Lisa's Lazy Pot Roast

Sometimes names can be a little deceiving... for example, I wouldn't say this is a "lazy" pot roast.  But it is totally worth the effort.  Crock pot roast beef can be wonderful but not as wonderful as this.  I promise.
My sister got me this cookbook and told me that I really had to try this recipe.

First let me say that I am a born again "dry rub" believer.  If you do not believe dry rub will provide a juicy, tender roast beef try this recipe.  Here are some of the things you will need:

Plus either olive oil or vegetable oil.  I forgot to put it in the photo.  

Dry rub ingredients:

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 T. of chopped fresh rosemary or 1 tsp. of dried 

1 T. of paprika (my #1 favorite spice in the world) 

1 T. of Kosher salt

1 tsp. of black pepper

1 4 pound boneless beef chuck 

A lot of times I will double this recipe because we love the left-overs as much if not more than the roast when I serve it for dinner.  It makes the best sandwiches or even quesadillas.  But that's a subject for another time.  

Combine your herbs in a little bowl and mix together. rub thoroughly all over your beef.  I recommend leaving this for an hour or two or overnight in the refrigerator in a zip-lock bag or well wrapped.  I happen to use a rubbermaid container this time. 

dry rub mix

I happened to put the dry rub on this last night while I was making taco salad for our dinner and then this morning I pulled it out to cook it.  Only because I had a full day planned and didn't have time to cook this after I got home and didn't want to cheat you all out of this recipe.  I thought for a nanosecond about throwing this in the crockpot... but then I thought of you guys out there who faithfully feed my fish on my blog and I just couldn't short you.  

So this morning when I woke up I did this

I put some olive oil in my dutch oven and on medium-high heat I browned or seared the beef and then turned it so that every side was seared.  If you don't have a dutch oven you can sear it in a regular pan and then transfer to a baking dish.

Then I turned off the heat and added the onions, then garlic, then beef stock.   Please don't freak out at the amount of onions and garlic.  I promise good things.  The onions caramelize and they become very mild and sweet.  

Turn your onion on it's side and cut the ends off.  The cut it in half.  Then make slices either thin or thick.  It won't matter how you do it.  

This is about 4 small to medium size onions.  The recipe calls for 5 cups.  But please don't sweat this part.  Use whatever you have.  

And add 6 garlic cloves.  My cloves were large so I only added about 5.  You can chop them, mince them... whatever blows your skirt up.   See!  You can break nearly every rule in cooking and it won't matter.  This explains why I'm not a good baker.   But you can't mess this recipe up if you fudge a little on the proportions. 

Then add about a cup of beef broth or beef stock.  The recipe calls for 1/2 cup but I'd rather err on the side of caution and not let it go dry so I add more before I cook it. 

You are going to cook this uncovered at 350 for one hour (leaving the onions and garlic on top)

Then take this out of the oven and turn the roast over so that the onions and garlic are on the bottom of the pan and sort of move it around to mix it up a little.  Then put the lid on or cover with foil and continue cooking at 350 for 2 more hours.  I usually go ahead and add the rest of the beef stock at this point rather than having to worry about going back and adding more during the cooking process.  

I let this "rest" for a few minutes after this is done and then remove the meat from the pan.  I also remove the onions with a slotted spoon, then I put the juices in a fat separator or in a measuring cup and let it sit so that the fat will rise to the top and you can get rid of it and keep the pan juices to make a gravy or use as it is on the roast.      

I slice the beef then put the onions on the side and make a pan gravy out of the pan juices.  

You can add carrots or potatoes to the roast during the last phase of cooking if you like but my family prefers to have mashed potatoes with this so I don't usually add potatoes.  

Good luck folks.  I know that each and every one of my friends can do this (that means you Steph!) and so please give it a try.  Even if you aren't a fan of onions at least cook it with the onions for a flavor step and you can discard them if you like at the end.  But the end result is sort of like a french onion soup.  Very mild, flavorful, and yummy. 

Just so you know... This morning I made this early.  It was done by 10:00 and I refrigerated it until I got home around 3:30 and worked on separating and slicing.  Yum!!!  

I honestly believe with all my heart... if I can do this... so can you!