This week, we are doing #TBT daily and we’ll feature our favorite blogs from our favorite bloggers. Today, I bring you Smarty Wendy’s BEST recipe ever. Actually, who am I kidding, ALL of her recipes are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G but this one is my go-to while hosting a houseful of family! P.S. The other thing I love about this recipe is the sweetest and happiest photo of her sweet dad, who recently lost his battle to cancer. I know firsthand how hard that is and we hold Wendy and her family in our hearts this holiday season. Here’s Wendy’s Pot Roast, enjoy. ~Jen
It is so true when they say men and women could not be more different. Women talk all the time and love a salad. The men I know would rather chew the bark off a tree than order a veggie plate for dinner. It is not to say that they don’t like healthy food but if you sear a piece of beef within twenty inches of them they will come running like a shopaholic to Filenes basement sale.
Men are simple. It doesn’t take much to make them happy. Don’t nag them, don’t humiliate them in front of their friends and just feed them yummy manly food.
My favorite time of year to feed men is in the Fall and Winter. I love to cook long braised stews and soups and casseroles with cheesy potatoes on top. Maybe I am really a man, well I talk like one and have the emotional capacity of a teenage boy but that is as close as the comparisons get.
I invited my Dad over for dinner the other night. If there has ever been a man who likes meat and potatoes it is he. He adores them. Nothing fancy just good old home cooking. It’s why I decided to make him the best darn pot roast ever.
Pot Roast is super easy to make you just need some time. You will feel so 1950’s June Cleaverish. I made this recipe in the oven but you could easily make it in a crockpot if yours is large enough.
You don’t even need a lot of ingredients. A good chuck roast is the start. It is a relatively inexpensive piece of meat that can feed a lot of starving people.
First sear off the carrots, onions (leave them quartered. Once these braise they are my favorite part) celery and garlic in a little olive oil. Set them aside in a bowl (a bowl that will later shatter into a million pieces in your dishwasher. I am sure that won’t happen to you but man that was a lovely surprise at 6:30 am)
Next you need to sear the large chuck roast that you have seasoned very generously with salt and pepper. Make sure the pan is pretty hot. Then do NOT touch it for a good bit. You want a nice brown color on the meat. When it is ready (and you know it will be when you can easily get it loose from the pan. Meat that isn’t seared properly it will stick.)
Once both sides are done take it out and set it aside. Turn the burner down a touch. Now add the tomato paste, wine if you have it and the beef stock. Look at that goodness in the pot. Now set your fresh thyme and rosemary in there and nestle your meat (submerge that honker in the beefy winey love pool along with the veggies. Put that lid on and shove in the oven at 275 degrees for about 3 hours. Checking it every now again making sure the liquid isn’t evaporating too quickly. If so just add some more beef stock or water.
Now go and clean yourself up because the men are going to MAUL you with kisses and admiration over the quite amazing meal you are making. Your house is going to smell like man heaven. Man heaven is a place made out of leather with random cows and pigs wandering around begging to be made into sliders and bbq. You could probably ask your husband for anything right now, a night out, a diamond watch or a trip to the islands. He will even break out the vacuum for the first time in 10 years.
Ok. Now when the time is up. Take the lid off to reveal braised amazement. Put the meat in chunks on a cutting board and scoop the veggies to a bowl. The carrots will make you swoon.
The juice that is left can be made into gravy (men love gravy) but adding a slurry (not slutty, I know what you were thinking) which is just flour mixed with liquid in this case beef stock. Cook for a few seconds until it thickens then add more beef stock until you get the amount you want. Season with fresh cracked pepper.
Serve with mashed potatoes or rice. You are going to want a vehicle for the meat and gravy to stick to.
Look at this plate?
Look at how happy my Dad is. Downright ecstatic.
Look at how empty his plate is.
Go lie down on the couch because they will insist on doing the dishes.
Best Darn Pot Roast
1 whole (4 To 5 Pounds) Chuck Roast or as large as you want
Olive Oil
2 whole Onions
At least 6 whole Carrots or more
Salt (generously seasoning the meat)
Pepper (fresh cracked if have it)
1 cup Red Wine
2 cups To 3 Cups Beef Stock ( More for the gravy)
3 sprigs Fresh Thyme, or more to taste
3 sprigs Fresh Rosemary, or more to taste (I like to tie mine together with butchers twine so I don’t have to fish them out of the pot later)
