Roast Beef Pot Roast

Slow cooking a large cut of beef in a rich au jus creates succulent and tender roast, stewed vegetables and potatoes in a single pot.

Served with a gravy that evokes memories.

Hands on: 30 min

Hands off: 5 hrs

Ingredients:

4 carrots, chopped

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

4 large potatoes, diced into 2” cubes

Eye of round roast (or comparable)

3 strips bacon

1/4 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp butter

1/2 bottle red wine

2 tbsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp sugar

3 cups stock

2 bay leaves

Fresh rosemary

Fresh oregano

Fresh thyme

Hearty and a good meal for family!

Cooking:

Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper and rub over meat to cover evenly. Cover and refrigerate 4-6 hours. The salt helps pull moisture from within the meat, distributing it throughout to later result in a deliciously juicy roast.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Heat Dutch oven over medium-high burner. Add diced bacon and cook until crisp; remove and drain and set aside.

Add meat to remaining bacon grease and brown evenly on all sides, about 2 min per side, until a light crust forms. Remove meat from pot and set aside.

Add 1 tbsp butter to pot along with onion, carrots and celery. Turn heat to medium-low and sauté vegetables until onions are translucent, about 12-15 min. Add diced garlic and continue sautéing, stirring regularly to prevent burning.

Remove vegetables and set aside with meat. The pot should now have some stuck bits from browning the meat and sautéing the vegetables. Don’t throw this out - this is where a ton of rich flavor is to be had, which we’ll harvest by deglazing with the red wine.

Turn heat back to medium-high and add 1/2 bottle of red wine to the pot. It will sizzle and begin steaming immediately and you’ll catch a whiff of the rich flavor of the stuck meat and vegetables and bouquet of the wine.

Scrape the pot with a wooden spoon, incorporating all into the red wine to form a ‘fond,’ or foundation for the au jus (sauce). Whisk in 1 tbsp tomato paste.

Place meat in the middle of the pot in the bath of au jus, add bay leaves and herbs, and surround the roast with the cooked vegetables. Pour 2 cups broth over the vegetables and meat.

Cover and place Dutch oven in preheated oven. Let cook for 3-4 hours, or until meat is fork tender and internal temperature is at least 145 degrees F. Add potatoes and return to oven to bake, covered, for an additional 45 min to 1 hr.

Remove from oven and place on stovetop or counter (with a towel underneath) to rest while you prepare the gravy.

Preheat saucepan over low burner. Add 1 cup of the au jus and 1/2 cup water with 1 tsp salt and let heat while you prepare the beurre manié.

A beurre manié is simply equal parts butter and flour, kneaded together to form a thickener to be used in sauces, gravies, soups and stews.

To make this, take 2 tbsp butter and an equal amount of flour (I eyeball this) and mix together until well combined. You can use a bowl and a fork to mash the flour into the butter, or you can take the more visceral route by mixing in your hands, slightly melting the butter into the flour.

Add the beurre manié to the saucepan and whisk slowly as the stock thickens into a gravy. Add the sugar and continue stirring - you’ll want to keep the gravy moving over heat for about 10 minutes to allow for adequate thickening and to ensure the gravy doesn’t have the taste of uncooked flour.

Remove roast from pot and place on cutting board. Slice into 1/2” thick slices, against the grain.

Serve in shallow bowls with gravy on top and vegetables to the side. Spoon au jus generously.

Enjoy, my friends

Post:

I hope you grabbed an extra bottle of wine, because this dish pairs wonderfully with a variety of flavorful reds, such as Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon or Tempranillo.

Eye of round roast is what is used for this. You can substitute bottom round or the similar, but sometimes tougher, chuck roast and adjust baking time accordingly.