Tales of a Wookie Wife: Fueled by caffeine and good intentions. Feed hairy man. Clean house. Be fabulous. Repeat. You can learn more about me here.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Hungarian Pot Roast

This is a recipe I saw here first, but it has been greatly, heavily modified...Mainly by the fact that it seems I somehow forgot how to recipe halfway through, but it still turned out absolutely amazing.

You can thank my sister-in-law for the punctuality of this recipe.  I'm usually a few days behind in posting, but I just made this yesterday afternoon and, after she sampled it, was told it was to be posted today so she could thaw her pot roast and make it, and she could totally kick my ass, so here it is.  =P


Start off with a roast.  This was about 1 3/4 pounds.  The recipe calls for a rump roast, but I couldn't locate one at the store I was at, so I just grabbed a chuck roast.  Rub it down with sea salt and black pepper, put it in a heated skillet with about 2 tbsp of olive oil on medium-high heat and let it brown on all sides.  You may want to kick the heat up a little if you're not using cast iron.


Here's where my version of the recipe became truly my version.  And I totally did it on purpose.  I forgot my roast was half the size of the one in the other recipe and ended up with double vegetables and gravy.  While the roast is browning, cut up 4 medium onions into thick slices.  I used white.


Once the roast is browned on all sides, put it in the crock pot (which should not be on yet), add another tablespooon of olive oil to the skillet, then toss in the onions and 2 heaping teaspoons of paprika.  Cook that, moving the onions frequently so they cook evenly, until they are soft and browned.


Add to the crock pot.


After the onions are out of the skillet, put it back on the stove and pour in 2 cups of beef broth.  Use a spatula or something with a flat end to scrape the drippings from the onions and roast off the bottom of the pan so the incorporate into the broth.  Let it cook down until it reduces by half.  Should only take a few minutes.  When that's done, pour it into the crock pot, too.


Drain some roasted red peppers....



Add those and a can of diced tomatoes (don't drain the tomatoes) to the crock pot, give it a stir, and season with pepper.  Set it on high, put the lid on, and let it cook for 3-4 hours or until it is tender when you fork it.  (heh.  heheh.)  After it cools enough to take the crock out, drain off the juice and save it.  Put the vegetables back in the crock and turn the crock pot down to warm.


The recipe said to slice the roast at this point, but mine just sort of fell apart when I poked at it with the tongs...


...so I just put it back in the crock pot and stirred it up with the vegetables.


 Remember that juice you saved?  Put it in a sauce pan and cook it down until it reduces by half.


Once it reduces by half, remove it from the heat, whisk in 1.5 cups of sour cream and it will form a gravy, then pour it over the roast and vegetables in the crock and let sit on warm or low until it is all heated through, then you're ready to go.


I'd planned to make sides with it, but since I ended up with double vegetables already and there's just the two of us I decided to skip it.  I've been making exceptionally ugly-looking recipes lately, I know, but this stuff just tastes incredible and is definitely worth trying.  I'll be cooking this one again.  

<3
WW

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