I don’t know about you, but for me one of the best things about Autumn is the return to menus that include oven roasted meats and one-pot dinners.
We’re enjoying another visit in Indiana, and our Indy grand daughters LOVED this pot roast dinner I made the other night.
And if you’ve never had carrots fixed this way, you’re in for a treat! (Our grand kids love them!)
To prepare the chuck roast, I dried the meat with paper towels, then rubbed the roast with some extra virgin olive oil and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Then I browned the meat on ALL sides in some extra virgin olive oil in a thick roasting pan.
I quartered an onion and smashed three cloves of garlic and threw all of it into the pan with the meat. Then I poured one can of Dawn Fresh by Georgio Mushroom Steak Sauce (if you can find it in your grocery store) over the meat. (I love the stuff. It’s a huge head-start in making flavorful gravy!)
Then I plopped on the roaster lid and roasted the meat, covered, for about 2 1/2 hours at 300 degrees.
About one hour before dinner, I increased the oven temp to 350 degrees. Then I added peeled and quartered carrots and lots of quartered mushrooms. I put the lid back on and returned the pan to the oven for another hour. (The only mistake I made?? Not adding MORE CARROTS! The girls LOVED them since the carrots become sweet and almost caramelized when cooked this way. )
When ready to serve, I removed the meat and vegetables from the pot, and I thickened the pan drippings with a “slurry” made by stirring several tablespoons of flour into a small amount of water until smooth, then streaming the mixture into the pot with the meat juices that had developed in the pan. I stirred constantly until the mixture came to a boil and thickened.
COOKING TIP: You will never know how thick your pan sauce will be until it comes to a BOIL. That’s when you know if you need to add more liquid to thin the sauce, or more flour and water mixture to thicken it more.
As you can see, I served the roast with garlic mashed potatoes and some steamed broccoli.
Ahhhh…Autumn (and a rainbow) on a plate…And three happy little girls at the table.
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