Roasting

This past weekend we had a two-day blizzard that kept us trapped indoors for the whole weekend. The power stayed on, somehow, and it turns out that being snowed in makes me go all Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was compelled to lay in a store of provisions just in case the blizzard was only the first salvo in a Long Winter, and me without hay to twist or an Almanzo Wilder to send out into the frozen hellscape for bread.

I spent the weekend in the kitchen, and one of my projects was prepping a small cross-cut roast for dinner. We got five of them? I think? in our bulk beef purchase this past fall, and strangely, my carnivore husband claims to "hate" pot roast. So I was nervous about making this into something edible.

I found this recipe on food.com - I prepped it the night before so it had plenty of time to marinate, and roasted it for Monday dinner. It was the best pot roast ever, and we've all been happily eating roast beef & cheddar cheese sandwiches since Tuesday. Combine that with really good blackberries and tiny tim tomatoes on sale this week, plus perfectly-ripe bananas, and the kids have been living large and loving it.

World's Yummiest Cross-Rib Roast

2 lbs cross-rib roast
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Brush the roast with balsamic vinegar. Mix the remaining ingredients into a paste and apply it all over the roast.

Roast at 450F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and cook for 40 to 60 minutes, depending on your preferred doneness. Remove from oven and let rest under foil for at least 20 minutes. (I roasted mine for 50 minutes, then rested it for almost 45 minutes because I misjudged the cook times a little. It was perfect, and retained its moistness all week, making it great for sandwiches.)