Guinness Pot Roast

Confession—growing up I hated pot roast.  My mom makes EXCELLENT pot roast, so I know it was not her cooking.  I’ve just never been too keen on things all cooked in one container (still fighting issues with food touching…).  Over the past couple of years, I have begun to LOVE pot roast.  Occasionally, I begin craving pot roast.  I had such a craving this past week.

I like making pot roast in my crockpot.  It’s low-maintenance and the results are usually tender & delicious.  This is currently my favorite prep method.  I love the depth of flavor this recipe has. I experimented with this a lot before settling on the ingredient list/amounts.  When making pot roast in the slow cooker, I will slow cook the meat with a few of the vegetables all day.  When I get home from work, I blend or mash the vegetables that are in the crockpot (super mushy by that point) to get a good gravy base to develop.  I then add the vegetables I will be serving, so that they still have texture when it comes to dinner time. 

If anything is not clear in this recipe, please let me know.  It’s 11pm when I’m typing this…and there are bound to be “huh?” moments (like the double bullet points--no clue what's going on, I'll check out the HTML tomorrow)…Also, please forgive the lack of “finished product” photos. I actually made this for dinner when my mother-in-law was visiting last weekend, and I totally forgot to take a “it’s done” photo. 

Guinness Pot Roast

Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 7-9 hours. Servings Vary

Ingredients

Ingredient Lineup.  Biggest Roast I've cooked...ever.

• 1 beef roast (cut of choice, enough meat to serve the # of people)
• ·         2-3 T. vegetable oil
• ·         2-4 T. flour
• ·         1 t. ground black pepper
• ·         1 bottle of Guinness (resist urge to drink)
• ·         1 package of Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix (or 2 cans of beef broth reduced in half by simmering on the stovetop)
• ·         2 cups pearl onions or 2 medium, wedged onions (add an extra cup of onion if not using soup mix)
• ·         2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
• ·         2 bay leaves
• ·         2-3 cloves minced fresh garlic (or dried equivalent)
• ·         Potatoes (based on # of people serving)
• ·         Baby Carrots (based on # of people serving)
• ·         [optional] 0.5 t. dried thyme
• ·         [optional] Salt, as needed
• ·         [optional] Corn starch slurry or potato buds to thicken gravy

Directions

1.  Heat oil in a large skillet.  Coat roast in flour & black pepper. Brown roast on all sides in the oil.  Remove roast from pan & place in the bottom of a large slow cooker.  Surround the roast with some of the vegetables.  I typically peel & cut up 1 potato.  I then add a handful of baby carrots, 1-2 cups of pearl onions, the garlic & the celery.  Sprinkle the onion soup mix over the vegetables & roast.  Pour the Guinness over the contents in the pan.  Add the bay leaves & thyme.  Cover & refrigerate overnight, or immediately begin cooking the roast.

Brown roast in pan

Layer in some veg.

Add some more veg & the powdered soup mix.

Pour in beer, add herbs & prep for deliciousness

2.  Cook roast in the slow cooker on low for 5-7 hours.

3. [Optional] Remove roast & bay leaves from the broth.  Transfer the broth & vegetables to a blender, or using an immersion blender, blend the vegetables & broth until smooth.

Roast after 5 hours.

Using one of my favorite kitchen weapons...

Roast back in the broth, ready to get a heaping mound of onions,
potatoes & carrots added to it...and finished off for a delicious dinner.
Imagine that there are more photos... :-/  

4. Return roast to the broth & add remaining vegetables.  Cook on low for an additional 1-2 hours.

5.  Remove roast & vegetables from the slow cooker.  Serve gravy, or use a corn starch slurry or potato buds to thicken gravy to desired consistency.