My Traditions

My favorite family recipe was the way my mom did roasts with onion, carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy.  I still do them that way, added a few techniques from Howard, and my whole family loves the dish and always has.  It’s so simple:  

Pot Roast with onions, carrots, potatoes and gravy

• Begin with a 3-5 lb arm roast (can be bigger or smaller).  
• Season the roast with seasoned flour and dried onions until well coated.
• Sear in ¼ inch hot oil in a covered pan (electric skillet is the best) until you have a crust on both sides.  
• Turn down heat to a simmer and sprinkle a package of onion soup on top of the roast. 
• Add onions, carrots, and potatoes (for the number of people you want to serve), and ½ cup or so of water.  
• Let simmer for 4 hours or more.
  Remove potatoes and mash (leave 3-4 un-mashed for stew) with ¼ cup of butter and milk/cream to the desired consistency.  
• Make gravy from the drippings with 2-4 T. of flour and water to the desired consistency. 
• Serve onions and carrots in a dish together, the mashed potatoes and gravy in separate dishes.  
• Slice the roast as thin as possible.  

And Walla! You have a great American traditional dish.

With the leftovers, if you saved a few potatoes, you can cut them, the onions, carrots, meat and add the gravy altogether and 1-2 cups of beef bouillon for the best stew, too! Make sure you have some bread for dunking.