Italian-Style Pot Roast with Gremolata

It's not quite fall, but it's definitely getting a bit cooler around here, and that means soups and POT ROAST!!! I love pot roast because it's so comforting, easy to make and tastes warm, rich, thick and delicious. My Cuisine at Home magazine had this recipe for the slow cooker (aka: crockpot), and it looked scrumptious, so I decided to give it a whirl. It takes a little preparation (READ: you can't just wake up, give yourself 10 minutes to throw this in the crockpot and head out the door - it takes about 20 minutes of prep work before your food hits the crockpot, but it's soooo worth it), so give yourself a bit of time before you put the lid on top of the slow cooker. The result is a wonderfully complex sauce, tender meat and veggies, and a snappy, fresh twist with that gremolata on top at the end. (Gremolata is an herb concoction, usually with parsley, garlic and lemon zest, and is typically used as the finishing touch in a lot of meat dishes.)

Italian-Style Pot Roast with Gremolata
Ingredients:

Heat:
2 tbs olive oil
1 boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed, seasoned with salt and pepper (4-5 lbs)

Stir:
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/3 cup AP flour
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs anchovy paste
1 tbs beef base (such as Better than Bouillon)

Deglaze:
1 cup dry red wine
1 can whole tomatoes in juice, quartered (14.5 oz.)
2 dried bay leaves
1 tsp dried rubbed sage
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Add:
1 lb small white potatoes, halved
4 carrots, cut into 2 to 3 inch pieces
12 oz. cipollini onions, blanched and peeled

Combine:
2 tbs minced fresh parsley
1 tbs minced garlic
2 tsp minced lemon zest

**In order to easily peel the cipollini onions, blanch them for 2 minutes in boiling water. Transfer them to an ice water bath and the skins will slip right off.**

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Brown roast on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer roast to a 4-6 qt. slow cooker.

2. Stir garlic (the 6 cloves, chopped), flour, tomato paste, anchovy paste, and beef baste into skillet and cook 1 minute.

3. Deglaze skillet with wine and reduce by 1/3, scraping up bits on the bottom. Add tomatoes and juice, bay leaves, sage, rosemary, nutmeg, salt and pepper flakes; bring to a boil and cook until thick, 3-4 minutes. Pour wine mixture over roast in slow cooker.

4. Add potatoes, carrots and onions to the slow cooker. Cover slow cooker and cook until meat is fork tender, on high setting 4-5 hours, or low setting 8-9 hours. Transfer roast to a platter. Using a slotted spoon, arrange vegetables around roast. Strain sauce, skim off any fat from the surface. Serve sauce with roast.

5. Combine parsley, garlic and lemon zest for the gremolata. Garnish roast with the gremolata.

This serves about 8 people.