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This dish is similar to the stew meat and tomato gravy recipe, except you use a whole beef roast and the gravy is brown, that is, made with browned flour, rather than a "roux" (Cajun version of browned flour) . This was almost always our Sunday Dinner at Forest Hill, (LA) except during the peak of the fried chicken season, during the summer time. Mother never had a big iron pot in those days, so preparing this meal took some doing. She had to brown the roast in her little thin frying pan and then transfer it to her "big boiler" (a large aluminum pot) as she called it. I remember how funny that giant roast would look, sitting in that little skillet, sizzling away. Sometimes I thought it was going to fall over, when she turned it on it's edge to sear for awhile. But even with all the wrestling of the roast in the skillet, and then from the skillet to the big boiler, it always turned out perfect.
One lean beef Sirloin Tip Roast (or Brisket), about 4 or 5 pounds (this will not be fat free, but it will be low fat).
1 large yellow onion (or 2 regular sized ones), chopped
½ of a large green bell pepper, chopped
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, chopped, also about 4 more to stuff the roast (pierce the roast with small knife)
1 packet of McCormick's Brown Gravy Mix, (no substitutes) 24gm size, (0.5 gm of fat)
1 large tablespoon of unbleached, all purpose white flour (0.0 gm of fat).
Salt and black pepper to taste
Enough 100% fat free beef broth to cover the meat to about 2 or 3 inches (several cans).
PAM ,fat free, no stick cooking spray, sufficient to coat the bottom and sides of a large iron pot for browning the meat.
Kitchen Bouquet
It's best to make the "roux" (I'll still call it roux, even though we are not browning any flour in grease) first and set it aside so it will be ready when you need it. To do this, mix the packet of brown gravy mix and the large tablespoon of white flour together in a small bowl. The two ingredients must he well mixed. Add the fat free beef broth to the blended gravy mix and white flour, a little at a time, and throughly mix it until you have a thin slurry that can be poured easily. Since the white flour will cause the resulting blend to be a pale brown, mix in small amounts of the Kitchen Bouquet until the slurry takes on the color of a walnut gun stock. Stuff the roast with the un-chopped garlic, season it all over with the salt and pepper, and sear the meat in the PAM sprayed pot on as many sides as you can conveniently manage. Do this on a medium to medium low heat, since the PAM may tend to burn more readily than if you were using grease. When the meat is browned on all sides, stir in the chopped vegetables and about a half can of the fat free beef broth, cover the pot and simmer for about five minutes, stirring often. This will slightly wilt the vegetables and also "root out" all of those delicious little browned meat particles stuck to the bottom of the pot. Next, add the "roux" evenly around the roast on top of the vegetables. Rinse the bowl out with some of the beef broth. Then, pour in enough additional broth to come up about two or three inches above the roast in the pot. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the pot. The gravy may seem thin at first, but as it cooks, it will thicken up. After the roast has simmered covered for at least an hour (stirring the gravy occasionally as mentioned above) put on low heat and continue to cook covered for about another 30 minutes. This should cook all the vegetables and the roast should be tender. The gravy should be a nice rich brown. If the gravy gets too thick, add a little beef broth during the cooking. You can eliminate the initial salting of the meat, and instead, add 3 or 4 beef bouillon cubes while it is cooking. This will provide some salt and improve the flavor of the gravy. Serve the roast sliced, on a platter, and the gravy over cooked, medium grain rice. The medium grain rice has the best flavor, although long grain is acceptable. Under no circumstances should you use any kind of "instant" or "parboiled "(converted) rice in any of these rice and gravy dishes.
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