Pot roast is one of those foods that works great as comfort food and as something warm and filling for colder months.
Our Favorite Pot Roast Recipe
Ingredients
- Salt, sea.
- Pepper, black.
- Fennel, ground, 1/2 tsp.
- Chuck roast, 3 lbs.
- Oil, olive, extra virgin.
- Carrots (3), peeled and cut into 2″ chunks.
- Onion, either 1/2 pound of peeled Cipollinis or one large Vidalia, diced into 1/4″-1/2″ pieces.
- Cloves, garlic, smashed, 3.
- Cider, 1.25 cups.
- Broth, beef, 3.5 cups.
- Thyme, fresh, 6 sprigs.
- Rosemary, fresh, 1 sprig.
- Bay leaf, 1.
- Flour, AP, 2 tbsp.
- Paste, tomato, 2 tbsp.
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 325ºF.
- Combine salt, pepper, and fennel into a bowl then use them to season your roast.
- Coat the bottom of a large Dutch oven with oil. Heat to medium-high, adding meat and searing 8-10 minutes; browning all sides. Transfer seared roast to a bowl.
- Add the vegetables, garlic, salt and pepper. Saute for 5-8 minutes, just until browned. Transfer to a clean bowl.
- Deglaze the pot with 1 cup of cider, scraping the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Bring the deglazed mixture to a boil on high heat, add 2 cups of broth, then boil again.
- Add rosemary, bay leaf, roast and 4 sprigs of thyme to the pot. Bring the liquid to boiling and then to a simmer.
- Cover the pot and leave it in the oven for 2 hours. Add vegetables to the roast and continue cooking another hour.
- Transfer roast and veggies to a bowl and cover. Allow the braising liquid to cool a bit, then strain it into a bowl, dispatching leftover solids and skimming any fat that rises to the top.
- Purée braising liquid with a blender.
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil in the Dutch oven on medium heat, adding flour and stirring, followed by the last of the cider and tomato paste and mixing until you have an even blend.
- Return the braising liquid to the pot, as well as the remaining beef broth and thyme. Raise heat to medium-high and bring to boiling. Reduce to a simmer and cook until sauce thickens.
- Season sauce with salt and pepper and extract the thyme.
- Serve by slicing the roast, arranging the veggies around it and drizzling sauce over everything.
Variant: A Perfect Pot Roast Recipe
Most pot roast recipes call for some type of alcohol. While hard cider is a common ingredient, red wine, Guinness or even a heavy beer can be quite effective.
So there you have it, our favorite recipe for pot roast. If this sounds even the least bit appetizing, know that you get better flavor with better ingredients. For the best meat and veggies on the market, consider buying from “The Butcher Shop.”