This is the most perfect winter comfort food. It’s just made for cozy weekends at home, where you can pop this in the oven and let it cook away for the afternoon, tantalising you with delicious aromas until dinner time. When you finally lift the lid, you will find meat that is fall-apart tender, and vegetables that have collapsed to make the most amazing sauce (which you can blend up to a smooth consistency if you have veggie-phobes in your house!)

For this recipe, I used a chuck roast, which had been rolled and tied. I untied it and discarded the fatty top section, leaving the main meaty part. Any other whole cut appropriate for slow-roasting can be used instead. You could also do this in a slow cooker for 8 hours on low, but I just love slow-roasting in my Dutch oven.

Beef & Red Wine Pot Roast

1.3-1.5kg chuck roast (or other whole cut suitable for slow cooking)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

Salt & pepper

2 onions

4 cloves garlic

2 large carrots

2 stalks celery

1 zucchini

½ cup red wine

2 cups unsalted broth or stock  (beef or chicken)

1 tbsp tamari or soy (omit if you have salt in your broth)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

A few sprigs of thyme or a few bay leaves (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Dice all vegetables into approx. 1-2 cm pieces. Finely chop garlic.

3. Heat a large enamelled cast iron Dutch oven pan over medium heat. Add butter and olive oil.
4. Season whole roast with salt & pepper. Brown in olive oil & butter on all sides, then remove to a plate.

5. Add a dash more oil and butter if necessary, then add garlic, onion and other vegetables. Cook a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften.
6. Add wine, broth and sauces to the pan and bring to the simmer.
7. Add beef and juices, pushing the meat down into the vegetables. Add thyme or bay leaf.

9. Cover and cook in the oven for at least 4 hours, until the meat is falling apart.

10. Optional step: if you have fusspots who would likely reject the veggies in the sauce, simply remove the beef, then use a stick blender to blitz the veggies to make a thick sauce, before returning the beef to the pan to serve.
11. Serve with mashed potatoes and fresh steamed greens.
12. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge or freezer and chopped up to make a fantastic pot pie filling, with puff pastry on top.

Enjoy!