This recipe comes from  my friend Mary Kate’s blog, where she used hard apple cider in it. I used regular, non-alcoholic cider for this one, and wondered if that would make everything too sweet. Happily, it did not! The meat wasn’t especially sweet at all, but the carrots and onions that cooked in the cider were just a really delightful level of sweet that I could eat all day forever. Yum!

Ingredients:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a dutch oven. Once hot, add the onions, cooking until they begin to brown, 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.

Increase the heat to medium-high. Liberally salt and pepper all sides of the meat, then brown 3-5 minutes per side until browned all over.

All the sides!

Return the onions to the pan, around the sides of the meat, then add the carrots. (You can pretty much add as many fit in the pan, don’t worry, they’ll get eaten!) Sprinkle the oregano over the top, then add the cider and water, pouring it in on the side so that it doesn’t wash the oregano off the beef.

Cover, and cook 2-3 hours – 2 1/2 will probably be about right, but check at 2 hours, both to see if the meat is tender, and for temperature. Using a meat thermometer, you want it to reach 170 degrees inside. If the meat has reached temperature but isn’t fork-tender yet, you can turn off the heat but return the dish to the still-warm oven for another half hour.

Radiant! (Luckily, this dish cleans much easier than it looks.)

When ready, serve the meat and veggies over the prepared potatoes, with some of the liquid from the pan.

I had colorful potatoes!

Cider Pot Roast

From Surviving the Food Allergy Apocalypse.

• 1 medium onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1 1/2 pound boneless chuck roast
• salt and pepper to taste
• minimum 3 carrots, cut into large chunks – a few handfuls of baby carrots also work
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 cup apple cider, hard or not as desired
  
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 pound potatoes, mashed or otherwise prepared, for serving

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a dutch oven. Once hot, add the onions, cooking until they begin to brown, 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.

Increase the heat to medium-high. Liberally salt and pepper all sides of the meat, then brown 3-5 minutes per side until browned all over.

Return the onions to the pan, around the sides of the meat, then add the carrots. Sprinkle the oregano over the top, then add the cider and water, pouring it in on the side so that it doesn’t wash the oregano off the beef. Cover, and cook 2-3 hours – 2 1/2 will probably be about right, but check at 2 hours, both to see if the meat is tender, and for temperature. Using a meat thermometer, you want it to reach 170 degrees inside. If the meat has reached temperature but isn’t fork-tender yet, you can turn off the heat but return the dish to the still-warm oven for another half hour.

When ready, serve the meat and veggies over the prepared potatoes, with some of the liquid from the pan.