One Roast, Three Dinners

Last weekend,  I cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot and used the finished product for three meals: chicken and rice Friday night, chicken salad Saturday for lunch, and chicken enchiladas Sunday night. While I do not plan to use that same crock pot recipe again (my oven roasted recipe is much better), I was inspired to try the same thing again this weekend.  

This weekend, I went with a boneless chuck roast. (I went to the store looking for a chuck roast on the bone, but this is what Publix had on this cold, dreary Friday morning.)

This method comes compliments of my sister's in-laws and is in my personal recipe book labeled "Bullard Pot Roast." (Thanks, Linda!)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Pat the roast dry. Liberally add salt, pepper, and granulated garlic to both sides.  See? 

Since I only had enough granulated garlic for one side of the roast, I sliced a few fresh garlic cloves for the second side.

If you use fresh garlic, don't add it yet!

Here's the only place I changed it up a little. The recipe calls for the roast to be placed in a glass baking dish and broiled in the oven on each side to brown. I've done that before, but for some reason I just wanted to use my beloved, bright and cheery dutch oven this time. 

Add a little olive oil (maybe a tablespoon) to a dutch oven over medium-high heat on the stove. When the oil is hot, add the roast to the pot. (I first put down the side that had the granulated garlic on it).

Once it's nice and brown, turn it over and brown the other side. Then flip it back over so the first side browned is on the top. Scatter the sliced garlic across the top of the roast. Be careful none falls to the bottom of the pan or it may burn.  

Slice an onion in about 1/2" thick slices and place the slices on top of the roast. I think they sort of baste the roast as it cooks. 

Add about a cup of water to the pot. Add more if you like a lot of gravy.

Place a tightly-fitting lid on top. (Since the roast was going to be in the oven for a long time, I covered the lid's handle with aluminum foil.)  If you use the oven-broiled method to brown the roast, cover the baking dish tightly with several layers of aluminum foil to seal. 

Put the pot/dish in the oven and cook for 2 - 3 hours. (My roast was about 3 pounds and I cooked it for 3 hours).

After 2 - 3 hours, take the roast from the oven and it will look lovely and smell so delicious!

Remove the onions to a platter to serve alongside the roast. If you use fresh garlic, you can decide to leave it on the roast or scrape it off at this point. 

Move the roast to a cutting board. If you plan to use the roast for more than one meal,  only add the amount you need for this meal to the platter with the onion. Leave the rest on the cutting board for preparing for the other meals. 

For this meal, I wanted to make gravy. I drained the liquid from the pot and strained it into a fat separator. I added one tablespoon of olive oil back to the pot and set it over medium heat. I added one tablespoon of flour and whisked to combine for about a minute. I added some of the reserved liquid back to the pot and whisked to combine. When I tasted it, it had great flavor, but was too salty. I added some water, whisked, tasted. I tweaked it, adding more reserved liquid or water, until it tasted yummy. I let it simmer for a few minutes to thicken it. 

I rounded out the meal with Ellie Krieger's Roasted Nutmeg Cauliflower, boxed quick rice, and canned green beans. (I love canned green beans! Don't judge.) I thought the resulting plate looked nice, and it tasted great too.

Stay tuned for the meals I made using the rest of the roast!