Pot Roast (or as my dad calls it, Marijuana Roast)
I have had enough of this cold weather! I would be happy for the thermometer to simply rise above freezing! I'm seriously considering moving somewhere more temperate when I grow up. But answer me this - could I learn to live without a White Christmas? Jury is still out on that one...At any rate, now is the time when you want a meal to warm you up, make you want to snuggle under the covers and be okay with the fact that if you don't have slippers on you could lose a toe to frostbite. Although you dear readers don't know this, I have been working on soups galore (okay, well 2), and you've been noticing all the pasta I've consumed the past week, thus it is time for MEAT! Yum.So this week I've turned to a trusty pot roast (if my father ever refers to a marijuana roast, this is what he is referring to, and I'm fairly certain no actual marijuana is involved). Such a simple combination of meat and veggies is sure to stick to your ribs, and actually not bad for you - no butter added! Ingredients:1 roast - size depends on how many servings you want.carrotspotatoes (I like Yukon Gold for their buttery taste)yellow oniongarlic clovesSo the trick to this recipe is that you put in whatever quantity that you want! Tonight I was only cooking for myself, so I purchased 1.25lbs of bottom round roast. It's the cheap stuff, but the good news is that you can't really overcook your roast - the longer you cook it, the softer it gets. It also has a layer of fat (which I trim when eating) that adds flavor when cooking. Also, I like the cooked carrots, and always feel that there is a too large potato to carrot ratio, so tonight I bought 5 carrots and only 2 bigger sized potatoes. I also got a medium sized yellow onion, and used 6 cloves of garlic.Preheat the oven to 330 Fahrenheit. Prep your veggies. Peel the carrots and potatoes and then chop into similar sizes so they cook evenly. I cut the onion into wedges, in a size manageable for bites. Peel the garlic (obvious I guess). Heat your dutch oven (not the kind where someone farts under the covers and makes you smell it) on the stove, cover the bottom with olive oil, and sear the sides of your roast. Now your roast is oven ready! As mine was so small, and only required about an hour or so of cooking, I added all the veggies at this point as well. If your roast is larger, you'll want to put the meat in alone, adding the veggies later. Season generously with salt and pepper, put the lid on your pot and stick it in the oven!My little roast was in the oven about an hour and fifteen, until the meat was tender (note that the roast in the photo above has my dinner already taken out of it lol). I trimmed the fat - yick, cut my serving of dinner, served up the potatoes and carrots, and then spooned the juices from the bottom of the pan (the best part!) on top. Mmmm.