This pot roast is probably the ugliest meal I have ever made, but also one of the tastiest. I decided not to even try to gussy it up for the photograph. No sense in trying to present it as anything other than what it is, which is just wholesome and delicious in all its homely glory. Just a humble cut of meat cooked in an aromatic broth until it falls apart and basic root vegetables. I don’t think I would trust beautiful pot roast. It would be like putting lipstick on a pig. Or a grassfed cow, as the case may be.
This recipe is also another entry into my series on grassfed beef on a budget as it uses one of the cheapest roast cuts, the chuck. We proudly get our meat from the Salatin family’s Polyface Farm in Virginia. I once heard Joel Salatin say that the chuck roast was his favorite cut of meat and I can see why. It filled our house with an enticing aroma and the taste did not disappoint.
I wanted to play with flavors here and decided to experiment with some herbs and acidity. The inspiration for using shallots and playing with coriander came from Michael Symon’s recipe for pot roast in his book Carnivore and the idea to add mustard at the end came from Lynne Curry’s Pure Beef (neither book is purely paleo, but I highly recommend them anyway for all meat eaters).
Notes for healing diets:
- If you are on SCD or GAPS, omit the potatoes and just double the amount of carrots.
- For AIP, you can omit the potatoes or substitute with sweet potatoes. Also, if you are following an AIP protocol that excludes seed based spices you will need to skip the coriander and the mustard.
- For low-FODMAPs, omit or reduce the amount of shallots and garlic, depending on your personal tolerance.
Pot Roast with Root Vegetables
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Humble chuck roast with root vegetables gets deep flavor from shallots, garlic, surprising herbs, and mustard.
Ingredients
- 1–2 tablespoon bacon fat, lard, or coconut oil
- 1 3-5 pound chuck roast, bone in or boneless
- 4 shallots, peeled and cut in half
- 5 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 3 sprigs of fresh thyme or a teaspoon of dried
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
- 3 cups of beef or chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 4 medium carrots, cut into large chunks
- 1 pound potatoes, cut into equal size chunks
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Melt 1 tablespoon fat in dutch oven over medium heat. Salt roast liberally and brown for 10 minutes, flip and brown other side for 10 minutes.
- Remove meat and set aside. If pan is dry, add more fat.
- Add shallots and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until slightly carmelized.
- Add thyme, bay leaves, and coriander and cook until fragrant.
- Add stock and vinegar to pan to deglaze. Use wooden spoon to loosen browned bits and bring to a simmer.
- Return meat to pan. Cover and place in oven for 2 1/2 hours.
- Carefully turn roast over (it will begin to be falling apart at this point) and add root vegetables to pan. Cover and return to the oven for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours (for a total cooking time of 3 1/2 to 4 hours), until the vegetables are very soft and the meat is falling apart.
- Remove the meat and vegetables to a serving platter. Add mustard to sauce and adjust seasonings to taste. Pour sauce over meat and vegetables and serve.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 3 hours 30 mins
- Category: main dish
Want more recipes like this? Check out this Winter Vegetable Paleo Recipe Roundup from Like a Normal Person!
Shared on Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesday, Holistic Squid’s Party Wave Wednesday, Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesday, the Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter Thursday, Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday, Girl Meets Nourishment’s Unprocessed Friday, Peeling Back the Onion Layer’s Healing with Food Friday.