Grace and Ben

I made this dish tonight for Ben and he loved it! I will try to make it again. I think the secret is the fresh lamb I got from Whole Foods. The butcher gave me a special cut of meat that wasn’t in his display case. I asked him for “boneless lamb shoulder” and was very happy with the meat he provided. Here is my recipe.

Tonight, I cooked a bone-in chuck roast purchased at Tony Caputo’s in Salt Lake City. It was a 5 lb. grass-fed beef roast that cost ~$25 so I wanted to do it justice. I found a recipe online which I liked because of the ingredients required. Here is my simplified version of the recipe. I will certainly be making it again.

Ingredients:
“7-bone” beef chuck roast
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, diced
1 cup of celery (with leaves) chopped
2 Tbsp flour
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup red wine
2 tsp tomato paste
3 cups beef bone broth (homemade)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
 

Instructions:
1. Season meat with salt and pepper. Heat dutch oven on high heat, add olive oil and sear meat on both sides (5 min per side). Remove meat to plate.
2. Turn heat to medium, add 1 Tbsp butter, onions, celery and a pinch of salt to dutch oven. Saute for 4 minutes, add flour, cook, stirring for 1 minute, add garlic and satue for another minute. Add wine, scraping/deglazing the browned bit from bottom of the pot. Add tomato paste and bone broth, bay leaf, and thyme.
3. When the liquid comes to a boil (begins to simmer), return meat to the pot. Turn heat to VERY LOW and gently simmer for 2 hours. Turn beef over. Simmer for 1 more hour.

In the meantime…
Then, the second half of the recipe allows me to add some root veggies to the broth of the pot roast which is a fabulous idea. I used 4 carrots, peeled, cut in large chunks, 1 lb. parsnips, peeled, cut in large chunks, and 1.5 lbs new potatoes washed (with skin on).
 
Put these veggies in a shallow roasting pan with 1 Tbsp buffer and a few Tbsp of the beef’s braising liquid. Roast in 425 deg F oven for 30-45 minutes.

When there’s about 30 minutes left on the beef, add the roasted vegetables. If there’s not room in the pot, take out the meat and just let the veggies cook with the beef liquid. Top everything with 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley.

1. Cut tips off artichokes. Cut a little off the stem (but don’t take off the whole stem–it’s tasty!). Cut artichoke in half.

2. Soak the artichokes in cold water with a quarter of a lemon (squeeze juice into water).

3. Boil a pot of water. Add artichokes and boil for 15 minutes.

4. Marinate artichokes in a mixture of olive oil, garlic and lemon juice (balsamic is optional).

5. Grill and enjoy. You can dip in olive oil. Don’t eat the hairy middle bristles but enjoy the heart and bottoms of each leaf.