My Beef Pot Roast
This is one recipe my mother excelled at, and one she handed down to me.  However, she always cooked onion, carrots, and potatoes with her pot roast, adding them the last half-hour or so of cooking. I’m happy to say I’ve improved on her recipe, and even she liked mine better. This recipe is not cooked in the oven.  "Pot Roast" means that it is cooked in a pot, on top of the stove.

Ingredients:
1 Good-sized Chuck roast (Chuck has the best flavor)
EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Johnny’s Seasoning
Garlic powder
Water (Note: For added flavor, try using canned Beef Broth to replace all water – we love it, and it makes great tasting gravy!) 
Heat EVOO in large, heavy-bottomed pot. Rinse, pat roast dry; then rub garlic and seasonings into roast.  Place into hot pot and sear quickly to brown well on all sides. Add 6 oz. water (or broth) to pot and reduce to a good simmer (about 3-4 on my electric range).  Cover pot and reduce liquid until it is caramelized.  What this means is that it is reduced until it turns dark, but not enough to burn.  This is needed to produce the most flavorful gravy or juice later.  You will need to watch it pretty close to this point, at which time you add another 6 oz. or so of water, and simmer on top of the range for several hours. Watch closely to replace liquid as necessary.

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Pot Roast Gravy
There is a trick to making good gravy, and I learned to make it from my first mother-in-law, Betty Stumpf, who was a great cook.  It takes a bit of experimenting, but is very simple once you have mastered it, and then you can make gravy to die for, whenever you want.

“They” (chefs) say that you should mix equal parts fat and flour to make perfect gravy.  The problem I have with that is, that once my roast is done and removed, how much fat, how much juice, and how much water do I have in the bottom of the pot?  I can’t answer that, so here is how I make it, and this WILL work.  By the way, they also say that if you boil the gravy for one minute for every tablespoon of flour you’ve used, there will be no flour taste.  I have always mixed my gravy thickening in an empty mayonnaise jar, and in my ideal kitchen I have both pint-sized and quart-sized jars in my pantry.  In reality, with all the moving I’ve done in the past few years, I often only have a quart-sized, and that works for this.  I also always stir my gravy with a whisk, which produces the best results in the least time.

I first pour about 6-8 oz. warm water (or broth) into my jar.  To that I add a couple of scoops of flour.  I would guess the amount of flour to be about a cup. The reason it takes so much is that I don’t reduce the fat in my pot, I use whatever’s there, and you must mix in whatever is needed to come up with the magic amount that makes perfect gravy.  Besides, we generally have enough pot roast left for a second meal, and often enough to have hot roast beef sandwiches, so we need a goodly amount of gravy. 

So, I put the lid tightly on my jar and shake it vigorously, and then pour ½ to ¾ of the mixture into the fat in the pot, which I have now heated pretty hot.  I stir that vigorously with the whisk, adding approx. 8 oz. warm water (or broth), and wait for that to heat to a boil.  Now, the caution here is… if you add too much flour mixture, you are not going to have perfect gravy.  You can, if absolutely necessary, add butter to increase the fat, but you want to try to make sure you do not add too much.  If you do not have enough, it is easy to add more flour mixture, or more liquid. 

Okay, now here is the trick.  How do you know when it is perfect?  Well, if you add your flour mixture and there are still small fat globules floating on top when it heats up, you do not have enough flour mixture in your ratio yet, so add a bit more and stir briskly.  When it gets to the point where the gravy just has a bit of a sheen of tiny, tiny particles of fat, then it is getting perfect.  Add a small amount more, and let it cook a few minutes.  The gravy must come to a boil for you to tell if you have enough or too much flour and/or liquid.  This is adjusted by either adding more flour mixture, or more liquid until the consistency is perfect.  When it looks just right, it is.  It will be beautiful.  Rich and dark, silky smooth and shiny, and it will have a rich aroma.  Season it with salt and pepper, and be prepared to have your mouth flowing with juices from the delicious flavor of perfect, dark roast gravy.
Yum!

Beef, Moose or Venison Stroganoff
This recipe works very well for inexpensive cuts of beef or for game, because the meat cooks a long time, breaking down the tissues and making it very tender and flavorful. Originally this recipe called for one-cup sour cream, but with that amount, the dish has a strong sour cream taste that Jim dislikes.  So I cut the amount of sour cream in half and substituted it with whole milk.  It is a bit less thick this way, but can be thickened with additional flour if you like, and there is no sour cream taste in these proportions. I urge you to experiment if you find a dish that does not quite meet your needs, as I have done with this.  After all, recipes are just food, and we want it to taste best to us.  We all have likes and dislikes, so use these recipes to adapt and suit to your taste.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 lbs. stew beef or chuck roast, cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
2 tbsp. oil
1-1/2 C. Beef broth
1 sm. Garlic clove, finally chopped, or 1/8 tsp. Minced garlic
1 tsp. Salt
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced (optional)
1 med. Onion, chopped (about ½ Cup)
3 tbsp. Flour
2 C. Egg noodles, cooked
½ C. Sour Cream
½ C Whole Milk
3-4 C. hot cooked noodles
1 tbsp margarine or butter
Cook and stir beef and onion in 2 tbsp oil in large deep skillet or chicken fryer, over low heat until brown. Reserve 1/3 C. beef broth.  Stir remaining broth, garlic and salt into skillet. Heat to boiling, and then reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until beef is tender, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.  Stir in mushrooms if desired. Cover and simmer about 5 minutes.

In large saucepan, heat water and prepare noodles as directed on package.  Drain in colander, do not rinse. Shake reserved broth and flour in tightly covered container, stir gradually into beef mixture in skillet. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir one minute; reduce heat. Stir in sour cream and milk, and heat through.  Stir noodles into Stroganoff in skillet, and serve.

My Swiss Steak
This recipe came from my mother, and is still one of our favorite foods.  Long, slow cooking is best for this, and a heavy, deep skillet with tight-fitting lid produces the best results.  If left to cook for 2-1/2 hours or a bit more, it produces a most flavorful rich, sweet sauce, and the meat is falling apart tender and sweet. 

Ingredients:
Large piece of bottom round steak
2 tbsp. EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
Salt and pepper to taste
Johnny’s Seasoning to taste
1 C. flour
1 large white onion, sliced
1 28-oz. Can whole tomatoes
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 can tomato juice (I use one of the 11.5 oz. pop-top cans that come in six-packs)
Heat oil in large, 12-inch chicken fryer or deep, heavy skillet with tight-fitting cover.  Season steak with salt, pepper, and Johnny’s Seasoning, rubbing it into steak, then dredge (coat) steak with flour.  Sear steak in hot oil to brown, on both sides.  Reduce heat in skillet, add tomatoes, mashing them with fork, add tomato juice, sugar and onions.  Add a bit of additional salt and pepper to sauce at this time, mixing all.  Cover skillet and reduce to a simmer.  Cook at a simmer on stovetop until steak is tender, and then some.  I usually cook about 2-1/2 hours, at a slow simmer.  Serve from the skillet or a tureen, using the flavorful sauce over mashed potatoes.  Jim says he doesn’t like tomatoes, but he likes this dish so well he saves the sauce, and will add some leftover scrambled ground beef (fried ground beef and onions), a stray hamburger patty, sausage, or even hot dogs to it for a lunch or supper dish.

Leftover Beef/Cheese Open Faced Sandwiches
I came up with this after eating something similar at a restaurant, and it is a great, very quick meal to have.  If you don’t have leftover roast beef, thin-sliced beef from the deli section of your supermarket works very well.
Ingredients:
Thin-sliced leftover Roast Beef
1 medium to large onion, sliced
2 Tbsp. Butter or margarine
Thick-sliced Monterey Jack Cheese
Sliced French Rolls
Heat broiler; adjust rack to about six inches from broiler heat
Directions:
Sauté onion in butter in 12-inch skillet, drain on paper towel.  Place as many half-rolls as needed on baking sheet, top with sliced beef, cheese to cover each roll, and sautéed onions.  Place under broiler for just a few minutes to begin to melt cheese, and toast edges of rolls.  Remove from broiler and serve immediately.

Portuguese Pot Roast
This recipe came from Jim’s mother (Barbara Foley), who died about 10 years ago.  Barbara was Portuguese.  The recipe came to me by way of Jean, Jim’s ex-wife.  It is a recipe that Jim’s “ma” made often.
Ingredients:
Chuck Roast
1 large can (28 oz.) whole tomatoes (mash or puree them)
Salt and pepper to taste
½ tsp. Cumin seed
½ tsp. Cayenne pepper
½ tsp. Garlic powder
2-1/2 tbsp. Cider vinegar
1 medium onion, chopped finely
Directions:
Rinse and pat roast dry, season well with all seasonings being rubbed into roast.  Heat large pot on range top, add vegetable oil, and then roast.  Sear roast on all sides on med-high heat.  Add about 6 oz. water, sprinkle onions on top, add tomatoes and bring to boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cover.  Simmer covered until tender, adding more liquid if necessary.