L-O-V-E in our house is a 4-letter word!

And y'all can spell that word M-E-A-T.

Seriously, I spend a lot of time, energy, shopping and money on flesh. Now, for those of you not at the meat counter (religious, moral issues or otherwise), you may want to skip this post. That being said, I cook for "guys". Not just my guys either. At any given meal I can have between 3 and 7 men/boys at the table. This requires an inordinate amount of potatoes and/or rice and bread but for the main course, these guys expect DEAD STUFF.

So by way of showing my love to you on Valentine Day 2012, I am about to share an *old family recipe* for Pot Roast. Nope, this is not your Mom's pot roast this is my Mom's pot roast recipe ripped off lovingly from Australian Women's Weekly. Do not ask me why my Mom (a Canadian prairie girl got hooked on AWW). You can link to the recipe here or you can follow the directions below:

Beef Pot Roast

A good pot roast makes an ideal family meal. Meat, vegetables and sauce cook together in one saucepan. Corner of topside, bolar blade or fresh (ie uncorned) silverside can be used. A whole chicken can also be pot-roasted in exactly the same way, but needs only 1 hour's cooking time, instead of the 2 hours for the meat, plus a further 30 minutes when the vegetables are added. The meat pot roast in our recipe will serve six; the chicken serves four.

INGREDIENTS

90g butter
2kg piece of corner topside
3 large carrots
3 medium parsnips
8 small onions
4 medium potatoes
50g (1/3 cup) plain flour
750ml (3 cups) beef stock
500ml (2 cups) water
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
pinch mixed herbs
1 teaspoon sugar
saltpepper

METHOD

1. Heat 30g butter in large frying pan, add meat, brown well on all sides. Remove meat from pan.
2. Add to pan scraped carrots cut into large pieces, scraped parsnips cut into large pieces, peeled whole onions, and peeled potatoes, cut in half. Saute gently until vegetables are golden brown. Remove from pan.
3. Melt remaining butter in pan. Add flour, stir over high heat until flour is dark golden brown; do not allow to brown. Remove pan from heat, add water and stock, stir until combined. Add tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, mixed herbs, salt, pepper and sugar. Return pan to heat, stir until sauce boils and thickens. Put meat into large saucepan, pour sauce over, bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, simmer gently 2 hours. Add prepared vegetables, simmer further 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Keep meat and vegetables warm on serving plate. Bring sauce in pan to boil, boil uncovered 10 minutes or until of good gravy consistency.

Your men will think your alter ego is this lady!

...and if your really ambitious you can make my FAMOUS F'en POTATOES (Backstory here includes cussing - be warned)

The men/guys/boyos in your life will thank you.

Happy Valentines Day!