This pot roast is mouthwatering and hands down a family favorite. It is not your traditional pot roast served with brown gravy.  It is full of color and packed with flavor pot roast with a Moroccan flair! I prefer the chuck roast versus the bottom round. It is fatty and will be much more tender and delicious, but you can opt for the bottom round if you wish. Here are the directions:

Take the meat out of the refrigerator and let it rest. Clean the oven with a damp paper towel to get up any remnants. The oven will be on a long time and you don’t want it to start to smoke. Then pre-heat the oven to 350. The roast will cook at 325 degrees, so lower the oven right before you put it in.

Salt the meat generously on both sides – this is an important step. Put a few drizzles of olive oil in a pot and saute two diced onions (or you may leave them in circles). I sometimes omit the garlic, but you may add it if you wish now to the onions. Then take out the garlic and onions and separate them. Keep the pan hot, and transfer your meat into it, and brown it on all sides about 10 minutes.

Once the meat has browned fully on all sides turn off the heat, and cut five tiny slits in the meat and push through the garlic. Again this is optional, but it will infuse even more flavor into the meat. Transfer the roast to a large roasting pan.

In the meantime while the meat is browning, rinse the potatoes and peel and rinse the carrots. Set these aside.

Open the can of whole tomatoes and poor on top of the meat, add the onions, and place the potatoes and carrots (cut in half) all around the meat. Add about 1 cup of water and a generous splash of red wine over the tomatoes (optional). If think the wine adds to the depth of the flavor of this dish.

Wash and dry the basil and cilantro. Tie together the bunches of cilantro and basil, to infuse flavor, but then it comes out at the end, that is why you tie it. This is very common in Moroccan cooking. Reserve some fresh leaves of both for garnish at the end. Grate some fresh ginger over the pot roast, a common spice used in Moroccan cooking. You can also slice it into chunks and place it into the slits of meat in lieu of the garlic.

The pot roast will cook at 325 degrees for roughly 2.5 hours (25 mins/lb.). Add water as you check it from time to time, be sure the sides get enough water or the sauce will burn. If you continue to add water or some of the watered down tomato sauce the sides will not burn. The last hour I usually cover it with tin foil, but you can cover it sooner if you wish. Once the top starts to brown, definitely cover it.

I take it out at about 2.5 hours and cut through a chunk to test for tenderness. You can check it with a meat thermometer to be sure it’s reached the proper internal temperature as well. Always very important.

Once it’s done, let it rest for a few minutes so juices evenly distribute, then place the meat on the cutting board and slice the meat or cut into large bite sizes chunks. Try to cut off the fatty parts. Place the meat onto a large white platter, so the colors pop. Add the vegetables all around the meat and some fresh cilantro for a pop of color. Be sure to SALT the potatoes with sea salt. Discard the bundled herbs!

 

Serve as is or reserve some of the gravy and make homemade wide pasta noodles (as seen below) and serve this dish over the noodles. It’s a wonderful compliment. For more information on how to make homemade pasta, please check out my cookbook Mariooch’s Kitchen Food That Will Gather Your Family available on Amazon. Enjoy!