Fall is officially here and comfort foods are on the menu. Nice hot comforting meals are so nice on a cold day. Even better is comfort foods cooked in the crock pot or slow cooker. I love my slow cooker for two reasons. I can throw meat and veggies and everything in there together for one easy meal. Only one pot to clean so not only is dinner easy, but clean up is too. Secondly, I can throw it all in there in the afternoon and then come dinner time I can be busy doing something else knowing dinner is ready whenever we are. We recently picked fresh vegetables at a local farm and I had a lot of extra organic veggies to use so I thought this pot roast dinner from Canada Beef was a perfect fit. We used carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and onions but you can throw in whatever vegetables you have on hand.
| 3 | cloves garlic |
| 4 lb (1.81 kg) | Beef Pot Roast (e.g. Cross Rib, Blade, Top Blade) |
| 1 tbsp (15 mL) | EACH ground cumin, minced fresh rosemary and thyme |
| 2 tbsp (30 mL) | extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 tsp (5 mL) | salt |
| ½ tsp (2 mL) | fresh cracked pepper |
| 1 cup (250 mL) | no sodium added beef broth |
| 2 cups (500 mL) | EACH sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks and mini red potatoes, halved |
| 2 cups (500 mL) | EACH carrots, peeled and cut into chunks and trimmed small Brussel sprouts |
| 2 cups (500 mL) | finely chopped onion |
| 1 cup (250 mL) | celery, diced into 1 inch (2.5 cm) chunks |
| 1 cup (250 mL) | parsnip, peeled and cut into chunks |
| 3 tbsp (45 mL) | corn starch |
- Cut 1 clove garlic into slivers and mince remaining 2 cloves. Cut small slits into pot roast all over; push garlic slivers into the slits. In small bowl, combine minced garlic with cumin, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and half of the oil. Massage the wet rub all over the roast, ensuring all sides are well coated.
- Add oil to a large frying pan; heat over medium-high. Add roast to pan and brown all over. Transfer roast to slow cooker and deglaze the pan using half the broth, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour over roast.
- Add remaining broth and vegetables. Cover and cook on LOW until fork tender, about 8 hours.
- Transfer roast and vegetables to large platter; cover with foil to keep warm. Pour cooking liquid to medium saucepan and heat over medium-high. Meanwhile, in small cup stir enough cold water into corn starch to make a thin paste; gradually stir into hot sauce and cook, stirring until thickened. Spoon over meat and veggies and serve.
- Cook’s Notes: To cook in oven instead of the slow-cooker, brown seasoned roast in Dutch oven or large heavy stock-pot instead of frying pan, deglazing the Dutch oven. Add veggies and broth; cook covered in 325F oven for 3 to 4 hours or until fork tender.