Roast Beef Cabernet - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 -4 lbs english roast
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can Campbell's French onion soup
1 tablespoon beef base
1 cup hot water
1 cup cabernet sauvignon wine
2 tablespoons kitchen bouquet browning sauce
2 lbs fresh button mushrooms, optional but very tasty

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Slice onion into thick slices and place in bottom of roasting pan, dutch oven or deep baking dish.
Season meat lightly with salt and generously with black pepper. Place olive oil in a large skillet and heat over medium high heat for 25 -30 seconds. Carefully place roast into skillet and sear for 3 minutes on each side. Remove roast from skillet and place on bed of sliced onions. Pour can of french onion soup into the hot skillet and stir with spatula to remove all the browned bits from bottom of skillet. Remove from heat and pour over roast. Stir beef base into hot water until it melts into the liquid. Pour over roast. Pour the Cabernet Sauvignon over the roast. Add kitchen bouquet to pot then sprinkle thyme, shallots and garlic evenly over roast.
Cover and place in preheated oven. Bake for 2 hours. Carefully turn roast over and add the mushrooms to the pan. Cover and return to oven. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue cooking for 1 more hour or until tender. Adjust cooking time for smaller or larger cuts of meat.
To make a fantastic gravy pour broth and drippings into a sauce pot. Add 1/2 cup water and heat over medium high heat. Mix 1/4 cup cornstarch with enough cold water to make it pourable. Stir into heated broth and whisk constantly until thickened. Serve hot over roast beef and mashed potatoes.
* NOTE I use Better than Bouillon brand beef base. You can find it in the same row as the canned soups and bouillon cubes. It is in a small glass jar.