Pot Roast, Italian Style
Submitted by fastfoodlady
Italian-style pot roast is a beef chuck braised for three hours with soffritto, tomato paste, red wine, and Italian herbs. Sliced beef plus pasta sauce over spaghetti, feeds eight.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
3 hrsREADY
4 hrsItalian-style pot roast, stracotto in the old country, turns one four-pound chuck roast into a two-for-one dinner: tender sliced beef plus a deep tomato sauce thick enough to dress a pound of spaghetti. This is Italian-American Sunday gravy logic applied to pot roast, and it rewards the full three hours of gentle braising.
The method builds classical flavor in order. Beef chuck sears in lard (the traditional fat for this dish) until deeply browned on all sides. The beef comes out, the rendered fat pours off, and a proper soffritto of chopped onion, carrot, and celery builds in its place, picking up all the fond from the bottom of the pan.
Then the sauce comes together. Six ounces of tomato paste, eight ounces of tomato sauce, a half cup of dry red wine, beef bouillon dissolved in hot water, a teaspoon of sugar to cut the acid, basil, and oregano all stir in. The roast returns to the pot, the lid goes on, and 2½ to 3 hours of low simmer (stovetop or 325°F / 163°C oven) melts the collagen into the sauce. Slice the beef, toss the sauce with spaghetti, crown with grated Parmesan.
Chef Tips
- Sear the beef aggressively on all sides, including the ends. The browning is the flavor foundation for the entire sauce.
- Turn the roast once midway through braising as directed. This keeps the top from drying out and the bottom from overcooking in direct pot heat.
- Skim excess fat before serving. Chuck roasts release a lot; a degreasing ladle or a swish of ice cubes lifts it off the sauce surface.
- If the sauce is too thin at the end, remove the beef and reduce uncovered to desired thickness. Don’t serve watery ragu over pasta.
Variations
- With porcini: Steep a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms in the bouillon water before adding; porcini-boosted sauce is the real-deal Northern Italian move.
- Different pasta: Try pappardelle or rigatoni instead of spaghetti for a heartier pasta-sauce match.
- With polenta: Skip the pasta entirely and serve the sliced beef and sauce over creamy polenta.
Ingredients
Directions
In a Dutch oven, or large pan with a tight-fitting cover, brown meat in fat.
Season with salt and pepper and remove from pan.
Pour off fat drippings.
Add onion, carrots, and celery; cook until vegetables are lightly browned, stirring often.
Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, wine, bouillon, sugar, basil, and oregano; mix well.
Return meat to pan.
Cover and simmer for 2½ to 2½ hours, or until done.
(Or cook in a 325℉ (160℃) oven for same amount of time.) Turn meat once to cook it evenly throughout.
When done, remove meat to a platter and keep warm.
Skim excess fat.
If sauce is a little too thin, simmer, uncovered, until it is of desired thickness.
Taste sauce and correct seasoning, if necessary, with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile cook spaghetti and drain.
Serve sauce over spaghetti and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Slice meat and spoon a little sauce over it.
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