[JJNJustin]

Rump roast is very dry and extremely lean. It is almost like eating sawdust. I dont care for it. Chuck roast or chuck brisket is better, but very fibrous and marbled with some thick pieces of fat. I would suggest chuck roast.

Buy a bag or two of small baby pearl onions (christopher michael brand is good) and a small bag of baby carrots. Buy some fresh whole button mushrooms or baby portabella, some celery, some large carrots, a vidalia onion, and some small redskin potatoes. Buy a small bunch of fresh rosemary and another one of thyme, a few fresh or dried bay leafs, a carton of beef broth, a can of chopped tomatoes, and a bottle of port wine, a bunch of flat leaf parsley, and a bulb of garlic.

Take 1-2 large carrots, 1-2 celery sticks, and the 1 large onions and use a knife to dice them and place together in a bowl. Dice or thinly slice 4-8 garlic cloves and put them in the same bowl. Add half of the thyme (5-10 sprigs)and half of the rosemary to the bowl and set aside.

Take an oven roasting pan and place half of the remaining rosemary and thyme sprigs on the bottom. Put the baby carrots, baby onions (skinned), whole mushrooms, redskin potatoes (halved if too large), and some 1-inch pieces of celery (opt) on the bottom. Place the remaining sprigs of rosemary and thyme over the vegetables.

Make a few deep cuts (1-4) in the pot roast with a knife and insert a few whole cloves of garlic inside of it. Ronco's flavor injector works well for this. You can also put a few whole black peppercorns or whole cloves with the garlic, but only a few (1-2) because this flavor will come out very strong. Season the outside of the potroast with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Alton says used cumin seed, and you can if you like cumin.

Get a saute pan or large deep heavy steel pot and heat 1/4 of extra virgin olive oil in the bottom over high heat. Turn your fan on. When the oil is very hot drop your pot roast in and cook for about 3-5 minutes on each major surface or until slightly brown. Adjust heat to keep from burning, but do not worry about cooked bits of stuff on the bottom of the pan. Use tongs to flip the pot roast around. When seared on all sides, take out and place on a plate with paper towels. Turn the heat down to keep the oil from burning.

To the hot oil, add a 1/2-1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns and 1-4 bay leafs let fry for 10-30 seconds, then add the diced onion, celery, carrot, garlic, rosemery and thyme to the oil and cook over medium high heat for 5-10 minutes. When onion is just starting to brown, turn the heat up to high and add 1 cup of port wine. Let come to a boil (3 min) and add 1-2 cups of beef broth. Add can of chopped tomatoes, stir, and ad the diced parsley.

Let come to a boil and simmer, return the meat, and let simmer for 1-2 hours, depending on the size and cut of meat. Take the meat out and place it in the roasting pan on top of the vegetables, and pour the sauce evenly over the entire roasting pan. Cover, and cook in the oven at 375 for 30 minutes-1 hr, or until the vegetables are done but not over mushy.

Take the pan out of the oven and let rest 5-10 minutes before serving.

-J