I was in charge of the main dish for Christmas this year. After a Christmas turkey with my husband's family, I wanted to do a Christmas Roast with my family. I decided to look to the one who has always delivered amazing, loved-by-all-I-served dishes for inspiration ... Julia Child! A little Julia Child research, one grocery store trip, and a lot of anticipation for delectable, I was ready to cook the Christmas Roast!
Getting the marinade ready the night before
And, freshly pulled out of the oven,
how pretty is that?!
I mean, serious, look at how tender that roast is! It was as tasty as it was tender!
Anybody else have lines about how "the Grinch, he himself carved the roast beast" in their heads? Oh well, on to the recipe!
- 1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
- 1 cup celery, thinly sliced
- 1 cup onion, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, halved
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup minced parsley
- 2 whole cloves
- a 3-5lb beef (rump roast, eye of round, top round, bottom round, chuck roast)
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 5 cups young red wine with body (like Chianti, Burgundy, Macon, or Cotes du Rhone)
- 1/3 cup brandy (I left this out because I didn't have any on hand)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Place half the vegetables, herbs, and spices in the bottom of the bowl. (With meat this large, I found it nice to put it in my largest crock pot to marinate, and then I cooked it in my dutch oven.) Rub the meat with salt and pepper and place it over the vegetables. Spread the rest of the vegetables and herbs over the meat. Pour on the wine, brandy, and olive oil. (I also admit that I didn't use as much wine as she called for. I put in one bottle of Chianti, and then finished the amount of liquid with beef broth for a bit of cost-saving.) Cover and marinate for at least 6 hours (12-24 hours if the meat is refrigerated). Turn and baste the meat every hour or so.
- 4-6 cups beef stock
- 1 tbsp corn starch mixed with water or port, if needed (to thicken sauce)
Remove meat from marinade. Dry with a towel. (meat must be dry to brown properly)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Add 4-6 tbsp oil to a casserole (dutch oven works great). When oil is at point of smoking, brown the meat on all sides. This takes about 15 minutes. Pour out the browning fat.
Pour in the wine marinade and boil it down rapidly until it has reduced by half. Then add enough stock to come two thirds of the way up the beef. (She also says you can add calf's feet or bacon rind to the pot as the meat cooks. I don't have calf's feet in my pantry!) Bring to a simmer on the stove, skim, cover tightly, and set in lower third of preheated oven. Allow to simmer 2.5-3 hours, and turn the meat several times during its braising. The beef is done when a sharp-pronged fork will pierce it easily.
When the meat is tender, remove it to the platter. Trim off any loose fat, and keep the meat warm while finishing the sauce (5-10 minutes).
Skim the fat off the braising juices, and strain them through a sieve into a sauce pan, pressing the liquid out of the vegetables. Simmer for a minute or two, skimming, then boil rapidly until liquid is reduced to about 3.5 cups and is full of flavor. Taste carefully for seasoning. Sauce should be lightly thickened. If too thin, beat in the starch mixture and simmer for 3 minutes.
Pour a little sauce over the meat and send the rest to the table in a warmed sauceboat.
Julia Child suggested serving with braised carrots and onions, and buttered noodles or parsley potatoes. Since this was our Christmas roast, I simply carved and served alongside the sauce.
The roast was tender! The sauce was quite flavorful! And, though, the recipe is a long read, it is not a difficult recipe. I will definitely repeat! Thank you Julia Child for one more amazing recipe for this "servantless American cook!"
