Best-Ever Pot Roast

It is something special about comfort food. It makes us feel....ummm...comforted. (I know I should have come up with a better word). No matter what part of country you live in, you would be hard pressed to find a comfort food more loved than a good pot roast. I remember growing up and my mother would make this on Saturday night for Sunday dinner and the entire house would smell awesome! Aside from fried chicken in many Southern homes, Pot Roast is THE go-to recipe for Sunday dinners. Over the years, I have tweaked my mother's recipe to what I like to describe as the Best-Ever Pot Roast. I believe it’s simple preparation makes it ideal for a novice cook and has an intense slow-cooked flavor that will make seasoned cook's mouths water. I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

Begin with a beef chuck roast. I have found that the cheaper cuts equate to the better flavor. I know that this sounds counter intuitive, but it's true. Cheaper cuts of beef (like chuck roast) need to be cooked for a long time to make them tender. They also have a lot of connective tissue, that when cooked a long time, makes that succulent flavor and taste that we love about pot roast.

Chop the normal cast of characters for pot roast--onions, garlic, potatoes and carrots. Feel free to use various types of potatoes, mushrooms and other root vegetables like turnips and rutabagas for a different flavor.

I have fallen in love with Food Network's entwine Cabernet Sauvignon. It is reasonably priced and is really good. I have also fallen in love with McCormick's new Tuscan Seasoning. I like to use it on everything from roast chicken, pizza and this roast.

 

Once everything is placed in the pan, place the whole shooting match in the oven and FORGET IT! The more the roast cooks, the more fall-apart tender it will be. The recipe is below:

Best Ever Pot Roast   Prep Time: 15-20 minutes                                         Cook Time: 3 to 4 hours Difficulty: Easy                                                          Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

o   4- 5 pound beef chuck roast

o   1 large yellow onion, sliced

o   2 pounds new red potatoes, quartered

o   5 peeled carrots, cut into 2 inch chunks

o   4 cloves of garlic, chopped

o   ½ cup red wine

o   ½ cup beef broth (you may substitute chicken broth or water)

o   ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley

o   3 teaspoons of McCormick© Tuscan seasoning, divided

o   Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

o   Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350˚. Make sure that you have a large roasting pan or cast-iron Dutch oven. Wash the chuck roast and then using paper towels, make sure to dry it on all sides. Place roast in the pan and season with salt, pepper and 2 teaspoons of the McCormick© Tuscan Seasoning on all sides.

Place all vegetables (onion, potatoes, carrots and garlic) around the roast in the pan. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil and then season with salt, pepper and the remaining Tuscan seasoning. Stir vegetables in the pan to make sure they are covered with seasoning.

Pour both the red wine and beef broth in the pan. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the roast and the vegetables. Cover with aluminum foil or Dutch oven lid and place in oven. Cook roast for 3 and ½ hours.

Once the roast is done, remove it and the vegetables from the pan. Place the pan on the stove top and bring the liquids to a boil. In a measuring cup, combine 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 4 teaspoons of COLD water until it is dissolved. Once dissolved, whisk the mixture into the boiling liquids. This should thicken the sauce into a light gravy consistency. Enjoy!