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Monday, January 2, 2012

The Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast


I've had a lot of pot roast through out my life. It's just one of those Sunday-family dinner type meals. And no offense to the people who have made it, but it's never been very good. It's been dry, tough and just not my favorite thing.

But I was at the commissary one day and I saw a tweet about Ree's (The Pioneer Woman's) pot roast. I had most of the ingredients on hand, so I picked up a chuck roast and came home and started cooking it instantly. It had to cook for three hours, and the house smelled amazing for the whole afternoon.

When it was finally done, I used my tongs to pull the meat out of my dutch oven and onto my serving platter and it completely fell apart. The carrots and onions had so much flavor and the juice was perfect spooned over a fluffy pile of mashed potatoes. 

Forget all of the "best pot roast ever" recipes on Pinterest and make this one. It really is the best ever and I don't think I'll ever even look at another roast recipe for as long as I live.

Going in!

Pot roast, carrots & onions, and mashed potatoes

The Pioneer Womans Pot Roast
(Original recipe found here.)

Ingredients

  • 1 3 lb. Chuck Roast
  • Olive Oil
  • 2 Onions
  • 8 Carrots
  • 1 8 oz. carton of Cremini mushrooms; stems removed & halved. 
  • McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning
  • 3 Cups Beef Stock
  • 1/2 C. Red wine
  • 3 sprigs Fresh Thyme
  • 3 sprigs Fresh Rosemary
Directions
1) Choose a nicely marbled piece of meat. 

2) Heat a large dutch oven (or an oven safe pan with a tight fitting lid) over medium high heat with olive oil in the bottom of the pan.

3) Cut onions in half and cut carrots at an angle. Brown onions on each side, and then remove from the pan onto a plate. Add the carrots to the pan, and let saute for about a minute.
4) Sprinkle seasoning over the meat and pat in. Flip it over and do the other side as well. Pour a little more oil in the bottom of the 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.
5) With the burner still on high, use the red wine to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom with a whisk to get all of the dark bits up.
6) When the bottom of the pan is deglazed, place the roast back into the pan and add the beef stock. Add the onion, carrots & mushrooms in, as well as the fresh herbs.
7) Put the lid on, then roast in a 275F oven for 3 hours.


2 comments:

  1. I would love to make a big pot roast for my boys and girls in blue, but the portion size really scares me.

    Do you think a 4-5 lb. pot roast REALLY feeds 10 like the recipe says? Say, 10 hungry police officers? It just seems so small. I have cooked many roasts through the years, but it’s only for a small dinner for 4. I have breakfast down, but every month I go bonkers worried to a frazzle that I won’t have enough to feed the 2nd shift. Like when I make chicken fettuccine, I typically make fried/peppered chicken tenders to go with it. If everybody takes 4 chicken tenders, then what you think will serve 15-20 only serves 10. I freak out all the time about this.

    And it's not like they can commit to coming because they never know what their day is going to be like. They're already 4 hours into their shift. I never want them to feel bad when they can't come, so I usually just have to plan for 14 even if only 7 come. When I made fettucine last month, only 7 came, so I sent another invite out for leftovers the next night and 7 more came.

    So I guess my question, after all this, is...what size chuck roast should I buy for 14. Again, they all look so small once cooked. A 4-5 lb. chuck roast looks like it might feed 4-5 people...not 10. I would be mortified if I didn't have enough.

    What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would say no. I think it's more like 6 servings... Or either Graham and I are out of control with our portion sizes.

    ReplyDelete

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