Pot Roast recipe

I mentioned yesterday that I made pot roast and added a lot of fresh thyme. I also added rosemary and bay leaf, but I thought I would provide the recipe for anyone interested, since it was a big hit with my family. 

Ingredients:

Beef Roast, Raw

12 small red potatoes

3 large carrots, peeled and chopped

2 large sweet white onions, peeled and quartered

6 large mushrooms, halved

12-15 Brussels sprouts

6-8 cups beef broth

A handful of fresh Thyme

Fresh rosemary

3 bay leaves

3 cloves of garlic, whole, peeled

Granulated Garlic

Salt

Pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put Dutch oven on stove on a medium heat. I do this process without any fat, or cooking oil, but you can add butter or your favorite cooking oil to the pan, if you would like. You can prepare the vegetables and season the meat while the Dutch oven heats up. I use a generous amount of garlic salt of granulated garlic and salt and ground black pepper to season one side of the beef roast. Be liberal with seasoning! When the Dutch oven is very hot, place the meat into the Dutch oven, seasoned side down. Now season the under side the same way. (Generously)

Let this cook until it is seared and rotate the meat periodically, searing it well on all sides.

Remove the meat from the pan. If you have seared it well, it will not release much of its juices as it sits.

Add onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic cloves and mushrooms to the pan. You can substitute or leave out any vegetables you wish.

Add salt and brown the vegetables, then remove them from the pan.

Place the meat back in the pan, distribute the vegetables all around the meat and pour in the beef broth and add your herbs. I love a lot of thyme in this, as well as the rosemary and bay leaf, but you can add whichever herbs are your favorite. The beef broth should cover, or nearly cover the meat. If it does not, then add more broth, or some water.

Allow this to come to a boil, then turn off the heat. Put the lid on the Dutch oven and place it in the oven.

Let cook for at least 4 hours. I let mine cook for 6. (The longer the better)

I add the Brussel sprouts for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

I usually serve it just like this, with bread rolls or other crusty bread, but you can remove the beef and vegetables from the liquid and thicken this to form a gravy if you wish. My favorite way to thicken a sauce, is to take equal parts softened butter and flour and mix them together to form a paste (I usually use 1-2 Tbsp of each) and then whisk this mixture into the beef broth as you heat it on the stove. As the broth boils, the sauce will thicken and it will thicken even more as it cools.

You can add the beef and vegetables back once the gravy is formed.

Enjoy!