Sunday Roasts and Soups

Sunday was not without explitives and sated noises. I would title this as such, but perhaps the focus would be wrong. Because honestly, this is a blog for recipes, really. The explitives were from my vegetable peeler (second-string peeler) snapping in two. Somehow, during the holidays, the first-string peeler walked out. Call it a "no bagel no bagel" walk out. Call it a thievery. Whatever it was, it is gone.

The sated noises were caused by two things made in my new, red, Mario Batali Dutch Oven. It is so cute when novices to cooking still think that a dutch oven has to do with sheets and flatulence. That sounds like ANOTHER title for a post...but I digress.

First item ever made in my dutch oven was vegetarian vegetable soup. I think this is fairly comparable to the ridiculous fad diet Cabbage Soup, but I love it. It is a good snack, when you crave something hot. And it is nice for lunch too. Since school starts, meaning work starts, again tomorrow, it is onto preparing for weekly lunches.

Vegetarian Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 LARGE onion (or atleast mine was large) chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 zucchini squash
1 yellow squash
1 large brocoli stalk
2 yellow potatoes, cubed
1 can chopped tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
1/2 green cabbage head, chopped
water (about 6 cups, or to cover)
salt
pepper
bay leaf (1)
garlic salt (a smattering)
oregano (some shakes)

In a heated and olive oiled dutch oven, cook carrot, celery, and onion. Add garlic. Then add all vegetable, except the cabbage. Be sure to season at just about every step. You'll still end up adding salt at the end. Cover with water, add seasoning that you prefer (mine were the garlic salt, oregano and bay leaf) and simmer until potatoes are soft. Add cabbage and cover for about 15 minutes. Voila! Salt if it needs it; since I didn't use chicken broth, it needed it!

The second dish prepared, causing the MOST yummy noises, was a roast. I combined a couple recipes that I found in my Annual Cooking Light books. Sure, the website is free, but it is nice to sit down with an actual book sometimes.

We shall name this dish: Cocoa Roast with Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
1T Unsweetened Cocoa
1.5t cumin
1.5 t coriander
1.5t paprika
1.5t chili powder
1.5t garlic powder
1.5t oregano (dried)
1/8t cinnamon
1/2 cup flour
3lb Round Roast, trimmed of fat and cut into 4 pieces
olive oil
1/2 large onion, largely sliced
4 cloves garlic
1 can chopped tomato (14.5 ounces)
1/2 cup red wine (divided)
1 can beef broth
2 T balsalmic vinegar
2 sweet potatoes, peeled, halved, and rough chopped (only about 8 pieces per potato)
2 t flour (for slurry)

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine first 8 spices. Dredge meat pieces in the mixture. Remove meat, and add flour to the remaining spices. Dredge meat in flour/spice mixture.

In Dutch Oven, heat olive oil and brown meat on each side. Remove. Add onion and garlic and cook. I used some red wine to help pick up the remnants from the browning of the meat. I added a little of the beef broth as well. Once cooked, add rest of broth, tomato, and vinegar. Add meat back to pot. Cover and cook in oven for 1 hour. After one hour, carefully remove and flip the meat in the pot. Nestle in sweet potatoes. Cover and cook another hour.

Remove meat from the pot and set aside, about 15 minutes. At this point, I was heating water and cooking some egg noodles. Remove sweet potatoes from the sauce. Create a slurry with about 1/4 cup red wine and 2t flour. Pour into sauce to thicken, and then return potatoes. Pull apart meat, into manageable pieces and add back to pot.
Servings: 6ish

And now for the PICTURES!

Boy doesn't this look like dog food.

But this one...