Classic Beef Pot Roast with Winter Vegetables

We went "lean" on Fat Tuesday? Yes, it's Fat Tuesday, but instead of rich and decadent, today's clip is lean and clean; a classic beef pot roast, slowly braised with aromatic winter veggies. As I say in the clip, this dish "makes itself." A nice hunk of chuck, a few seasonings, some veggies and a few hours is all it takes to make something so satisfying and heart warming.

Most of these recipes have you flour the meat first, and then sear it, but I think my method works much better. You'll see me make a quick roux in the pot before we braise. This allows me to really brown the roast well, without worrying about burning the flour.

Of course you can vary the vegetables that we add for the last hour of cooking, but I hope you don't leave out the parsnip. It really gives the dish an important aromatic layer of flavor. I didn't add potatoes (since I wanted to save the carbs for the bread I used to soak up the juice!), but they are a standard addition to this dish in most recipes.

Be careful when selecting your pot roast. You are looking for a boneless, 3 pound beef "Chuck" pot roast. Check a few packages, as some can have larger chucks of fat than others. By the way, hey Butchers, stop putting the price sticker over that big chuck of fat to hide it! I hate that. Anyway, hopefully you have a nice butcher who will make sure you get the perfect cut for this great dish.

3 pound boneless beef "chuck" pot roast

2 tbl olive oil

3 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 bay leave

3 cloves garlic

3-4 springs fresh thyme and rosemary (2 tsp of dried if you can't find fresh)

2 tbl flour

1 quart beef stock or broth

1 yellow onion

4-5 carrots

2 parsnips

3 stacks celery