RECIPE POST: Weekday Supper, a Slow Roasted Beef & Vegetables, a one pan meal

We set a festive green and blue table using everyday dishes mixed with fine porcelain!

Weekday Supper  today is

a slow cooked roast beef & vegetables. 

This meal is made easy by preparing in one pan then produces a tender roast dinner from the slow cooking process.  The vegetables are added later in the process so they retain the juices but don't overcook.  The rich Au Jus created by the wine and beef broth, the onions and the natural juices can easily be turned into a gravy and served on the meat.  We opted to keep it simple on a winter evening.  After searing the beef in a pan on top of the stove on high heat, place the roast in the oven and basically forget about it with the exception of adding a little bit of liquid once in a while so the pan doesn't burn. The vegetables come out flavorful and the meat is tender, with no need to use a steak knife. 

What you need to know 
before you get started...

I use the roast beef labeled "silver tip" and I buy it from my local butcher, but most boneless cuts will do fine, like a Top Round, which is inexpensive but if not cooked properly finishes tough.  It's the slow process of roasting the meat that breaks it down and makes it tender.  I ask the butcher to tie this roast beef together.  Before cooking leave it out of the refrigerator it goes into the oven at room temperature.  Pat it dry, press salt, pepper and Herb de Provence into the meat.  Heat your pan with a bit of olive oil, then pan sear the meat till brown on all sides.  Place the roast in a large pan (I use Le Creuset, and big enough to leave room for the potatoes, garlic, onions and asparagus later).  Add a 1/4 cup of beef broth and a 1/8 cup of red wine in the pan and check it a couple times while cooking to keep a little bit of liquid in the pan.  Cook with one cut up leek, two stalked of celery, the fresh thyme and rosemary and one onion quartered in the pan. With an hour and a half left until finished cooking, add cut up fingerling potatoes the carrots and the asparagus. cook three hours in total. 

 start by pan searing 
the meat to lock in the juices
For searing the beef, use heated olive oil on high in a seasoned Le Crueset pan.  The Le Creuset retains a lot of heat which produces a caramelized coat on the beef, but then I move it to a larger Calphalon pan when baking so there is room for the vegetables. 

Cooking:

Place aluminum foil tightly on the pan roast after searing it and adding the leeks, onion and celery then cook on 275 degrees for 3 hours.  Halfway through cooking time add the other vegetables (potatoes, carrots & asparagus). 

 Ingredients:

3lb beef roast, chuck or Silver Tip, Top Round

1/4 cup Herbs de Provence

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

Cracked Pepper and kosher salt

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

4 carrots cut in half 

1 small bunch of leeks cut up

2 stalks of celery cut up

1 onion chopped

4 cloves garlic smashed

1 bunch of asparagus cut up

8 small fingerling potatoes cut in half lengthwise

1/2-1 cup of red wine

1/2-1 cup of beef broth

because it's quite a heavy meal we lightened it up a bit by setting a simple blue and green table, no cloth and summer looking blue hydrangeas we found at the market.

 serve with a full bodied red wine and a green salad and it's a delicious, hearty meal! 

Happy Nesting 
XO Tamara