pat's Recipe

Red-Wine Pot Roast with Porcini

Category: Beef

1 cup low-salt chicken or beef broth
1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
1 4lb boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 celery stalks with some leaves cut into
1/2 inch thick slices
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 Tbsp chopped fresh marjoram plus sprigs
for garnish
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
1 cup dry red wine

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Bring broth to simmer in saucepan. Remove from heat; add mushrooms, cover and let stand until soft, about 15 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer mushrooms to cutting board, Chop coarsely. Reserve mushrooms and broth separately.
Sprinkle beef with salt and papper. Heat oil in heavy large ovenproof pot over medium heat. Add beef and cook until brown on all sides, about 15 minutes total. Transfer beef to large plate. Pour off all but 1 Tbp drippings from pot. Place pot over medium heat. Add onion and celery. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and saute until beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, chopped marjoram, and reserved porcini mushrooms; saute 1 minute. Using hands, crush tomatoes 1 at a time, into pot. Cook 3 minutes; stirring frequently and scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot. Add wine; boil 5 minutes. Add reserved mushroom broth, leaving any sediment behind, Boil 5 minutes.
Return beef and any accumulated juices to pot. Cover; transfer to oven. Cook 1.5 hours. Turn beef and continue cooking until tender, about 1.5 hours longer.
Transfer beef to cutting board; tent with foil. Spoon fat from surface of juices in pot. Bring juices to boil, cook until liquid is reduced to 4 cups, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Cut beef into 1/2 inch think slices. Transfer to platter. Spoon juices over, garnish with marjoram sprigs and serve.

serves 6