The dish may not look appetizing but it was damn yummy. I am not a red meat, pot roast kind-of-gal and I chowed. Brad pulled the roast out of the freezer a couple of days ago and then decided to south for warmer weather. As I looked in the fridge last night for a snack, I saw the roast. Damn. I gotta cook that thing or out the window goes some good meat and money. Cooking all that food for one sucks but it all worked out in the end.I had to shop for most of the veggies this morning. Fine, I love market so off I went at 6 a.m. With veggies in tow and a sugar cookie (the shortbread kind/not cake-like sugar cookie)
stuffed in my mouth, I was off to throw everything in the crock.
Nine hours later after cooking on low, I had a fabulous meal.
Recipe from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook:
'Skye's Braised Pot Roast with Vegetables"
Cooker: medium oval or large round Serves "6 to 8" (or 3 cyclists)
Setting & cook time: low for 8 to 9 hours
As usual, I did not follow the recipe to a "T".
1 tsp salt, 14/ to 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp paprika (I used a handful of my homemade cajun seasoning)
3 to 3 1/2 lbs boneless chuck roast, trimmed of as much fat as possible and blotted dry
1 rib celery, coarsely chopped (I threw in 2 ribs)
1 large onion, cut into wedges
2 to 3 carrots, cut into 1 inch thick coins (whatever - I scrubbed and chopped into hunks)
2 to 3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch thick coins (market did not have parsnips, I bought a ruttabega-peeled and cut into wedges)
4 starchy potatoes, peeled or not (NOT-need the nutrients and lazy) cut into 8 pieces
1 cup of beef broth (I had a 14 oz can of chicken broth)
Put the veggies into the slow cooker with the potatoes as the top layer.
Combine salt, pepper & paprika. Rub all sides of the roast with the spice mix.
Place the meat on top of the potatoes. Pour the broth over the veggies and meat. I had an eggplant that needed to be cooked so I added that around the meat so it would not dissolve. If it did, the juices and veggies would still taste good. The eggplant did not dissolve but when I placed them in a bowl with the other veggies, juice and meat, they did disintegrate.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.
I chose this recipe because I did not have to "brown" the meat and I am usually at work for 8 hours so I did not have to worry about the meal drying out. Prep time is not that long, just cleaning veggies, maybe peel and for sure - a bit of chopping. I would say that you do NOT need to add extra liquid as I did by using the whole can (14 oz) of broth. I was lazy and did not want to put the extra broth in the fridge and I confess, I was worried the liquid would evaporate. There was more than enough juice from the meat and veggies that 1 cup of broth is sufficient.
