Crock Pot Rosemary Roast

Crock pot roast is a staple in the rotation of meals in my kitchen. I've got beef in freezer and it's easy to throw it into the crockpot and go about my day. I almost always do it the same way; onion soup mix, rosemary, potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion. You can check out my crock pot pot roast recipe HERE.

A while back my youngest sister sent me this recipe that she found on cdkitchen.com, prefaced with this message: "Looks yummy. Tired of the same boring roast. You should try it!" I'm always up for a new recipe (as you can probably tell from looking at this blog), so I decided to give it a whirl.

I'm glad that I did. Although there is a lot going on with this recipe ingredient-wise, it didn't taste all that different from my go-to pot roast recipe. However, the gravy that this recipe produced was a little sweeter, spicier, and thicker than I get from my regular pot roast recipe. Definitely a bonus.

To begin this recipe, I heated some oil in a skillet. Then I rubbed the roast with a combination of rosemary, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. I popped the seasoned beef into the skillet and browned it for a couple of minutes on both sides.

You're not trying to cook the meat until "done" here, you're just going for this nice, seared, browned effect on both sides.

While the roast sears, add a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of diced tomatoes, a packet of onion soup mix, a packet of ranch seasoning, a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar, and a bay leaf to the crock pot.

Stir it all up. I admit, at this point I was skeptical about this slurry of flavors. Thank goodness that it turned out okay!

The recipe called for 2 cups of broth. I just added 1- 1 and 1/2 cups of water to thin the mixture.

Add the roast to the soup/seasoning/tomato mixture. Turn it to coat.

Then top it off with a combination a baby potatoes, onions, celery, and carrots. Put a lid on it and cook at the lowest setting for 8-10 hours or until the veggies are done and the roast is fall-apart tender. Note: I like to stir the contents of the crock pot once or twice during the cooking time so that every component has a chance to soak in the sauce and cooks more evenly. (Yes, I realize that this is a slow cooking faux paux and that I am supposed to leave the lid on to keep the heat from escaping, thus elongating cook time. This hands-on cook just can't resist the temptation!)

To prepare this roast for the table, I removed all of the meat from the crock pot and broke it into chunks while removing any remaining fat from the roast.

I was left with the veggies and gravy in the crock pot. Using a slotted spoon, I removed the veggies to a serving platter.

Then, I strained everything left in the crock pot into a pan for the gravy. Usually, after this step, I thicken the gravy with a little cornstarch and water. No need for that this time! This sauce was gravy-boat-ready and delicious after I strained out the "chunks".

I piled the roast over the veggies on the serving platter a placed the gravy next the plate on our table so that everyone could create their plate to taste.

This dinner was a hit! We all enjoyed a twist on my usual pot roast. Thanks to my sister, Angie for bringing this recipe to my attention.

Here's the recipe, which I adapted slightly from cdkitchen.com

Amazing Rosemary Roast
altered from CDKitchen http://www.cdkitchen.com
Serves/Makes: 4 | Difficulty Level: 3 | Ready In: > 5 hrs

Ingredients:
1 (3-4 lb size) beef roast (boneless shoulder, round bone shoulder, chuck roast, or small rump roast)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 packet onion soup mix
1 envelope ranch dip, dry mix
1 can whole tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons brown sugar (packed firm)
4 carrots
7 red baby potatoes
1 large onion, quartered
2 stalks celery
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cup water (depending on how much juice you like)
1 tablespoon rosemary
3/4 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon oregano
4 cloves garlic
oil (canola, vegetable or olive)

Directions:
Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Place roast in skillet with oil and sear (brown over high heat) on all sides. Marinate roast with rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, basil and oregano until beef is completely covered while it's in the skillet. Hold it up in the pan with a long handle cooking fork if necessary or with tongs. Remove roast from pan, leaving drippings, if any, in the pan. Place roast in slow cooker.

Add the vegetables (and canned tomatoes), broth, cream of mushroom soup, onion and ranch dip packets, brown sugar, bay leaf and water. Add salt and pepper. Add garlic cloves.

Cover and leave in crockpot for desired time of cooking. You can cook on high 3-4 hours, medium 6-8 or low 10+.

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