Sage-Infused Steak Pot Roast Recipe

Author:

Ryan Thomas is a university graduate who enjoys cooking recipes from a wide variety of culinary traditions.

sage-infused-comfort-food-steak-pot-roast-recipe

Tasty Pot Roast

To me, pot roast conjures up ideas of a hearty, filling, and comforting meal, albeit one that might sometimes lack a bit in creativity and brilliance. Pot roast prefers solidity and comfort over flash and panache.

This recipe, however, does much to liven up the old traditional pot roast with a pleasant mix of aromatic spices, above all else sage, while still keeping those essential elements that make it such an excellent comfort food. It is also delightfully pretty, and it makes for an excellent meal centerpiece. It goes well alongside side dishes such as potatoes or pasta to form a nice complete meal.

To top it all off, the meat I'm using in this recipe, chuck roast, is relatively inexpensive—but the cheap cost belies the quality of the dish. A longer cooking time allows the flavors to work their way into the meat and become yet more tender.

I have adapted this recipe from Traditional Croatian Recipes, by Bruno Simonovic and Ivo Semencic, which is one of my favorite cookbooks. It is packed with a wide range of excellent recipes accompanied by thoroughly wonderful photos. The book is well organized with readable, pleasantly formatted instructions. If you can ever get your hands on it, do so!

Ingredients

2 pounds chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into at least three serving steaks
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, peeled and diced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 cluster cilantro, removed from stems and chopped
4 ounces cherry tomatoes
1 ounce sage
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup beef stock
2 tablespoons flour
tarragon, to season meat
salt, to season meat
pepper, to season meat
thyme, to season meat
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon dried sage

Instructions

If necessary, cut the chuck roast into serving portions, with at least 3 different pieces. Then proceed to tenderize the pieces by pounding them, and seasoning with plentiful salt, pepper, tarragon, and thyme.
Proceed to sauté the steaks in the butter in a cast-iron skillet until they are seared on all sides, for several minutes. Then remove from the skillet and place on a serving plate, and cover.
Place the olive oil in the skillet. Add in the diced and peeled onion, cilantro, and the garlic, and sauté until the onion begins to turn golden. Add in the flour and then the stock and wine, and then the sage leaves and dried sage. Place the meat back in the sauce with the addition of the cherry tomatoes, and season with additional salt and pepper.
Simmer until the meat is tender, over low heat, for around 30 minutes. Garnish with some cilantro and other seasonings when serving.