Sunday Dinner

This time of year makes me want comfort food–warm, mushy, savory foods that cook low and slow and fill my house with good smells. I thought it would be different living in Florida–I pictured us grilling fish a lot and dining al fresco. Turns out, cold is relative. When it was snowy and in the 20’s in Colorado I wanted to make a pot roast. When its cloudy and in the 40’s in Florida, I still want to make a pot roast.

I have a dear friend back in Colorado who also loves to cook, is a great cook herself. Funny enough tonight’s Pot Roast came from a cookbook she gave me which I love–The French Slow Cooker by Michele Sciolone. Its funny because my friend is a vegetarian but somehow she understands my appreciation for all things carnivore!

I am using a slow cooker recipe but I will actually cook the roast in my Le Creuset Dutch Oven on my gas stove–on low heat. To kick things off, I roughly chopped a handful of carrots, a large sweet onion, a few ribs of celery and put those to to the side. Then I salted and peppered a 4 pound chuck roast and browned it on all sides over a medium-high stove in 2 Tablespoons of EVOO. Once the roast was browed, I removed it to a side platter.

I added the chopped vegetables to the pan and stirred them around to distribute the roast flavor. Then I added the roast back into the pan along with some fresh sprigs of thyme, a couple of bay leaves, and some ground cloves. I deglazed the pan with a 1/2 cup of dry red wine. After a minute or so, I added another cup of wine. I allowed that to cook to a low boil then added 4 cups of beef stock and some salt and pepper to taste.

Reduce the heat to low and allow to cook 4-5 hours, stirring and adjusting spices as desired. An hour or so before we plan to eat I will add a small bag of whole baby red potatoes to the pan and allow those to cook with the roast. When the potatoes are done and the roast is fork tender, remove the vegetables to a covered dish and set aside under a warm towel or in a low oven. Spoon some of the liquid reserve into a serving dish. This meal is so rich that I am skipping the gravy tonight–a little au jus and some butter will do the trick for our stock cooked potatoes.

I will be serving our roast with cheddar bay biscuits–take the classic Bisquick recipe right on the box and add Bay Seasoning and a handful of really good shredded sharp cheddar cheese to the dough. Make these right before you eat–the less handling the better. These biscuits take a while to brown up so do not be afraid to use a high oven–425 to 450 just be sure to keep an eye on them–best to serve hot out of the oven. We drizzled a bit of honey on ours.

Sunday dinner is different in that it usually includes desert. Growing up we ate a lot of Sunday Dinners at my respective Grandmother’s houses and I recall there always being desert–which was not the case at home where my gorgeous mother was usually on some kind of diet. I started with an Entemann’s pound cake–you will see a theme in my cooking where I take “box stuff” and make it better. I need a name for that cause its a definite thing.

I mixed a cup of sliced fresh strawberries and a cup of fresh blueberries and added 1/4 cup sugar and allowed to marinate in my fridge for a few hours. My local grocery had a Buy 1 Get 1 Free on Entemann’s pastry products today, just my luck! I grabbed a pound cake and then sliced it and lightly toasted the slices right in my toaster. I spooned some of the sweet berries over top. Then I drizzled a 1/3 cup of custard over the whole thing. Decadent. I love that you can buy Southern Style Custard all year long here–its a dairy staple. I am with my people.

I wish I had a picture of the final product–it was a big messy plate of tender roast, carrots, potatoes, a scoop of cottage cheese and a weird looking but delicious and fluffy biscuit. All 3 of us ate our plates with very little dinner conversation and the reviews ranged from “bomb Mom” to “Ronnie that was one of your best ever!” I am sending the leftovers with Jeff to my Dad’s tonight for the BIG GAME….O-H ?? My Dad will let me know if I did my Grandmothers proud.