Pot roast and roasted vegetables recipe
My husband has discovered his blood pressure is high and like anyone with a smidgen of health knowledge (he’s a fire fighter/EMT), he’s self-diagnosed himself and skipped an pesky appointment with a doctor. I know, I’ve tried everything to get him to go, but since that’s not happening any time soon, the best I can do is support him. So, I’m cooking with less salt, more salt-substitutes, and making meals with stronger flavors so salt isn’t a necessity.
This Mediterranean Pot Roast is my latest attempt to feed him the beef he loves with less salt. This is not like mom’s Sunday Pot Roast – there’s no beef stock, potatoes, or carrots in the pot. The flavors are a bit brighter and more on the acidic side. Chuck is a great piece of meat for a roast but you can also use brisket, rump roast, or top and bottom round. These are a bit leaner than chuck but make a great pot roast as well.
I served the pot roast with roasted vegetables – simple and delicious, it’s red or white new potatoes, green beans, asparagus, and carrots washed and chopped and tossed with 2 Tbl salt-free butter and 2 Tbl olive oil and 1 tsp Cumin to mimic the roast. They’re cooked at 450 for 20 minutes while the roast rests (time is dependent on the size of your vegetables).
The hubby deemed this a “must make again soon” recipe and he found he didn’t miss or need any salt on it at all. Pretty high praise from a salt-addicted beef fan!
- 1 (3-4 pound) chuck roast
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt or salt-substitute
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 Tbl Olive Oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 15 oz can chopped tomatoes with juice
- ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup cocktail olives, drained, rinsed, and chopped (OPTIONAL - leave out for lower-salt version)
- ½ cup dark raisins
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
- Place a wide, heavy skillet or fry pan over high heat for 2 minutes - use an old pan, this will ruin your pan, but it's an important step.
- Rub both sides of meat with the salt (salt-substitute) and cumin.
- When the pan is really hot brown meat all sides (heavy smoking will occur but the glorious browning you get from a dry fry is worth it). Remove from pan and set aside.
- Turn the burner to medium. Add olive oil to the pan and once heated, drop in the onion and garlic. Stir constantly until onion is softened.
- Add the canned tomatoes with juice, vinegar, olives, and raisins.
- Bring to a boil and reduce the liquid by half.
- While the sauce is reducing, prepare your pan with non-stick cooking spray. If you don't have a pan large enough, create a doubled foil pouch with wide, heavy duty aluminum foil. Doubling the foil will prevent the juice from leaking out should a bone from the meat puncture the foil. Place the packet on a cooking sheet.
- Place half the reduced liquid mixture on the foil, add the roast, and then top with the remaining mixture.
- Close the pouch tightly.
- Cook for 4 to 4½ hours or until a fork pushes easily into the meat or internal thermometer reads 185.
- Remove the meat from the oven and let it rest 30 minutes in its packet. To make "gravy" drain the liquid into a bowl and blend with a hand immersion blender or serve with the chunky "gravy" right from the packet (our preference)
- Slice meat thinly, or pull apart with a fork. Serve with sauce.
:me:
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That certainly looks like a healthy meal to me. I love your twist on the typical pot roast!