Buttermilk Pot Roast

This one pot meal is a good simple meal when you have time to let meat cook all afternoon. It's about 20 minutes of prep, and then sticking everything in the oven for 2.5 hours. This is my adaptation of a Taste of Home recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/buttermilk-pot-roast. This recipe makes 6 servings.

Buttermilk Pot Roast:

Bacon grease or vegetable oil

1 boneless chuck roast (3.5 lbs)

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

¼ cup red wine or sherry

6 medium yukon gold potatoes

6 carrots, peeled

8 small boiler onions or shallots

2 leeks

1 cup buttermilk

2 beef bouillon cubes

2 sprigs rosemary

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons paprika

Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Cut the potatoes in half (if you’re using something russets, peel and the cut into pieces), peel and cut the carrots into pieces, peel and halve the onions, removing the stem and root ends as well. Wash the leeks and slice into pieces.

Heat a dutch oven over medium high and add in a spoonful of bacon grease. Brown the meat on all sides except for the fat cap. Remove  the meat and rub with salt and pepper and Dijon mustard.

Meanwhile, lower the heat in the dutch oven (I actually dropped it to low, since it was already very hot) and add in the red wine or sherry to deglaze, scraping the pot with a wooden spoon to free up all the stuck on frond from the meat. Reduce the liquid by half, turning the heat up to medium if you think you need to.

Add the buttermilk, bouillon, rosemary, garlic and onion powder and paprika and a little salt and pepper. Place the roast on top (I put the fat side up) and place all the vegetables around it.

Cover and place in the oven for 2 ¼ to 2 ¾ hours, until the meat is tender.

Remove the meat and let rest on a platter for at least 5 minutes before slicing. Remove the vegetables as well (you may want to use a strainer, your call). Bring the liquid (since we’re not thickening it with, I think this technically counts as a jus) to a simmer on the stove and reduce to 1 cup. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the meat, potatoes and carrots/onions and pour some jus on top.