Stove-top Yankee Pot Roast

Today I am going to take a look at a classic New England home cooking recipe, the Yankee Pot Roast. This recipe works best for one of the cheaper oven beef roasts, like a chuck or blade roast, in the 2-5 pound range.




Unlike many pot roast recipes, however, I am going to do this one stove-top in a Dutch Oven.

Yankee pot roast is a terrific dish as the roast cooks in its own rich, tomato based gravy and cooks as well with vegetables that come out perfectly cooked as sides.

While, as any readers of my blog know, I generally like beef cooked rare to rare-medium, this is an example of a recipe where the beef is cooked for a longer period of time to make it very moist -- to the point where you can cut it with your fork!

To start you want to season your roast liberally on all sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then rub two tablespoons of olive oil and 4 minced cloves of garlic into the roast as well. Let the roast sit, seasoned, out at room temperature for 30-45 minutes.

When ready to cook heat some more olive oil in your Dutch Oven over medium-high heat and then brown the roast on all for sides for about 3-4 minutes a side. This will seal in the juices.

Remove the roast and set aside. Without removing any of the seasoning or liquid in the oven, add two medium chopped onions (and more oil if needed) and brown the onions for 6-8 minutes until golden, again over medium high-heat.

When the onions are browned, put the roast back into the Dutch Oven onto the bed of onions.

Pour in 3 cups of beef broth, 1/4 cup of ketchup and 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce and stir. Then add to this 4 - 6 canned whole tomatoes that you have halved. Do not add any of the liquid from the can. I like to use canned tomatoes as they are peeled.

Bring the broth mixture to a boil, reduce heat and let the roast simmer on the stove-top in the Dutch Oven, covered, for around 2 1/2 hours or until tender.

At this point add 4-6 halved or quartered red potatoes (not peeled) and 1-2 chopped carrots to the liquid, cover again and bring to a boil. Again reduce heat and simmer for another 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Remove roast and let sit, in some liquid and with some or all of the vegetables, for 15 minutes.

Serve sliced with more of the broth gravy and the vegetables. Goes nicely with a side of some buttered egg noodles or rice, country style bread and, of course, red wine!

Enjoy!

See also: Beef Shank Potato Carrot Dutch Oven Casserole -- Revisiting an 80's Leftover Roast Beef Recipe 

See also: Caribbean Style Goat with Potatoes in a Dutch Oven

Smashed Potatoes and Crosshatched Rib Eyes

Today we are doing a true "meat and potatoes" recipe with smashed potatoes and crosshatched rib eyes done on a cast iron grill pan.

Crosshatching is a visually and texturally appealing method of cooking a steak that gives it those grill marks that we so like to see at restaurants, while smashed potatoes are a delicious and easy alternative to mashed potatoes.

To start off you want to get the potatoes going. Boil some unpeeled whole potatoes until just fork tender. This generally takes about 10 minutes, though this can vary with size. You want a fork to go in easily but for there still to be some resistance.  While they are boiling, prepare a flat baking tray and drizzle the surface of it with olive oil. Pat dry the potatoes and place on the olive oiled pan.

With a potato masher push down on each potato until it splits open and flattens, making sure not to actually mash it. You want them to look "smashed"!

Then brush each potato liberally with more olive oil,  and cover with salt and pepper to taste (though really, these are better well salted). You can also sprinkle them with other seasonings or herbs. I like to sprinkle French Fry Seasoning on them.

Place the pan on the high rack of an oven preheated to 450 degrees. You want to bake them until golden brown and wonderfully crispy, which takes around 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove your rib eyes from the fridge, brush both sides with olive oil and coat liberally with salt and pepper. Let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

To make crosshatched steaks on the stove top you need a ribbed cast iron grill pan. These are well worth investing in as they cook great steaks, pork or lamb chops, etc. The ribbing is the key to this. As years go by, if properly maintained and cleaned (no soap!) these become more seasoned as well. 

Heat the pan on medium-high heat (mark 6 or so) until thoroughly preheated. You want the steaks to really sizzle when they hit the pan.

Put the steaks on the grill pan in one direction. I cook steaks rare to rare medium. The steaks I was doing were around 3/4 of an inch thick. Cook them around 2 minutes, and then flip and do two minutes more. Then, flip again, rotating the steaks 90 degrees this time. Do them a further minute, flip again and fry another minute more, and remove to a platter. Let them sit 2-4 minutes before serving.

 If you like them more medium or medium well, or if they are a different size, then you will have to adjust times accordingly. Cooking steaks the way you want them every time takes practice, but ultimately the best and most universal method of telling when they are done is by their "give".

This meat and potatoes pairing is delicious, easy and a real crowd pleaser. Perfect with red wine and lemon wedges for the steak.

Enjoy!