Pot Roast Dinner Party with Recipe

We had another couple over for a pot roast dinner the few weeks ago and above is a photo of the tablescape: fiestaware plates, POSH Chicago glasses, Laguiole flatware, and CB2 votives plus some cute owl salt and pepper shakers that are probably from TJ Maxx or Marshalls.

Fresh out of the oven and smelling heavenly.

I like mine with a lot of juice that can be sopped up with crusty bread.

I'm still loving Club W, and this wine Les Bobos is adorable.  A bobo is what French people call a hipster.  It means Bourgeois-Bohème or basically someone with money who wants to come off as bohemian.  And the wine is tasty.

 RECIPE

I used the myrecipes.com "Classic Beef Pot Roast" recipe below, but I also added a packet of Lipton's onion soup mix and a can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup to add to the flavor and make more gravy.  It was pretty amazing.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 (3-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups coarsely chopped onion

1 cup dry red wine

4 thyme sprigs

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium beef broth

1 bay leaf

4 large carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

Fresh thyme leaves (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350º.
Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chuck roast with salt and pepper. Add roast to pan; cook 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove roast from pan. Add onion to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until tender.
Return browned roast to pan. Add the red wine, thyme sprigs, chopped garlic, beef broth, and bay leaf to pan; bring to a simmer. Cover pan and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until the roast is almost tender.
Add carrots and potatoes to pan. Cover and bake an additional 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf from pan; discard. Shred meat with 2 forks. Serve roast with vegetable mixture and cooking liquid. Garnish with thyme leaves, if desired.