The Liberty Tree Tavern is a wonderful restaurant in the Liberty Square “land” of the Magic Kingdom. I really like the colonial atmosphere and I have always had a good meal there. The Liberty Tree Tavern serves a la carte lunch options and a “family style” turkey meal at dinner. I love the options at lunch and I enjoyed the New England Pot Roast entree a few years back.
Here is the menu description of the pot roast:
New England Pot Roast… Our Tavern Keeper’s Favorite – Braised beef in a Cabernet wine and mushroom sauce served with mashed potatoes and garden vegetables – $18.99
Sounds like a good choice for dinner, right? There are a few different recipes for the Liberty Tree Pot Roast floating around on the web and in the Disney cookbooks… and I chose to follow the New England Pot Roast recipe in the Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs because I only had about 2 1/2 pounds of meat (some recipes called for 6 pounds). I did tweak the recipe a bit, but I will explain that as I go.
Here is a picture of all the ingredients needed:
First of all, I heated 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in my pot. Then I seared the meat on all sides. I used about 2 1/2 pounds of chuck roast. The recipe calls for 3 pounds boneless beef shoulder roast.
Then I took the meat out of the pot and set it aside. I added 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter to the pan and let it melt. Make sure you keep all of those brown bits in the pot… it gives the sauce great flavor.
Next, I added 2 cups large diced carrots, 2 cups large diced celery and 2 cups large diced onions.
Then I added 1/4 cup chopped garlic. Normally I would recommend chopping it fresh, but someone had brought this jarred garlic over to my house the other day, so I used it.
Now, this is one place where I ventured away from the printed recipe. The entree description mentions a mushroom sauce and there are no mushrooms to be found in this recipe (although they are in some of the other versions of this recipe). Since I had mushrooms on hand, I added them. Just one package of sliced white mushrooms. I actually wish I had added more because they were very good in the sauce.
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme went in next.
Saute until the veggies are tender and then stir in one cup of flour.
Cook the flour a bit so that your dish doesn’t taste like paste. Add 1 cup wine (the entree description mentions a Cabernet sauce, so I used a Cabernet). Don’t worry about the funny purple color the dish has… it comes out fine 🙂
Stir in 6 cups of beef broth.
At this point you can add the beef back into the pot and cover it.
I didn’t want to deal with hoisting it in and out the small oven at my In-Laws’ cottage, so I cooked the pot roast on the stove top (low flame). If you want to put in the oven, the recipe calls for 350 degrees.
The recipe says to cook the roast for 45-60 minutes, which is crazy-talk! There is no way pot roast can get tender in 45 minutes. I cooked mine for almost 3 hours and it could have gone longer.
Here is the finished pot roast…
I sliced the meat and served it on top of mashed potatoes.
The verdict? It was really good and my husband approved. The meat was tender and the gravy was full of flavor. The recipe made an enormous amount of gravy (even if I had doubled the amount of meat), but don’t throw it away after eating the pot roast. I saved the gravy and used it to make a shepherd’s pie the next night. I browned up some ground turkey (you can use beef if you like), then I mixed in the pot roast gravy and vegetables. I put it in a casserole dish, covered it with some mashed sweet potatoes and some cheddar cheese. I popped it in the over to brown the potatoes a bit and melt the cheese. It was yummy way to use the leftovers.
The pot roast was a success.. the recipe was easy and the results were close to what the Liberty Tree Tavern served. It is just too bad that I wasn’t able to go for a ride on the Haunted Mansion after this meal!
Is the Liberty Tree Tavern New England Pot Roast a go-to of yours or do you choose a different menu item when visiting the restaurant? I like several items on the menu so I will be cooking some of the other Liberty Tree Tavern dishes for this blog in the future. What’s your favorite?
Liberty Tree Tavern New England Pot Roast
2013-04-30 18:35:21
- 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 1/2 Pounds Chuck Roast (or boneless beef shoulder roast)
- 1/2 Cup Butter
- 2 Cups Carrots, large-diced
- 2 Cups Celery, large-diced
- 2 Cups Onion, large-diced
- 1/4 Cup Garlic, chopped
- 2 Cups White Mushrooms, sliced
- 2 Tbs. Fresh Thyme, chopped
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 Cup Cabernet Wine
- 6 Cups Beef Broth
- In a large, oven-safe pot, heat oil and then sear the beef on all sides. Remove the meat from the pot and set aside.
- Melt butter in the pot and add the carrot, celery, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and thyme. Cook until the vegetables are tender.
- Add one cup flour and cook for one minute.
- Add the wine and beef broth. Stir.
- Cook on a stovetop on low heat for at least 3 hours. If you prefer putting it in the oven, cook it at 350 degrees until tender.
Dining with the Mouse http://www.diningwiththemouse.com/
15,639 total views, 0 views today
