Sunday Dinner: Chuck Roast

Chuck Roast
Potatoes
Carrots
Gravy
Green Salad with Tri-Colored Peppers
Dinner Rolls

I do believe chuck roast is one of the finest foods known to man. It fits my new 'slow' outlook on life and is well worth the wait. It absolutely takes me home - simple, delicious and hearty. I was able to pick up a boneless chuck pot roast for $1.99 a pound yesterday. That's a huge savings over what they normally cost, and right now I was very grateful for that find.

Chuck comes from the shoulder area of a steer and gets more exercise than the nether regions of the animal, so it can be tough if not cooked properly. Chuck benefits from a long slow roast in liquid, also known as braising. Add vegetables toward the end of cooking time for a one-pot meal you can't go wrong making.

Chuck Roast and Vegetables
Serves 8 (or in our case, 9!)

1 4-pound boneless chuck pot roast
2 tablespoons oil
6 cloves garlic - chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon large grind pepper
herbs such as thyme or rosemary - as desired
8 large potatoes
1 pound bag peeled baby carrots
flour

In a large roasting pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the roast and brown on all sides. This really only ensures flavor - it's been found that it does nothing to seal in juices. Top with salt, pepper, garlic and herbs. Add enough liquid to come about 1/3 of the way up the side of the roast. This can be beef stock or just plain water. I also sometimes add a tablespoon or so of tomato paste for extra flavor.

Roast, covered, in a 300 degree F oven for 2 1/2 hours. After that time, add the potatoes and carrots, recover and put back into the oven for another 1 1/2 hours - 4 hours total time. Remove from the oven and let stand, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove roast and vegetables and heat remaining liquid over high heat. Thicken with flour and water as necessary, adjust seasonings and serve with roast.

Your roast should be fork-tender and very easy to serve. There's no cutting involved, simply dole out large forkfuls of this along with the roasted veggies and plenty of gravy.

Sunday Dinner

On our table today:

Eye Round Roast with Herbs
Roasted Baby Potatoes and Carrots
Gravy
Green Leaf Lettuce Salad
Kentucky Butter Cake

**Whew! I barely got dinner done this week. We had a visit to Philadelphia for Marty on Thursday and after being sick all last week, Declan, our 8 year-old, woke up sick to his stomach today. I've been racing all day cleaning up and taking care of the non-sick kids in addition to Declan's illness. You can read up on Marty's progress at The Rest of Me.

The roast is real simple - I seared it on all sides in olive oil in a large oven-proof pan and added fresh rosemary, thyme and parsley to it. Then I roasted it in the oven at 350 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours. Let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes or so before slicing. You can cook it a bit longer, but more than 2 hours for a 3-5 lb. roast would be too much. Add a little red wine if you'd like - not much, about 1 cup would do.

Resting roast.

For gravy, remove the roast and herbs from the roasting pan, add 2 cups of beef stock to the roasting pan and scrape up all the little roasted bits.

Set over high heat and when it starts boiling, pour a mixture of flour and water (1/2 cup water to 1/4 cup flour) in a thin stream into the stock, whisking all the while.

The flour and water mixture.


The only way to keep lumps from forming is to be FAST.


Do this in small amounts to check for consistency; if you put too much in, you'll get brown glue. Once it's the right thickness, let it simmer for a few minutes to cook out all the flour. Season with salt and pepper and strain if you'd like before using.
"Cooking out" the flour.
The right consistency.
You'll see my gravy color isn't too dark, that's because I didn't sear the roast enough before cooking. You could add something like Kitchen Bouquet, but I like to just go with the real dea. Besides, it sure tasted good.

The roasted baby vegetables were all simply washed, tossed into a large baking pan and drizzled with olive oil. I sprinkled these with coarse salt and coarse pepper and covered with foil before putting in the oven - that same 350 degrees F - for an hour or until tender and nicely colored.
Baby veggies ready to go into the oven.

Roast and Veggies.
Salad is pretty straightforward - wash your lettuce, dry very well, tear in bite sized pieces and add whatever you like. The Kentucky Butter Cake is linked for you, and you don't want to miss that one!