Italian Beef

This recipe is loosely based on The Sandwich King's Chicago Style Italian Beef. Zack is a huge fan of sandwiches, so this show quickly became one of his favorites. We were making this for a friend who cannot eat onion, so if you'd like to add onion, feel free.


Here's what you need:
3 1/2 lb chuck roast (our supermarket only had 2 1/2 lb, so we will have less meat in ours.)
Salt & Pepper\
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper
1 medium onion or 1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning blend
2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup dry red wine (we used a cabernet sauvignon)
3 cups beef stock


Here's what you do:
Slice up your red pepper and mince your garlic.

Heat a medium size stock pot over medium-high heat and add the olive oil to the pot.


Salt and pepper your chuck roast on one side, then flip and place in the pot once the oil is hot.

Sear on each side, about 4 minutes, to get a nice brown coloring on the roast.

Yum.


Once you've seared both sides, remove from the pan and set aside on a cutting board with a drip reservoir.


Drop the heat down to medium, and toss the peppers in the pot (and onions if you're using them).

Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the top and toss it around.

Let that cook for a few minutes to soften the peppers up. 


Once the peppers are soft (but not mushy), add the garlic,

the wine,

the beef stock,

the thyme and bay leaves,

and finally the roast. We also added in some pepperoncini's to spice it up a little.

Put that in a 350 degree oven for at least 3 1/2 hours. After about 1 hour 45 minutes, we flipped the roast over in the pot.

Now, prepare to have your house smell like yummy Italian beef all day. It may drive you mad.


Once your Italian Beef is finally finished cooking, remove the roast from the oven and place back on the cutting board with the drip reservoir. (Make sure you wash this before you place the cooked roast on, just in case some of the un-cooked juices from earlier dripped down).

Using 2 forks, break apart the roast, removing any large pieces of fat. 

Return that to the juice and keep warm either on low on the stove, or in your Crock Pot on the warm setting. We may have been too hungry to remember to snap a picture of the finished product. Oops.


Enjoy!