Pot roast, my way :-)

This is my familys’ fav pot roast! Tender and tasty and ready with a side of veg & potatoes, all cooked in 1 pot!
After many try’s & attempts at cooking the notorious eye round roast “ عرق بارد / تريبيانكو” I landed on the pressure cooker method to get lovely and tender and most importantly consistent results. I have read other methods which are roasted in the oven but I haven’t tried them and they depend on having an oven which really holds the heat and mine doesn’t.

The seasoning & addition of garlic gives the roast a lovely flavor and the searing makes it a real roast as opposed to boiled beef.



The broth with the vegetables served alongside some steamed rice just seals the deal for me – perfect for a winter family meal and so warming.

This is a pressure cooker recipe. If you don’t have one, check out the notes below on how to cook in a regular pot. It just takes more time that’s all.

If you want to be a bit cheffy – then before you serve the broth, take out just the veg & place in your serving dish and then strain the broth through a fine sieve covered with a cheese cloth over it. It will create a lovely clear broth. Me? Not so cheffy when it comes to this dish which is supposed to be a deep and heartwarming dish so I skip that part but it’s entirely up to you!

I hope you enjoy this glorious winter dish as much as we do!

Bon Appetite!

• Servings: 6
• Time: 40 minutes prep, 10 minutes active cook time, 55 minutes cooking
• Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients:

• 1.2 – 1.5 kg Eye of round roast (عرق بارد / تريبيانكو) cleaned of any fat and washed, butcher string removed
• 50 gm garlic cloves, halved lengthwise (2 handfuls) + 5 cloves bashed only
• Salt & pepper
• 1 beef stock cube
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 large carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise then sliced thickly
• 4 or 5 medium potatoes, peeled, sliced thickly then cut into thick chunks
• Extra garlic cloves (about 10 cloves)
• 2 medium onions, peeled then quartered
• 2 tbsps ghee or beef dripping or oil

Method:

Start by preparing your beef

1. Get your 50gms of garlic cloves and cut them lengthwise so they are thin and will fit into the incisions you will make in the beef. Place in a small bowl and add a generous amount of salt and pepper. Rub the cloves well with the salt & pepper. Set aside.
2. Take a thin sharp knife and cut deep incisions (small pockets) along the length of your roast. Space them about 1 to 2 cm apart. You are making a long row of “pockets”. Aim for 3 rows at the top (centre and along the sides) and then flip the roast over and do the same for the bottom. Make sure the incisions are deep. Meat contracts when its cooked and we will fill each incision with a piece of garlic & we want it to stay in there. If you look at the pic closely you will see the incisions I made. I have them marked with “standing garlic” 🙂
3. Start pushing in a slice of garlic in each of the incisions you made. Make sure it goes all the way in. you may need to widen your incision a bit with the knife if the garlic slice is a bit fat.
4. The pic below shows dark patches; that’s each place I on the roast which has a garlic piece.
5. Rub the beef roast all over with more salt & pepper. Set aside.

Searing & cooking the roast & vegetables:

6. Now get a big enough pot or baking dish to take the roast lying flat and put it on a high heat. Add your ghee/dripping/oil and let it get hot.
7. Place the beef in the pot and start to sear on all sides. You want it deep brown but do not burn please.
8. Once seared, take it out and place in your pressure cooker*. Here, it doesn’t need to lay flat, it will shrink during cooking.
9. Turn the heat to medium low and then add 1 of your quartered onions and let them brown and caramelize a bit.
10. Now add the bashed garlic and leave for only a minute.
11. Transfer the caramelized onions and garlic to the pressure cooker.
12. With the heat still on, deglaze your pot with a little bit of water and scrape off all the brown bits from the bottom – this is flavor that we want in our broth! Now tip in the lovely brown liquid into your pressure cooker carefully as its very hot!
13. In the pressure cooker, now add your bay leaves, a small amount of salt and pepper, the stock cube and about ½ litre of water (or the minimum required for your pressure cooker). The meat does not need to be covered with liquid.
14. Turn the heat on to high & bring to the boil and skim off any scum.
15. Close the lid and bring to pressure. Once at pressure, decrease the heat to low and set a timer for 45 minutes. If your beef roast is very thick in the middle then you may need an extra 10minutes of cooking.
16. While the beef is cooking, prep your vegetables.
17. Once the beef cooking time has elapsed, release the pressure and open the cooker. Take out your roast and let stand covered loosely with a foil tent.

    

    The roast after cooking.

18. Add the prepared onion, carrot, potatoes and extra garlic to the pressure cooker. Close the lid and bring to pressure at the “vegetable cooking” setting. Set the timer for 10 minutes. For extra soft vegetables, don’t release pressure after the timer beeps. Turn off the heat and let it release pressure by itself.
19. Once pressure indicator goes down, open the lid and give a stir and taste your broth to check if it needs any more seasoning.

To serve:

• Transfer your cooked vegetables to a deep serving dish with the broth. Remember to remove the bay leaves.
• Carve your roast into thickish slices with a very sharp knife. Only attempt thin slices if you have an electric knife, or else it shreds terribly.
• At home I also serve rice on the side.

Notes:

*Cooking in a regular pot:

Follow from step 8:

• Same steps as above but you will place the beef in a deep pot. Once your caramelized onions & garlic are added to the pot, add the stock cube, de-glazed liquid, bay leaves, salt & pepper and enough water to cover the beef. Bring to the boil and skim off any scum. Decrease the heat, and leave to simmer covered loosely with a lid. To get a really tender roast you will need to simmer for between 2 to 3 hours (if it’s a thick piece).
• Once the meat is ready, take it out to rest.
• Turn the heat to high and bring the broth to a boil, then turn it down to medium heat and let simmer to concentrate the broth. I can’t give an exact time here, just check every while and taste your broth. It should be meaty, not watery.
• Once you have a tasty broth, add the vegetables (step 18) and cook till tender, about 30 – 35 minutes.