With the grueling election seemingly over and the weather starting to change, we felt that comfort food was in order. A large roast was purchased and my mom had prepped the ingredients for the sauce the night before. Fast-forward a day: as Justin and I were getting ready to throw it all into the slow-cooker for an easy meal, we managed to drop the sauce on the floor. It was everywhere. But we persevered and found this relatively easy recipe to use as a substitute (because we happened to have all the ingredients on-hand). While we skipped the celery, carrots, and onion, we followed the rest of it exactly. It ended up tasting amazing, and producing a rich gravy of tomato paste, beef broth, drippings, red wine, and herbs.

It tasted eerily reminiscent of Beef Bourgignon (if done in a slow-cooker). The key to this ended up being something that I had never done before: coating the slab of beef in seasoned flour before searing on all sides in butter. This not only helped with thickening the eventual gravy, but added texture as well. Served with mashed potatoes and Pecorino roasted green beans.