So What's For Dinner?

Little Diva is easy to please when it comes to dinner - as long as you are offering Mac-n-Cheese, spaghetti and meatballs or chicken nuggets. Fortunately, I have stumbled upon the realization that she seems to like slow-cooked, shredded meat. For that reason, this Yankee Pot Roast is usually met with a reasonable amount of willingness to eat. The Baby will eat anything (and everything), but this is particularly good for her because of the array of meat and vegetables. Her favorites.

Best of all, as I mentioned in my last post, you can enlist the aide of the kiddos to help get this one into the pot. I let Little Diva sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper, throw in the vegetables, and mix and pour the liquid in. Somehow, she is more excited about eating food that she has helped to prepare. Of course, other days, like today, she has no interest in helping at all and STILL wants those darn nuggets. Oh well!

Anyway, it's great for a snowy day, and is easily adapted for a slow cooker if you want dinner done when you get home after a hectic day. I usually buy Chuck Roast when it is on sale at the grocery store buy one, get one free, then throw it in the freezer. Traditional Yankee Pot Roast usually calls for potatoes, too, so feel free to add along with the other vegetables if you like. I prefer to serve this with mashed potatoes on the side, because I find the potatoes too bland when they are cooked with the roast. This recipe yields approximately 6 servings.  Enjoy!

Yankee Pot Roast with Root Vegetables

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (2-3 pound) boneless chuck roast
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 cups beef stock (or broth)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1-2 chopped plum tomato
2 turnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
3 parsnips, peeled and cut lengthwise, then into 1 inch pieces
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle roast with salt and peppers. Add roast to pan, browning on all sides (about 8 minutes). Remove from pan. Add onion to pan, and sauté 8 minutes or until browned. Return roast to pan.  Add garlic cloves.  Combine broth, ketchup, and Worcestershire, pour broth mixture over roast. Add tomato, and bring to a simmer.
3. Cover and bake at 300 degrees for  2 1/2 hours or until meat is very tender.  Add carrots, parsnips and turnips, cover and bake an additional 40-45 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Garnish with parsley, if desired.