Sunday Funday Pot Roast
Like any self-respecting Southern Baptist, I know Sunday is about getting up, putting on your Sunday best and heading off to church with the family to celebrate the blessings God has bestowed upon you. Sundays are wonderful, waking up, sharing breakfast around the kitchen table, and enjoy a quiet cup of coffee with loved ones. Oh wait, that was the Folgers commercial. In real life, it is chaos.
My momma loved a saying her mother had about Sundays "the devil gives you the best sleep on Sunday morning." I have to agree with Grandma Georgia - this blissful rest usually results in oversleeping and the ensuing chaos of throwing cereal in a bowl - slinging something that matches on the kids - maybe getting some time for some lipgloss for yourself before you all fall into the SUV to head to church. Often times after church there is the mad dash to a restaurant and let's be honest, sometimes we slip out before the church announcements to better our chances of getting a table at the mexican food restaurant of choice that week. Oh, to have a simple, delicious meal waiting for you when you get out of church.
I am reminded in my desire for a simpler Sunday, that God made pot roast for just this reason. I live in the Houston area, so while I would love to think that September has ushered in fall, it is still 90+ degrees here. Hauling out the sweaters and apple cider is a no go right now - but despite the heat I think pot roast might just be the key to making at least one Sunday a month a little less chaotic and a little more enjoyable. Many a moon ago I made a pot roast that called for a whole bottle of wine. I was onboard with this idea with little convincing needed. I googled to try to find this recipe, but alas, it is lost in the web. So what I did was read a couple of recipes, take what I liked from each one and the resulting pot roast is described in detail below.
While I feared the result, and felt I had been too liberal with the garlic powder and wine - my hard prep work was rewarded with a tender, juicy and unbelievably flavorful roast. The best part? Absolutely minimal prep. I realized if I could find 52 more recipes as simple and good as this Sunday just might become what it was always meant to be - a day of rest.
Enjoy!
Ashley's Sunday Funday Pot Roast
Cast of Ingredients:
- Any root vegetables you wish - I only had carrots!
- Onions - I used 2 whole ones quartered
- I needed crushed tomatoes - I used a little tomato sauce because I couldn't find crushed tomatoes - however upon further inspection in the pantry I found some cans of crushed tomatoes and went ahead and threw them in too!
- 1 WHOLE bottle of good wine - and yes, I resisted the urge to just drink it
- 1 4lb chuck roast - I tried to find one with marbling - you definitely don't want it too lean!
The steps were super simple - first I seasoned the chuck roast really well. I put a good amount of salt, pepper, and my fav garlic powder. I rubbed a generous amount of all on each side of the chuck roast.
It looked a little something like this after the flavor massage.
Then I got my handy dandy dutch oven piping hot with some olive oil and seared each side of the roast - I used tongs to perform this step as I prefer not having hot oil splash up on any part of me.
Once the meat is seared take it out of the dutch oven and set aside while you sear your vegetables and onions. Once you have sauteed your veggies and have some good flavor worked in return your meat to the pot and add the tomatoes and the wine. All of the wine.
Yup all of the wine.
Bring back to a boil and then reduce the whole shebang to a simmer and let it go for a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 7 hours. I actually let it go the whole 7 hours - but after 2 hours on the stove I moved it to my oven at convection bake of 325 degrees.
I forgot to take a picture of the finished product but it was no joke, glorious. I would love to hear if you try the recipe - and most importantly how you change it and try different flavors!
