Pot Roast

Once again checked the Publix ad to pick out my dinner menu. Today I'm attempting my first ever Pot Roast!!! Woooohooooo! I suppose you can't go wrong with a staple American meal for dinner.
After using the web to find a good recipe none of them fit exactly what I was looking for so it looks like I'll be making my own recipe. Still debating the use of slow cooker to stove/oven method. *Decided on oven.

Here are the ingredients:
-2.25 lbs of chuck roast
-10 ish peeled boiler onions
-6 or 7 carrots chopped thickly
-5 celery stalks chopped into large chunks
-8 oz baby bella mushrooms
-4 gloves garlic
-2 teaspoons of sugar
-3 bay leaf
-salt
-pepper
-flour
-thyme
-rosemary
-1 1/2 cups beef stock/broth
-1 cup cooking wine
- water
-olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350F and make sure to place rack with enough space for your pot.

2. Coat meat in flour, salt and pepper. Coat bottom of your pot(if you have a dutch oven use that) with olive oil brown meat on all sides, then remove from pan.

3. Add and cook vegetables until brown, if needed add a bit of broth to keep brown bits from burning. Add sugar and garlic cook until fragrant about 30 seconds.

4. Place meat back into pot, over a slight layer of vegetables. Add beef stock/wine and remove brown bits from bottom, add meat and spices. Add enough liquid to almost cover the roast adding water if needed.

5. Cover pot with foil, and put into oven. Turn roast ever 30 mins, cooking for a total of 4 hours. Once roast is tender and starts to fall apart, remove from pot with vegetables and keep under a foil tent.

6. Strain out spices and thicken the sauce (if needed) on the stove top. Either use some cornstarch or a beurre manie. For cornstarch place a small amount in a bowl and dilute with cold water or liquid from roast (this prevents clumping). For the beurre manie use about 2 tablespoons of softened butter and mix with 2 tablespoons of flour. Make this into a paste. Then add to the remaining liquid in pot, let boil, sauce should thicken to an almost gravy.

7. Serve roast, vegetables and gravy with mashed potatoes.

8. Tell your friends how amazing this recipe was :p

If using a slow cooker:
1. Brown meat as stated previously, and vegetables (adds extra flavor).

2. Place half the vegetables at the bottom of the slow cooker. Place meat on top, add second half of vegetables.

3. Add 1 cup of beef broth, 1 cup of cooking wine and all spices.

4. Set on Low for 8 to 10 hours, or high 3 to 4. Once meat is tender and vegetables cooked through it's ready to eat. Remove roast and vegetables, if needed strain liquid to remove spices.

5. Place liquid back into slow cooker, set on high. In a small bowl add cornstarch, add liquid to the bowl and mix until well incorporated, add new cornstarch liquid to the slow cooker(this way it won't clump). Or you can make a beurre manie (2 tablespoons of softened butter with 2 tablespoons of flour mixed together into a paste). Add thickening agent to slow cooker, let liquid get to a boil. Once thicken ladle over your roast and vegetables.

6. Serve with mashed potatoes.