The Scoop
Some dinners are recipes; others are rituals.
Yankee Pot Roast falls firmly into the second category, with deeply browned beef, tender vegetables, and a rich, savory cooking liquid that makes the whole kitchen smell like Sunday dinner.
Slow-cooked until the chuck roast practically falls apart, it’s the kind of meal that rewards patience and somehow tastes even better when everyone gathers around the table.
Ingredients
- 1 (2-3-pound) beef chuck roast
- kosher or sea salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
- 1 cup medium-bodied red wine
- 4 cups beef stock, divided
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 celery ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 cups pearl onions, ends removed and peeled
- 1 bay leaf, whole
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Position a rack in the lower half of the oven.
- Pat the chuck roast dry. Season the roast liberally on all sides with salt and pepper.
- Set a large dutch oven over medium-high heat, adding 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Add the beef to the hot oil and sear evenly on all sides, using tongs to turn the roast, about 5 minutes per side.
- Transfer the roast to a plate.
- Lower the heat to medium. Add the remaining olive oil to the heat.
- Add the onion, garlic, chopped rosemary, and chopped thyme, cooking until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes.
- Add the wine and 1 cup of beef stock, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.
- Add the tomato paste, stirring to combine.
- Transfer the roast back to the dutch oven.
- Add enough of the remaining beef stock to come a little more than halfway up the roast.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer.
- Remove the sauce from the heat.
- Cover the dutch oven top with a sheet of foil, then with the lid.
- Transfer the pot to the oven and cook until the beef is tender, about 2 hours to 2 hours and 30 minutes. Check on it as it cooks to make sure there is enough cooking liquid and the liquid is simmering rather than boiling.
- Place the carrots, celery, pearl onions, bay leaf, rosemary sprigs, and thyme springs around the roast in the dutch oven.
- Cover the dutch oven again and cook until the vegetables are tender and a paring knife stuck into the meat slips in easily without resistance, about 20-30 minutes.
- Transfer the roast to a plate and tent it with foil to rest for 15 minutes.
- Slice the roast against the grain, then pull the beef into chunks.
- Discard the bay leaf and the herb sprigs.
- Arrange the beef and vegetables on a platter.
- Serve.
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