christmas dinner
Despite the fact that I had no warm feelings about Christmas at all this year, I did celebrate Christmas — three times! — with various members of my family. I don’t really think law school is wholly to blame for my bah-humbug-iness this year, but I’m sure it played a part. Anyway, it was bad. Really bad. Not only did I not put up a tree this year, I didn’t get out any Christmas decorations. At all. None. My poor, traumatized child. I fully expect that when she grows up and has kids of her own, her house at Christmastime will look something like this:
Except she’ll remaster the soundtrack to replace “Mr. Grinch” with “Momma Grinch” and she’ll have a plastic me in the yard instead of the Grinch in that video.
Anyway.
So I did cook, and it was pretty delicious, so I thought I’d share. Ninja Pops was here for a few days and I cooked a pot roast and mashed potatoes. Yep, that’s it. Meat and potatoes. What?
Newcastle Pot Roast
adapted slightly from Cooking Light
- 2 T butter
- 2 pounds sliced onion
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- cooking spray
- 5 lb roast (I used two chuck roasts, 2-1/2 lbs each)
- salt & pepper
- 1-1/2 to 2 cups beef broth
- 1 T fresh thyme leaves
- 12 oz dark beer (Newcastle)
- 3 T cornstarch
First, you melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Then, you put the chopped onions and garlic into the pot and sauté for about 12 minutes.
After that, you turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for about 40 minutes or until the onions and garlic are sortof carmelized. Remove the onions from heat and transfer to a bowl. Preheat your oven to 300°.
Next, season the roast with salt and pepper on both sides.
Then spray cooking spray on the bottom of the Dutch oven and turn the heat up to medium-high again. Brown the roast for about 5 minutes on each side.
Assemble your remaining ingredients: beer, broth, onion mixture, and thyme leaves. Add them to the pot with the roast.
Bring this to a simmer, then cover and bake at 300° for 2 hours, turning the meat over after 1 hour.
When the roast is finished baking, remove it from the pan. Over medium-high heat, add the cornstarch to the pot and stir constantly until boiling for 1 minute. Then serve over the roast.
And here’s the finished product:
Okay actually that looks kinda gross or something. Let’s try again:
Hmmm. Not much of an improvement. Maybe a shot from farther away?
That’s a little better. Anyway, regardless of how it looks on camera, it was delicious.
Trust.
Oh, and here are my best mashed potatoes of all time.
And when I say “best mashed potatoes of all time,” I do actually mean “best mashed potatoes of all time.”
Happy Holidays!!
Clarification: Make that “best mashed potatoes of all time by ANYONE ANYWHERE!” I vas dere!!!
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Good food heals almost all trauma
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Law school killed part of my Christmas spirit this year. I was too exhausted to put my usual ridiculous effort into it. Next year I’ll be prepared. Le sigh.
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This looks absolutely fantastic. Yum!
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YUM.
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Could not help but see the Newcastle! This post is making me hungry. Need to get back to work on th attorney software and the computer : (
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