Stove-Top Pot Roast with Mushrooms and Sage

Ingredients

• 3 lb. beef chuck roast, fat trimmed
• Steak rub, for seasoning meat before browning
• 1-2 tsp. olive oil, for browning roast
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup water
• 1 T Better Than Bouillon Mushroom Base
• 2 onions, peeled and cut in fourths
• 1 T finely chopped fresh sage
• 1 lb. crimini or white mushrooms, washed and cut in half
• 1 T flour mixed into 2 T water to thicken gravy

Directions

1. Cut away any fat you can see on the roast. Chuck can hide little seams of fat inside too, and you can simply remove those as you slice and serve.
2. Season the roast on both sides with the steak rub you like, then get it nicely browned in a very small splash of olive oil.
3. Move the roast to a dutch oven, then tuck in the onions and sprinkle in the chopped sage. Stir the mushroom base into the water, and pour that mixture over the meat.
4. If your roast is a tight fit in the dutch oven, brown it in a separate pan first. After browning, add the water to that pan to loosen the browned bits, stir in the mushroom base, and pour everything over the roast. Use 1/2-3/4 cup water, choosing the larger amount if your pan is bigger. You do not want the roast submerged.
5. Keep the pot at the gentlest simmer you can manage for 2-3 hours, until a fork goes in and the meat seems nearly tender; this took about 2 3/4 hours for me. If your gas burner runs hot, use something to raise the pan slightly so the simmer stays very low.
6. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking for 30-45 minutes. The final texture is up to you; I like pot roast cooked through but still with a little chew.
7. Lift the roast, mushrooms, and onions out of the pot. Throw away the onions, and keep the mushrooms and meat aside.
8. If you want a smoother gravy, strain the cooking liquid to catch the sage bits. An immersion blender would also work to blend the sage right in.
9. Take off the fat with a fat separator, or skim it from the surface with a fine-mesh stock skimmer. Taste the liquid, and if the flavor seems thin, boil it hard for a few minutes to concentrate it.
10. Whisk 1 T flour into 2 T water, then whisk that slurry into the simmering stock. Let it cook for 5-10 minutes, until the gravy has thickened. Use white whole wheat flour for South Beach Diet.
11. For my pot roast, that amount of flour gave me about 1 1/4 cups of lightly thickened gravy. If you ended up with much more liquid, or you like a thicker gravy, use a little more flour. You can also add beef stock if you want extra gravy, then adjust the thickening to match.
12. Slice the pot roast thickly, and serve it hot with the mushrooms, and other vegetables if desired, alongside. Spoon the gravy over the meat and mushrooms.