Sunday night pot roast

This Sunday my husband was in SanFrancisco with his brother for a long weekend and I was off work on Monday, so I decided to invite over my good friends Connie and Dov, my Father and 2 rather recently widowed neighbours.  There were 3 men over 70 who would welcome both the company and a good home cooked meal.  It has been horrible cold and wet here recently so I felt like a pot roast something warming comforting and slow cooked.

• One quite large crossrib roast
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• 1 cup of beef broth
• 1 cup of crushed tomatoes
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh sage
• 2 bay leaves (if you have had them in your cupboard more than a year throw them out and buy some new ones.)

heat up the olive oil in a large frying pan and brown the beef roast on all sides.

Place in a large oven proof casserole, thank heavens for my Mothers old Le Creuset. Add the onion to the frying pan and brown a little in the fat from the roast and olive oil.

Pour in the tomatoes and beef stock.

Add the herbs and stir up all the good crunchy brown bits and pour over the beef.  Cover and cook in a 300 oven for 3 or 4 hours (or in a 350 oven for 2 1/2 if you spent too much time at the superstore.)

Remove the roast keep warm, and put the casserole on top of the stove and simmer the sauce until it tastes rich and delicious.  This is when to taste for seasoning.  Slice the roast onto a platter and pour the sauce over it.

This was delicious and just what the Dr ordered on such a miserable wet weekend. We had a lovely evening and this picture was from the second helpings as we were talking so much I forgot to take a picture of the first pile of meat.