Pot Roast!

I think anytime we decide to make pot roast for dinner, it's followed by an exclamation point. "Do you want POT ROAST! tonight?" "We're having POT ROAST!" It's a lot of exultation for something that's fairly simple to make.

Normally, I follow this recipe, but I decided to try an Old-Fashioned Pot Roast recipe from a well used cookbook called Bon Appetit, Y'all, a Southern take on traditional French food. Below is the recipe, with my notes in parentheses:

--3 Tbsp. canola oil (This is really essential to this recipe, because you want an oil with a high smoking point, which means it can be set at a substantial temperature and not burn; extra virgin olive oil has a low smoking point, so it would no be well suited for this recipe)
--1 (4-pound) boneless chuck roast or rump roast (You can buy one on the shelf in your grocery store, but if you can get some fresh from the butcher, it makes a difference in the taste)
--3 medium onions, thickly sliced
--1 c. dry red wine (The rule of thumb when cooking with wine is to use something you would drink; it doesn't have to be an expensive wine)
--2 Tbsp. paprika
--2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme (If you only have dried thyme on hand, use less--dried herbs are much stronger in taste than fresh herbs)
--4 garlic cloves, crushed
--3 c. beef stock
--6 carrots, cut in 1.5-inch thick pieces
--Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. To cook the roast, in a large heavy bottomed Dutch oven (one of my essential pieces of kitchen equipment; it's pricey, but a Dutch oven is well worth the investment), heat the oil over high heat. (I'm not sure why no seasoning of the meat is included here, because it will need it. So, while heating the oil, I seasoned the roast liberally with salt and pepper on all sides.) Sear the meat (this is the key to a great pot roast; searing at a high temperature and quickly will seal in the juices, making for a very tender meat in the end) until it is a rich, dark brown on both sides, 8-10 (it took me about 15) minutes total. Remove the meat to a plate.

Decrease the heat to medium, add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until a deep golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring to loosen any brown bits. Add the paprika, thyme, and garlic. Stir to combine and cook until fragrant, 45-60 seconds. Return the seared roast to the pan. Add the stock and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover and bake in the oven for 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and turn the roast in the liquid to moisten. Add the carrots, cover, and bake an additional 1 to 1.5 hours, or until the meat and carrots are tender.

Transfer the roast to a warm platter. Using a slotted spoon, place the vegetables around the roast. Cover the platter loosely with aluminum foil to keep the food warm. If the sauce is too thin, bring to a boil over high heat to reduce and thicken (I also added a little flour and butter, or what is usually called a roux, to speed up the thickening process). If the sauce is too thick, add a little wine or stock to achieve the correct consistency. Taste the sauce and adjust using salt and pepper.

To serve, slice the roast against the grain and spoon the sauce over the roast and vegetables.

I served the POT ROAST! with roasted broccoli. I originally intended to do a steamed broccoli side, but I happened to catch an episode of Barefoot Contessa on Food Network in which she fixed roasted broccoli. To do this, just toss some fresh broccoli florets with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Roast at 425 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. I topped the broccoli with grated fresh Parmesan, toasted walnuts (toasting nuts brings out their essential oils and gives them a more "complex" taste), and bacon that I fixed and crumbled while roasting the broccoli. You can also add fresh lemon juice and zest, green onions, almonds--really whatever you want to use. I found the roasted broccoli on its own to be a bit bitter, so the additional toppings vastly improved the taste.

Another quick side was leftover bread from last night's dinner.

If there is one dessert I can't resist (okay, three if you count lemon/lime-based desserts and tiramisu), it's a berry dessert. I made some stewed berries during a summer trip to the beach and found it to be a quick and delicious dessert. I just topped tonight's batch with homemade whipped cream, but it's also great drizzled over a pound cake or angel food cake.