SLOW COOKER WEDNESDAY

Morning Everyone

If you did your homework last night you should have your crock pot on low and when you get home walk in to the smell of what a great job you have done. I just wanted to mention to you if you have a sous chef (that would be your partner in crime in the kitchen) you need to make sure you give her credit for helping you cut the vegetables , set the table and just helping out in general. Hope you enjoy this crock pot recipe as it is one of my favorites.

Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast in the Crockpot

3-4 pound boneless chuck roast(you can use a cheaper cut of meat cause you are slow cooking1-2 T steak rub

black pepper to taste

1-2 T olive oil (depends on your pan)

1/4 cup water to deglaze pan

2-3 large onions, peeled and thickly slice

1 cup beef stock, reduced to 1/2 cup (can use a can of beef broth, but be sure to reduce it)

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup tomato sauce (You can substitute one can diced tomatoes, drained well. you might puree the tomatoes if you like.)

Trim as much fat as you can from roast, and cut if necessary to fit into Crockpot. Rub meat well with steak seasoning and black pepper. Heat heavy pan with small amount of olive oil and brown roast well on both sides. This will take a few minutes; don't rush the browning step.
While roast browns put 1 cup beef stock in a saucepan, bring to a boil and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, then let cool slightly and mix in balsamic vinegar and tomato sauce. Peel onions and cut into thick slices. Deglaze( means getting the good stuff off the bottom of the pan that you browned the roast in) with 1/4 cup water and add to sauce mixture.

(You can stop at this point and refrigerate browned roast, cut onions and mixed sauce ingredients and then put them in the Crockpot when you go to work in the morning. Don't refrigerate them in the crockery liner cause it takes a while to get the crockery pot to warm up. Just refrigerate all the ingredients in a large bowl. Having the meat start out cold will add several hours to the cooking time, which will be good if you're cooking it all day while you're away.)

Place onions in bottom of Crockpot. Put meat on top of onions and pour beef stock mixture over. Set Crockpot to low and cook 6-8 hours, until beef is tender. The meat might be partly submerged in liquid after this much time. (If I am home, I might turn the meat once or twice.)
Remove meat from crockpot and cover with foil to keep warm. Drain liquid from Crockpot and remove as much of the fat as you can with fat separator or skim fat off of top . Then you cook down liquid by about 1/3, in a saucepan and serve sauce with meat and onions.

Note: You can put potatoes around the sides as well and when you take the roast out to sit covered in foil before you cut it you can remove the potatoes and sprinkle some seasoning salt on them and put them under the broiler to brown up. A frozen vegetable will also be quick and easy to do as well if you feel that you would like to have a vegetable.

Remember once you have finished your meal put the left over roast in a the fridge as we are going to slice it up on Thursday for Baron of Beef night....

Enjoy

Granny