Mom's Pot Roast

As long as I can remember, I've always loved my mom's pot roast. For some reason, mine never tastes quite as good. But, I try. And when it's cold and rainy, as it is today, my thoughts turn to a hearty meal of pot roast with a good french bread to dunk in the gravy.

Now, my mom always cooked her roast with a few simple additions: carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, water and onion soup mix. First she browned the meat, then added everything else and let it cook long at a low temperature in the electric fry pan. Before serving, she made a gravy using the cooking liquid and some Wondra gravy flour. Delicious.

In recent years, I have become a fan of omitting the potatoes and serving the roast and veggies over mashed potatoes. Sometimes I add half a bottle of beer to the cooking liquid or maybe a touch of red wine. Today I added a bay leaf, since I have some on hand, but it is fine without.

Mom's Pot Roast
2-3 lb. chuck roast
1 Tbs. olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper
2 or 3 onions, peeled and quartered
5 carrots, peeled and cut into 2" lengths (or approx. 25 baby carrots)
2 celery stalks, cut into 2" lengths (I often leave this out because Mark doesn't like celery)
4 or 5 potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks (again, you can omit these and serve with mashed potatoes)
2 c. water
1 package dry onion soup mix
flour and water to thicken gravy

Season the meat with salt and pepper. Heat oil in electric fry pan (or oven proof pot with lid) and brown meat on both sides. Add onions, celery, carrots, and potatoes. Cook for a few minutes to give the veggies a little color. Add water and soup mix. Reduce heat to 275 - 325 degrees. The temperature you pick will determine how soon dinner will be ready. If you have the time, start early and cook at 275 degrees for at least an hour and a half. When ready, remove the meat to rest and reserve the veggies in a separate bowl. Turn up the heat and reduce the cooking liquid for 5 or 10 minutes. Thicken with flour to make a gravy. Cut up the meat and return with the vegetables to the gravy to serve. Or, you can serve the meat and veggies on a platter and keep the gravy on the side.