Braised Pot Roast

A pot roast in the oven has such a wonderful aroma, it makes you look forward to dinner all afternoon.  It seems like such a special meal, but it’s really pretty easy to prepare.  The oven does most of the work for you.  It’s also a pretty inexpensive meal.  I like to use chuck roast which is about the cheapest cut of beef that you can get.  It is perfect because it is not too lean.  If you use a cut of beef that is too lean, it is more apt to dry out.  The chuck roast turns out moist and tender.

I like to braise my pot roast, with wine and beef broth along with carrots, celery, onion and garlic.  Then, when the roast is done, I puree the vegetables with the cooking liquid to get a rich and delicious sauce to put over the meat and it’s also great over mashed potatoes (ok… it’s good over everything on the plate and then I  would like to lick the plate!).

Braised Pot Roast

• 3 1/2 to 4 lbs chuck roast
• salt and pepper
• herbes de provence
• olive oil
• 2 carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 medium onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• a handful of parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbsp tomato paste ( I use the kind in the tube, it keeps in the fridge forever)
• 1 cup red wine
• 3 cups beef stock

Peel the carrots and give them, the celery, onion and parsley a rough chop.  Smash the garlic cloves and remove the skins.  Put aside.

Preheat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat.  Make sure oil is VERY hot, you want to get a good sear on the beef.  Pat roast dry.  Season both sides generously with salt, pepper and herbes de provence.

Once oil is good and HOT, place roast in dutch oven and sear for 4 minutes on each side.  You want a nice deep color on the meat before it goes in the oven.

Remove meat from pan and set aside.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add vegetables to pan and saute for about 5 minutes or so, until they start to get some color.  Season with salt, pepper and 2 tsp herbes de provence and add the bay leaf.

Once the vegetables are sauteed, stir in the tomato paste.
Add wine to the pan to deglaze, making sure you are scraping up all of those brown bits.  Let cook for a couple of minutes and then add the beef stock.

Stir in parsley and add roast back to the pan on top of the vegetables.

Now you’re going to cook it low and slow in a 300 degree oven for 3 1/2 to 4 hours until it is fork tender

Remove roast from pan and put on a cutting board.  Cover with foil to keep warm.

Once sauce is smooth, taste to see if it needs more salt and pepper.