I know it's been warm this year up there in the east coast but I was up in the west coast for a couple of weeks, enjoying the best January weather ever. It was 60 degrees there with lots of sunshine and it was so so easy to forget that it's winter and I should be sitting in bed with double blankets and a hoodie, drinking hot tea. It's not great to have a boyfriend who goes to school so damn far away, but I am loving the small handful of perks that come with it {hellooo best hot dog ever!}
Fast forward three weeks, and I'm back in the lovely boston just in time to miss the supposed winter storm that was supposed to make us all wish we were on a sunny caribbean island somewhere. There's snow on the ground and a chill seeping through my windows; I'm back to layering up on blankets while TC traipses around in a short sleeved t-shirt and iced coffee every morning showoff! In retaliation, I'm coming up with a full list of winter foods that will be happening up here in boston, which he won't get to have 😈😈😈. It's not the best revenge or anything - obviously the good weather is better, but it's still something right?
I'm starting off with a lazy day stew that takes almost negative minutes to prepare, because I've been jazzed about starting this new meat delivery service that basically drops off nicely packaged organic meats once a month to my apartment from local farms in the Boston area. I'm guessing they drop off a roast every month in the winter, because I got this large chunk of chuck roast and it is amazeballs. Almost makes up for the fact that 1) It's winter, and I'm still stuck here in the cold; 2) I'm clearly so lazy I can't even bother to go grocery shopping anymore; 3) Does this mean I have to exercise to make up for the part where I clearly no longer leave my apartment anymore!?
Lazy Stew
4 servings
How to do it:
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.
- Heavily season chuck roast with salt and pepper.
- Heat olive oil in a large braising pan, and brown chuck roast on all four sides. Remove the roast and saute finely chopped onion, carrot, and celery to deglaze the pan. Add beef broth {or beef broth + white wine}.
- Return the roast into the pan, and add rosemary, thyme, and the bay leaf. Cover the braising pan and transfer it to the oven for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, toss chopped celery, potatoes, and broccoli with salt and pepper. Add veggies into the braising pan, cover, and cook for another 1-1.5 hrs.
- Serve shredded with blue cheese in a sandwich if you like to carb overload like me {yay!}, or just eat as is {boo!}
What you need:
- 2 lb chuck roast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 2 cups beef broth {or sub 1 cup white wine}
- 2 sprigs thyme + rosemary {dried is fine also}
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup celery, chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 1 lb red potatoes, quartered
- 1 head broccoli, cut into florets