Italian Pot Roast

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: Tomatoes, red wine, and garlic should complement one another in an Italian Pot Roast recipe—not overpower it. A mixture of canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste made for a rich, thick sauce that perfectly complemented our Italian Pot Roast. Dropping a whole head of garlic into the pot gently perfumed the meat and the sauce in our recipe. Simmering the pot roast in the oven instead of on the stovetop ensured even cooking and kept the sauce from scorching.

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Preheat: 300°Yield: servings
Prep: 0:00Wait: 0:00Cook: 3:30

Ingredients

  • 1 boneless beef chuck-eye roast (3 1/2-4 pounds), tied (see photo below)
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 medium onion , chopped
  • 1 rib celery , chopped
  • 1 pound cremini or white mushrooms , quartered
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 cup red wine (see note)
  • 1 large head garlic , outer papery skins removed, then halved (photo 1, below)
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary

Directions

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Pat roast dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
  3. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown roast on all sides, 8 to 12 minutes. Transfer roast to large plate. Reduce heat to medium and cook onion, celery, mushrooms, and tomato paste until vegetables begin to soften, about 8 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, water, 1/2 cup wine, garlic, and thyme. Return roast and accumulated juices to pot and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Place piece of foil over pot, cover with lid, and transfer pot to oven.
  4. Cook until roast is just fork-tender, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours, flipping roast after 1 hour. Uncover pot and let roast rest in juices for 30 minutes, skimming surface fat after 20 minutes. Transfer roast to carving board and tent with foil. Remove and reserve garlic head and skim remaining fat from pot. Add remaining 1/2 cup wine to pot, bring to boil over medium-high heat, and cook until sauce begins to thicken, about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, carefully squeeze garlic from halves and mash into paste. Add rosemary to pot and simmer until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove and discard rosemary and thyme sprigs, stir in mashed garlic, and season sauce with salt and pepper.
  5. Remove twine from roast and cut meat against grain into 1/2-inch-thick slices, or pull apart into large pieces. Transfer meat to serving platter and pour 3/4 cup sauce over meat. Serve with remaining sauce.

Notes

  • Every piece of meat cooks differently, so start checking the roast after 2 hours. If there is a little resistance when prodded with a fork, it's done. Light, sweeter red wines, such as a Merlot or Beaujolais, work especially well with this recipe.
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recipes/italian_pot_roast.txt · Last modified: 2016/12/09 12:00 by jmarcos
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