Braised Beef Roast with Coffee, Orange & Roasted Garlic Onion Jam

Well, here another Meaty Monday has rolled around and I haven't been cooking. I've been nursing a nasty case of shingles. Actually, as far as shingles are concerned, there are nothing BUT nasty cases. It is slowly clearing up, and I have just started back really cooking, and promise some new recipes after I get done testing some new dishes. 

Meanwhile, here's a post I wrote last year, and I am actually planning to make it this coming weekend when I have time to run out for a nice, little beef roast. Enjoy!

Looks like a good dinner already, doesn't it?

Now that it's officially Fall, I feel some justification in making the first pot roast of the season. "Pot roast" is the un-fancy name for braised beef.   The fact that it's also gone from the mid 80º's to the mid 60º's in the space of a day doesn't hurt, either. Not that pot roast isn't a good thing to make when the weather is warm since it makes a wonderful cold sliced meat or a sandwich, but somehow, the scent of a pot roast helps take the chill off the house, even if it's not cold enough to turn on the heat yet.

This braised beef recipe evolved from a half-jar of Stonewall Kitchen's totally delicious Roasted Garlic and Onion Jam, that was leftover from the weekend. Rather than give myself the chance to eat the rest of it with a spoon (or a chunk of oozy brie) when no one was watching, this is a truly tasty was to force myself to share it. And no, I don't work for Stonewall Kitchen, and they don't pay me in any way to say nice things about their products. I just like them and want to share. So there, lol. It's a wonderful cool weather dish, garlicky, sweet, orangey, and very beefy.

Savory jams can add so much to your cooking repertoire, or hors d'oeuvre table.
Keep and eye out for good ones, and keep a few in the pantry.

That little pot roast from last spring  you may remember, uses root vegetables that add a lot of rich flavor to the dish. My favorites are turnips, carrots and celeriac, aka celery root. If you would like potatoes, in addition to what's here, feel free to add a few firm, waxy potatoes like  Yukon Golds to the other roots under the roast.  This will make 6 servings, but your mileage may differ depending on how big your roast is, and how lean it is. Or how piggy your eaters are. My favorite is chuck for this, but a bottom round roast or a rump roast will work well, too. Chuck makes for a messy, falling apart roast, but  very juicy, the rump and round will be neater looking but a bit less juicy. Be sure to ask the butcher to tie the roast if it's unevenly shaped, so it will cook evenly, or tie it yourself with butcher's twine. Don't worry if your "roping" job doesn't look great, you'll take the string off the roast before serving.

Notes: I know the anchovy paste seems odd, but don't leave it out. It adds a certain depth (umami) to the juices that you can't get with anything else. If you must, you can substitute a teaspoon of mushroom base, or 1/2 teaspoon of Asian fish sauce. This can be made in the oven, or in a slow cooker. If you choose the slow cooker, after browning the meat, place the vegetables in the bottom of the crock, and set the browned meat on top, then add the seasonings and liquid, pouring it all evenly over everything. Cook on Low for 7-8 hours. Remove the orange zest, and thyme bundle if using, before serving. Do not even consider not browning the meat for this pot roast. Don't make me come after you. I'll know.

Braised Beef pot roast with Coffee, Orange & Roasted Garlic Onion Jam.
 Grab a plate and eat!

Braised Beef Roast with Coffee, Orange & Roasted Garlic Onion Jam

Ingredients:

3 to 4 lb. Chuck or bottom round  beef roast
salt & freshly ground pepper
2T bacon fat or safflower oil
3/4 cup Stonewall Kitchen Roasted Garlic Onion Jam
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee, hot
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
4 medium turnips, peeled and quartered
6 medium carrots, peeled and cut in thirds
1 small celeriac (celery root) peeled and cubed
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced 1/4"
1 tsp. anchovy paste
zest from 1/2 orange in 1-2 strips( use a vegetable peeler)
3 bay leaves
1 tsp of dried thyme leaves, or 1 small bunch of fresh thyme, bundled with string

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Season the roast on all sides liberally with salt and pepper. Heat the bacon fat in a deep dutch oven and brown the meat on all sides, allowing about 5 minutes a side. Remove the roast to a plate.

2. Stir the hot coffee, the roasted garlic onion jam, the balsamic vinegar and the anchovy paste together in a small bowl and set aside. Add the cut vegetables to the bottom of the pan, along with coffee mixture, and stir up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

3. Add the zest strips, the bay leaves and the thyme, stir, then add the roast atop the vegetable mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Cover the dutch oven, and place in the oven, and cook 3- 4 hours until the meat is fork tender (depending on the size of the roast), turning the roast over halfway through the cooking time.

5. Remove the roast from the pan carefully and cut into slices or chunks.  Remove the zest strips from the pot, along with the thyme bundle and discard. Serve with the vegetables and the pan juices. A green vegetable like steamed spinach (soaks up the yummy juices) or broccoli is a great side, especially if you are grain or gluten free, otherwise some mopping up bread is suggested.

Quick & Easy Guinness Sauce For Beef or Pork

It is supposedly necessary to publish a seasonal recipe when there is any sort of major or minor holiday. It's in the Bloggers Code of Behavior, so I am offering you something for St. Patrick's Day. Every blah-g is loaded with beer laden main dishes, alcoholic desserts and pasty potato dishes. I'm giving you a Guinness sauce for meat. so i'm sadly right up there with the worst of them. It's good any time of the year, as is a pint of Guinness. Personally, the closest I've ever come to being Irish is having proudly bourne  a good Irish last name for a few years. But if I did have any Irish blood, I'd be insulted to have a holiday associated with my mother country reduced to a tawdry celebration of beer and potatoes. The Irish folk I've know have been kind, strong, intelligent, hardworking and generous. Far better things to celebrate, in my less than humble opinion.

All of that said, I do like a glass of stout every now and again, and Guinness was the first one I ever tasted.  Let's face it, it's delicious. It also makes a wonderful base for a rich and tangy sauce to serve with a spice rubbed pork or beef roast. Our dinner tonight happened to be a small pork sirloin tip roast, which I just rubbed up with Stonewall Kitchen Chicken & Pork Rub and a bit of olive oil this morning, and roasted simply this evening. The Guinness stout makes a deep, dark sauce with a deep, dark flavor that tastes like you had to work on it for hours. I think my favorite Irishman would love it.

Quick & Easy Guinness Sauce For Beef or Pork.
Every blogger has to publish SOMETHING for St. Patrick's Day, right?

Quick & Easy Guinness Sauce For Beef or Pork

Makes about 1 scant cup

1 bottle of Guinness stout
1/4 cup beef stock, or water
1T blackstrap molasses
2T sugar or erythritol
1T balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. of Stonewall Kitchen Chicken & Pork Rub ( or other favorite meat rub)
pan drippings from a small (under 3 lb.) pork or beef roast

Place everything but the pan drippings into a medium, preferably wide, saucepan, boil and reduce to about half. Stir in the drippings, taste and thin as needed with a bit of water if too intense. Serve hot with pork or beef.

This Recipe Is Merry's Fault: Baked Chicken with Delicata Squash, Potatoes & Carrots

A few weeks ago, Merry, my younger stepdaughter, and CC had us all over for a big family dinner. The two of them had roasted a huge pan of this absolutely delectable herbed chicken. Turns out they used Stonewall Kitchens Chicken and Pork Rub that moi had thoughtfully given them last Christmas. Guess what? We all adored it, and poor Mer had been hoarding the stuff until she could get me to get her 5 more tins at work. I kid you not. 5. Even I bought two more for our house. So today, as I was planning our dinner, baked chicken with an assortment of vegetable roasted underneath, I decided to break out the Stonewall Rub. And no, they don't pay me to use or recommend their products, I just like them, and have never been disappointed in anything I've tried.

How about easy AND delish??

I've had a Delicata squash living in my crisper for a couple of weeks now, and had been planning a completely different blog post for it.  But as Christmas heaves closer, and the to-do list gets longer (as does my retail workday) and some of the things I plan to tell you about get pushed aside. So once I found these really tiny red creamer potatoes at the market this morning to roast with my chicken, I thought, why not add the Delicata  with some carrots and onions? Make a one dish meal? Especially since we spent most of the afternoon putting up the tree. The chicken and pork spice rub from Stonewall pulls it all together into a heck of a good dinner for a chilly, rainy night like this.

This is a really simple meal to multiply, and since it uses chicken parts, on the bone, you can serve white meat to those who prefer it and dark to the rest. But you can blame Merry for how scrumptious this dish is.

Baked Chicken with Delicata Squash, Potatoes & Carrots

Baked Chicken with Delicata Squash, Potatoes & Carrots
Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 lb. Chicken parts, breasts, legs and thighs, organic preferred
2T olive oil
3T Stonewall Kitchen Chicken and Pork rub, divided
One 2 lb. Delicata squash, halved,  seeded, and in 1/4" slices
3 large carrots, scrubbed and in 2" chunks
1 lb. tiny 1" creamer potatoes
2 medium onions, peeled and cut into wedges
1/2 lemon, cut in half

Instructions:

1. Toss the chicken pieces with 1T of the olive oil in a big bowl, and then toss with 2T of the rub. set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 450ºF, and oil a large shallow roasting pan. Place the squash, the carrots and potatoes in the roasting pan, toss with the remaining oil, and the remaining 1 T of rub, and place in the oven for 15 minutes.

3. Carefully remove the pan to a heatproof surface, and stir the vegetables. Add the onion, and stir again. Lay the chicken across the top, and place the lemon quarters along an edge. Place the pan back in the oven, lower the heat to 400ºF and cook 45 to 50 minute until the chicken is cooked through, and the potatoes are tender.

4. Remove from the oven, and carefully, with tongs, squeeze the lemon quarters over the top. Enjoy!