Beef Pot Roast

Supermarket has always been my go to place for meat in London. That is because I have not seen any decent butcher near where I live, at least I used to. Recently, I found one. And this was the first time I bought any form of meat so early in the morning!! It was actually very pleasant being at my local butcher, Mr. Bull. It feels more personal chatting and buying meat there than at a supermarket.

Beef joint for pot roast, TICK!!

On the very same day in the afternoon, after an enjoyable rendezvous of breakfast, museum, lunch and shopping with Nz, we ended our day at Whole Foods! It was like heaven. Food Heaven! There was almost everything there. There were vegetables I have never seen before, or knew about; like black mooli, a dozen species of squash, even yellow beans!! This is definitely how two girls have fun. Shop for food!! We had similar fun doing that in Spain and obviously it did not stop there. Was there just for fresh bread but we ended up with an over flowing basket.

Bread to serve with pot roast, TICK!!

Now after a happy day of shopping, the work begins in the kitchen.., kind of. Beef pot roast must sound like something that is really difficult to make or a dish that requires lots of attention. It is actually the opposite. The most attention needed was to buy good ingredients. The rest is up to the slow cooker. Well, I have not told you this, but I bought a new toy, the Tefal 8-in-1 cooker. What I love about this new gadget is that there is an in built timer.

All the fun effort put into making this almost no sweat 'Beef Pot Roast' is to welcome back my sweetheart from his partial holiday / partial medical leave where dental treatment is a lot more affordable. Yes, poor thing had to go through a root canal surgery and I have seen his swollen face the day after the dentist visit. Not very pleasant. So I think he needed some comfort food that is delicious yet easily edible. Nothing that will hurt him chewing.

Delicious melt in your mouth pot roast, TICK!! Mission accomplished!

BEEF POT ROAST RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 kg beef joint
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 tbs flour
• 2 cubes beef bouillon
• 300ml hot water
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 tbs worcestershire sauce

• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cloves unpeeled smoked garlic (prick with a knife)
• 1 red onion (sliced)
• 3 celery (an inch)
• 4 carrots (wedged)
• 1 tbs cranberry sauce
• 1/2 tbs of butter

• Bread (*The baker at Whole Foods recommended 'Beer Bread' to match with this dish. You can use any bread you like, of course.

Method:

1. Melt the beef bouillon cubes in hot water and set aside.
2. Heat the pot with olive oil. While waiting for the pot to heat up, season the beef with salt, pepper and flour.
3. Brown beef on hot pot. When both sides of beef are brown, transfer it into the slow cooker bowl.
4. With the pot that you have browned the beef, add the wine and worcestershire sauce into the pot to deglaze.
5. Let the alcohol evaporate and stir in about a cup of beef stock to combine into a smooth sauce. Make sure you stir out any lumps.
6. Now pour the liquid from the pot into the slow cooker bowl where the beef was resting, and the rest of the beef stock into the slow cooker along with the garlic, celery and carrot.
7. Caramelise the onions on a separate pan and tip them in to the slow cooker.
8. Let the beef braise in its own juice in the slow cooker for about 6 hours or until beef falls off easily and vegetables are soft.
9. When it is almost ready, melt that tiny knob of butter and stir in cranberry sauce to give it that extra flavour.
10. Serve in a bowl with some bread on the side.

Tips:

• While beef is browning, try not to toss it around as it will not brown well.

You may also like:

• Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew)
• Beef Stew