68 Days of Gourmet: Day 28
Happy New Year everyone! The holidays have been busy for us with lots of family time and traveling. Since we spent Thanksgiving with my family this year, we stayed in Charlotte and celebrated Christmas with Brandon’s family. We rang in the new year in Asheville with The Avett Brothers and then headed to Atlanta on New Year’s Day for yet another Avett Brothers show and to spend the weekend with my family. It was so good to see them! My mom, Brandon and I went to the Georgia Aquarium on Saturday afternoon while my dad stayed home prepping our amazing dinner! He made Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Gumbo. SO DELICIOUS! He made his own seafood stock and made the perfect roux. It was exactly the dark color of Paul’s in the book. It was full of oysters, crab, shrimp and fresh andouille! I roasted up some okra for a side dish and my mom made my favorite banana pudding recipe. Yum! I love going home and enjoying my parents cooking! 🙂
I was happy to arrive home yesterday and get back in the swing of our normal routine. I attend an incredible hot yoga class every Sunday afternoon at 4. It’s the perfect way to end my weekend and prepare my mind and body for the work week ahead. Since I was a little crunched on time given our afternoon arrival home and wanting to make my yoga class, I was looking for an easy meal. It is freezing here (seriously – lows in the teens, highs in the 30s – that is cold in the South!) and slow cooked meat sounded like the perfect dinner. Our grocery store had chuck roasts on sale so off I went to Epicurious to look for a Gourmet magazine pot roast recipe.
I found this recipe for Oven Braised Beef with Tomato Sauce and Garlic. It only had three ingredients and had received numerous positive reviews. Decision made. You don’t even brown the beef before placing it in the dutch oven! Can it get any easier than that? Off I went to the grocery to grab the ingredients. I threw everything in my dutch oven before I left for yoga and came home to an amazing smelling house!
I was a little nervous because the recipe called for so much garlic but it really mellows out in the oven during the long, slow cook and adds a wonderful flavor. I admit that I added a couple carrots and some onion during the last hour of cooking but it totally wasn’t necessary! I just wanted more veggies. Brandon decided that this should be my “go-to” method for cooking roasts.
I served last night’s roast over mashed potatoes with a salad and french bread. I’m making shredded beef enchiladas with the leftovers tomorrow night.
And now for the announcement:
If you’ve read the “About Jen” section of this site you know that my second love is fitness and nutrition. One of the questions I get all the time is, “How do you cook and bake all that food and stay fit?” Well…I’m going to start sharing that information with you on the blog. Don’t worry, I’m not changing the focus of this blog. It is definitely still first and foremost a food blog but I am going to talk about my nutrition and exercise for the day/week in my posts. If you’re not into it – simply scroll down for the recipe!
In a nutshell, it’s all about maintaining a balance. I’m going to talk about that balance in my posts. I hope I can provide a little bit of motivation and inspiration that you can enjoy delicious food and stay fit!
Let me know what you think in the comment selection below and if you have any questions! Eventually, I hope to add separate fitness and nutrition page to the blog but that’s later in 2010!
And now for the most delicious 3 ingredient roast recipe…
Oven Braised Beef with Tomato Sauce and Garlic
(Recipe adapted from Gourmet, February 2001)
Ingredients:
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
3-3 1/2 pound boneless chuck roast, trimmed
1 head of garlic, separated into cloves (unpeeled)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Optional: potatoes, carrots, onions or any other vegetables you’d like to add
Accompaniment: mashed potatoes, orzo or egg noodles
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Generously salt and pepper roast. Place roast in a large dutch oven. Pour tomatoes over the roast and then scatter around garlic cloves.
Cover and bake for 3-4 hours, until roast is very tender and shreds easily. Break into chunks or shred and serve.
Yield: 6 servings
*Note: if you’d like to add extra vegetables, add them when you have about 1 hour left in cooking.
bakin' and eggs 
That looks yummy! Do you cook this on the stove or in a crock pot? I am all about crock pot cooking…
Oh yay! I love your announcement. Can’t wait to learn more.
This sounds great and for once it has simple ingrediants my husband will eat. Trying this next week!
great idea..cant wait to learn more from you and how to still enjoy while looking great! thanks
Sounds fabulous! Its definitely easy enough to cook, while taking care of the twins! I can’t wait to try it!
My blog is also dedicated to Food and Fitness. I love both equally and did not want to choose between them! I believe you CAN eat everything (in moderation, with balance – like you said) and still be healthy, fit and active. Good for you. I look forward to reading.
Jen, I have not written here before but I check your blog occasionally for ideas and inspiration (the pumpkin/bourbon cheesecake was a hit at Thanksgiving!) – and you continue to amaze me!! I have slowly begun to gain an understanding of cooking and the fun that can be had in the kitchen, and your blog has been a big part of that, so thanks! I am stoked to hear that you plan to add fitness tips to this blog – it’s a passion of mine, too. I look forward to continuing to follow both your cooking AND fitness adventures! Hope y’all had a blast here in the ‘Ville on New Years and that 2010 brings our paths together soon!
Take care!
I just made a similar post on my blog last night too. It’ll be fun to read! I like cooking blogs that are more than just recipes!
I need a healthy balance between your rocky road brownies and Gourmet mac & cheese. I want to try every recipe on the blog but don’t think that our family needs a new dessert to nibble on all week. I really should share with neighbors and friends, but once I taste all of your dishes, I have a hard time parting with the leftovers. Perhaps sharing will be added to my new year projects. I am very excited about your blog addition and am looking forward to the inspiration you will provide. This pot roast is going on the Floyd family menu next week. I have a roast in the freezer.
I am wondering about the crock pot thing too. I don’t own a dutch oven… (honestly – you must have more space in your apt kitchen than we do at my house… or I have too much unused crap, i dunno).
But I do have a crock pot- would the directions be the same for that?
Lauren and Melissa –
I think this would be fine in a crock pot. I would cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until tender and meat shreds easily.
Lauren – you should seriously see the size of our kitchen. It’s tiny. My dutch oven stays out on the stove permanently as “decoration.” Once we get out of this apartment I am going to post photos of the kitchen. You won’t believe that I’ve been able to cook in it! It’s sad. Oh, and did I mention there’s no dishwasher! Ahh!
I understand this series is about making recipes from the Gourmet website but because I’m also interested not only in great food but great fitness a lot of the meals I make come from Men’s Health recipes and short order cook because in addition to being healthy, tasty and fast they give calorie and nutritional information for balancing your protein, carb and fat intake.
I thought the sauce on this pot roast was delicious and I threw in new potatoes and carrots for the last hour of cooking. My veggies were not quite done after about an hour. My roast was tender but Graham and I agreed that we liked the sauce and veggies more than the roast itself.
I love the Avett Brothers!
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I am definitely interested in trying this one. I love recipes with simple ingredients. One quick question though…it says unpeeled garlic. Was it weird after it cooked with the garlic still having its “skin” on? Did you eat the garlic, skin and all? That’s probably a dumb question, but I always peel my garlic. Smashing it is the fun part! 🙂 Thanks!