, depending on how your stove top cooks. Sear each side of meat until you see brown grill marks on it, you want to cook it on a high temperature so that it sears it very quickly. Be careful to not burn it, you need to stay at the stove the entire time you are searing it. Flip it to all sides using tongs. The oil will splatter, get over it, wiping up olive oil is better than putting up with 5 meals of bland roast...

Then transfer the roast to your Crock Pot. Add beef broth, enough to cover just the top of the roast. sometimes I leave out one can and add a can of tomato sauce. This doesn't make it tomato-ey, just thickens it a smidge. I ALWAYS use fresh thyme sprigs when I slow cook meat, it's a must. Throw in a bunch, like 5 or so sprigs. The little thyme leaves will fall off right off the stem, just don't eat the stems when it's done, they're easy to pick around. Add about a tablespoon of onion powder, garlic powder, Emeril's seasoning (maybe two table spoons), and I usually add a little dried thyme as well. Fresh and dried herbs taste completely different. You want to make sure and season this well because you are seasoning an entire pot of liquid and a large roast. I usually add a little more fresh cracked black pepper and salt to taste.

I start my roasts around lunch time, cook them on low until dinner time. About an hour and a half before dinner, I'll add large pieces of chopped onion. I don't put potatoes in my Crock Pot, then you just have bland chunks of potatoes. I cook my potatoes in the oven on a really high temperature with olive oil, salt, pepper, and an herb, usually rosemary or thyme. After cooking at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes I turn on the broiler and cook them for 3-4 minutes and toss. I do this a few times until they are nice and crispy. Then I either make a little bit of creamy sauce to drizzle over the potatoes or mix sour cream and horseradish sauce together.

These potatoes go very well with roast and onions! If you are wanting a little more, you can always saute mushrooms on the side to top your plate with, OR just throw them in the pot. Sauteing them would add a little more flavor, but it's all dependent upon how ambitious you are feeling. Then, if you are really ambitious you can take the roast out with tongs, and shred it into bite-size pieces and then put it all back in the pot. This allows the inside of the roast to soak up that yummy juice.

*Another roast ingredient idea.... I put two whole bell peppers, cut into bite-sized pieces in my roast one time and it gave the roast a flavor I can't even explain! Wait until about 2 hours before you eat it though or they may be just mush. You might try this if you have some laying around.

Happy roast cooking.