Italian Pot Roast

Way back in August, SP bought a couple of hunks of beef because there was a BOGO sale at GEMD. One was cut into cubes, skewered, and grilled for kebabs. The other went into the freezer. I like to eat what is in the freezer, plus the holidays are coming and we need freezer space for holiday food (OK, holiday cookies), so I started pestering SP about making the hunk of beef. He countered that it was not truly happy beef so he didn't really want it. I pointed out that I couldn't eat that much beef by myself in a week, nor did I want to. He suggested we keep it in the freezer until my parents come for the holidays. I pointed out that with dad's recent medical issues it was unlikely they would come for the holidays. In the end, he somewhat reluctantly agreed to cook and eat the hunk of beef.

And that is the start of how the two of us managed to finish a 1.5 L bottle of wine in one afternoon. We used it in 2 dishes for the week and then had a glass each leftover.

We used the Italian Pot Roast recipe in The Joy of Cooking as a guide. This is where 2.5 cups of the wine went, along with tomato paste, a 28 oz can tomatoes, beef broth, onion, carrots, mushrooms, parsley, sage, a bay leaf and rosemary. It didn't braise in the oven but on the stove top. Here's the cooked hunk of beef:

We cooked it on a Sunday but didn't eat it for dinner until later in the week. The tiny sliver we tried on that Sunday seemed a bit tough and dry in spite of cooking slowly in a bunch of liquid. Kind of disappointing. The hunk was cut in half and each half was submerged in half the liquid in a casserole dish, When I reheated it, I left the casserole dish on and reheated it at 350 for 45-60 minutes.

Much, much moister and tastier after hanging out in the liquid for a day or two and then being reheated. Tasty and tangy tomato flavor along with soft mushrooms and carrots. Definitely a make again dish, but next time maybe with a better quality hunk of beef.

*We ate it with olive oil bread from GEMD and steamed broccoli or roasted asparagus.

Recipe here.