Christmas Roast

We had a very successful Christmas this year. The in-laws came over on Christmas eve and I made a pot roast. It was only my second attempt at baking a roast in the oven. In the past I always made pot roast in the slow cooker, but we decided that we didn't like it that way. The meat just shredded into the broth and we ended up with a big sloppy mess. About a month ago I tried baking it, and it turned out much better. I used two recipes from epicurious.com to help me make it. I used the spices from "Gordon's Pot Roast" and I followed the cooking instructions from "Basic Pot Roast". It turned out really good. The only problem was that I didn't have quite enough broth to make my gravy.

For Christmas eve dinner I made the roast again. Here's how the recipe shaked out:

Roast Beef

A 3.5 lb beef roast
1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium onion

3 cloves garlic

1 cup red wine

1 can chicken broth

1 tbs pickled ginger

2 tbs worcestershire sauce

1 tbs packed brown sugar

3 bay leaves

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp margerum

1 tsp crushed dried mushrooms

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

3 tbs cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350. Rub salt and pepper the roast on all sides. Pour oil in a large frying pan. Brown the roast on all sides. Add the garlic and onions. Reduce heat to medium. Cover pan and cook for 10 minutes.

While the roast is cooking, combine all the other ingredients in a 9x11x2 pan. Whisk together briefly to smooth the cornstarch into the liquid. When the ten minutes are up, put the roast and the onions in the broth. Cover with tin foil. Bake on the center rack for 1.5 hours. Turn the roast over and recover. Place potatoes (see below) around the roast in the broth. Return to oven and bake for 1.5 to 2 hours (1.5 for medium, 2 for well).

Green Mashed Potatoes
3 lbs red potatoes; peeled, quartered
2 cups raw spinach
1 stick butter
1/2 cup cream
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

Ten minutes before the roast is done, remove the roast and transfer to another 9x11 pan. Cover again and put it back in the oven. Use a spoon with holes to remove the potatoes from the broth. Put the potatoes in a large serving bowl. Cut the butter into the potatoes. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. I prefer to leave them kind of chunky. Add the cream and stir. Chop the spinach into 1/4 inch strips. Stir the spinach into the potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. The spinach doesn't really flavor the potatoes, but it gives them a little color for your table.

Pour the remaining broth into a frying pan and put on high heat. Add a tablespoon of flour. Whisk until the mixture congeals into gravy.

Serve the roast and potatoes with a colorful vegetable like baked squash.