What you'll need:
1Large Mixing Bowl
Whisk
Tongs
Kitchen Knife
12qt Cast Iron Pot with Lid
Ingredients:
1 Beef Chuck Roast (or preferred Roast)
3-4 springs of fresh Thyme
1 TBS Salt
1 TBS Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 TBS Smoked Paprika
3 tsp Chili Powder
1 French Onion Soup Packet
1/2 TBS Brown Sugar
1 1/2 CP All Purpose Flour Unbleached
2 cans Golden Cream of Mushroom
3 Russet Potatoes Diced
2 Vidalia Onions Diced
1 lb. Carrots peeled and chopped
4 Celery Stalks Rinsed and chopped
1lb Sliced Mushrooms
1/2 CP Balsamic Vinegar
**If you're feeling feisty throw a fresh peeled and chopped rutabaga in there and a couple chopped parsnips!
2 1/2 CPS Vegetable oil or your favorite oil to pan fry with
Directions:
1) In a large Mixing bowl combine Flour, sugar, salt, peppers, chili Powder, french onion
packet and whisk together.
2) Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees
3) While oven is preheating, bring cast iron pan with oil to a gentle roll ( Pro Tip: if you have
a wooden spoon when you think it's hot enough to add meat, flip that bad boy over and
stick the end of it to the oil. If it sizzles and bubbles on the end of the spoon your oil is
ready to go for the meat).
4) As your oil heats, if you haven't already rinse, dry and chop those veggies. If you've already
done this then let's dredge the meat. In your flour mixture add your roast and roll it
around in the mix. Make sure you get all the surfaces covered. This will be really important
because this is where most of the seasoning for your meat will take place.
5) Now that the meat is well covered gently add to the hot oil. You're going to want to brown
each side (don't forget the ends!). Remember you're going to finish the cooking process in
the oven so only brown the sides right now.
6) Cut the heat to the pan, remove the meat (you can place on a plate for this). I always drain
off the extra oil from the pan. If you have a ceramic or glass bowl just line it with some
paper towels and pour into that. Then replace the pan to the stove top and add chopped
veggies to the bottom of the pan. Return the heat and lightly sauté the veggies. This will
help preserve the vibrant colors after cooking in the oven. Again, be sure to not fully cook
right now.
7) Once again, cut the heat to the pan. But this time re-add your meat on top of the veggies.
Add your 2 cans of Golden Cream of Mushroom to the pot on top of the meat. Drop in the
1/2 of balsamic vinegar to the pan. Place the lid to the pot and place in the oven.
8) Roast in the closed pot for roughly 45 mins. At the 45 minute mark remove the lid and
finish off another 10 mins.
9) At this point, remove the entire pot from the oven. Remove the roast from the pot and
allow about 10 minutes to rest. This will allow the meat to stay moist after you've sliced it.
Once it's rested slice into medallions and serve plated on the vegetables.
Enjoy!!
This has been a family favorite in our house hold for years. I have always made roast in a crockpot. You know the one where you drop your meat and root veggies, smoother in some seasonings and through some liquids in there then let her go low and slow. And while those are great (especially in a pinch with time in the mornings) and all, I have found a more excellent way. I actually found the base of this recipe while watching one of my favorite Christian authors (Kasey Van Norman) on a Facebook live. She shared how she dredged her roast and pan friend it to sear in the juices THEN let it go in the pan of its juices with other veggies in the oven for a couple hours. I very excitedly ran to our pantry to try this most excellent way, only to discover over half her seasonings I was missing! It was tragic... I know.
So in true Holly fashion, I made my own. Now full disclosure. I'm challenging myself to measure ingredients for your sake. I grew up with the measure system endearingly referred to as "eye balling it". Yes. It's true. Never do my dishes taste the exact same twice but they're *usually* always a home run in our house.
So here you go, my best shot at providing a recipe with measurements to the best pot roast ever! Please note, that if you don't have oven safe bake wear with a bake safe lid, this does also work in a crock pot on low for 6.5 hours or in an Instant Pot on the slow cooker settings. However, it is not as tasty as it is out of the oven (Just a heads up).