m. c. de marco: The New Kitchen Cookbook

Italian Pot Roast

This is another option I found for the chunky London Broil cuts that I get from Costco. It’s cut down from Simply Recipe’s Italian Pot Roast and altered for Passover, ending up as a soupier version of Baked London Broil.

Ingredients

  • 2 lb. london broil beef
  • ½ tsp. salt or to taste
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 1 small carrot, diced
  • 1 small celery stick, diced
  • 1 small onion (optionally red), diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, mashed or minced
  • 1 tsp. dried parsley (or 1 T. fresh)
  • 1 tsp. dried sage (or 1 T. fresh)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ¼ tsp. red pepper (optional)
  • 1 c. red wine
  • 1 14 oz. can plum tomatoes

Directions

  1. Sear the meat in the oil in a dutch oven (or any pan if using a crockpot). Remove.
  2. Fry the onions, celery, and carrots for 10 minutes.
  3. Optionally, add any fresh herbs and fry for 1 minute.
  4. Deglaze the pan with some of the wine.
  5. Return the meat to the pan and coat with the vegetable mix.
  6. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Optionally transfer to a crockpot before or after this step.
  7. Simmer for 3–4 hours, basting every half hour. (Crockpot on high, or longer on low.)
  8. Let sit an additional hour in a warm oven. (Crockpot on warm.)
  9. Optionally, remove the meat and reduce the sauce to the desired consistency (“medium-thick”).
  10. Slice meat into thick slices, if necessary.

Serve over polenta.

Variants

The carrots can be replaced by parsnips, turnips, and/or rutabagas. Mushrooms are also a nice addition.

The sage can be replaced by thyme.

For more spice than just red pepper, add cayenne pepper and/or Worcestershire sauce.

The original recipe called for more wine, which may need more reduction. If you want more liquid and/or less wine, use beef broth.

You can make and slice it a day ahead, then reheat.