Simple Pot Roast
-One of my family’s favorite dinners I prepare, is roast beef. I make it the same way my mother did, using a dry french onion soup mix for my seasoning. This is a great chilly day meal. I like this meal because it’s very easy to make, a one pot meal and requires very little hands on time. Plus, I always make it big, so I can get more than one mea
l out of it
How To Prepare a Roast
You will need a small roasting pan or 4-6 quart covered dutch oven. Oven temp 350 degrees
Ready for the oven
2-4 lb roast (english, sirloin tip, butt, chuck or what ever you choose)
1 package dry onion soup mix
1-2 beef bullion cubes
1/2 cup water
Kitchen Bouquet (a liquid seasoning for sauces and gravy that I love to use) Gives your gravy a nice rich, dark, color too
Potatoes (white, idaho, yellow, reds (pealed or scrubbed well)
Carrots (pealed with ends removed)
Flour and Water (for gravy)
Salt and Pepper (optional)
Choose your roasting pot, insuring you have enough room to cover it, after adding your potatoes and carrots. Pour about 1/2 cup of water in the pot and place your roast in the pot, then flip it over. I like to cook the fattiest side down. Sprinkle a little more than half your dry soup mix evenly over the roast and add the remaining soup mix and the bullion cubes to the water. I’ll add a bit of salt and pepper and cover tightly before placing in the oven. I like to cook my roast about an hour per pound at 350.
You can pierce your meat several times with a long fork if you wish, to help the soup flavoring seep deeper into the roast. My kids like what they call pull apart meat, so I usually skip this. It will break up the shreds of meat as it pierces through the meat.
An hour and a half before the roast should be done, I add my peeled, whole carrots. Carrots bigger than 1.5 inches in diameter, I cut in half, long ways. In a half an hour I will add my potatoes, along with a dash of salt and pepper. I like to leave the skin on my red potatoes or my small baby white potatoes. I’ll peel and half my potatoes if they are large potatoes.
After the hour per pound time is up and my potatoes have cooked for about an hour, I’ll check them by piercing them with a fork. If the fork slips in easily they should be done. I will remove the potatoes and carrots and place them on a large platter or in a serving dish of some sort. I carefully remove the roast and place it on a plate and cover it with my lid to help retain the heat. This is a good time to throw in some biscuits or rolls in the oven to bake while your making your gravy.
I like to use a fat separator (see ad with photo below) when I make my gravy. You can strain it if you wish to, but I kind of like the little bits of potato and onion from the soup mix in my gravy. They are cooked down to nothing and just adds a bit more flavor. It’s totally up to you. Once I have the liquid back in my pot, with the fat removed, I’ll add some pepper and a flour and water roux to thicken the soon to be gravy. Use a shaker to mix your flour and water or make it fairly thick mixing very well with a fork, to break up any chunks of flour. Always use cool water when mixing water with flour, to avoid clumping. I like to use a spring whisk when I make my gravy, it covers the bottom of the pan better than a traditional wire whisk. I use about one tablespoon of flour, per cup of liquid in my pot, added to 2 ounces of cold water, per tablespoon of flour and shake it well to mix. I like my burner on med-high to high, to quickly make my gravy. I’ll add most of my water and flour roux to the liquid and stir it well, before I place it on the burner . Once my pot is on the burner I stir it often until it begins to boil. I always add some Kitchen Bouquet when I make gravy, it takes very little, seasons it nicely and gives it a rich darker color. I once worked at a very nice restaurant and was pleased to see they used too when they made gravy and sauces.
If it’s not thick enough, I’ll add more of the roux I set aside or quickly shake up some more and stir my gravy vigorously as I add the roux slowly to the mixture. If your gravy is too thick, just add some water. If it’s not flavorful enough, add a bullion cube dissolved in a small amount of hot water.
I will some times have mashed potatoes instead of cooking them in with the roast. My kids prefer corn when I make mashed potatoes, so I’ll skip the carrots. When you do this method and you need more liquid to make more gravy, you can add either your corn or potato water if you like and more bullion if needed. I know, not the best for your diet I’m sure, but it does make nice gravy. You can cut a half hour from your cook time if you do not cook potatoes and carrots with the roast.
I found a good blog that has some helpful information along with another good recipe for your Pot Roast. It provides information about choosing a good roast and why. Check it out, on MAINETODAY’s Blog, The best cut for perfect roast beef?
If the roast is big enough I’ll make enough carrots and potatoes, for a quick stew the next night. All I have to do it cut up the left over roast, potatoes and carrots into bite size pieces and add it to my left over gravy. If need be, I’ll make a bit more gravy, using some bullion or a package mix. Just add some Worcestershire sauce and it’s stew. You can also add a can of drained peas if you like.
Beef tips and gravy over noodles is another great meal you can make with your left over beef and gravy. Just cut your beef up, add mushrooms if you like and warm with the gravy. Make a pot of egg noodles and either mix together once the noodles are cooked or ladle it over the noodles….your choice.
If you made mashed potatoes, you can make hot beef sandwiches by slicing your beef thin and warm with the left over gravy and poor over bread and heated mashed potatoes.
You can cook up some broccoli, add it to your left over gravy and cut up roast, then pour over cooked rice if you like, too. This makes a quick easy meal as well.
If I’m taking the time to cook a nice meal, I like to make it big enough to get another quick meal for the next night. This saves me not only time, but money as well. You can make your meals go further by serving bread of some kind and a nice salad or some fruit. A nice big roast is a great weekend meal.
Here is a good fat separator if you do not have one in your cupboards already. I had one with the handle that was only connected at the top and it broke off fairly quickly. The one I have like this has lasted a few years now and I love it.
I read in a comment that these make for a great orchid planter and I can easily see this to be true. Will have to see what I can do with the idea for a future post. Perhaps my old fat separator with the broken handle will work well.