Slow-cooker Beef Roast

Have you ever come home from a long day at work tired, hungry and don't really feel like making anything? Yeah, that happens around our house...a lot. One weapon we rely on is our slow cooker. It's a magic time machine - you put stuff in it [usually frozen] before work and by the time you get home - POOF! Dinner! Good eats without a wholelotta work...I'm all over that like fur on a weasle...

This is crazy simple - takes about 5 - 10 minutes of prep work before you leave for work. Simple is what I need in the morning 'cos I'm usually half asleep when I'm putting this together.

Ingredients:

Sliced large onion or 2 med. onions
Hand full of carrots
Stalk or two of celery
Chopped tomato (I've used tomato paste in the past, but we had fresh tomatoes to use)
Penzey's Granulated Garlic
Penzey's Granulated Onion
Penzey's Herbs de Provence
Salt & Pepper
1/2 - 3/4 cup of water or gluten-free beef broth or red wine.
2 - 2 1/4 lb Chuck Roast
1 tablespoon of Sweet Rice Flour to thicken gravy


Directions:

Place veggies on the bottom of the slow cooker. This gives the meat a bed of flavor to rest on.

Season both sides of the frozen meat with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, granulated onion, Herbs de Provence. Use whatever herbs/seasoning you like - be creative!

Place frozen meat on top of veggies.

Add liquid.

Set slow-cooker to stun (low). For us, the cooking process is about 9 hours by the time someone gets home.

Walk out the door and return 8 - 9 hours later to some really great smells!

When I get home, I strain the veggies from the liquid. After 9 hours, they've given their little veggies lives to flavor the meat and the liquid for the gravy.

In a sauce pan heat up the liquid. Make slurry with the gluten-free flour and some water. Whisk the slurry into the pan. Allow to come to a boil and thicken. If it's not thick enough, make and whisk in a bit more slurry. Turn down the heat to a simmer. Season gravy to taste.


Homage to the Herbage

If you've ever wondered what type of herbs to use, my Facebook friend Jimmy Boswell [aka the Gluten-Free Chef] from New Zealand created this very handy chart. He suggest which herbs to use for selected meats or veggies.

http://www.foodie.co.nz/Blogs/Jimmy-Boswell---Gluten-Free-Chef/Herb-Usage-Look-up-Chart.aspx

A great tip from Jimmy -

The general rule for using dried is use ¼ dried herbs for what’s suggested for fresh amounts in a recipe. You can reverse this if dried is suggested and you have fresh.

I took the liberty of putting Jimmy's text chart into a table...

Jimmy Boswell's Herb Chart for Proteins

Protein	Herbs
Beef	Basil, Bay leaf, Caraway, Chervil, Lovage seed, Cumin, Garlic Fenugreek, Ginger, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme and Peppermint.
Chicken	Thyme, Anise, Basil, Bay leaf, Borage, Chervil, Chives, Cinnamon, Cumin, Dill, Fenugreek, Fennel, Garlic, Ginger, Lovage, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mint Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Saffron, Sage, Savory and Tarragon.
Duck	Bay, Rosemary, Sage, Sweet Marjoram and Tarragon.
Fish	Anise, Basil, Borage, Caraway, Chevil, Chives, Dill, Fennel, Garlic, Ginger, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Saffron, Sage, Savory, Tarragon and Thyme.
Fish - Baked or Grilled	Basil, Bay, Caraway, Chervil, Chives, Dill, Fennel, Lemon Balm, Lemon Thyme, Lovage, Marjoram, Mints, Parsley, Savory, Tarragon and Thyme.
Fish - Oily	Fennel and Dill.
Fish Soups	Bay, Lovage, Sage, Savory, Tarragon and Thyme.
Goose	Fennel, Sage and Sweet Marjoram.
Ham	Lovage, Marjoram, Mint, Mustard, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary and Savory.
Lamb	Basil, Bay leaf, Cinnamon, Coriander, Cumin, Chervil, Dill, Garlic, Ginger, Lemon Balm, Lovage seed, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley, Saffron, Rosemary, Sage, Tarragon, Thyme and Savory.
Liver	Basil, Dill, Marjoram, Sage, Savory and Thyme.
Pork	Anise, Caraway, Cardamom, Coriander, Chervil, Dill, Garlic, Ginger, Oregano, Rosemary, Saffron, Sage, Tarragon, Fennel, Lovage seed, Marjoram, Savory and Thyme.
Rabbit	Basil, Bay, Marjoram, Lovage seed, Rosemary and Sage.
Salmon	Dill seed and Rosemary.
Seafood	Basil, Bay, Chervil, Chives, Dill, Fennel Seed, Marjoram, Rosemary, Tarragon and Thyme.
Turkey	Basil, Garlic, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Saffron, Sage, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme, Parsley and Sweet Marjoram.
Veal	Basil, Bay leaf, Chervil, Chives, Ginger, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Savory and Thyme.
Venison	Bay, Lovage seed, Rosemary, Sage, Savory and Sweet Marjoram.




Jimmy Boswell's Herb Chart for Veggies

Veggie	Herbs
Artichokes	Bay, Savory and Tarragon.
Asparagus	Chives, Lemon Balm, Sage, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme, Chervil, Dill and Tarragon.
Avocado	Dill, Marjoram and Tarragon.
Beans Dried	Savory, Cumin, Garlic, Mint, Oregano, Parsley, Sage, and Thyme.
Beans, Green	Savory, Basil, Caraway, Cloves, Dill, Marjoram, Mint, Sage and Thyme.
Broccoli	Basil, Dill, Garlic, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Oregano, Tarragon and Thyme.
Brussel Sprouts	Dill, Sage and Savory.
Cabbage	Basil, Caraway, Cayenne, Cumin, Dill, Fennel, Marjoram, Sage, Savory, Borage, Dill seed, Mint, Oregano and Savory.
Carrots	Anise, Basil, Chervil, Chives, Cinnamon, Clove, Cumin, Dill, Sage, Ginger, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme and Chervil.
Cauliflower	Basil, Caraway, Chives, Cumin, Dill, Garlic, Marjoram, Parsley, Rosemary, Savory, Tarragon and Fennel.
Corn	Chevil, Chives, Lemon Balm, Saffron, Sage and, Thyme.
Eggplant	Basil, Cinnamon, Dill, Garlic, Marjoram, Mint, Oregano, Parsley, Sage, Savory and Thyme.
Lentils	Garlic, Mint , Parsley, Savory and Sorrel.
Mushrooms	Coriander, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Tarragon, Thyme, Basil, Dill, Lemon Balm, Parsley, Rosemary and Savory.
Onions	Basil, Marjoram, Oregano, Sage, Tarragon and Thyme.
Parsnips	Basil, Dill, Marjoram, Parsley, Savory and Thyme.
Peas	Caraway, Chevil, Chives, Rosemary, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme, Basil, Chervil, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley and Sage.
Potatoes	Parsley, Basil, Caraway, Chives, Coriander, Dill, Fennel, Lovage, Sage, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Tarragon and Thyme.
Spinach	Anise, Basil, Caraway, Chevil, Chives, Cinnamon, Dill, Rosemary, Thyme, Borage, Marjoram, Mint, Sage, Sorrel and Tarragon.
Squash	Basil, Caraway, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Savory and Dill.
Tomatoes	Basil, Bay leaf, Chives, Chervil, Coriander, Dill, Garlic, Lovage, Sage, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Savory, Tarragon and Thyme.
Turnips	Dill seed, Marjoram and Savory.
Zucchini	Basil, Dill, Marjoram, Rosemary and Tarragon.



Until the next good eats...

Al

Tags: Onion, Carrot, Celery, Tomato, Penzey's Granulated Garlic, Penzey's Granulated Onion, Salt, Pepper, Water, Gluten-Free Beef Stock, Red Wine, Chuck Roast, Sweet Rice Flour, Penzey's Herbs de Provence, Herb Chart, Slow cooker

Ingredients:

2 pounds beef
3 - 4 Tb Sweet Rice Flour
2 Tb chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp thyme
salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups cubed onions
1 1/2 cups of cubed celery
3 cups cubed and peeled potatoes
3 cups sliced carrots
28 ounces beef GF broth [Kitchen Basics, Imagine, etc]
or (Herb-Ox w/ 28 oz of water could be used instead of beef broth)

Option - replace 6 oz of stock with 6 oz of red wine.


Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Trim fat from beef and cut into 1.5 inch cubes. We get stew meat that's already cubed at our meat market.

Put flour, salt & pepper into plastic bag. Drop in a handful of meat, close bag and shake to coat. Remove coated pieces and set aside. Repeat this until all pieces are coated. You may need to add more flour as you go. Just be mindful as to how many pieces you have left and how much flour is in the bag - you don't want to have a lot to throw out when done.

Discard excess flour.

Combine parsley, pepper & thyme and set aside.

Put half of beef on the bottom of a Dutch oven or a big pan with a lid. Top with half the onions, half the potatoes, half the carrots. Sprinkle with half the parsley mixture. Repeat layering (starting again with the beef and ending with parsley). Pour in broth [or broth/wine mixture]. Cover and bake for 2 hours.


Al & Peg Notes:

This recipe as it's shown is fine, however, it could use a bit of jazzing up. We are making this for dinner tomorrow afternoon. We are planning on replacing 6 oz of beef broth with red wine. 6 oz equals a mini bottle of wine that you get in a 4 pack.

Edit 2/5/07 - We really like the addition of the red wine. However, it turns the sauce [and the potatoes] a slight shade of purple. It tastes good, but color is not right.

We also added a several shakes of McCormick's Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning.

We did have to add a little extra salt after tasting it.

Tags: Beef Stew Meat, Sweet Rice Flour, Fresh Parsley, Thyme, Onion, Celery, Potato, Carrot, Gluten-Free Beef Stock

Ingredients:

1 medium onion - chopped
2 celery ribs - chopped
2 medium carrots - grated
1/2 cup of butter or margarine
2 tablespoons of sweet rice flour
4 cups of milk
1 can Progresso Cream of Mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups of cubed cheddar cheese
6 large potatoes, peeled, diced, and cooked (about 8 cups)
1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned salt


Directions:

In a Dutch oven, sauté onion, celery and carrot in butter until tender. Stir in GF flour until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add soup, cheese, potatoes & Lawry's; mix well. Cook and stir until cheese is melted and soup is heated through. Yield: 10-12 servings (3 quarts).


If you can do lots of dairy - this is a good one. We have not tried subbing out the dairy.

Tags: Onion, Celery, Carrot, Butter, Sweet Rice Flour, Milk, GF Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cheese, Potato, Lawry's Seasoned Salt