Elevated Red Wine and Dark Chocolate Pot Roast with Homemade Biscuit Topping
Introducing the recipe from the cover of my book, ladies and gentlemen! This is also one of the recipes I am most proud of, since it started as a random idea I had and actually ended up working (after a couple of mistrials, of course). Not only that, but this pot roast is insanely flavorful. By adding red wine, soy sauce and my, well, now not-so-secret ingredient, dark chocolate, this dish is completely filled with powerful umami flavors. Topping it with homemade biscuits was the crazy idea I had that I can now say works perfectly. It’s the thing you never knew you were missing about pot roast: a biscuit topping! This is one of my favorite “set-it-and-forget-it” recipes for when you want to impress but don’t want a ton of hands-on time!
Makes4 servings
Preparation Time20 min
Cooking Time3 hr
Ingredients
- Pot Roast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 pounds (1.4 kg) chuck roast
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) vegetable oil
- 2 cups (480 ml) beef stock, divided
- 2 large onions, cut into large slices
- 6 cloves garlic: 3 minced, 3 left whole
- 2 cups (480 ml) dry red wine (cabernet)
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/4 cup (33 g) finely chopped dark chocolate
- 3 large carrots
- 8 ounces (226 g) small potatoes, halved or quartered
- 3 thyme sprigs
- 1 tablespoon (8 g) cornstarch + 1 tbsp(15 ml) water, for a slurry
Biscuit Topping- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) baking powder
- 2 teaspoons (12 g) sea salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick/114 g) unsalted butter, frozen
- 2 cups + 1 tbsp (495 ml) buttermilk, divided
- 1/2 cup (50 g) thinly shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
Instructions:
Let’s get this baby cooking! First, let me assure you that even though your pot roast will cook for a long time (the time actually flies by), you only have 20 to 30 minutes max of hands-on time. This is just one of those recipes for which you have to be mindful of when you want it to be done. If you intend to eat at around 6:00 p.m. (that’s generally dinner time for us over here), I would start the pot roast no later than 2:30 p.m.
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For the pot roast, preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Meanwhile, you are going to hard sear the roast: In a small bowl, mix together the salt, garlic powder and pepper together and then season your roast well on all sides. In a large Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the seasoned roast and sear for 5 to 6 minutes on each side, making a nice crust. Remove the roast from the Dutch oven and set aside.
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To the same Dutch oven (no need to clean), add 1 cup (240 ml) of the beef stock and scrape the bottom to loosen all the bits from the roast. Add the onions and minced garlic and cook down for 5 minutes.
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Once the onions are soft, add the remaining cup of the beef stock and the red wine, followed by the soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and dark chocolate. Stir until well combined and then add the roast back to the pot, along with the carrots, potatoes and whole garlic cloves. Nestle everything in together so as to be covered by some of the liquid, then top with the thyme sprigs. Cover and roast in the oven for 2 1⁄2 to 3 hours. This is the “set it and forget it” part.
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When the pot roast is done (everything will be very tender), remove from the oven and make your biscuits: In a large bowl, combine your flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Take your butter out of the freezer and, using a cheese grater, grate it into the flour mixture.
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Then, using your hands, mix it into the flour mixture until the butter feels distributed and is pea-sized throughout the flour. Slowly add 2 cups (475 ml) of buttermilk while mixing and barely combine. Add the Parmesan cheese and thyme and mix very carefully.
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The dough will be very shaggy, so once it comes together slightly, dump it out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead until it comes together more. You will want to fold it in on itself like a book a couple of times, taking one end and folding up and over to the center, and then the other end up and over that.
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Once you have folded it a couple of times, flour a rolling pin and gently roll out the dough until it’s about 1⁄2 inch(1.3 cm) thick. Flour a 2-inch (5-cm) round cookie cutter and start cutting out biscuit rounds, but don't twist the cookie cutter; just go straight down and back up, or they won’t rise the same.
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Increase the oven temperature to 500°F (260°C). Now that everything is prepared, you can transfer the pot roast and veggies (leaving the juices in the Dutch oven) to a wider, oven-safe serving dish and top with the biscuits. Brush the biscuit tops with the remaining tablespoon (15 ml) of buttermilk. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until biscuit tops are browned and they look cooked through.
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While the biscuits cook, put the Dutch oven with the remaining juice back on the stove over medium-high heat. In a small bowl, mix your cornstarch and water together to form a slurry, then add that to the juices. Cook down until it’s reduced and thicker.
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Once the biscuits have risen nicely and are browned, remove the entire dish from the oven. When you have served out the pot roast individually, drizzle the gravy you made from the juices over the top.
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