Pot Roast

A very special meal for me has always been my mom’s pot roast. It is magical! This is our special meal that is requested on holidays and birthdays. It wasn’t until I graduated college and had a “real” kitchen of my own that I asked my mom to teach me how she does this.

Here is what you will need: large dutch oven or roasting pan with a lid, boneless rump roast (for two people I simply bought a 2 lb rump roast for $7.00), carrots (mine are the baby-cut carrots to save time cutting and peeling), potatoes (these small red potatoes were on sale), onion, garlic and seasonings – onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, 7 spice blend from Salt Grass Restaurant, herbs de provence blend.

Here are the secret steps to my mom’s amazing pot roast.

Rinse your rump roast and pat dry with a paper towel. Next, season the heck out of it with your onion powder, garlic powder, seasoning blends, salt and pepper.

Now you want to dredge in flour, but I first season the flour with more of the same seasoning I put on the roast.

Take your perfectly powdered roast and brown on all sides in a hot skillet coated with oil. I used olive oil, vegetable oil would work fine too. Browning is going to seal in the flavor of the roast and provide a nice crust.

Once browned, transfer to your dutch oven. I put a few healthy tablespoons of chopped garlic on the bottom, roast on top and then three tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. Why? Because I felt like it. PW makes her man the Marlboro Man sandwich and she used worcestershire in the sauce – I think it will add a depth to the flavor. We’ll see. I cut up an onion and put half on the bottom.

Now add all the potatoes and carrots. You could also add other veggies like zucchini or mushrooms.

Add water to just cover the veggies, no need for the entire roast to be submerged too. It’s important you season the water too so the veggies absorb the onion and garlic flavor.

Throw the rest of the onion on top and cover, cook at 350 for one hour per pound. I’m cooking mine for 2 hours and then will pull it out and test. It should be fork tender and cooked through.