Mushroom Pot Roast

From: How To Read A French Fry

1 (3 1/2-4 pound) chuck roast, either 7-bone or round bone
Salt
1 (750-milliliter) bottle dry red wine
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 pound yellow onions, sliced
1/2 pound carrots, sliced
6 garlic cloves, smashed
1 stalk celery
1 bay leaf
Stems from 1 bunch parsley, plus 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 whole clove
1/2 C red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp butter
1 pound button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
Freshly ground black pepper

Sprinkle the roast with salt on both sides and place in a 1-gallon zipper-lock plastic bag. Add the wine, seal the bag and refrigerate for 8 hours, or overnight, turning occasionally to make sure all the meat is covered with wine.

Preheat the oven to 450.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Remove the roast from the bag, reserving the wine, and pat it dry with paper towels. Place the roast in the Dutch oven and brown well on both sides, 5-10 minutes per side.

Transfer the roast to a plate. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the rendered fat from the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions, carrots and 4 of the garlic cloves and cook until the vegetables are slightly softened, about 5 minutes.

Cut the celery in half. Tie both stalks together with the bay leaf and parsley stems using kitchen twine and insert the clove in a celery stalk to make a bouquet garni. Add the bouquet garni and the reserved wine to the vegetables and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the meat and vinegar and place a sheet of aluminum foil loosely over the meat. Cover the Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid, place it in the oven and cook until the meat is easily pierced with a sharp fork and is falling off the bone, 2-2 1/2 hours. Every 30 minutes, turn the meat and stir the liquid and vegetables. If the level of the liquid gets too low, add up to 1 cup water, a little at a time, to prevent the meat and vegetables from scorching.

Transfer the meat to a plate and cover it with aluminum foil to keep warm. Pour the liquid and vegetables into a strainer over a bowl, pressing on the vegetables to get as much liquid as possible; discard the vegetables. Set the liquid aside until the fat floats to the top.

Wash out the Dutch oven. Skim off the fat from the settled liquid and return the meat and liquid to the Dutch oven. Keep warm over low heat.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter has foamed and subsided, add the mushrooms and the remaining 2 garlic cloves and cook, tossing, until the mushrooms are lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms to the pot roast and cook for 15 minutes over low heat to marry the flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper, garnish with the chopped parsley and serve.