This is the classic Yankee pot roast that you see on TV all the time.  The problem with most of these is that the veggies are way overcooked and mostly flavorless.  Remember, season in layers.  If you don’t season all the components then the final dish will be flat.  I promise you that.  So we’re going to cook our veggies on purpose and we’re going to season them before adding them to the dish.  There are a few ways you could accomplish this entire dish and I’ve chosen this one because I think it gives you the most control over the final product.  Our meat is juicy and tender.  Our carrots are still slightly al dente. Our potatoes are fully cooked without being mushy.  Our gravy isn’t too thick and it’s got a nice beefy flavor.  And all of the separate pieces are seasoned so each of them could be eaten by themselves and they’d be perfectly lovely.  So we’ve achieved our goal here with a very yummy classic roast.

Ingredients:
1 roast. I used a chuck roast, but use your favorite.  Just make sure it’s got good marbling of fat or it’ll be dry.  So stay away from top and bottom round roast. Those are used for jerky.
1/2 large onion.
1 large carrot.
1 large celery stalk
3 cloves
4 cloves garlic
4 large sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
About 6 potatoes, peeled and cut fairly large
about 6 large carrots, peeled and cut medium size, about the size of your thumb maybe
6 T. butter, melted
3-4 T flour
Salt, black pepper

Method:

1. Season and brown roast.
2. Add all veggies and herbs and add enough water to cover all but about the last half inch of the roast.
3. Add some salt and pepper to the water, bring to boil and cook in 300-F oven for 2-3hrs until the roast tears apart very easily.
4. Remove roast from water.
5. Remove all veggies and herbs from water and discard.  You’re done with those now.
6. Cook chopped potatoes in water for about 10 minutes, simmering, not boiling.
7. Add carrots to water with potatoes and cook until the potatoes are done.  The carrots will probably be done when the potatoes are if they’re not cut too big.
8. Remove carrots and potatoes from water and put in bowl and season with salt and pepper and a couple tablespoons of butter.  Toss them around as gently as you can as the potatoes want to fall apart at this point.
9. Bring water back to a boil and reduce as much as you need to make it a strongly flavored liquid.  The flavor should be really strong because we’re trying to make a fully flavored gravy.
10. Melt 4T of butter and add the flour to make a roux.
11. Quickly stir the roux into the liquid so that it doesn’t lump up.  Basically don’t let the roux hit the bottom of the pan.  You can stop stirring once it’s stirred in all the way.
12. Keep adding roux until it’s as thick as you want it.

Notes:

1. If you run out of roux before the sauce is thick enough then I prefer to continue reducing it instead of adding more roux.  It’ll only build the flavor better and you’ll wind up with a fabulous gravy.
2. Don’t reason season the gravy much until you’re completely done with it.  If you get the seasoning perfect and then have to reduce it then it’ll be over seasoned.
3. If you want your gravy a little thicker, then of course, just reduce it some more.  It reduces faster in a skillet than in a pot.
4. Feel free to add any other root veggies you like… parsnips, turnips rutabagas, etc are all perfectly lovely in this dish.
5. For a nice variation, roast the carrots instead and then add them back into the dish.

Enjoy this lovely pot roast.  Mine was perfect, juicy, tender, and everything was flavored.