Today on the blog, we have an introduction for you. We are happy to introduce you to our new assistant, Katy of Honestly Delicious! We are so happy that she’s been able to join us and help is us to administrate this blog. There are so many things involved in running PaleoParents.com, and her help will be invaluable!
We first became acquainted with Katy on Instagram and loved what she was posting there. When we were down in Virginia Beach, we had the pleasure of meeting and spending the afternoon with Katy and her husband, Ian. We were quite charmed by this paleo family and so when we needed an assistant, she was not far from our mind!
Today, Katy is sharing a delicious recipe for Mediterranean Braised Pot Roast, which we are very excited to try!
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Right now I bet you guys are knee deep in Thanksgiving preparations, and I’m sure if you are like me you have scoured all your cookbooks and the interwebs to find the best recipes to grace your tables tomorrow. I especially love that the Paleo Parents do a Thanksgiving Round Up every year, and I was honored that they featured my Garlicky Tuscan Kale in their side dish recommendations! Thanks guys! I myself will be spending my Thanksgiving working my last day in a restaurant – ever. (Imagine me doing a crazy happy dance!) Starting Friday, I will be the new assistant for the Paleo Parents, and I cannot tell you how excited I am! I have done my time, and worked in restaurants for ten years, and I am finally retiring that part of my life to pursue a new passion: food blogging. I have my own small Paleo food blog called Honestly Delicious, and I am excited to learn from the Paleo Parents as I work on their team helping answer emails, coordinate fun giveaways, and other skills in the adventures of a professional food blog!
To kick off my assistant-ship here at Paleo Parents, I thought I would share with readers a recipe that is great to make in the aftermath of Thanksgiving. After I have finished all the leftovers from Thanksgiving and put shredded roasted turkey into everything from frittatas to stir-frys, all I want is some red meat! Especially after an indulgent holiday, I want to get back to food that is easy on digestion, easy on preparation, and big on flavor.
Stacy and Sarah have talked extensively in their awesome podcast about the importance of taking care of your gut after a holiday or special occasion. Braised meat, especially grassfed beef, helps restore the body of essential fats and nutrients. Because it is cooked low and slow all day, it’s easy on your gut because the braising process has already helped break it down enough so that it can be easily absorbed into your system.
Growing up, pot roast was one of my favorite meals that my mom would make. She is a wonderful cook, and she is also the master at making her family and friends feel special with home cooked meals. I always felt like she made pot roast just for me because she knew I loved it so much. She not only taught me how to cook at a very young age, but she also taught me how to take care of people with unconditional love and support. I hope that someday I can be as wonderful a mom as she is. I dedicate this recipe to her.
So here is my twist on the classic pot roast. All the basics and essentials of braising are included:
• A large grassfed beef chuck roast, preferably bone-in. You can use any type of roast here, and this time I happened to use a beautiful, long “arm chuck roast” from Polyface Farms. Why choose a bone in roast? First for flavor, and second for nutrients. When you slow cook bones for a long time, calcium, minerals and marrow infuse the resulting broth, giving you more nutritional bang for your buck!
• A mix of aromatic veggies, including the essential carrots, onions, and celery. I also added cremini mushrooms for an earthy, umami element, and leeks for extra onion-y flavor.
• Homemade stock (bone broth). This is crucial for the homemade taste, and also all the healthful benefits of this immune boosting super-food.
To kick up the flavor, and turn this from a classic pot roast to a Mediterranean Pot Roast, I’ve added organic green olives, lots of dried oregano, raisins, bay leaves, thyme, and Tessamae’s Mediterranean Roasted Garlic Puree. If you can’t find it at your local Whole Foods Market, you can certainly substitute it for an equal amount of minced garlic, or a homemade roasted garlic.
When braising any large piece of meat, it is important to build the flavor by first searing the meat on all sides. This makes the meat visually appealing as well for the end result, so don’t be tempted to skip this step! This dish only takes about 15-20 minutes to get it into the oven, and then all you have to do is wait 6-8 hours for the magic to happen. Not very much work for a ton of flavor!
Ingredients
- One large grassfed beef chuck roast, 2-4 pounds
- 1 ½ pounds of baby organic carrots
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 trimmed and washed leeks, roughly chopped
- 4 stalks of organic celery, sliced
- 16 oz. cremini mushrooms, stems removed and halved
- 1 12 oz jar of organic green olives
- 1/3 cup of organic Thomson Raisins
- 1 tablespoon dried organic oregano
- 2 tablespoons Tessemae’s Mediterranean Roasted Garlic Puree (or 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, or a homemade roasted garlic)
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 4 cups of homemade stock (chicken, beef or pork – doesn’t matter)
- 1/3 cup organic, sulfite free red wine (optional)
- 1/3 cup organic, pure balsamic vinegar (also optional)
- 1 tablespoon of sea salt, plus more for seasoning
- 2 teaspoons of fresh ground pepper, plus more for seasoning
- 1 tablespoon of lard, tallow, or coconut oil
Instructions
- While you prep all of the veggies, take the roast out of the fridge to come to room temperature and season it on all sides with a generous sprinkle of sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
- Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large Dutch oven, sear the roast on all sides in the 1 tablespoon of preferred fat over medium high heat on the stove. Make sure to brown well and evenly. If you have a very large roast, you may need to cut it in two to fit it in the pot, and that’s okay.
- Remove the seared meat and reserve it in a bowl.
- Add all of your veggies to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 15 minutes until the veggies start to brown.
- After the veggies have started to brown, add the wine and vinegar and scrape all the brown bits up from the bottom of the pan. Cook for two minutes to cook out the alcohol. If you don’t cook with alcohol, you can omit and just use the balsamic vinegar. If you don’t eat vinegar or alcohol, don’t worry. You can omit both, and skip to the next step.
- Add in the homemade stock, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, olives, raisins, salt and pepper and stir well.
- Add the meat back into the mixture, and also any juices that have collected.
- Cover and cook in the oven at 250 for 6-8 hours, turning the meat after four hours. How long the roast has to cook will depend on how large and thick your roast is – I suggest checking at the 6 hour mark, and if the meat falls apart easily and the bones fall out, it’s done!
Some people love to serve roast beef sliced, but my mom always chopped up the roast beef into large pieces and plated them on a large serving platter, so that’s what I like to do too. I used to love mashed potatoes with my pot roast, but now I serve it over My New Favorite Mashed Cauliflower instead. I absolutely love a good pot roast in the winter time, and I hope everyone enjoys this recipe as much as I do, and I hope you got to know me a little bit through my recipe! I’m looking forward to interacting with all of the Paleo Parents readers with my new job as an assistant, and I am so honored that Stacy and Matt have chosen me for this position. I have so much to be thankful for this year! Happy Holidays everyone!