A few "fans" of this blog (kevin and pauline, hey guys! hahah) have asked for cheaper meals and being a fellow college student I completely understand. What's great about this meal is that the chuck roast is an extremely cheap piece of meat and if you cook it right it can have a ton of flavor. I bought all the ingredients for this dish and it cost 16$ and can easily serve 4 people. This is a great meal to make when it's cold outside because the oven throws off a good amount of heat which is nice in the cold. And since some of my "fans" are back east, I suggest you make this soon because I hear it's freezing already. haha I'm also really excited to use the leftovers in some other dishes that will come up soon!
Ingredients:
2 pound chuck roast
1 large onion
1 head of garlic, divided
Large can of crushed tomatoes
1-2 cups beef broth
1 tsp. dry thyme
1 tsp. dry rosemary
2 large russet potatos, washed
3 carrots, washed and outer skin peeled off ( 2 for side, 1 for sauce)
Directions:
preheat oven to 300
1. Pull roast out of fridge and allow to come to room temp for about 20 minutes. you don't want to shock the meat from really cold to really hot.
2. Season all sides of roast with salt and pepper, and I mean a lot of salt and pepper cuz it's a big piece of meat you're seasoning. In a cast iron, stainless steel or dutch oven brown meat about 4-6 minutes on each side. this seals in flavor and makes a nice crust on the beef. You can use a nonstick pan for this but the crust and sauce just won't be as flavorful.
3. Take roast out of pan and set aside. Thinly slice half of onion and put into hot pan. Allow to caramelize for a few minutes then add 3 garlic cloves, large chopped and chopped carrot and let saute for 3 minutes.
4. Pour beef stock into pan. Scrap up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, this adds a lot of flavor to the braising liquid (pot roast is a braise FYI ). be careful when pouring the stock because it steams and I burnt myself really badly so heads up everyone! haha
5. let the beef broth reduce for about 5 minutes then add crushed tomatoes. Leave room for the liquid the beef will displace when you put it into pan. You may need to add more tomatoes later after adding beef because you want liquid to come up about 3/4 height of beef.
6. Add dry herbs to sauce and allow to simmer 5 minutes.
7. Add beef to pan and cover top with liquid. Cover pan with double layer of foil and place into oven for 30 minutes. After this, take pan out and flip beef over so other side is in liquid. Recover top with liquid and place into over for another 45 minutes.
Side Dish:
Make this while pot roast is in oven for first time.
1. Wash potatos and chop into medium size chunks. Cut carrots into chunks, rest of onion into quarters, and take rest of garlic cloves, separated but still in paper, and toss all these ingredients onto a foil lined sheet pan. Toss in everything in olive oil, salt and pepper and throw into oven.
tip: You want to cut the vegetables into sizes that will be done around the same time. ex: potatoes take longer to cook then carrots so make carrot chunks bigger then potatoes.
2. When flipping the pot roast, take the time to mix up the vegetables.
3. after the first 30 minutes, turn pot roast and vegetables and continue to cook another 45 minutes. Toss veggies and turn pot roast again, covering with sauce, and cook another 45 minutes. Cooking is finished when pot roast and vegetables are fork tender.
4. This step is probably the hardest.... you have to let the meat rest. Pull meat out of pan and put onto a plate. Spoon some of the cooking liquid on top. Now, I know your house smells really good and you've been waiting a long time for that pot roast to be done, but you got to wait. trust me, you will be rewarded. Plus you can make the gravy while you wait haha.
Gravy: This is pretty simple. Puree the braising sauce in a blender (especially carrots). If you want a thicker gravy add a few of the cooked potatoes and carrots and puree with the liquid.
To serve pot roast you must slice across the grain. Look at the meat. There are natural lines that run through it, you want to cut PERPENDICULAR to these. The shorter the meat fibers the less chewing is needed and it is a more tender meat (applies to all beef) Serve with the roasted vegetables and gravy.
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