So, I’m interrupting fire and wine night for beer and pot.. crock pot that is. I’m going to rewind you to a few thoughts that had previously run through my head to lead us to this point….
Have you ever thought about having the Queen of Quirky to dinner? Well, I have… what do you feed the fancy foodie, mind you I’m not really a cook. I may be super mom (as the Queen calls me in this post), but I don’t cook. It’s just not my thing, it’s effort when I could be making an more enjoyable mess elsewhere .
Thought 2, guest blog for the Queen, what does one talk about. I mean really, Foodie AND a funny writer.. hum… fine I’ll play along… so… here we are beer and pot… yep, that’s it, no fire and wine night here, no fancy food, alright it’s kinda fancy but not the effort the Queen puts into her dishes!
Well back when I was going to serve the Queen dinner, I was having a discussion with my mom (you read about her here). What in the world do I cook for the Queen? “Oh you make great stuff in the crockpot” ”oh right, I do, don’t I?” so that led me to pull out my favorite “I look fancy” dish. So being the courteous hostess I am, I ask for food allergies (since at this point, I haven’t met the new hubby). Eh, no red meat? Um… ok… crap crap crap… fancy food dish down drain… Fine, I’ll go with the EXACT opposite of what the Queen would fix on a normal night and what my fancy cookin’ mom would do. So what do we have? Pulled Pork, Jell-O salad and bruschetta (the Queen insisted she bring hor’dourves).
While that was super tasty, I had to share my favorite fancy dish with all of you. Why, well I’m breaking Queen rules of course! If you didn’t know , the Queen doesn’t 1)eat red meat 2)use a crockpot. So peeps you’re in for a treat… not to mention my husband loved the fact that 2 times this month he got one of his favorite meals. Are you ready?? Have you been dying to know what this fancy meal is… well… drum roll please… Italian Pot Roast. I have 3 favorite Crockpot cook books… this comes from Food Made Fast: Slow Cooker.
Is your mouth watering yet?? Not only is this one heck of an awesome meal, but it only takes 30 min of prep work… move over Rachel Ray, supermom offers an alternative.
Italian Pot Roast
1/4 cup flour
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 lb boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and tied
1/4 c olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry red wine
1 – 28 oz can whole plum (Roma) tomatoes
1 TB dried oregano
2 tsp sugar
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup fresh basil (this is a bit fancy for our house, we leave it off… mainly cause we forget about it, because we’re so ready to eat by this time)
1. Brown the pot roast
On a large plate, stir together the flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Coat the beef evenly with the flour mixture, shaking off the excess; reserve the remaining flour mixture. In a large frying pan over high heat, warm the oil. Add the roast and brown it well on all sides, 12-15 minutes total. Transfer the roast to the slow cooker.
2. Deglaze the pan (I love how fancy this sounds)
Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon fat from the frying pan and return the pan to medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute for a few seconds until fragrant. Sprinkle with the reserved flour mixture and cook, stirring, about 1 minute longer. Pour in the red wine and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrap up the browned bits on the pan bottom. Pour over the roast.
3. Cook the pot roast (while you do other things… see perfect)
Using your hands, break up the tomatoes as you add them to the slow cooker. Add the oregano, sugar, and bay leaves. Cover and cook on the high-heat setting for 3-4 hours or the low-heat setting for 6-8 hours. The meat should be very tender when pierced with a fork. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Transfer the roast to a cutting board and remove the strings. Cover with aluminum foil and let for about 10 minutes. (At our house the recipe ends here, we’ve been smelling it for way to long and we have to throw it on the table and devour it like we haven’t eaten in 10 years.) Meanwhile, skim off and discard the excess fat from the surface of the sauce. Stir in the basil. Slice the roast across the grain and arrange the slices on a platter or individual plates. Spoon the sauce over the meat and serve.
I serve this with orzo pasta. After I cook the orzo, I add a bit of butter, Parmesan & Asiago cheese. Usually a green veggie, because mr. supermom won’t eat salad . Because this meal needs more carbs, a loaf (yes the whole loaf gets consumed) of Artisan bread. This is where the beer part comes in… a nice cold microbrew is fantastic with this dinner!
While no one was harmed in the making of this dish, the poor camera was dropped on it’s lens. That’s why the crappy finished photo 
About Anne
I’m a bit of a super mom, I design art in everything I do. It may come out as a bra, a diaper, a scrapbook page, or a web site, but each and every time, it’s something spectacular. You can find my ramblings here, here , here, or here.
