This dish is amazingly warm and hearty and comforting. Perfect for a snow day at home.
Presbyterian Pot Roast
beef roast
salt
pepper
hot hungarian paprika
cinnamon
ginger
garlic
onion
bay leaf
cloves
bottle of red wine
big can of fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
carrots
celery
Put the beef in a large oven-safe dish. (I used a dutch oven.) Sprinkle well with salt and pepper. Add paprika to taste and a dash of cinnamon. Toss in onion and garlic (large chunks are fine), bay leaf, and two whole cloves. Pour wine over all. (Use something drinkable, but don’t waste money on this. Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe’s works beautifully. Also, if you don’t like the acidity of that much wine or if you want to have some wine left to drink with dinner, cut it half and half with beef stock.)
Roast covered at 250 for four hours.
Uncover. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Pour crushed tomatoes over all. (Definitely use a good brand of tomatoes; the wine is already acidic, and you need a sweeter tomato to balance that out. I use Glen Muir.) Roast uncovered at 325 for another hour. Sauce should be thick, rich, and bubbly.
Chop carrots and celery into whatever size you like to eat. Add to the pot and roast at 375 until veggies are tender. (You could add potatoes at this point if you wanted to make it a stand-alone dish, but be sure to add more salt and more liquid to compensate for what the potatoes will absorb.)
Serve over brown rice.
(Adapted from http://www.cooking.com/Recipes-and-More/recipes/Braised-Beef-in-Red-Wine-recipe-469.aspx.)
