Slow Cooked Roast Beef
Slow Cooked Roast Beef is adapted from one of our favorite cookbooks, FIX-IT and FORGET-IT LIGHTLY
The beauty of crock pot roast beef, of course, is that you can take a less expensive and slightly tougher cut of meat and end up with a tender, juicy, delicious meal!
So here it is, our version of Slow Cooked Roast Beef
What makes this recipe interesting? It's the addition of a surprise ingredient - coffee! And believe us... this is a crowd pleaser!
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 lb. round (or similar) boneless roast, cut in half
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 - 3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1/4 cup (approx.) of dry white wine (optional)
- 2 large or 3 medium garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 4 carrots, sliced< li>3 cups freshly brewed coffee
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 - 2 tbsp. whole wheat flour
Allow 8 to 10 hours on low.
We recommend (and use) organic pasture fed beef, organic onions, carrots, and garlic, and fair trade organic coffee.
Heat skillet then add olive oil in preparation for searing the roast. Note the meticulous measuring of the oil!
Then cut your roast in half (I think this is optional... I did it because the recipe in the book said to. You decide and let us know how it worked!)
When the oil is nice and hot... just before it starts to smoke, if you can time it that closely... sear the meat on all sides to seal in juices.
Put the seared meat into your crock pot/slow cooker.
Add 3 cups of freshly brewed coffee. If you're at all fanatical like us you will have made coffee in a French press from beans you roasted yourself... but that's certainly not necessary!
Slice and roughly chop the onion.
Sauté onions in the skillet just vacated by the beef (add more olive oil if necessary).
While onion is sizzling, finely chop the garlic. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes as per suggestion in The World's Healthiest Foods
(NOTE: I would normally sauté the onion and mushrooms together, but I used the mushrooms the night before so needed to get more. So they are done separately in this version, but by all means cook them together!)
When the onions are done and are a nice golden to dark brown, with maybe a hint of burn here and there, add the garlic for only a few moments. Garlic cooks very fast and will start to burn if you're not attentive.
A quick and constant stir will give the garlic a nice even toasty flavor.
Add this to the crock pot.
Add spices.
Wash and slice mushrooms. We like brown mushrooms for this, but use your favorite!
As with onions, you want to make sure your mushrooms get to be a deep golden brown. And if you plan better than I do, you will have been able to saute your mushrooms with your onion! After mushrooms are nice golden brown, add the wine, stirring constantly.
Be prepared for lots of steam. Keep stirring while the wine evaporates. Add the mushrooms to the roast.
That's pretty much it for now. Let the slow-cooker do its thing! You might occasionally turn the roast to ensure even cooking.
Now, forgive me but when this meal was cooked, there were too many hungry mouths waiting so no shots were taken of the next simple step.
After 8 to 10 hours, when the roast is very tender, remove the roast from the slow cooker to carving board and cover with foil to keep it warm.
Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the onion, carrots, and mushrooms. Put these into a serving dish and cover to keep warm.
Pour the remaining liquid into a saucepan and put on medium heat. Add whole wheat flour while stirring with a whisk. This will thicken quite quickly. Put this into a gravy boat and you're ready to eat.
Slice the beef. I find pot roasts generally have to be sliced quite thick or the meat simply falls apart!
We served the slow cooker roast beef with steamed broccoli and sliced, baked potatoes.
