Marinated Beef Pot Roast

No matter how much I experiment with food, no matter how much I thoroughly enjoy trying new things, and no matter how much I love eating things in new and different combinations, one of my favourite things will always be an old-fashioned pot roast. I prefer beef, but I certainly won't turn my nose up at pork, or venison if I can get it.

This one is a variation on what I normally do. Instead of adding everything to the roaster at once I marinated the beef, and it's definitely a keeper! It came out moist, flavourful, and I could cut it with the side of my fork.

I started with some pretty basic ingredients, with a nod to my mother's pre-diabetes. I think this particular beef chuck roast was about five pounds, so I adjusted my other ingredients accordingly. I think adding the celery to the pan (which I normally don't do) added to the overall flavour as well. The only red wine I had on-hand was an old bottle of Soleo "California Red Table Wine", so that's what I used. It was almost, but not quite, too sweet. Feel free to use your favourite red... I normally do either Cabernet or Pinot Noir.

Instead of doing my normal marinating in a Ziploc bag, I marinated in the roaster. Which didn't work as well as I might have liked since I wasn't home to turn it very often, but it still made a difference. I think my normal method would have been too much, since I ended up marinating it for almost 36 hours when my schedule got wonky.

When I was finally ready to make it, I distributed the vegetables evenly around the meat. I always put the onions and garlic in the pan first to ensure their flavour penetrates the meat, so I added the celery next for the same reason. Then potatoes, turnips, and carrots. Then I sprinkled on a little more seasonings, and into the oven it went.

What came out four hours later was heavenly! The meat had a nice crust on top, but as I said it was moist and very tender. My only regret was not adding more carrots, but that was all I had.

Normally, this is where I would remove the meat to a platter and the vegetables to a bowl, then make gravy in the roasting pan by adding cornstarch dissolved in water and cooking it on the stove (which is why there is cornstarch in the ingredients picture). However, since my stove is still on the blink, we just ladled the pan juices over our plates. It wasn't the same as having gravy, but it was still pretty darn tasty!

Marinated Beef Pot Roast

Serves 10

5 pounds beef chuck roast

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, divided

1 cup red wine

1 cup beef stock

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, divided

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil, divided

1 teaspoon garlic-pepper seasoning (I used Olde Thompson's), divided

3 large onions, peeled and quartered

4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

2 stalks celery, cut into 3-inch lengths

6 red potatoes, quartered

4 turnips, peeled and quartered

1 pound carrots, scrubbed (peel if you must, but I leave them be)

1 cup water (or more beef stock)

Place meat in a large roasting pan; drizzle with 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, red wine, and beef stock. Turn to completely coat with liquid, then sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon basil, and 3/4 teaspoon garlic-pepper seasoning. Cover and refrigerate at least 12 hours up to 36 hours, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 325F. Arrange vegetables around meat in the order listed, add water, and sprinkle with remaining seasonings. Cover and roast for 3-4 hours, until meat thermometer reads 160F. Check periodically to make sure there is enough liquid in the pan; add more water or beef stock if liquid level gets too low.

Remove from oven and transfer to serving dishes if desired (I just serve out of the pan to save on dishes to wash). Let rest 10-15 minutes before serving. Pour pan juices over plate to serve, if desired.

Serving Size: 575 g

Calories: 993

Total Fat: 63.3 g

Saturated Fat: 25.2 g

Trans Fat: 0.0 g

Cholesterol: 234 mg

Sodium: 377 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 34.4 g

Dietary Fiber: 5.2 g

Sugars: 8.6 g

Protein: 63.3 g