Willie's Favorite Roast with Vegetables

When I am wrong, I will admit it. When I am judgmental, which I try really hard not to do, I will cop to it. When I first came across Kay Robertson's new cookbook, I rolled my eyes. First, I considered it another cheesy tchotchke to make those sucking off the teets of the Duck Dynasty phenomena even richer. Second, there was just something that had the feel of Snookie's moronic book. However, I needed a quick cookbook to review, so I figured I would pan it and move on.

 As I got into the cookbook I went "WAIT...HOLD ON! There are recipes in here that my family would enjoy." Some recipes were pretty standard recipes that have been part of my rotation for a while so I wouldn't necessarily call them "authentic". Now, I did skip over the "game" recipes...we will just leave it at game recipes. Let's just say that I feed my squirrels..I don't eat them! In fact, this cookbook was so good that I ended up purchasing it and use it regularly. Just wait until I do the Swiss Steak post! My mouth is still watering! So, I was wrong.

This is one of those recipes. I put this roast in the oven and went about my work for the afternoon. When my husband came home, dinner was done. One thing that I did not like is that the roast was well done. I would like to work that out, but the gravy and veggies on this roast were FANTASTIC. While Kay says that they make a gravy from the drippings, I found this wasn't necessary. The gravy that came off this roast was perfect!

Note: Chop your veggies big. For the potatoes, mushrooms and baby carrots, I left them whole. This roast cooks slow cooks so you don't want your veggies all broken down. Keeping them large will prevent that.

Note 2: I went a bit heavier on the Cajun seasoning because I love me some Cajun seasoning. I will put my measurement up there. Kay did not put a measurement on her recipe.

So, here we go!

Ingredients:

Cooking Oil
Salt and black pepper
4 lbs Boneless Roast (chuck, sirloin tip, rib eye or rump)
BABY new potatoes, I did one pound
1 T.  and 1 t. Cajun Seasoning, divided (optional, but I HIGHLY recommend)
1 lb baby carrots
1 medium onion, chopped large
3 celery stalks (my addition)
1 8oz container WHOLE mushrooms

Directions:

1) Heat oven to 300 degrees.

2) Put 1/2 inch oil in the bottom of a dutch oven and heat oil to shimmering. If you plan on draining, use 1 inch of oil. I will explain later while I only used a 1/2 inch.

3) Meanwhile, salt and pepper your roast. Place about 1/3 cup of flour in a large bowl and season with 1 t. of Cajun seasoning. Rub this all over the roast. Be sure to coat it really well!

4) Brown the roast on all sides and remove from the pan. Now, Kay say to drain the oil from the pan, but I left it. I wanted the drippings and flour to remain to have the self made gravy.

5) To pan, add all the veggies. Top with the remaining flour and stir very well to blend. Add roast back in.

6) Season with remaining 1 T of Cajun seasoning.

7) Place in oven and bake for 3 hours. 

8) I served with rolls and applesauce.