Recipe: West Coast Pot Roast

Ingredients:

4 lb. lean beef chuck or rump roast
2 tbsp. canola or other neutral oil
2 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. pepper
3 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. minced ginger
1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced red potatoes
2 tbsp. Sriracha
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 cups of Zinfandel
1 cup beef broth
1 sweet red onion

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Finely chop the red onion by hand or in the food processor.

Generously coat all sides of the roast with the salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat. Put in the seasoned roast and brown on all sides, about 3 - 4 minutes per side. Remove the dutch oven from the heat and take the roast out and set aside. Pour in the Zinfandel to deglaze the dutch oven, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any bit stuck to the bottom of the dutch oven. Add the remaining ingredients to the dutch oven. Put the roast back in the dutch oven and put the dutch oven into the oven.

Roast for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours until the roast is fork tender and just falls apart.

Makes 8 servings.

Recipe: Stout-Braised Short Ribs

OK... so I had one bottle of Guinness and some boneless short ribs left in my refrigerator, and that was the inspiration for this recipe. Yeah, I know... kinda corny, but it turned out REALLY good. Oh, how I love short ribs :).

Ingredients:

2 1/2 - 3 lbs. of short ribs (bone-in preferred)
1 16 oz. bottle/can of Guinness or other stout beer
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1 1/2 cup of your favorite spicy/tangy BBQ sauce (choose one that is low to nil on sugar content, or lower the maple syrup amount used)
3 tbsp. of chopped garlic
2 cups of beef broth
2 - 3 tbsp. of olive oil

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, placing racks on their lowest rungs in the oven. In a medium-sized Dutch oven (I use a cast iron Dutch oven which seems to work the best... although a regular aluminum/steel one works fine, too), heat the olive oil on the stove over medium-high heat. Place the short ribs in the Dutch oven with the olive oil, brown on the non-bone sides (about 2 mins. each side). Add all other ingredients to the Dutch oven and bring to a simmer.

Once the liquid has started simmering well, cover Dutch oven with lid and transfer to the oven (the rack you place it on should be no more than two rungs from the very bottom of the oven). Bake for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. The sauce will caramelize around and infuse the meat, so it's not necessary to pour any of the sauce over the meat when serving.

Short ribs are generally quite lean, but keep in mind that almost all of the fat in them cooks out during this braising process, so while 2 1/2 - 3 lbs. sounds like a lot, it'll actually only feed 3 - 4 people (2 if they’re really hungry ;)).

Makes 3 - 4 servings.