ALL Local Pot Roast!

Last night, I pulled brown paper packages out of the freezer. Several weeks ago, I crossed the river, drove to a private home on a country road, and invested about $120 of my tax refund . . . in meat.

The meat is grass-fed beef from River Run Farm. It has a rich, full beefy flavor, and it comes already vacuum-packed and frozen.

I bought four roasts, each between 3 and 4 pounds, and ten pounds of ground beef, in one-pound packages. Two of the roasts were sirloin tip, and two were rump roasts.

I had to go to the internet and consult various sources, because I remembered that I had picked out one type of roast for pot roast, and one for roasting slowly, London-broil style. I decided to go with the rump roast, since that was recommended in the recipe I chose, and tucked the others away for another day.

I loosely followed a recipe for Yankee Pot Roast from Culinate. I added organic onions (already in my kitchen, in a net bag that says they were grown in Washington . . . I bought them either at Trader Joe's or Wild Oats). From my CSA, I added three potatoes (unfortunately, they were russet potatoes, which are great baked and fall apart stewed) and four turnips. I added a bay leaf from a couple of long branches from a bay tree that a local gardener gave me recently.

Yes, bay leaves grow on trees, and yes, they will grow here . . . I always thought bay trees in this area had to be kept in pots and brought in for the winter, but apparently not.

Result: 100% local pot roast (the salt and pepper and olive oil are all routine exceptions for me). DS and I both had it for dinner, along with a green salad of CSA salad mix with Annie's Green Goddess dressing. Quote: "You know I'm just not that crazy about pot roast." I had more when I came home after church, and put it up in the frig to have again today--I'll freeze whatever I don't have for today for my future lunches.

Turnips: I've never cooked with turnips myself, though my mother used to. Remind me sometime to tell you about the Year of the Turnips in my father's life.

But I was feeling to frazzled to try to photograph it as I went along. Maybe next time.