October Weekend Dinner

When the cool weather begins to set in, and we are outdoors tending to our autumn gardening chores, or merely relaxing on a weekend afternoon, watching college and NFL football games, nothing smells more wonderful than a nice pot roast cooking in the oven. Aside from the initial preparation, it really cooks itself and only needs an occasional “chef check” to flip it over a few times to make certain it is browning properly.

We like to make Yankee Pot Roast for a Sunday dinner, but with a California twist to our traditional recipe. This past weekend, we visited friends in Marin County, and stopped at the new Whole Foods store on East Blithedale Avenue in Mill Valley on our way back home. We picked up a beautiful grass fed 2 lb. boneless chuck roast, and an assortment of root vegetables to roast and serve with our dinner. Delicious, especially with a nice glass of our favorite Navarro Pinot Noir Deep End Blend!

YANKEE POT ROAST

• 2 LB boneless chuck roast
• 1/3 C. Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Kosher Salt
• I Large Yellow Onion, chopped into small pieces
• 2 or 3 Carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 2 or 3 Cloves Garlic, peeled and diced
• Olive Oil
• 1 Cup Red Wine
• 1 to 2 Quarts Beef Stock
• 1 Large Turkish Bay Leaf (California Bay Laurel is too strong/aromatic for this recipe)
• 6 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
• Fresh Flat Leaf / Italian Parsley — about 1/3 Cup chopped and for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Season the chuck roast with salt and pepper, then dredge with flour until evenly coated. Place Dutch Oven (we always use “Big Blue” our favorite Le Creuset French Oven) on stove top and add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil — heat on medium and brown the roast on all sides. Remove roast from pan. Add chopped onion, carrots and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent, and carrots slightly softened. Add red wine, beef stock (start with one quart), bay leaf and thyme sprigs (don’t worry, the little thyme leaves will fall off during the cooking process and you can extract the bare springs along with the bay leaf before serving!) and the roast. Bring to boil, and then cover the pot and place in oven on middle rack. You will need to cook the pot roast for 2 — 2 1/2 hours, until meat is tender and almost falling apart. If necessary, add a bit more beef broth. The goal is to only have about 1 or 2 inches of the roast above the liquid. When cooked, remove roast from pot, set onto platter and cover with foil to rest. Strain the liquid into smaller pan to remove any thyme sprigs, or bits of carrots and onions. Bring liquid to boil and then lower heat to slow boil, stirring to reduce and concentrate the flavor. (You can thicken by adding 1 teaspoon cornstarch to 1/3 Cup cold water, stirring, and then adding to hot liquid.). To serve, arrange the roasted root vegetables on the platter alongside the pot roast, pour some of the juices over the roast and sprinkle with fresh parsley.

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES

This is easy — just take an assortment of shallots, fingerling potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, turnips or butternut squash — whatever you like ! Peel (or not depending upon selection), slice into similar sizes, toss with olive oil and salt & pepper, and place in separate roasting pan in the over for approximately 60 minutes, stirring once or twice when you check on the pot roast.