Today's recipe is inspired by all the recipes I have seen over the years in various vintage community cookbooks that had names like "Easy Sunday Supper" or "Workday Quick Family Feast", etc. These were generally hearty meals that were relatively simple to make but very tasty and used a "cheat" of some kind or another such as canned soup.
Here we are going to make a slow cooker pot roast that is perfect for a lazy fall or winter day. It cooks in its gravy for 8 hours and will make your house or apartment feel extra warm and cozy with its wonderful aromas.
For this recipe you want to use a 3-5 lb. pot roast style beef roast such as a Sirloin Tip or Blade.
To begin, prior to starting cooking take out your roast and season it all over liberally with sea salt, black pepper and mustard powder. Let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature and then brown on all four sides in a large frying pan using olive oil. It will generally will take 60-90 seconds a side.
Place your browned beef roast in your slow cooker. Add approximately 1 lb. of chopped cremini mushrooms. Then add 2 large or 3 medium sized sliced shallots and 2 to 3 cloves of minced garlic.
Once you have done this pour in enough beef stock to just cover the roast completely. Then add one full packet of a beef roast gravy mix. Use whichever one is your favourite but I used McCormick Gourmet Roast Gravy mix. Finally add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.
Set the slow cooker to low and cook for 8 hours. It will come out fall apart moist when you start to carve.
Let sit on a platter for ten minutes before carving. Once carved top with lots of the gravy liquid as well as the onions and mushrooms. It pairs very nicely with all the traditional beef roast sides like mashed potatoes.
One option is, instead of doing traditional slices, to shred some or all of the roast with two forks and serve it by putting it all back in the gravy in the slow cooker for serving. You can even do this as a sandwich on kaisers or rolls.
Either way, a lazy day treat.
Enjoy.
(Recipe first posted on The Left Chapter blog in October 2019).
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