Like any other great recipe, it was trial and error to get this one perfect. My mom used a French Onion soup mix in her pot roast recipe. I think a lot of people do that and it's really good but I wanted a different take on this dish. I wanted the flavor to be a little richer.
This may look intimidating but it is one of the easiest dishes to make. For the wine, I prefer Blackstone but you can use any wine you would drink. Don’t spend a lot of money since the whole bottle is going in the pot. Blackstone is always consistent in taste and it’s a wine I enjoy.
For the veggie stock, use just that, stock and not broth. The flavor is more concentrated with a stock. You want this because it’s like putting a bunch of vegetables in without putting a bunch of vegetables in.
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This recipe will be in the oven for 3 hours. During the last half hour, I like to add a baking sheet with sliced carrots that I coated lightly in olive oil and some salt to my second rack in the oven. I prefer the texture and flavor of roasted carrots, so I don’t add them to the roast. If you would rather, you could add in the pot but do it when you are coming up to the last hour so they don’t get soggy or disintegrate.
Make sure to have a baguette ready to slice and serve! Dipping in the gravy is, well, so good! I serve my roast with either my son’s favorite, mashed potatoes, or my favorite, egg noodles. My mother used to love pot roast with egg noodles. Food memories of our loved ones that are no longer around are sometimes as comforting as the food itself.
So, try it. Tell me what you think. Enjoy!
Not Your Mama's Pot Roast, but it can be!
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 3.5 hours
Serves: 4-6 people
Recipe
4 pounds Chuck Roast
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 medium onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 bottle of Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon
2-32 oz. boxes of Vegetable Stock
3 or 4 Sprigs of thyme or more if you would like
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Rough chop your onion and mince the garlic. Set it aside.
Season your chuck roast with a good amount of salt and pepper to taste. I’m not a big fan of pepper so I only add a little. It’s totally up to you though.
In a coated cast iron Dutch oven put in olive oil and heat until slightly smoking. Hot but not so you are burning the oil. Put the roast in and sear on both sides. About 3 or 4 minutes per side. Take the roast out and set aside on a plate.
Turn the heat to medium and add chopped onion and garlic to the pot and stir around for about 1-2 minutes until the onion is soft. Be careful to not burn the garlic.
Add the entire bottle of wine. You read that right, the entire bottle. Scrape off the goodness from the bottom of the pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce the wine until it’s all the way down to about a cup. Be patient! This takes a bit of time.
Once reduced, add meat and juices that are on the plate to the pot with the wine reduction. Add the vegetable stock and thyme. Bring to a slow simmer, cover, and carefully put in the oven. Set your timer for 3 hours.
After 3 hours, take out of the oven and place it on the stovetop. Let it rest with the lid on for 15 minutes.
The meat should be very tender and you should have a lot of gravy. It’s thin but great for dipping a slice of Italian bread in. Yum!
Take the meat out and slice up then put it back into the gravy.
Serve with mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, roasted potatoes, egg noodles, the possibilities are delicious!
