My Adventures in Cooking: Pin's Pot Roast

Today I went grocery shopping and found a $25 beef roast on sale for $6 so naturally I just had to buy it.  I called Mom and had her clarify some of the finer points of her recipe (really it's her father's recipe), and got to work.

So here it is: Pin's Pot Roast!  I'll put the recipe here in case any of you want to try it.

Pin's Pot Roast

Beef  roast

sunflower oil

4 onions, sliced

Bay leaves

Whole allspice

Potatoes

Salt

Sear beef in hot sunflower oil. Remove from pot, and brown onions in remaining oil. Return beef to pot, add boiling water to half cover, add salt, bay leaves and allspice berries. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add peeled, quartered potatoes, and cook for another hour, turning meat occasionally. Thicken gravy with cornflour.

My roast, and my nicely sliced sweet onions - and the big pot that is pretty much my pride and joy for cooking right now.

 As you can see, it was an extremely fatty beef roast, so I had to spend a considerable time trimming it.  Note to people trying this recipe for the first time - trim BEFORE you put the oil on to simmer...yeah.

 Like I said, it was a LOT of fat!  I considered rendering the fat and using it for something else for about six seconds and then my common sense took over and I tossed it all.

 Me browning the onions.  I tell you what, moving that roast in and out of the pot is damn difficult!  The next thing I'm coveting to increase my cooking potential are a very large knife, fork and spoon like Mom has.  I had to use a regular fork and a spatula, which worked out quite well, but still.  I now have a new page over which to drool in the Williams-Sonoma website/catalogues/stores.

 Once I've added the roast and the boiling water.  It looked a little weird, but don't worry, it looks yummy once it's cooked.

 I used four potatoes...I LOOOOOOVE me some potato-heavy gravy, and mealy soft potatoes to pair off with my pot roast.

 Everything in!  Now I just had to wait, and turn it occasionally.

 I let it sit for precisely eleven minutes.  Because I'm a crazy person, and ten minutes to let meat rest just won't do.

 My soft, delicious potatoes, and goopy, oniony, mouth-wateringly awesome gravy.

 Once I finally cut the roast up - I have to say, I am NOT gifted at carving.  I need lessons from Dad or something.

 DINNER!  Everything a girl could want in a meal.

 [insert]satisfied-belch[/insert]

Now I just need dessert.  Do I do pineapple?  Strawberries?  Oranges?  Or be evil and have ice cream?  Talk about the best decisions a girl ever has to make!