Sunday Supper: Pot Roast
No sooner did February dawn clear and cold than I pulled down the slow cooker to make some comfort food. I have discovered that, as my tastes evolve to embrace the light and clean aesthetic of healthy cooking, I need to counter balance with the occasional hearty bowlful. As I relearn my relationship with food and apply it to the practical aspect to cooking and eating, I find that while spa cuisine resets my body, I must reset my spirit. It is no better for me to feel deprived than it is for me to feel weighed down. On this journey John and I are still learning to navigate, we try to light and clean during the week with room for indulgence in restaurant cooking on Friday or Saturday night. And on Sundays, just as my grandmother did, I make Sunday Supper.
It turns out that in this as in many things, grandma was right. Sunday Supper often has an old-fashioned, dare I say grandmotherly, quality. Some grandmas put lasagna and garlic bread on the table; some put chicken and waffles, but in its original iteration, Sunday Supper was grandma’s territory. In my grandmother’s kitchen, Sunday Supper was a pot roast with carrots and potatoes in thick brown gravy, passed with hot biscuits and jam at a table set with Sunday dishes. It had been simmering all day in a pressure cooker set up before we left for church because yes, at that American table, Sunday Supper is church food. It is meant to commemorate the day as slightly special, part of the Sabbath observation of those times and that place. A common practice was supper on the ground, where the congregation spent most of the day together on the church grounds. Matriarchs served a nonstop potluck of their best efforts, from ham sliced at the table to blue ribbon pies and cakes.
Just as some Sundays are for church and same are for football games, so are the Sunday suppers served as varied as how Sunday is observed. When I arrived in New York City, I learned that Sunday is as special in the city as it is in a small town. Sunday in New York is a phenomenon unto itself, comprising museums and matinees, leafy walks and sidewalk cafes, and not insignificantly shifts for workers on Sunday schedules. I passed countless Sunday afternoons in Village coffeehouses, writing in journals I still have. As we gathered our forces for the evening and the week ahead, we’d gather together for a Sunday supper of dinner at the pub. That presaged Sunday Funday, the Los Angeles celebration of the nadir of the week, where the music starts at brunch and the Bloody Marys don’t stop flowing until the drag show wraps up around midnight.
LA Sunday is truly a fun day, but nowadays John and I find ourselves spending most Sundays at home. It is necessary to recharge for the week to come, from the trials of the Monday morning commute to the hopeful glimmer of Hump Day. There is much to recommend Sunday at home. How lovely it is to clean house, restock the pantry, tend to the car, work on projects from mending to model trains that wait as patiently for Sunday progress and we waited out the progression to Sunday. Our beloved old movies play at low volume in the living room, inspiring us with style, substance, and comfort as we pass through. Throughout the remainder of our urban home, the music system plays a Sunday playlist comprised of jazz, American standards, show tunes, lounge, and classic pop. How lovely it is in the morning, coffee perked and paper scanned, to move into the day by setting up supper for the evening. As I take the slow cooker or stew pot down from the shelf, I echo my grandmother setting up the pressure cooker with its clamps and dials. As Sunday supper cooks throughout the day, it fills the home with the rich aromas of the evening’s meal, a promise that does much to mitigate the Sunday blues. We come to the table in celebration of the weekend just passed and in preparation for the week to come, and with gratitude for all we have.
It was not until I moved north that I encountered the kitchen sink pot roast of the middle Atlantic. That pot roast is braised for hours in a tomato sauce, resulting in a thick red gravy well able to fortify against northern winters. While my favorite beef stews are Carbonnade and Boeuf Bourguinonne, I have developed a slow cooker pot roast based upon my grandmother’s favorite Sunday supper. Her pot roast was fall-apart tender, served with root vegetables and potatoes in a deeply flavored brown gravy. While hers was absolutely the pinnacle of grandma cooking, I have substituted deep leafy greens such as dinosaur kale or Swiss chard for the head of cabbage she would have used. Serve this pot roast as evening cools after a day of spring planting or autumn strolls, or fireside on a cozy winter’s night. There are plenty of vegetables in the dish, but it goes surprisingly well with sautéed yellow squash and zucchini, along with cheddar biscuits, a hearty red wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah, and chocolate cake.
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Slow Cooker Cuban Stew
It turns out that in this as in many things, grandma was right. Sunday Supper often has an old-fashioned, dare I say grandmotherly, quality. Some grandmas put lasagna and garlic bread on the table; some put chicken and waffles, but in its original iteration, Sunday Supper was grandma’s territory. In my grandmother’s kitchen, Sunday Supper was a pot roast with carrots and potatoes in thick brown gravy, passed with hot biscuits and jam at a table set with Sunday dishes. It had been simmering all day in a pressure cooker set up before we left for church because yes, at that American table, Sunday Supper is church food. It is meant to commemorate the day as slightly special, part of the Sabbath observation of those times and that place. A common practice was supper on the ground, where the congregation spent most of the day together on the church grounds. Matriarchs served a nonstop potluck of their best efforts, from ham sliced at the table to blue ribbon pies and cakes.
Just as some Sundays are for church and same are for football games, so are the Sunday suppers served as varied as how Sunday is observed. When I arrived in New York City, I learned that Sunday is as special in the city as it is in a small town. Sunday in New York is a phenomenon unto itself, comprising museums and matinees, leafy walks and sidewalk cafes, and not insignificantly shifts for workers on Sunday schedules. I passed countless Sunday afternoons in Village coffeehouses, writing in journals I still have. As we gathered our forces for the evening and the week ahead, we’d gather together for a Sunday supper of dinner at the pub. That presaged Sunday Funday, the Los Angeles celebration of the nadir of the week, where the music starts at brunch and the Bloody Marys don’t stop flowing until the drag show wraps up around midnight.
LA Sunday is truly a fun day, but nowadays John and I find ourselves spending most Sundays at home. It is necessary to recharge for the week to come, from the trials of the Monday morning commute to the hopeful glimmer of Hump Day. There is much to recommend Sunday at home. How lovely it is to clean house, restock the pantry, tend to the car, work on projects from mending to model trains that wait as patiently for Sunday progress and we waited out the progression to Sunday. Our beloved old movies play at low volume in the living room, inspiring us with style, substance, and comfort as we pass through. Throughout the remainder of our urban home, the music system plays a Sunday playlist comprised of jazz, American standards, show tunes, lounge, and classic pop. How lovely it is in the morning, coffee perked and paper scanned, to move into the day by setting up supper for the evening. As I take the slow cooker or stew pot down from the shelf, I echo my grandmother setting up the pressure cooker with its clamps and dials. As Sunday supper cooks throughout the day, it fills the home with the rich aromas of the evening’s meal, a promise that does much to mitigate the Sunday blues. We come to the table in celebration of the weekend just passed and in preparation for the week to come, and with gratitude for all we have.
It was not until I moved north that I encountered the kitchen sink pot roast of the middle Atlantic. That pot roast is braised for hours in a tomato sauce, resulting in a thick red gravy well able to fortify against northern winters. While my favorite beef stews are Carbonnade and Boeuf Bourguinonne, I have developed a slow cooker pot roast based upon my grandmother’s favorite Sunday supper. Her pot roast was fall-apart tender, served with root vegetables and potatoes in a deeply flavored brown gravy. While hers was absolutely the pinnacle of grandma cooking, I have substituted deep leafy greens such as dinosaur kale or Swiss chard for the head of cabbage she would have used. Serve this pot roast as evening cools after a day of spring planting or autumn strolls, or fireside on a cozy winter’s night. There are plenty of vegetables in the dish, but it goes surprisingly well with sautéed yellow squash and zucchini, along with cheddar biscuits, a hearty red wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah, and chocolate cake.
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
1 beef chuck roast, well-marbled, approximately 2 pounds
6 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds crossways
2 ribs celery, cut into thirds crossways
3 waxy red potatoes, approximately 1 pound total weight, cut into large chunks, skin-on
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 bunch dinosaur kale or Swiss chard
2 cups beef stock
½ cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 tablespoon cake flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 tablespoon cake flour
4 medium cloves garlic, peeled
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
1-1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon ground allspice
Extra-virgin olive oil
9 hours before serving
- Measure the salt, pepper, thyme, onion powder, and allspice onto a dinner plate. Mix them together.
- Pat the roast dry with paper towels. Gently place the roast on the plate containing the spice mixture. Turn the roast on the plate to coat all sides of the roast with the spice mixture.
- Cover the roast loosely with wax paper or aluminum foil and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- In a large mixing cup with a spout, mix the beef stock, chicken stock, and Worcestershire sauce together.
- Press the garlic into the stock mixture.
- Measure the flour and the tomato paste into the stock mixture.
- Whisk the stock mixture until it is slightly cloudy and there are no clumps of flour of tomato paste.
8-1/2 hours before serving
- Brush the inside of the slow-cooker’s cooking vessel with olive oil.
- Place the carrots, celery, and onion into the slow cooker. Drizzle with olive oil.
- Pour about 1/2 cup of the stock mixture into the slow cooker. Gently stir the vegetables so that they are coated with oil and stock.
- Remove the cover from the roast. Gently place the roast into the slow cooker, fatty side facing up.
- Nestle the potatoes around the roast.
- Gently pour the stock mixture down the side of the cooking vessel, working slowly to avoid splashing. It should just reach the line of the roast but cover the potatoes; it is okay if it is a bit under or over.
- Cover the slow cooker. Program to cook 8 hours on low.
- Check the slow cooker to gently stir the vegetables. If the cooking liquid is running dry, make a half-recipe of the stock mixture absent the flour, and replenish the cooking liquid to just reach the line of the roast but cover the potatoes.
- Remove the cut bottom end from each leaf of kale or chard. Cut very large leaves in half by carefully using a paring knife to safely cut along the center spine.
- Place the trimmed leaves in an in-sink colander
- Rinse the leaves under cool water.
- Sprinkle the leaves with salt. Give the colander a shake.
- Cover the leaves with paper towels and leave to drain in the colander.
- Give the colander containing the kale / chard leaves a shake. Use the paper towels to blot excess moisture.
- Place the chard into the slow cooker, gently submerging it into the cooking liquid. If the cooking liquid is running dry, make a half-recipe of the stock mixture absent the flour, and replenish the cooking liquid to just reach the line of the roast but cover the potatoes.
- Use tongs to check the roast. It should be cooked through and break off in chunks.
- Turn off the slow cooker and allow to rest for 1/2 hour, covered.
- After 1/2 hour resting time, use tongs to transfer roast in large chunks to a large bowl.
- Stir the vegetable / gravy mixture together.
- For each serving, place a nice chunk of roast beef into a bowl. Spoon vegetables and gravy into the bow.
- Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.
Slow Cooker Cuban Stew
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