Time for another recipe.....

These cold, dreary, winter days just beg for a meal like this.
Its one of the first recipes my mom taught me how to make.

This meal is very easy. You can put it in a crock-pot, or a dutch oven (my preference) to cook on the stove top or you can also put the dutch oven in your oven. I prefer the stove top method.




POT ROAST WITH POTATOES AND CARROTS

You will need:

1 Chuck Roast, approx 3.5 lbs. (You can also use a rump roast but its a lot more expensive)
Approx. 8 good sized white potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 small bag of baby carrots, peeled and washed (they already come that way)
1 stalk (not the whole package) of celery, leaves and all

1 envelope of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup (right from can, undiluted)
1 cup of plain water or just enough to almost cover the meat and potatoes when poured in the pan.

Enough Olive Oil to lightly coat bottom of the pan
Salt and pepper to taste

2 to 3 tsp. of Kitchen Bouquet if desired.

Put olive oil on bottom of a 6qt. dutch oven and get it hot enough to brown the meat. Salt, pepper and lightly flour the meat and brown it on all sides. When finished with that, sprinkle the onion soup mix on top of the meat, break up (big pieces you will later remove from the gravy) the washed celery (leaves and all) and put that on top of the meat also. Then put the peeled and quartered potatoes around the meat, then add the carrots in the same fashion. Put the undiluted cream of mushroom soup on top of all that, add the cup of water, wait until it starts to boil, then put the lid on the pan immediately. Turn down the heat to simmer or on some stoves, low medium.

Cook on top of the stove for approximately 4 to 4 and a half hours, UNDISTURBED. (do not lift the lid).

At the end of 4 hours, everything should be done, the meat should be tender enough to cut with a fork and it has made its own gravy! If you want a deeper brown color to the gravy, like in the picture, you may add a couple teaspoons or so of Kitchen Bouquet to the mixture after you've taken the meat, potatoes and carrots out of the pan.

To make this in the oven, just put the pan (covered) into the oven at 325 for the same length of time after you've followed all the steps above. For the crockpot, brown the meat in a pan on the stove top, transfer it to your crockpot, cut the water to 1/2 cup, then the recipe would be the same, except you would cook it on low for 8 to 9 hours or high for 6. The basic secret is to LEAVE THE LID ON. The steam is what makes everything so good and tender.

I know you'll love this. Enjoy!