If fall means indulging in comfort foods, this meal has to be one of them! This Red-Wine Braised Beef recipe is made with an affordable cut of beef, blade roast. Even though this blade roast starts off very tough, it tenderizes quite a bit after a slow 4 hour simmer in the oven. Serve this beef with a side of carrots and mashed potatoes and you have a hearty, comforting meal that is perfect for fall!
Servings: 6-8
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 4 hours | Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2.5 lbs beef blade roast
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium onions, roughly chopped
- 2 large carrots, chopped in 1-cm thick rounds
- 4 cloves garlic, whole
- 2 cup red wine (such as Cabernet Sauvignon)
- 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 cloves
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- 1 bayleaf
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped (for garnish)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Begin by preparing the meat. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, pepper and smoked paprika. Place the meat on a plate or cutting board and sprinkle over the salt mixture, making sure to evenly cover all slides of the meat.
Heat an oven-proof pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and then place the meat in the pot. Sear each side of the meat (even the sides) for 2-3 minutes each r until golden brown. Once the meat has seared on all slides, remove the meat from the pan and place it on a plate for the time being.
While the pot is still on the stove, add the onion, carrot and garlic cloves and saute for 5-6 minutes, or until the onions have softened. By now, you should be able to see brown bits forming on the bottom of the pot. Add the red wine on top of the onions mixture and using a wooden spoon, scrape up all those browned bits from the bottom of the pan. This is going to add amazing flavour to the braised beef! Once you have scraped up the browned bits, add the diced tomatoes, beef broth, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, oregano and rosemary sprig to the pot. Mix to combine.
Place the meat back in the pot. Make sure to nestle the vegetables around the beef. The top of the beef should not be submerged in the sauce (see photo below). If it looks like that, then you’re good to go!
Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and place it in the oven. Cook the beef for 2 hours completely covered. After 2 hours, remove the lid from the pot and cook for 1 hour. After this hour has elapsed, flip the beef upside down and cook for 1 more hour. After 4 hours, the meat should be super tender- so tender that you can cut it with a butter knife!
Carefully remove the beef from the pot and place on a plate, making sure not to burn yourself. Fish out the carrot rounds as well and place them on the plate with the beef.
Now for the sauce. Using a ladle, carefully scoop out the remaining onions, tomatoes, and garlic and spices and strain them through a mesh strainer over a small sauce pot. Use a spatula to push the onions, tomatoes, and garlic through the strainer and into the sauce pot. Discard the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and rosemary sprig. Continue this process until you have strained all the broth from the pot.
Next skim the fat from the top of the strained sauce. Using a tablespoon, lightly scrape the oil/fat off the top of the sauce and discard. It is OK to have a bit of fat left (maybe 1 teaspoon or so) but not too much or else the sauce will be greasy. Another (easier) way to remove the fat is to place the sauce pot in the freezer for 20 minutes. The fat will solidify and you can easily scoop it out of the sauce.
To finish the sauce, bring the sauce to a boil on the stove over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and boil the sauce for 10-15 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced down by 2/3 of the original amount. Once the sauce has reduced, whisk in the butter. This finishes the sauce and makes it super smooth, shiny and velvety.
Gently tear apart the beef roast into chunks and arrange on a plate or platter alongside the carrots. Top the beef with the sauce and chopped fresh parsley for garnish. Serve with the same red wine that you cooked the beef with as well as with Potato and Parsnip Mash. Enjoy!
*Pro-tip: You can make this dish a day in advance (and it actually even tastes better the second day!). If you wish to do this, simply remove the pot from the oven after the 4 hours of cooking and let it cool completely before placing it in the fridge. When you go to make the sauce the next day, you can easily skim the fat off before re-heating the meat and vegetables. Simply reheat on the stove over medium-high heat and remove the warmed meat and carrots before straining the sauce. 🙂
