Ultimate Sunday Dinner (with Recipe!)

I am now going to reveal a Portuguese cooking secret, so that you too can be hailed as a culinary genius for a meal that mostly cooked itself while you took a nap or polished your toenails or insulated the attic or whatever. I'm a giver.

I'm not going to give quantities. Use your judgment based on how many people you have to feed, how big a pan you have, and how much you want left over (trust me, you want leftovers). If I'm making a small roast (say, 4 pounds) I use 1 pound of chourico. Use more if you're making a bigger roast. Make sure your pan is big enough that you can get all the ingredients in and still move it in and out of the oven safely, without having the liquid splash over.

Ingredients:

Eye of the round roast

Chourico

Onion, sliced

Garlic, minced

Salt

Pepper

Approx. 4 cups liquid (water, beef broth, wine, or a combination)

Potatoes, peeled and halved or quartered (depending on size)

Carrots, peeled and sliced in 2-inch chunks

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Plop the roast in the pan. Season with salt and pepper (go easy on the salt as chourico is salty). Put the chourico in alongside as pictured.

3. Throw in a mess of onions and garlic.

4. Add liquid to the pan.

5. Cover pan, stick it in the oven, and go find something else to do for 2 hours.

6. After 2 hours, put the potatoes and carrots in the pan. Add liquid if necessary so they are submerged at least halfway (be careful not to fill pan too full).

7. Cook 1-2 hours more, turning potatoes occasionally to coat with the liquid, until meat is cooked through. (This is not a cut you want to eat rare unless you've got metal teeth like that guy in the 007 movies.)

8. Serve the meat and vegetables with the pan juices or you can make a gravy (you're on your own with that).

Enjoy!