Sunday’s Best Gather Round Supper

Would you believe that there is a movement in this country called the Family Sunday Supper Movement? When I was a girl, the very idea of a movement to reclaim Sunday Supper would have seemed crazy – as in what are you talking about? Every Sunday is spent with family.

Saturdays we had our chores and then it was off to be with friends. Sundays were all about family. We attended Mass together, then had some free time to hang out with siblings while the main event – the family meal – was prepared. Sometime around three in the afternoon, we sat down together as a family for that all important Sunday Supper. More often than not, it was a gathering of extended family along with close friends who didn’t have an extended family of their own. On any given Sunday, there were at least a dozen children playing in the yard, and six adults. Our house was the gathering place simply because we had the room. Big yard, with picnic tables under massive shade trees. The adults played Mahjong or cards while we played croquet. To this day, I love to play croquet.

When Hubby and I first got married, he was blown away by the fact that nearly every-other Sunday we all gathered at the farm to spend time together. I was forty years old before I stopped going home for family supper. And the only reason we stopped was because we moved to another state. Since returning to California, I wish I could say we picked up right where we left off. While three of us live in the same state, California is big. Not very wide, but long. The last remaining sibling lives in Oregon, on the eastern side of the state. So we don’t gather as we once did.

My youngest sister and I tried for a while to make it a monthly thing. That really didn’t work out very well. She has two children with very full schedules – her son plays Soccer and her daughter competes all over the state in gymnastics. It’s nearly impossible for her and her husband to spend a Sunday together – let along plan an extended family gathering. My other sister; who lives in California, haven’t spoken in three years now. I cannot express how much that breaks my heart. Wow – that’s not a road I had intended to take. I love my sister very much. We just don’t seem to be cut from the same cloth. She is liberal and I am not. We are casualties of that great divide in America. And as much as I would like to mend the bridges that once existed, she is unable or unwilling. And so here we are. I miss her. But the feels are not mutual. That’s something I truly do not understand. Once upon a time, when I was much younger and a Hippie teen, it was the liberals who felt we needed to co-exist in a live and let live, judge me not world. Conservatives were narrow minded and unyielding. Somehow, somewhere along the way, those positions switched. I just don’t get it. How can you call yourself liberal and yet remain so closed off?

Back on track. If you have family, keep those lines of communication open. It’s important to your own well-being. And if you can, make a commitment to share a meal at least once a month. Extended family enriches our lives. And that extended family need not be blood relations. The more people we can gather around our table, the more love is sent out into the universe. I also think it’s important to spend time with people you might not agree with, but that you could learn from.

Enough lecturing. Let’s talk food. Part of this whole take back Family Sunday Supper says it’s okay to order out – that the meal need not be home cooked. I don’t agree. When I look back on those Sunday Suppers, I can remember the conversations held in the kitchen as people cooked together. We (the children) helped out by making salads or setting the table or a dozen other ways. It was this togetherness that added to the bonds created with Sunday Suppers.

Sunday’s Best Chuck Roast
4 lb Chuck Roast
Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste
½ whole Yellow Onion
3 Garlic Cloves
1 lb whole Rainbow Carrots
2 Celery Ribs
4 large Russet Potatoes
2 sprigs Rosemary
2 tablespoons Butter
1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
2 Bay Leaves
3 tablespoons Tomato Paste
2/3 cup Red Wine
3/4 cup Beef Stock

Heat oven to 325-degrees. Generously season roast on all sides with salt and pepper, set aside.

Peel and slice onion into large wedges, set aside. Peel garlic cloves, leave whole and set aside. Peel carrots, trim ends and cut carrots into large pieces, set aside. Clean and trim celery, cut into large pieces and set aside. Scrub potatoes, cut into large pieces and set aside. Strip Rosemary needles from the sprigs, set needles aside.

Melt butt with oil in a large Dutch Oven over medium-high heat. Once hot and the butter is foaming, add seasoned beef. Sear roast on all sides until golden brown, turning as needed for even coloring. Remove roast to a plate, set aside.

In the now empty pot, toss together the onions, garlic cloves, carrots, celery, potatoes and Rosemary needles. Allot vegetables to cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have browned. Stir in the tomato past, continue to cook for another 3 minutes.

Without removing the vegetables, deglaze the pot with red wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Continue to simmer for another 3 minutes, stirring as needed to prevent burning.

Place the seared Chuck Roast back into the pot, nestled in the middle and surrounded by vegetables. Pour beef stock over the meat. Top the roast with pay leaves. Cover the pot, transfer to the heated oven. Let cook until the meat is tender and falling apart, about 3 hours, turning roast mid-way.

Remove roast from the pot, shred. Reserve about a pound of the shredded roast for later in the week. Spread remaining meat out on a rimmed serving platter. Scatter vegetables around and over the beef. Pour pan drippings over the meat. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with thyme. (Which I forgot to do).

Serve with warm dinner rolls and buttery peas for a Sunday Supper that will gather the whole family around the table.

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For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.