Pot Roast French Bread with Red Wine Sauce
This is one of the coolest pot roasts I've ever made, simply because of the French bread. I saw this done by Chef Daniel Boulud and was amazed by it, so I had to try it. I even attempted to make my own French Bread! This is a great dish to make for a small dinner party, just think what a great conversation piece this will make when you place it on the table in front of everyone!
The sauce was seriously restaurant worthy too and as if things couldn't get any better, there are only SIX ingredients involved!
A simple array of ingredients are involved. A 4 pound pot roast (or chuck roast) is the perfect cut of meat for this since it will be slow cooking for a couple of hours. Pot roast is a tougher, inexpensive meat, but when it cooks for long periods, the meat breaks down and becomes buttery and tender. SplenDishes Super Tuscan Blend is one of my favorite spice blends, I use it in all my sauces and stews. The blend of Italian herbs help brighten the dish and the tomato powder helps thicken the rich and velvety sauce.
First, let's season the meat. Sprinkle SplenDishes House Blend on both sides of meat.
Next, heat some olive oil in a very hot pan and sear meat on both sides. Doing this helps seal in all the juices and will help keep the meat juicy and tender. It also creates all those lovely brown bits on the bottom of the pan, that create all that flavor.
Once the meat is browned, remove from pan and set aside. Lower heat to medium and throw in the onions and saute for a few minutes, then toss in garlic. See all those brown bits? Yum!!
Sprinkle in SplenDishes Super Tuscan Blend. I just love the tomato powder in this spice blend!
It's wine time. A nice dry red wine is great for this dish. I'm using a Cabernet. Scrape up all the brown bits while the wine is starting to reduce. If you don't like using wine, you can always use beef broth for this, but the wine is what really makes this sauce so rich and velvety. If you're worried about the alcohol, it all cooks out, so your just getting the complex flavors of the wine. You'll need about a cup and a half. Don't forget to save some for the chef :)
Place the meat and all the juices that have accumulated back into the pot. The liquid should come up about halfway on the meat, so if you need to add some water you can (or more wine!). Nestle it nice and good in there.
Place some fresh rosemary sprigs along the sides and on top, put the lid on and place in a 350 degree(f) oven for about an hour, then turn the meat over and back in it goes for another hour. You need about 2 1/2 hours total for this dish.
This is what it looks like half way through. Flip the meat over so the top half has a chance to soak up all that delicious wine. Put the lid back on and cook for another hour.
OK, so its been 2 hours, your house probably smells amazing and its time to make this dish even more amazing. So I decided to make my own French bread, don't feel the need to be so ambitious, it took a long time with rising and whatnot. You can easily buy the french bread dough in the tubes where you find the crescent rolls and biscuits. It will work perfectly. So remove the dough from the container and roll it out into a 1/2" thick rectangle onto a floured surface. Then roll it up starting from the long side, so it looks like a rope. You need it to be long enough to fit the rim of your pot, so make sure you get it to the proper length. Next form the rope around the edge of the lid of your pot. Brush it with olive oil and place a few sprigs of fresh rosemary into the dough. Put it back in the oven for another 35 minutes or until the dough is light golden in color.
Isn't this the most awesome looking thing ever? Ok, maybe not ever, but its pretty cool! When its done, pull the bread off and place in a covered basket. Open the lid and prepare to begin drooling.....
Let's "make" the sauce. The roast will be fall apart tender, place it on a platter. Remove the rosemary twigs and discard. Using a hand blender, blend the onions and wine together until smooth.
It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, a few onions left are perfect, keeps it looking rustic. It is pot roast after all :)
Spoon some sauce into a serving dish and place a few chunks of meat and top with fresh chopped parsley. Doesn't this look fabulous?
I served this with roasted carrots and of course the french bread. The bread was great for soaking up all that rich sauce too.
RECIPE
POT ROAST FRENCH BREAD WITH RED WINE SAUCE
| Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: About 3 Hours | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 4 |
Ingredients:
4 pound pot roast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon SplenDishes Super Tuscan Blend
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1/2 cup water, if needed
4 fresh rosemary sprigs, PLUS 4 small sprigs for french bread
1 fresh French bread loaf of dough
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped for garnish
Directions:
Heat dutch oven pot on high heat. Season meat on both sides with House Blend. Add olive oil to pan and sear meat on both sides until golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
Lower heat to medium and add onions. Saute onions for a few minutes then add garlic and Super Tuscan Blend.
Stir in red wine deglazing pan and scraping up all those beautiful brown bits from the bottom.
Place meat back in pot. Liquid should cover meat half way, so add water if needed.
Place lid on pot and put in oven for an hour. After the first hour, turn meat over, place lid back on and cook another hour.
After 2 hours of cooking, pull pot out of the oven. Lay French bread roll out onto lightly floured counter and roll into rectangle.
Roll bread up, starting from the long side, so it looks like a skinny rope. The rope needs to be long enough to fit around the edge of the pot you are using, so be sure to roll out to proper length.
Place bread rope along the top rim part of the lid and pot, pinch ends of dough together to secure.
Brush dough with a little olive oil and place 4 small sprigs of rosemary along top of the bread dough.
Bump the heat on the oven to 375 degrees(f).
Place back into oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until bread is light golden brown.
Once done, pull bread off pot and set in covered basket.
Meat should be fall apart tender, carefully pull roast out and place on a platter.
Remove rosemary twigs from pan and using a hand blender, blend the sauce until onions are smooth and sauce is rich and thick.
Spoon sauce into shallow serving dishes and place chunks of meat onto sauce.
Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.
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