Yesterday morning leaving the house for work my mind turned to what we might eat that evening and I remembered that a month ago I had overbought at The Farmer’s Market as a result of which there was a small beef pot-roast in the freezer. I took it out to defrost.

Having got home that evening I heated some olive oil in a heavy pan and as it started to smoke tipped in the beef. It sputtered and spat fat and oil as I turned it to brown. As it did so I added a couple of chopped onions, a chopped rasher of bacon and garlic. As the onions wilted I stirred in two chopped tomatoes and then half a pint of water and a few sprigs of thyme. Once it was simmering the heat was turned down and I moved onto something else.

Really I should have put it in low oven for a few hours but there were kids to feed so I left it to cook on the stove turning back to it every twenty minutes or so to turn over the meat. It was done in an hour.

I took it out of the pan to rest for a while whilst I boiled down the sauce left in the pan. 

To eat it I sliced the beef on a flat dish and sieved the sauce over it. We ate it with a salad made with pitta and lettuce leaves from the garden.

Listening to Luscious Jackson.