When it’s snowing out, and chilly, we all need our comfort food! For Lisa’s family, potroast is one of those go-to comfort staples of Sunday Dinner. And, for Lisa, ever since her children were little, it’s an easy recipe: place everything in a crockpot, forget about it, and 6-8 hours later, it’s perfection! To make this recipe a little more grown-up, Lisa adds Barolo, one of her favorite wines from the Piemonte region. She first discovered it in the early 1990s, when she moved to Piemonte for work. When she first arrived, Lisa’s mother called her to ask how she was settling in. “Well”, Lisa said, “there’s no red sauce here- it’s a post war city- I don’t feel like I’m in Italy!” Barolo, along with polenta, was one of the signature culinary ingredients Lisa discovered while in the region, and, she never looked back! If you don’t want the classic, southern ragù on a Sunday made by Lisa’s Grandma Caponigri but need your fix of meat, try this recipe- it transports you to Piemonte!

You can watch Lisa make this Italian Potroast with Barolo on the Lisa’s Italian Kitchen YouTube channel here.

Buon Appetito e Tutti a Tavola!

Lisa’s Italian Pot Roast with Barolo Ingredients:

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Boneless, rolled rib of beef or beef round or chuck roast (2 1/4 pounds)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4 shallots, sliced

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

1 large carrot, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon chopped, fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon chopped, fresh oregano

2 whole cloves

1 bottle (750 ml) Barolo wine

Beef stock or reduced-sodium canned broth if needed

Freshly grated nutmeg

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Lisa’s Italian Pot Roast with Barolo Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or other large heavy pot over high heat until hot but not smoking and brown the meat on all sides. Remove the meat from the pot.

Add the garlic, shallots, celery, carrot, herbs, and cloves to the pot and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until the onion is transparent. Set the meat on top of the vegetables. Pour in the wine, cover, and gently simmer over low heat until the beef is tender, about 2 hours.

Transfer the beef to a serving platter. Using a hand blender or transferring the contents of the pot to a blender, purée the vegetables, adding a little hot beef stock if needed to get the consistency you want. Season to taste with nutmeg, sea salt, and pepper.

Cut the beef into slices and serve with the sauce.