Classic Pot Roast

You are never alone with pot roast. It is a meal you make to share; a meal that says you, the cook, are looking forward to sharing it again in the days ahead. It is the meal to make on Sunday, three seasons of the year: in the fall to celebrate the warmth and comfort of slow cooking and root vegetables; in the winter when you will savor the aroma all afternoon, snuggled in your toasty house while Mother Nature has another tantrum; and in the spring, before it is truly warm, when smart thinking on Sunday gives you a couple of meals during the week.

Savvy pot roast! Adaptable to seasonal weather and our lifestyle needs– so cleverly useful it will never go out of fashion. While clearly not fancy enough to be the little black dress of your repertoire, pot roast is as useful as the soft black, ever-so-flattering sweater you can wear with jeans or pearls.

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Pot Roast with Potatoes, Carrots and Parsnips

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

½ teaspoon thyme

1 2.75-pound chuck roast

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

3 minced garlic cloves

½ cup red wine

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup lower sodium beef broth

1 pound parsnips, peeled and thinly sliced

5 small carrots (about 8 ounces) peeled and sliced

1 pound baby potatoes, halved

Preheat the oven to 350°.
Combine the salt, pepper, fennel and thyme; sprinkle it evenly over the roast. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium; sear the meat until browned; 5 minutes per side. Remove from the pan; add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, 2 minutes. Stir in the wine, tomato paste and broth; return the roast to the pan, cover and cook in the oven 1 ½ hours.
Add the parsnips, carrots and potatoes; cook until vegetables and meat are tender, another 1 hour.

Makes 8 servings

Nutritional analysis for each serving: 310 calories, 33 g protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber, 8 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 471 mg sodium