The Perfect Pre-Thanksgiving Meal

I admit I am not very adventurous when it comes to cooking a chuck roast. I do the only thing I know how to do--beef stew! Potatoes, carrots, & roast in a hearty sauce that I sometimes thicken into a gravy. It's delicious. It tastes like home. It's pretty much the only thing I know how to do with a big roast. 

Until now! While perusing Pinterest for an upcoming Thanksgiving recipe book I stumbled upon a gorgeous photo of pieces of tender beef in an tomato and red wine based sauce served over noodles. It had me at hello. I clicked to find that the recipe used a chuck roast, cut into 2 inch cubes, cooked low and slow. Well, I'll be. I never thought about cutting up a roast and then cooking it!

The best thing about this recipe? It sounds super fancy. Like, I'm having a dinner party and on the invitation I am going to list "Beef Daube Provencal" as the entree being served so I can feel like Julia Childs kind-of-fancy. 

Don't let the name fool you. This was so simple! It doesn't have complicated ingredients and it's always a bonus when you cook with red wine and then have the rest of the bottle to enjoy.

The beef turned out tender and the sauce is bursting with flavor from the wine, rosemary, garlic, & thyme. Read on for the recipe and start planning that dinner party!

Beef Daube Provencal

Recipe by Cooking Light via My Recipes.

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 12 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 (2-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 cups chopped carrot
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• Dash of ground cloves
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups hot cooked medium egg noodles (about 4 cups uncooked noodles)
• Chopped fresh thyme (optional)

Step 1 
Preheat oven to 300°.

Step 2
Heat olive oil in a small Dutch oven over low heat. Add garlic to pan; cook for 5 minutes or until garlic is fragrant, stirring occasionally. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Add beef to pan. Sprinkle beef with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan. Add wine to pan, and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add garlic, beef, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, carrot, and next 8 ingredients (through bay leaf) to pan; bring to a boil.

Step 3
Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles. Garnish with chopped fresh thyme, if desired.
Note: To make in a slow cooker, prepare through Step Place beef mixture in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 5 hours.

Cool Breeze Farm Chuck Roast

Fresh out of the oven!

Click here to order your chuck roast from Cool Breeze Farm!