Another Way to Roast a Roast
Hello and good Sunday to you all! This week I wanted to share another recipe with you, and yes, it is another roast. I promise I will do something different someday but we seem to get a lot of people who shy away from roasts. I know I was one of those people for a long time, and the reason was I didn’t know how to cook them! And while I know there are many out there who love their crock-pots, they have been unkind to me and my roasts. I would refuse to cook roast because it always came out over-done and bland. To this day I don’t know why me and the all-knowing, all-cooking crock-pot can’t get along, but I have to tell you, a roast in the oven isn’t too much more work, and it comes out sooooo nice and tender! My crock-pot is now more for keeping chili or dip warm, my oven gets the roasts!
I just made this small bone-in chuck roast for dinner tonight and helped work on a deck in the mean-time, so I can promise you it isn’t the scary time-monster you might think of when you hear “roast in the oven”. You do, however, have to plan ahead a bit. I start with getting my roast out of the freezer and thawing it in the fridge for a day. Then, when it’s all thawed out, I get it out in the morning and place it on a wire rack, over a rimmed cookie sheet.
Then I take some kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper, and sprinkle it on all sides to get a nice coating all over my roast. I also decided to tie my little roast because the bone was going to make it fall apart. Next, I put in the refrigerator, uncovered, to sit and soak in the seasonings for a few hours.
When I was ready to start cooking the roast, I preheated my oven to 170 degrees. I then got out my pot, put about 3 Tbs of olive oil in the bottom, and got it hot. While it was heating, I cut up one small onion into quarters , (for a bigger roast I will do two larger onions), and five or so peeled carrots into chunks. Then, when the oil was good and hot, I put the onions in to sear for about 30 seconds. I recommend having your lid handy, as the splatter gets serious. Then I removed these to a plate. Next, I seared the carrots in the hot oil for about one minute, tossing at intervals to try to get most of the carrots seared. It’s not an exact science. I then used a slotted spoon to remove these from the hot oil. Next came the roast. I set it in to sear for between 40 seconds to 1 minute on each side. I didn't’t quite get the nice crust on this roast that I usually go for, of course, since I was taking pictures. It couldn’t all go perfectly. Next, I removed the roast to the plate. I then turned off the heat and added about 1 cup of beef broth (I used the bullion cubes but it’s whatever you like) to the pot and whisked, being sure to scrape the bottom to get up all of the tasty morsels that got stuck during searing.
Finally I returned everything to my pot, put the lid on, and put my roast in the oven. I know this seems like a lot of steps, but it all takes about 20 to 30 minutes and the searing, while I enjoy it, isn’t a completely necessary step if you’re feeling crunched for time. I like to cook to a medium so this roast took about 3 1/2 hours to cook to about 140 degrees, I then took it out of the oven and let it rest with the lid on for about 10 minutes to get it up to 145 degrees. For a bigger roast I usually try to give anywhere between 4 and 4 1/2 hours. Thats it! You can add or subtract any spices or veggies you want to this concoction and then you just let it cook away in the oven while you go find other worth while things to occupy your time. I baked up some potatoes on the grill and added some corn to round out our plates. I hope this recipe is something you’ll try and learn to love as I have. It’s a nice simple pot roast and a tasty reason to give your roasts a second look when planning out your next family meal. We hope your December is starting out well and hope you’re enjoying the blog.
By Megan Greet