Festive Beef Pot Roast with Plums and Juniper
A juicy beef pot roast with dried plums, juniper and thyme that can be prepared well in advance and tastes especially good at the holidays with dumplings or mashed potatoes. The sauce is thickened from the braising liquid and is a highlight of the festive meal.
By yumbelo · 6 servings · 210 minutes
Ingredients
- 1500 g beef shoulder, in one piece
- salt
- black pepper, freshly ground
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 pc onions
- 2 pc carrots
- 100 g celery stalks
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp wheat flour
- 500 ml dry red wine
- 500 ml beef stock
- 200 g pitted dried plums
- 8 pc juniper berries
- 2 pc bay leaves
- 1 bunch fresh thyme
- 2 tbsp medium-hot mustard
- 30 g butter
- 1 tsp sugar
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160 °C, convection off (top and bottom heat). Pat the meat dry, season generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat the cooking oil in a large Dutch oven and sear the meat on all sides over high heat, then remove it.
- Roughly dice the onions, carrots and celery, brown them golden in the rendered fat and briefly fry the tomato paste along with them.
- Dust with the flour, let it cook briefly and deglaze with the red wine. Reduce the red wine by about half.
- Pour in the beef stock, add the juniper berries, bay leaves and thyme, and return the meat to the Dutch oven.
- Cover the Dutch oven and braise in the oven for about 2.5 hours, until the meat is very tender. After about 1.5 hours, add the dried plums.
- Remove the meat, cover loosely and let it rest. Pass the sauce through a sieve into a pot, bring to a boil and reduce for about 10 minutes.
- Stir the mustard and butter into the sauce, and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar.
- Slice the roast thinly, serve with the plums and the sauce, and serve immediately.