Recipe - Sunday Pot Roast

Fall is in the air and it's time to pull out those hearty recipes that seem to fall by the wayside during the warmer months.  Nothing is more comforting than coming home from church to the smell of meat, potatoes, and vegetables simmering happily away in the slow cooker.  My Sunday Pot Roast is so simple that even the most faithful Sabbath-keeping person will approve!  I used my garden potatoes, but any kind will do.  I think carrots and onions are a must, but you can also add extra veggies such as celery, as well as any kind of seasonings you like.  I tend to stick to the basics of salt, pepper, and beef-based seasoning packets, as explained below.  Using these short cuts, the gravy almost makes itself, and some nice hot rolls or cornbread with honey butter complete this family-pleasing meal.

Maceys is offering Boneless Beef Sirloin Tip Roast this week for $3.99/lb.  Smith's has the same price for their Boneless Rump or Chuck Roast.  That's a far cry from the price of beef a few short years ago, but it seems to be our new reality.  This would be the perfect cut of meat for this week's recipe, but most any lean, boneless beef roast will be tender and delicious after spending a day hanging out with veggies in your Crock Pot. I used rump roast last Sunday and after 8 hours it was just perfect.  See easy instructions below.

Sunday Pot Roast 

The ingredients you need to make this dinner are:

-A lean, boneless beef roast, any size you wish.  My roast was 4 lbs and served 8 to 10 people.  It took about 8 hours to cook in all, so if you wanted to eat at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, for example, you should get it going soon after 8 a.m.  You could get by on a shorter cook time with a smaller roast or cooked for a longer period of time on high before turning it down to low.

-Potatoes, carrots, and onions, cut into chunks.  If you get the vegetables ready ahead of time, keep them in cold water until ready to add to the roast to prevent browning.

-An Au Jus Gravy Packet (Two packets if your roast is 3 to 4 lbs and/or you want to make extra gravy at the end), and a Lipton "Recipe Secrets" Onion Soup mix packet.

-Salt and Pepper

That's all you need!  Now for a Slow Cooker.  The size will depend on how big a roast you are planning to make.  For a 4 lb roast or more, you will want a large crock pot, but if you are doing a small roast for just 2 or 3 people, you can also do it in your small one.  The one I am showing is from the early 70's (it was my mom's) and they don't make these anymore.  It is actually a removeable crock that sits inside an electric fry pan.  I like using it because there is a large, flat area for the roast to sit surrounded by veggies, and I can pile a lot on top as well because of the domed lid.  My family used this so much when I was growing up that when it looked like the crock might be about to crack, my Dad wrote the company to see if they had a replacement crock, which they did, even though it had been out of production for years by then.  He couldn't bear the thought of no more slow cooked pot roast and veggies!  Of course in the years since then, large, oval shaped pots have come out that are just as effective for this process, but I still like using my flat, square pot.

1.  Turn the slow cooker to high and sprinkle half a package of the Au Jus mix over the bottom of the pot. 

2.  Rinse the roast and season well on all sides with salt and pepper.  Lay it in the pot over the seasoning mix. Add onion pieces, arranging them on top of the roast and around the sides.  Salt and pepper the onions and sprinkle on the rest of the packet of Au Jus. 

3.  Close the lid and cook on HIGH for an hour.  Then turn heat to LOW and cook another 2 hours.  After this time, add the carrots and potatoes, salt and pepper generously,  and sprinkle with the onion soup mix.  

4.  Close the lid and continue to cook about another 4 to 5 hours on LOW.

5.  At some point toward the end of the cooking time, poke a toothpick into the carrots and potatoes to see that they are getting tender and to judge how much longer to cook.  If they are getting plenty soft and you aren't ready to eat yet, just turn it to the "keep warm" feature on your crock pot or keep on low for up to an hour longer if you need to.

6.  When you are about ready to eat, very carefully, using pot holders, drain all juices from the bottom of the crock into a medium saucepan, holding back the meat and veggies with the lid.  Get a good tight grip on the crock and lid at the same time so everything doesn't come crashing down! (I speak from experience).  Then replace the lid on the pot and keep the meat and vegetables warm while you make the gravy with the pan juices. 

7.  Whisk up a thickener of flour and warm water for the gravy.  I never think about the proportions, because you can always add more flour or thin it out with more water, or make more altogether if you need to.  You want the consistency to be about like heavy cream, and it will take about a half cup of flour I think.  Strain out any lumps.  If you want extra gravy, whisk a half cup of water or so into a second packet of Au Jus mix and add this to the broth to extend it.  Bring it to a hard boil on the stove, then whisk in the prepared thickener until it comes to the desired thickness.  Remove from heat as soon as it reaches this point--don't continue to let it boil on and on or it will thin out again. Just make sure it simmers a minute or two to cook the flour.

8.  The gravy can either be passed at the table, poured directly over the dinner in the pot, or both.

9.  You can either slice the meat in the pot, remove it for slicing, or just pull it into chunks with two forks.  I kind of like to just leave it all in the pot for ease of clean up, if it's just us.

10.  If you have leftovers, you can dice everything up, add the extra gravy, and serve as stew another night.

Enjoy your Sunday Dinner!