Pot Roast with Tomatoes, Wine and Herbs de Provence

We had the rare weekend with almost nothing on the calendar. An out-of-town soccer game was cancelled, no birthday parties or commitments popped up on the calendar leaving; it was just our little family of five for the entire weekend.

We did the regular weekend things: worked in the yard, ran to the grocery store, watched a little football but it was all done at a gloriously slower pace than usual and I could feel us all take a collective breath as we shrugged off a busy and stressful week. We need these quiet weekends sometimes. I forget so easily how good rest is. As our weekend wrapped up and we hadn’t left the house all day, I knew I wanted a meal as quintessentially slow and relaxed as our weekend had been.

This isn’t a fancy meal; just good, simple food for a cozy evening. The humble pot roast is jazzed up with a big glug of red wine and herbs resulting in tender flavorful meat. Slow cooked in the oven or your crockpot, the meat literally falls apart as you lift it from the pot. Drizzle some of the juices from the pot over the meat once you slice it for extra flavor and tenderness. Mashed potatoes or polenta are excellent side dishes to go with this recipe but you could also halve a pound of red potatoes and throw them in with the roast and you have an easy one-pot meal.

Pot Roast with Tomatoes, Wine and Herbs de Provence

• 4-5 pound bone-in chuck roast

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped

• 3 carrots, chopped

• 3 stalks celery, chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, chopped

• 28 ounces can organic tomatoes

• 1 cup beef stock

• 1 1/2 cups red wine

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 teaspoons herbs de Provence

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, divided

• teaspoons black pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large Dutch oven or oven-safe pot heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat.

Liberally salt and pepper chuck roast on all side (about 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper on each side). Sear the chuck roast on both sides, cooking for about 2-3 minutes each side. Remove meat from the pot and set aside. Sauté the onion, carrots and celery in the pot, adding an additional tablespoon olive oil to the pan if necessary, scraping up the little brown bits. Salt and pepper the veggies, cooking for 5-8 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent. Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add chuck roast back into the pot. Add the tomatoes, wine bay leaf and herbs de Provence to the pot. The liquid should cover the veggies and about half the meat. Cover the pot with the lid and put in the oven. Cook for about 4 to 5 hours until the meat is tender and pulling away from the bone.

To serve, pull the meat off the bone, and serve with a generous spoonful of the pan drippings and veget