What's for dinner?

We went to Sam's Club the other day. Among the other things we bought in bulk was this big slab of beef, a cut I didn't remember the name of. The wife believes it's bottom round roast. Originally, I had planned to chop it into hunks for chili, along with some pork we bought along side it. Due to it's size though, I figured more could be done. Pot Roast was the first thing that came to mind and wife said she's never had it.

A challenge!

First, off came the big round top. Second, off came this big ugly sheet of fat at the bottom. My slicing wasn't as good as I'd hoped. Somewhere in the middle got a little thin. Eih. Next came a hefty rubdown of kosher salt and cumin. The pan I used (which I guess to be about 16 inches) was good and hot for the searing the meat got, two minutes on one side, three on another. The crap stuck to the bottom, once the meat was out of the pan and onto a plate to rest, met with a whole chopped onion, maybe two tablespoons of veggie oil and five cloves of garlic.

I always use whatever's available to smash garlic. Today was the bottom of a jar. Usually, it's another pan.

I stirred and cooked and scraped on medium heat until things got shiny and brown. Tossed the garlic. Next came that jar. It was half full of Rinaldi's Hearty Mushroom, Pepper and Onion pasta sauce. Yum. Third of a cup of salsa, a small handful of jalepenos, shots of Warchestershire and A1 were next. More stirring and scraping until things were combined and delicious, then out came the peppers before they blew my wife's head off.

In a basket made of lots of aluminum foil, in went half the sauce, the meat and the rest of the sauce. I didn't have the time for a real slow cook, so for about two hours it went in, at 350 degrees.

Wife assisted in getting out all the liquid that collected in the bottom of the foils, which made a wonderful gravy. The meat itself was a little weak, but I think it's because of the faster cooktime. The resulting gravy more than made up for it, though. As I think about it, Adobo could have went in. Lord knows I put it in everything else.