Rosemary-Orange Pot Roast. You heard me.

I love pot roast.  I especially love my mother-in-law's pot roast.  She adds tomato paste to the broth, and it just does all the right things for me.

This week we tried EatingWell's Rosemary-Orange Pot Roast on St. Patrick's Day.  I just couldn't get behind the corned beef and cabbage this year, and it seems wrong to make shepherd's pie from scratch.  You really need leftovers to do it justice.

Let me just tell you that I am not big on leftovers.  Once I eat something, I'm kinda done with it.  That's why I need to menu plan, because I just can't have similar tastes days and days on end.  It drives me nuts.  That being said, I plan on eating Rosemary-Orange Pot Roast for the third day in a row tomorrow.  Yeah.  It's really good.  Is it better than my mother-in-law's?  I say it's different from my mother-in-law's...

This is a great variation when you want that rich, deep, fabulously saucey,  comforting, fall-apart tenderness of pot roast - and it's spring.  I usually think of pot roast as a winter meal.  It's something you eat on one of those twenty below zero days in January when you want a comforting, hearty meal with yummy starchy sides like potatoes or pasta.  I cook it on those days because it takes all day to cook, and that helps keep the house warm.  (I live in Minnesota, these days happen.  Sometimes for a week.)  This variation is good for springtime.  It does still cook all day and warm up the house, but the flavors are lighter and my bet is, if you really really wanted to, you could put some veggies next to the dutch oven and cook it all on the grill.  I may try that on a cool June night.

I loved cooking (and eating) this.  I made a few adjustments. ( I cooked it on the stove top!!!)  The aromas were wonderful, and I took a lot of pictures:

Orange zest (!), Rosemary, Garlic.  What could be better?  I ran out of fresh rosemary and used 1 TBS fresh and 1/2 TBS dried.

Can you smell this through your computer?  Seriously. Awesome.  Olive oil. Onions, browned. Orange zest (!) Rosemary. Garlic.  HEAVEN.

I cooked the onion mixture in my dutch oven, removed it, added the rest of the oil, and browned my Chuck roast.

How could I not use this to de-glaze - Look at that tree!

Removed the beef to a plate and added the wine and broth, scraping up the delicious brown bits.

Nestle the meat back in the pan, scatter the onion mixture around and on top of it.

That's right - I cooked it on the stove top. (I'm a loner, Dottie, a rebel.)  Simmer for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  This left my oven open for my kids to make Irish Soda bread.  Check back for a recipe, review, and amazingly cute pictures.

This orange looked so sad and naked after I zested it. It called out for more.  I used 1 TBS of its juice in place of the water for the cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce.

It added a little more orange to the dish, and came through in a light, lovely, springy way.  I could drink this sauce in a glass.

The mustard sauce in the recipe lends just the right touch to this meal.  I served it with egg noodles and a medley of roasted carrots, parsnips and green beans (drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt on a cookie sheet at 400 for 30 - 45 minutes.) I had two little waxy potatoes in there, too, for good measure - it *was* St. Patrick's day and I'm 1/2 Irish (Bill is 100%).

My 1/2 and 1/2 pour  was terrible, but this did go very well with some Irish beer (Harp and Guinness pictured here).