It's starting to feel like fall, with daytime temperatures rising into the 80s and nighttime temperatures dropping into the 40s. The change in seasons strikes me like a good time to think about pot roast. I've written before about Fannie Farmer pot roast, where the beef is simmered in tomato juice. That's a good recipe, but it's not the only way to roast a beef.

At our house, our alternate method for making pot roast is to simmer the beef in a bottle of red wine, Italian-style. It's a basic recipe (beef + wine), and there are more elaborate ways to make Italian pot roast (which Google stands ready to introduce you to), but the recipe below strikes a balance between a simple preparation and a large flavor. And it smells wonderful while it's cooking.

Last night I served this pot roast with oven-roasted potatoes, carrots, onions and an orange bell pepper (which someone at yesterday's farmers market was almost giving away). The roasted bell pepper was a fortuitous addition, which I'll repeat next time because the color looked good on the plate, and the moist texture complemented the other vegetables.

Ingredients
2½ pound beef chuck cross rib boneless roast ($2.99 per pound, on sale), or another cut of beef you can roast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil ($8.99 per 25.5 fluid ounces)
1 bottle (750 ml) medium- to full-bodied red wine (last night I used Cranelake Merlot; $4.99, on sale)
3-4 medium-large garlic clove, crushed
15 juniper berries, bruised with the side of a knife or with a mortar and pestle
2 fresh bay leaves ($2.79 per package)

Procedure
Rub the salt and pepper all over the roast. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven. When hot, add the roast and brown it on all sides. Add the garlic, juniper berries, bay leaves and wine, and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for 3½-4 hours, turning once or twice during the cooking.

When the roast is done, remove it from the Dutch oven and set it aside. Filter the juice through cheese cloth to remove the garlic, berries, leaves and fat. Spoon the juice over slices of roast and the vegetables.