Winter Vegetable Pot Roast

Another one of my go-to bang-for-your-buck winter meals is a good pot roast. Talk about a fantastic way to take an inexpensive, otherwise terrible cut of meat and transform it into something absolutely amazing. I have always followed my mom's tried and true recipe that involves topping the seared meat with a Lipton French Onion soup packet and adding some water. A never-fail method I must say, but, being who I am I decided to play with it a little bit.

Winter Vegetable Pot Roast
4-5 lb. chuck roast
1 packet Lipton French Onion Soup
1 onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, pressed
3/4 c. red wine (never cook with wine you wouldn't drink by itself!)
3/4 c. water
2 T. balsamic vinegar

Vegetables: (coarsely chopped)
carrots
brussel sprouts
new potatoes
parsnips

Preheat oven to 300F. Saute onion and garlic together in olive oil, sea salt, and fresh pepper until softened, about 5 minutes. Spread onions and garlic along the bottom of your dutch oven and set aside. Lightly salt and pepper the meat. Over high heat, sear all sides of roast until brown. Place seared meat on bed of onions and garlic in dutch oven. Pour wine, water, and balsamic vinegar over meat and sprinkle dry onion soup on top. Cover and place in oven. Let roast for 4 hours or until meat starts to fall apart.

After 4 hours add vegetables to dutch oven and roast until they are fork tender. Should take between 40 - 60 minutes. 

Admittedly, this is a meal that takes some patience, but is totally worth it (and the leftovers!) in the end. A note on the vegetables I listed above. Take it as a suggestion. In the past I have used celery root, sweet potatoes, and onions to name a few. It all depends on what you are in the mood for, what is in season, and what will hold up to roasting. (I have also been known to make a mean blended soup from the leftover veggies...) Go nuts!

Enjoy!