I’ve mentioned her before but tonight I’m finally making one of Laurie Colwin’s tried and true recipes. Laurie was a novelist, home cook, mom, and food writer, and her life was way too short. Her books about time spent in the kitchen (her own kitchen, friends’ kitchens, and those around the east coast and the world for family vacations) draw in a wanna-be cook by making cooking and baking seem fun, life enriching, and at times quite funny. In one chapter of her book Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen, Laurie discusses the perfect Friday night supper for when your heart “cried out for something more substantial than one skinless chicken breast.” The idea of Friday night meals being more special is a lovely concept, one that she acknowledges has been slowly left behind by the modern family.

Ready for the oven ©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

Well, tonight is Thursday but I know this recipe is going to make enough for tomorrow’s dinner too so here it goes! Laurie recommends a thick-cut chuck steak as the best cut of meat to use for pot roast as it is cheap and fatty making it economical and juicier. She recommends about a pound of chuck per person being served, and a little extra if you want leftovers. So all I needed was a 2-pound chuck steak, however I bought one just under 3 pounds to make sure I had leftovers. This is the simplest pot roast recipe I’ve seen so far and I’m guessing that’s what makes it so good. Sometimes simpler really is better. I omitted the hot pepper but added two stems of fresh rosemary to the Dutch oven and 1 cup of beef broth and 1 tbsp Worcestershire to the tomato sauce.

The prep took about 15 minutes and then I shoved the whole thing in the oven and set my timer for 3 hours to test its’ tenderness.  When it had been about 2 hours and 45 minutes of cooking time, I started making mashed potatoes and steaming some large chunks of carrot. I sliced 1 large russet potato, boiled it in chicken broth, and mashed it up, adding a little Tony’s Creole Seasoning, garlic powder, butter, and a dash of milk while whipping it. I served the sliced pot roast with homemade gravy!! alongside the mashed potatoes and the steamed carrots lightly buttered. I feel the beef broth was VERY necessary because otherwise there wouldn’t have been enough liquid in the pot to make a good gravy with. Here’s my fabulous, tender, juicy, beautiful pot roast: #lauriecolwin

From: Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin, 1988

• chuck steak (See notes above for pound recommendations)
• paprika
• 1-2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 hot pepper, optional
• 3-5 cloves garlic
• 1 cup red wine
• small can of tomato sauce
• black pepper
• ADDITIONALLY I ADDED (2 stems of fresh rosemary, 1 cup beef broth, & 1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce)

1. Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Take the chuck steak, tie a string around its middle and roll it on all sides in paprika.

2. Heat some dark, fruity olive oil in a skilled and sear the meat on both sides. Transfer to a Dutch oven slightly larger than the meat.

3. Cut the red peppers into strips and saute them in the skilled. Add them to the meat along with the onion cut into quarters, and carrot sliced into chunks. If you love hot food, add one fresh hot pepper. Since there is never enough garlic, I use 6 big cloves but this can be adjusted to taste.

4. Into the skillet pour one glass of red wine and a small can of tomato sauce and cook down to thicken a bit. Pour over the meat, grind on some black pepper and cover. Cook in a slow oven (300ºF) until tender. That will take somewhere between three and five hours, so relax.

5. When the meat is done, remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and push them through a sieve or run them through a food mill. A blender will not do. The idea is to create a puree free of fibers, onion and pepper skins, and the twiggy bits of the hot pepper.

6. Put the puree in a saucepan, add the meat juice and cook, over a moderate flame, until you have a thick gravy.

7. Slice the pot roast at the last minute and spoon the gravy over it, saving some for the gravy boat.

Note: Laurie recommends serving this with homemade potato pancakes. Get the book for that recipe. 🙂