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Cranberry Pot Roast

Sorry - this is going to be a boring all text posting. I hadn't made pot roast in ages and I was so anxious to dig in that I forgot to take a picture. Besides pot roast is not necessarily the most attractive photo - now is it? It's sort of all brown. I had some leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving sitting in the refrigerator and decided to put it to good use.

Cranberry Pot Roast (Adapted from my refrigerator)

3lb chuck roast
salt/pepper
1T canola oil
2 cinnamon sticks
5 whole cloves
1/4 c cranberry sauce
2 c red wine


For Gravy:
2T butter
2T flour

Dry roast with paper towels. Salt and pepper roast. Heat a dutch oven over high heat until it is really hot. Add canola oil and sear meat on all sides. Add cinnamon stick, cloves, cranberry sauce, and wine. You might need additional wine. You want to have it come about 3/4 of the way up the meat. Cover and simmer for about 3 hours or until tender, checking periodically that additional wine is not needed. Set aside meat on a platter. Remove and discard cinnamon sticks and cloves (Yes it is very tedious finding those cloves. I couldn't find one).

Prepare Gravy:
In a small frying pan (I use my 1 egg pan) or a small sauce pan, melt butter and add flour to create a roux. Heat for 2-3 minutes to cook out the flour taste. Stir roux into the drippings in the dutch oven. Stir until thick. You might need to add a little beef stock or water if you have minimal drippings. The cranberries are literally dissolved at this point, only leaving behind their flavor. Pour over sliced meat and serve.

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