Beef Pot Roast and Vegetables

The full name of this entree is Mom’s Sunday-After-Church Beef Pot Roast and Vegetables.

That’s because, as a boy, and a preacher’s kid, Mom would always prepare this delicious and fancy meal for us on Sundays. She would put the roast in the oven just before the morning service. As soon as church let out (the parsonage was right next to the church), she would scoot back home and finish preparing it with all the other ingredients.

(Photo Attributed to Author: FiveRings)

I will never forget that warm, enticing feeling I got when I would walk into the house after church. The rich, sumptuous aroma of beef pot roast, wafting through the air … I would get stomach cramps, in such profound anticipation of what was soon to come. And I now pass on that wonderful culinary experience to you.

Beef Pot Roast and Vegetables Recipe-

Ingredients: (serves up to 8)

For the Main Dish-

3 lb. (min.) premium quality, well marbled, Angus beef chuck roast
6 – 8 small white potatoes, peeled (or 3 – 4 large potatoes, peeled and halved lengthwise)
4 – 5 very large carrots, peeled, chopped into 3-4” lengths
4 – 6 large stalks celery, chopped into 3 – 4” lengths
1 large yellow onion, dry skins removed and sliced
4 small to medium yellow onions, dry skins removed and left whole
8 large cloves peeled garlic, 4 minced, and 4 cut into quarters, lengthwise
4 Bay leaves, dried
Freshly ground black peppercorns and course sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil

For the Gravy-

2-3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 – 1/2 cup Heavy cream

Directions:

For the Main Dish-

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Heat a large frying pan to high, add some extra virgin olive oil into the pan. Season the roast with plenty of salt and pepper, then place it in the pan and fry until browned well on both sides. Remove the roast from the pan (reserve the juices in the pan) and, with a small paring knife, make some incisions in the meat, spaced equally over the surface of the roast, and then insert the quartered slices of garlic into the cuts.
Place the browned roast into a large lidded roasting pan, and add some water—about a half a cup—into the bottom of the pan. Put the bay leaves on top of the roast and put the sliced onion in, about half on top of the roast, and the rest in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle half of the minced garlic over the top of the roast, and put the rest around the roast in the bottom of the pan. Cover, and place in the oven. Allow it to cook for 1-1/2 hours.
While the roast is cooking, peel the potatoes and carrots, chop the carrots, skin the onions and chop the celery stalks. If you do this right away (or even ahead of time), keep the peeled and chopped vegetable ingredients in a bowl of cold water, to prevent them from tarnishing in color and staling.
After an hour and a half, take the roast out of the oven and reduce the heat to 325 F. Insert the vegetables into the pan all around the roast, and return the entire ensemble back to the oven. Cook for another 1-1/2 hours.
Remove pan from the oven, and carefully spoon/ladle the potatoes, carrots, and whole onions from the pan. Keep them warm in a covered bowl. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Remove the roast from the pan and place it on a platter covered with tin foil while you make the gravy.

To Make the Gravy-

Take the juices from the bottom of the roasting pan (the sliced onions and celery should be mush by now) and place them in a blender.
Add in the flour and heavy cream (adjust amounts depending on how much juice you are working with), and blend well.
Put the blended mixture in a medium heated sauce pan and cook until thickened.
To Serve: Cut the roast into thick slices and place them on a large serving platter; adorn the sides with the veggies, and have the gravy in a pouring dish on the table to pour over the (forked into a mash) potatoes. Some like to have gravy on their slices of roast, also.

And that’s it, you are finally done cooking! Now enjoy the fruits of your labor of love, and share some of Mom’s Sunday-After-Church Beef Pot Roast and Vegetables with your loved ones!