Why does this take so long? - A double meaning post on procrastination and Chuck Roast Marinara

I think I need a different publishing program for one. Uploading five pictures at a time, and having to do it in a strange order really isn't helping at all.

What for today though? Lets see what the archival pictures have.

Ah this was a particularly comforting dish. By particularly comforting, I mean not for the faint of heart, and that it requires a lot of time.

I bring to you Chuck Roast Marinara.

This is about a 3 pound chuck roast. Good for many many meals, and hopefully you won't get tired after just one meal of it.

Salt and pepper both sides, we want to get a good crust.

Nothing says comfort like bacon. Just some standard grocery store bacon for me here. Sure I'd love some of that peppercorn bacon, but, maybe when I'm not up to my eyeballs in Santa Monica rent bills.

I like to cut my packages in half. Lets the bacon sit into more manageable pieces.

Lay it out in the pan. That's my wonderful cast iron pan there. One of four.

And here's the tomato sauce recipe you might remember from the pizza recipe earlier. Its very versatile!
Once you've gotten that out your bacon should be on its way to nicely browned.


Pretend that's a bit browner, then pull it out onto some paper towels.

In goes the beef! Its gorgeous! Look at that marbling. And slightly excessive fat.

And you'll want to get it nicely browned on all sides. Cooking internally isn't important, its going to sit in a slow cooker for a good long time. This is for flavor!
Throw the whole mess into the cooker. The roast, the bacon, the tomato sauce.
I let it go a few hours on high, then all night on low. This is the result. The meat has broken down into this lovely glossy mess, and blended in with the tomato sauce, making it almost obscenely rich. The bacon pieces are good and hidden in there, little nuggets of joy.
For my part I used it to top some Gemelli, cooked al dente. Perhaps some parmesan or some other hard salty cheese would be good if the sauce isn't savory enough, but you should be fine really!


Any requests for the next dish?