There are lots of ways to tweak this dish: notably, if you have access to fresh herbs, use them–it makes for a much brighter and livelier dish! Also: if you are busy and pressed for time, look for pre-cut veggies to use with this recipe. I have purchased a mix of carrots, parsnip and sweet potato dice that I can simply dump into a pot when I am short of time. You can also add red wine, if you like that fruity undertone and piquancy.
One nice feature about this dish: you can make it inexpensively, as pot roast is best done with inexpensive cuts of meat–beef chuck, chicken thighs, or pork butt.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 8 hours (crock pot on low)
Cooking Instructions:
- Ingredients:
- 2-3lb chuck roast, skinless chicken breast or pork butt
- 1 bag carrots, 2 bags parsnips, 1 lg yellow onion, 6 cloves garlic (crushed), 2-3 stalks celery (all veggies cut to quarter inch slices)
- Seasoning elements:
- 2-4 bay leaves (to your taste; make sure to remove before plating)
- Salt & pepper to taste; make sure to adjust seasoning before serving
- 1-2 tsp each: thyme, smoked paprika, rosemary, oregano, cumin
- 2-3 cups stock; use beef if cooking beef, or pork. If cooking chicken, use chicken stock. Add an additional TBSP of stock concentrate–I recommend using vegetable concentrate for all meats, it adds a more subtle taste profile
- If you can–and this is highly recommended–flour and briefly sear meat in a fry pan–before adding to stock pot. It’s not a must-do, but it adds flavor.
- Drop veggies, meat and stock into crock pot–in that order–and set to low. This should take 8-9 hours; test if it is fork-tender when you get home from work/activities.
- If you want to make some extra-tasty gravy: remove the meat and veggies, create a slurry of cornstarch and stock to a consistency of thick soup, cook down for 10 minutes, then add the meat/veggies back into the pot.
- This makes for great leftovers–so even if you are a singleton, it’s a great recipe to make and have on hand for lunches!