A Day Filled with Cooking (or why just driving down Devine Street today will make you fat)

I was doing my monthly "big shopping" at the grocery store yesterday (as opposed to my daily "little shopping") and saw that pot roast was on sale. Dinner solved. After checking out with my basket that looked like I was feeding the crew of the USS Enterprise, I came home to discover that my freezer had no room for the frozen stuff. The culprit? Turkey and chicken bones dating back to Thanksgiving. So, I donned by black and whites and started a full day of cooking pot roast and chicken stock. I was so in the cooking spirit that I even made four dozen cookies, and I generally don't bake. 


Here is the recipe for Dark Beer Pot Roast, which was served over a cauliflower mash. This is one of those "hey look what I found in the fridge" recipes that came together as I was making it. I hope you enjoy!


Dark Beer Pot Roast

1 5 lb. pot roast

1 large yellow onion

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

2 turnips

8 mushrooms

6 cloves garlic

8 Pepperoncini Peppers (optional)

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. rosemary

1 tsp. thyme

1 12 oz. bottle dark beer*

1 32 oz. container beef stock*

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Prep

Roughly chop onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms and garlic. Peel and roughly chop turnip. Season roast with salt and pepper.

Cook

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Heat a large iron skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and continue heating until oil smokes. Add seasoned pot roast and brown on both sides. Add chopped vegetables (and peppers, if desired) and transfer to oven. With the oven open and the skillet on the middle rack, add beer, herbs and ½ tsp. black pepper. Add beef stock until liquid is almost to the rim of the skillet. Top loosely with foil and cook for 2 hours. Slide out the oven rack, turn the meat and stir the vegetables. Add more liquid to cover vegetables an cook for an additional 2 hours or until the meat tears apart with a fork.

Plate

Serve meat over some form of starch (toast, rice, mashed potatoes, or mashed cauliflower) and top with vegetables and some of the cooking liquid.

*Turbo Dog from Abita is my usual choice, but any good dark beer will do fine. I generally use the Kitchen Basics brand which comes in a 32 oz. waxed-cardboard container.

(Serves 8)