POT ROAST REVISITED: Classic & Contemporary Recipes
Classic Pot Roast
- 2½ to 3-pound beef chuck roast
- salt and black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, sliced into ¼-inch half-rounds
- 1 celery rib, cut in half
- ½ to 1 cup water
- 10 to 12 ounces slender carrots, peeled and cut in half, crosswise
- 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced in half
- 1 to 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Place the chuck roast on a plastic cutting board and pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or roasting pan over medium-high heat. Add the roast and brown, 3 to 4 minutes each side. Transfer the roast to a cutting board or platter. Pour off the fat if necessary.
Prepare the onion and celery as directed and season with salt and pepper. Place half of the sliced onion and the celery in the Dutch oven or roasting pan. Put the roast on the vegetables. Place the remaining onion around and on top of the roast. Add the torn bay leaf and 1/2 to 1 cup of water to the pan. Cover the pan with a lid and place in a 325 degree oven. Cook the roast for a total of 2¼ to 2½ hours, until tender. After 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes of cooking, tuck the carrots and potatoes around the roast. Cover and return to the oven for the remaining 1¼ to 1½ hours, until the meat and vegetables are tender.
Transfer the roast to an oven-proof platter. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and place them around the roast. Discard the celery and bay leaf. While making the gravy, cover the roast and vegetables with aluminum foil and place in a warm oven.
Gravy: Pour the pan juices through a strainer into a fat separator and let stand for about 5 minutes. De-fat the juices and set aside, reserving 2 tablespoons of the fat. Pour the reserved fat into the Dutch oven or a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add the flour (as much as needed depending on the amount of pan juices) and stir for about 2 minutes, until it turns a medium brown color. Slowly add the pan juices, stirring until well-combined. Let the gravy simmer over low heat until lightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the gravy over the pot roast and vegetables. Serves 6 to 8.
Wine recommendations by Patrick Nichols:
2007 Columbia Crest Reserve Merlot, Columbia Valley
2008 Tait, Barossa Valley, "The Ball Buster"
Recipe by Jayni Carey ©Copyright, 2011.
Chile Pot Roast
- 2½ to 3-pound beef chuck roast
Spice Rub:
- 2 teaspoons mild or medium red chile powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin seed, coarsely crushed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 poblano chile peppers, roasted
- 1 dried ancho chile pepper
- 1 dried guajillo chile pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 14-ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes, diced
- 1/3 cup dry red wine
- 10 to12 ounces carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 to 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Place the chuck roast on a cutting board and pat dry with paper towels.
Spice Rub: Combine all ingredients for the rub in a small bowl. Rub the mixture into both sides of the roast. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate overnight to allow the meat to absorb the spices. (Let refrigerated roast stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking.)
To roast the poblano chile peppers: Arrange the poblano chiles on a baking sheet and place them about 6 inches under the oven-broiler until charred and blistered on all sides. Immediately enclose the charred chile peppers in a plastic or paper bag and let them "sweat" for about 20 minutes for easier peeling. Peel the chiles and remove the stems and seeds. Chop the chiles into 1-inch dice and set aside. (Taste the chiles for hotness to determine whether to use one or two in the recipe. Extra chiles may be frozen for later use.)
To prepare the dried ancho and guajillo chiles: Using kitchen shears, cut the tops off the dried chiles. Cut the chiles in half, remove the seeds and veins and set aside.
To brown the chuck roast, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the roast and brown, 3 to 4 minutes each side. (Reduce the heat to medium if necessary to prevent the spices from burning.) Transfer the roast to a cutting board or platter, reserving the drippings in the skillet.
Add the onion to the skillet drippings and cook until softened over medium-low heat, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, tomatoes and wine and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Pour all but about ½ cup of the tomato mixture into a slow cooker. Place the roast in the slow cooker and top with the remaining tomato mixture. Tuck the poblano, ancho and guajillo chiles around the sides of the roast. Season the carrots with salt and pepper and add them to the cooker.
Cover the slow cooker with the lid. Set on low heat and cook the roast for 7 to 8 hours, until the roast is tender. Transfer the roast to an oven-proof platter. Remove the carrots with a slotted spoon and place them around the roast. Cover with aluminum foil and place in a warm oven while making the gravy.
Chile Gravy: Pour the juices through a strainer into a bowl. Press the contents in the strainer (peppers, onion and tomato) with the back of a large spoon to extract the juices. Discard the strainer contents. Pour the strained juices into a fat separator and let stand for about 5 minutes. De-fat the juices and set aside, reserving 2 tablespoons of the fat. Pour the reserved fat into the Dutch oven or a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add the flour (as much as needed depending on the amount of pan juices) and stir for about 2 minutes, until it turns a medium brown color. Slowly add the pan juices, stirring until well-combined. Let the gravy simmer over low heat until lightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the roast and carrots and the chile gravy and Soft Polenta (recipe follows). Serves 6 to 8.
Wine recommendations by Patrick Nichols:
2007 Columbia Crest Reserve Merlot, Columbia Valley
2008 Tait, Barossa Valley, "The Ball Buster"
Recipe by Jayni Carey ©Copyright, 2011.
Soft Polenta
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal
Pour the chicken broth and water into a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the salt and slowly stir in the cornmeal. Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and stir frequently, until the polenta thickens, about 5 minutes. Cover and let stand for 2 minutes. Stir and serve. Serves 6 to 8.
Recipe by Jayni Carey ©Copyright, 2011.