Red Wine and Garlic Crock Pot Roast
This is a slightly more involved pot roast recipe than just throwing everything into the crock pot and walking away, but the resulting roast is a step above the usual. Alright, you could just throw everything in the pot and walk away, but this is better. Searing the meat before adding it to the crock ensures a tender roast and better flavor throughout and the wine and garlic in the sauce make this one fancy enough for a Sunday dinner but easy enough for a weeknight treat.
For those who don’t have red wine on hand for whatever reason you can substitute three tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and a little extra water, or substitute sherry or whatever wine you have on hand. Whites and rose work fine, as does a glug or two of whiskey instead. I’ve even used a cup of good beer in a pinch.
Serve this over boiled, roasted or mashed potatoes, rice or egg noodles or alongside steamed or roasted vegetables. The sauce is wipe-the-plate worthy, so garlic bread or rolls would probably go over well. I drain a can of sliced black olives and scatter them over the roast before serving if I’m feeling particularly fancy as it looks nice and tastes good with the tomato sauce.
Red Wine and Garlic Crock Pot Roast
Ingredients:
2 15 oz or 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 medium onions cut into chunks
4-6 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 Tablespoon molasses (optional)
1 cup red wine (dry preferred but not necessary)
1 teaspoon majoram or thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground rosemary
3-4 pound pot roast of choice (chuck, round, whatever’s on sale that week. I’m not picky)
Salt and pepper
olive oil
Directions:
Combine diced tomatoes, beef broth or bouillon cubes, onions, garlic, herbs and molasses in crock. Set aside. Trim your roast of any surface fat. Salt and pepper all sides of roast. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and sear roast on all sides making sure to sear short edges if using a flat cut of meat. You want to make sure all sides are seared as this seals the moisture into the meat. Remove roast from pan and set in crock on top of tomato mixture. Deglaze pan with red wine and heat for a few minutes to burn off some of the alcohol. Add wine to crock and stir a little to incorporate. Stir and flip roast if needed to coat and distribute liquids. Cover and set crock on low for 8 hours or overnight, until beef is fork tender. Remove roast to serving dish. Pour sauce into a saucepan and reduce over medium heat to thicken and adjust seasoning to taste. Pour sauce over roast and serve.
Notes:
-If you don’t have a crock or want to do this in less than 8 hours you can make it in a heavy dutch oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sear the meat on the stove in the dutch oven. Remove roast and set aside. Reduce heat and brown the onions in the pot, then add the rest of the ingredients, making sure you break up the bouillon cubes. Add the beef back to the pot, cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Add vegetables if using, cover and cook for another 30 minutes or until beef is tender and vegetables are cooked. Remove roast from pot and reduce sauce on stove.
-If for some reason you can’t use the stove with your dutch oven (i.e., glass cooktop plus 16 pound cast iron pot = cracked and nonfunctional cooktop) sear the meat in a regular pan while the dutch oven heats up in the oven during preheat. Carefully remove the hot pot from the oven and add the roast and sauce and bake as usual. To reduce the sauce turn the heat in the oven up to 400 degrees and return the pot to the oven uncovered for 10 or 15 minutes or while you make the rest of your dinner. It won’t burn or stick and will free up the rest of your burners if you need them for other dishes.
-You can halve this recipe for smaller crocks easily, and it comes out fine. The quantities I give are what I use in a 4 quart crock, but you can scale up or down as needed with this one.
