Simple Pot Roast - or - Why I can't renounce red meat

I've never been much of a meat girl. Growing up, I barely ate red meats of any kind, regardless of preparation. Over time I've incorporated more vegetables, beans, and grains into my diet and, within the past few years, I've routinely reserved at least 3 vegetarian dinners in my weekly menu.

So, you can imagine my surprise when, after Sunday night's dinner of homemade pot roast, I felt like I had died and gone to carnivorous heaven. Could it be the influence of a certain book series that I'm reading? Perhaps, although, I don't think vampires have a preference for cows. More accurately, I think my ecstasy had to do with the fact that I hadn't eaten red meat in so long that I couldn't even remember what the last meal consisted of. For anyone who knows about my obsession with remembering food in detail, well, that's quite a shock. And, also, because I bought the meat from an actual person who raised the 7-bone. Knowing that I was eating locally supported meat makes the experience of eating it, in my humble opinion, thoroughly enjoyable.

I've never cooked a steak before, but 7-bones are so easy to work with since the only decidedly agreeable method of cooking it is to braise it, slowly, to break down all of its sinews and fat... also known as the reason why most people run away from red meat screaming "heart attack on a plate!" But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I was ignoring any prejudices. Thankfully, my plan worked and what resulted was what I can only describe as silken meat, with a side of savory veggies. For this recipe, the beef is showcased in all its visceral glory. Enjoy this with a robust red wine and leave your inhibitions back in the real world.

Simple Pot Roast
adapted loosely from Pioneer Woman's recipe

Serves: 6 as a meal, 8 as a side
Hands-on time: 30 minutes
Total time: 4 hours
1 Tbs olive oil
2 yellow onions, skinned and quartered
2 lb 7-bone chuck
kosher salt & ground pepper
4 medium carrots, washed and chopped into 3 inch pieces
1 C red wine (I used a Cabernet, which went perfect with the complete meal)
4 C beef stock
1 large sprig of fresh rosemary
2 large sprigs of fresh thyme

Warm a large dutch oven pot to medium, and preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Add the olive oil to the pan and sear the onions until slight charring appears on each side. Remove the onions from the pan, repeat this process with the carrots, and set the carrots aside as well. Generously coat the chuck with kosher salt and ground pepper. Sear on all sides and remove any fat from that pan that's accumulated. Set the beef aside.

Raise the heat to medium-high, add the red wine, simmer for a few minutes and add the beef broth. Then add the beef and vegetables back to the pot, and scatter the herbs around everything. Cover and place the dutch oven into the conventional oven for at least 3 hours, or until the beef starts to fall apart. Serve chunks of beef and vegetables alongside some mashed potatoes, and drizzle everything with the pot roast gravy.

Fun substitutions/additions: Everything tastes better with bacon! To add a spicy, salty punch, use chopped up pieces of bacon instead of olive oil and scale back on the sodium elsewhere by using low-salt beef broth. Also, most root vegetables go well with pot roast -turnips, squash- although I strongly recommend cooking potatoes outside of this dish because of its uncertain cooking time. Finally, you can substitute other hearty flavored herbs or use any combination of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

Do ahead: you can prepare everything the night before, even simmering the beef for an hour before refrigerating your roast overnight. The next morning, skim off any of the congealed goodness resting on top for a lesser fat version, and continue braising in the oven until beef is the desired consistency of silken meat.