Hello everyone, Jess here. Tonight I wanted to share a quick ditty about Sunday dinner (which I didn’t share on Sunday as we were doing the “show” Sunday due to the snow storm, and I didn’t share on Monday due to Meatless Monday- and this recipe involves a whole lotta meat!)
I’m talking about pot roast, everyone! This lovely cut of beef is cooked slow and low surrounded by farm fresh veggies! Let’s get to it!
What a lovely piece of meat awaiting the pot. Lean and marbled, boneless chuck roast is a perfect cut for a good slow-and-low pot roast.
I sautéed the onion and then the carrots in the pot briefly before removing them to make room to sear the roast. Searing the meat helps to provide a complexity to the flavor that I think is worth it when that extra few minutes is available. You can always just toss all these ingredients as-is in a slow cooker and have something very good. In my humble opinion, however, taking this extra step makes it great. I do it both ways, depending on the amount of time I have.
A little bit of red wine or stock to deglaze the pan helps to scrape up all the delicious bits that you just made. After deglazing, set your seared meat back into the pot and surround it with veggies.
I added 2 cups of lamb stock and about 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, some fresh parsley and a couple of bay leaves.
The whole pot went into the oven at 275 for about 2 1/2 hours before I started checking the internal temp of the meat. It was a 3 1/2 pound roast, which traditionally takes a few hours, but the meat from the farm cooks a lot quicker (I sometimes forget that and overcook). When it gets to 140 (or a little longer if you like it more well-done) you can take it out and let it rest until the temp comes up to at least 145.
And there you have it! You can see the searing really adds an element to the veggies and meat that might otherwise be lost. It really does taste good either way though.
Here you see the final product, complete with Chimichurri (we’ll save that recipe for another day) and a big hunk of fresh bread from my good friend and fellow gardener Doreen.
Our appetizer for the evening was radishes with fresh ricotta. You can learn about this recipe here.
Enjoy!
Pot Roast
Ingredients:
1 boneless chuck roast (size doesn’t matter but weigh it before you begin- salt, pepper and let stand on the counter 30 minutes before cooking if you have time)
8 carrots (scrubbed or peeled) and sliced on the bias into large chunks
1 large onion, sliced into large chunks
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or a few sprigs of fresh if you have it)
2 bay leaves (or a few sprigs of fresh rosemary if you have it)
parsley (optional)
Lamb or beef stock (2-3 cups)
1 cup red wine (or sub 1 cup stock)
1 pat of Amish roll butter, (extra if needed)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 275.
Melt butter into a large over safe pot with lid, or dutch oven.
Brown your onion over medium-high heat and remove from the pan, repeating with the carrots.
Add your roast and sear on each side for about 1 minute per side. Remove from the pan.
Add cup of wine or stock to the pan for deglazing, scraping up any browned bits of meat and veggie from the bottom. Remove from heat.
Add your roast back to the pot, surrounding with your vegetables. Pour in your stock, add your herbs, and pop on the lid.
Place in the oven for 1 hour per pound (1 hour per 1 1/2 pounds if working with Springdell or other lean meat). Check until the middle reaches at least 140 when measured with a meat thermometer.
Remove meat to a serving plate, cover loosely with foil, and let rest for 15-20 minutes. (The temp should rise to least 145 during this process.)
Arrange cooked vegetables around the roast, place the liquid into a gravy bowl for serving, and enjoy!