Rosemary Beef Roast - Round #1

Here's another part of what I did on Sunday - a rosemary beef roast with vegetables.  I had planned on doing a roast of some sort and my daughter picked out a bundle of fresh rosemary and some nice long, thin eggplant to try when we were at the market.

Start by rough chopping the eggplant into 1 inch pieces.  Do the same with a couple of small cooking onions.  Peel some big carrots and chop into 2 inch pieces.  Mix together in a roasting dish with a lid and coat with salt and pepper.  

For the meat, I used a large beef tip roast but really any large chunk of red meat will work well - I've done a similar treatment with large venison chunks with excellent results.  In a skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and brown your roast on all sides.  The trick here is to make sure you leave it on each side long enough to get that awesome brown carmelization - that's where your flavor comes from.  While the first side is browning, season the other sides with garlic salt and pepper.  

When your roast is browned on all sides, place it in your roasting dish surrounded by the veggies.  Then add about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water to your skillet.  Scrape the bottom and sides of the pan well to loosen all the browned bits from your meat - your water will turn that dark gravy brown color.  When your pan is clean, pour your broth over your roast.  Place 3 whole sprigs of rosemary across the top of your roast.  Cover the roasting dish with a lid or foil if you don't have one.  Roast at 350 degrees for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until the meat is very tender and falls apart easily.  Every 30 minutes or so, spoon some of the juice over the roast.  If your roast gets overcooked or dries out, slice very thinly with a carving knife and submerge in the juices in the roasting pan.  Cover the roasting pan and let sit about 10 minutes while the meat absorbs the broth.  When serving, spoon some of the broth over the meat.

This meal turns into a second meal the following night so be sure to check back for Round #2 for more warm, hearty goodness!