Italian Drip Beef

Let's all take a moment here and give thanks to Dave Shelton, who got me a beautiful cast iron dutch oven for my birthday.  Without the dutch oven, this recipe would not have been possible, so thanks, you wonderful man!

I have been eyeing this recipe from the Pioneer Woman for quite awhile, mostly because she starts the whole thing with a list of ways that you can change or substitute ingredients in this recipe.  And you know how I love to not follow recipes!  This was phenomenally easy to make, and turned out a really flavorful and slightly spicy kind of beef stew.  I think next time, I'll add a bit of tomato paste to thicken it up, but she also suggests serving the beef on toasted rolls with melted cheese on top, so you can use just the meat, too, and save the sauce for something else!

Now, get ready for how easy this recipe is.  You will need:

1 beef roast (mine was about 2 pounds, but I made the sauce for 4 pounds worth of meat--it just sounded so good!)

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 32 oz container of beef stock

A couple jars of assorted peppers (I used banana peppers, pepper and onion salad, and sliced red and yellow peppers, but you can use whatever kind you'd like)

First of all, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Then, sear your roast in some olive oil at high heat.  Make sure you get each side nice and browned, about 2 minutes each side.  Remove the roast to a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium-high, and add in the beef stock, whisking to scrape up all the fond  at the bottom of the oven.  Then all of the other ingredients, including the juice from the peppers, and whisk to combine.  At this point, I brought the whole mixture to a slow boil, but you don't really need to.

Add the roast back to the oven, making sure you also add any of the juice from its plate!  That's the best stuff!

Pop the lid on, and put it in the oven for 3 or 4 hours.  

By the time this is done cooking, the beef will be falling apart and you can just separate it with a pair of tongs and a fork.  Mix the beef back up with the juice it cooked in, then serve it over brown rice.  Or, as the Pioneer Woman did, pull the beef and peppers out, pile it on a bun, cover it with cheese, and broil.  Either way, you really can't go wrong!!