Beef Roast with Parsley Tomato Sauce and Savory Sweet Potato Mash

This recipe comes from  Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites by Giada De Laurentiis I've always admired Giada for her beauty and her Italian cooking. I am Italian and I find her flavors and style super comforting. I was psyched when my mother in law gifted me this cookbook. Although I've had it for a while, this is the first recipe I've made from the book. It turned out perfectly. I had some of the tomato sauce left even after eating all the leftovers so I used it as a topping for scrambled eggs and it was delish. The book recommends serving the entree with buttered egg noddles. Since I'm still following the Paleo lifestyle the majority of the time, I swapped the noodles for sweet potatoes. Er- yams, whatever you'd like to call them. I'm referring to the pale sweet potato, not the orange variety. I call them sweet potatoes because that's what my mom always called them and that's what they're labeled as at my grocery store. It was recently brought to my attention that others call the pale ones yams and the orange ones sweet potatoes. Call them what you want, this recipe is yummy. 

Beef Roast with Parsley Tomato Sauce 

serves 4 to 6

- 1 (2 - 2 1/2 lb) chuck roast

- sea salt

- black pepper

- 4 Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise

- 2 tsp Italian seasoning

- 3 tbsp plus 1/2 cup olive oil

- 1 1/2 cups fresh flat leaf parsley

- 2 garlic cloves

- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1)  Preheat oven to 375* F 

2) Season roast with salt and pepper. Season tomatoes with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. 

3) Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in an oven safe skillet or dutch oven on high heat. Sear beef on all sides until browned. Arrange the tomatoes, cut side up, around the roast and place into oven. Roast approximately 30 minutes for medium rare. Remove roast from oven and let the meat rest for 15 minutes before slicing. 

4) While the meat rests, place parsley and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the parsley is finely chopped. Add 3/4 tsp salt, red wine vinegar, and tomatoes and process until pureed. While the  machine is still running, stream in the remaining half cup olive oil.

Simple Savory Sweet Potato Mash

- 2 large sweet potatoes

- 4 whole garlic cloves, peeled

- olive oil

- sea salt

-black pepper

1) Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes.

2) Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add sweet potatoes and garlic cloves. Boil approximately 8 minutes or until tender.

3) Drain potatoes and garlic and transfer to a medium sized bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mash potatoes with a few tablespoons olive oil to get to your desired consistency.

Enjoy!