Eat Blog Be Merry: Pot Roast

Dinner tonight was a pot roast. A super easy and delicious pot roast thanks to The Pioneer Woman.

Funny story. Well probably not funny but it's still a story about the pot roast that I feel like sharing. You know what they say about sharing. Sharing is caring and I care so there. Totally justifies it :)

I cooked the pot roast yesterday because the meat had been in my fridge for a couple days and I was afraid it was going to go bad. I have a fear of meat going bad because I always end up leaving chicken in the fridge for too long and when I finally go to use it, it'll reek and I have to throw it out. Anyways. I started the roast yesterday after we got home from church and ate our lunch. I put the roast in the oven at 2:30. It was a 4lb roast so it needed to cook until about 6:30. I had to leave around 4 because I had choir practice at 4:30. I set the timer to go off at 5:30 which is around the time Frank and the boys would have to leave for church, church starts at 6 on Sunday nights. OK fast forward to after church, I believe it was just a bit after 7:30 or so. There was a special fellowship time after church because one of the couples were moving so there were finger foods and desserts. I was standing in line when Frank comes over to say that he forgot to turn the oven off. I did the math in my head and figured that the roast was probably fine. He wanted to go home to turn the oven off because he didn't want the house to burn down or something but the boys didn't want to leave. I told him I'm pretty sure the roast would be fine, if anything it'd just be a little overcooked. The oven was at 275 and I had put quite a bit of liquid in. Fast forward a bit. Frank left just a few minutes before I did, probably a little after 8. When I got home I checked the roast and it was cold. Apparently the power went off so the oven turned off. The roast wasn't even cooked through so back in the oven it went. All that worrying for nothing :)

Alrighty, on to the recipe

Pot Roast

Ingredients
1 whole (4 To 5 Pounds) Chuck Roast
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 whole Onions
6 whole Carrots (Up To 8 Carrots)
Salt To Taste
Pepper To Taste
1 cup Red Wine (optional, You Can Use Beef Broth Instead)
2 cups To 3 Cups Beef Stock
3 sprigs Fresh Thyme, or more to taste
3 sprigs Fresh Rosemary, or more to taste

Preparation Instructions
First and foremost, choose a nicely marbled piece of meat. This will enhance the flavor of your pot roast like nothing else. Generously salt and pepper your chuck roast.
Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or you can do a butter/olive oil split).
Cut two onions in half and cut 6 to 8 carrots into 2-inch slices (you can peel them, but you don’t have to). When the oil in the pot is very hot (but not smoking), add in the halved onions, browning them on one side and then the other. Remove the onions to a plate.
Throw the carrots into the same very hot pan and toss them around a bit until slightly browned, about a minute or so.
If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the very hot pan. Place the meat in the pan and sear it for about a minute on all sides until it is nice and brown all over. Remove the roast to a plate.
With the burner still on high, use either red wine or beef broth (about 1 cup) to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom with a whisk to get all of that wonderful flavor up.
When the bottom of the pan is sufficiently deglazed, place the roast back into the pan and add enough beef stock to cover the meat halfway (about 2 to 3 cups). Add in the onion and the carrots, as well as 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary and about 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.
Put the lid on, then roast in a 275F oven for 3 hours (for a 3-pound roast). For a 4 to 5-pound roast, plan on 4 hours.