Stretch Your $$$'s Italian Pot Roast

Preheat oven to 375° - roast time approximately 3 hours.

In this recipe I used an Arm Roast. You can use a Chuck or Round Roast. Any cut will work.

On the stovetop heat a heavy roasting pan or dutch oven. Pour in 2Tb of oil and let it get hot. Add roast to hot pan, salt the meat and let it get a good sear before flipping to sear the other side.

Remove roast and put rough chopped vegetables into hot pan. Season the vegetables with a little salt and pepper. In this recipe I used 3 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, and 1 yellow onion. Stir these around in the oil for a minute then add 4 cloves of fresh garlic (sliced or minced) and 2 or 3 bay leaves.

Pour over 8 oz of red wine over vegetables and let it pull the meat pieces from the bottom of the pan into your sauce. Use a stiff spatula to help scrape the bottom of the pan. Then add 8 oz of water and a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes. Stir.

Add meat back to pot and baste with the sauce. Cover with tight lid. Put in the 375° oven. Baste the meat with sauce about every 45 minutes.

When done, I remove the roast and tent with foil to keep hot. I add a large sized cooked pasta (salted water only no oil in pasta water) by using a straining spoon and add the pasta directly from water to the sauce and vegetables. Don’t rinse the pasta! The starch on the pasta will help thicken the sauce and it will stick to the pasta better.

Plate your pasta, vegetables and sauce and add slices of the roast on top. Garnish with some freshly grated parmesan cheese. Serve with garlic toast and your favorite beverage!