Easy Meals

Want to make a nice dinner, but short on time? That’s why the Goddess sent us crockpots! Plus, you can make a great meal without turning on the oven.

Doing most of the prep work a day ahead makes it even easier.

Crockpot Pot Roast

Ingredients:
2-3lb chuck or round roast
1/2-1 bag baby carrots
2 small onions, peeled and cut into quarters
1 can of diced tomatoes
4-6 small potatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 packets beef gravy mix
6 tsp. kosher or sea salt for roast prep [Don’t panic!]
2 c. water
Pepper to taste

The day before:
Cut onions into quarters, dice the tomatoes, finely chop the garlic. Place in (separate) ziplock bags and refrigerate till tomorrow.

Again, don’t panic, but use all the kosher/sea salt to cover the roast on all sides. Add to another ziplock bag and leave overnight. (I know. It sounds crazy, but it gives you incredible fork-tender meats and poultry. More on this below.)

The morning of:
In the crockpot, add gravy mix, 1 c. water, pepper, and garlic. Then add veggies, except onions and tomatoes. Set crockpot to “low.”

Remove the roast from its plastic prison, rinse well, and pat dry. Brown the roast on all sides. (Don’t forget the edges!). Stick in the crockpot, on top of the veggies. Tuck onion quarters around the roast. Add 1/2c. water. Cover and ignore until about 30 minutes before dinner time.

30 minutes before:
Add in the can of diced tomatoes. Cover and ignore again while you set the table, check email, yell at the kids or whatever it is you do after work.

20 minutes before:
Remove veggies. Plate the roast and let sit a few minutes before carving.

Dinnertime!

Servings: Feeds my family with a little less than half of the roast leftover – which is usually made into vegetable beef soup or hot beef sandwiches the next day. We’re carrot-lovin’ freaks, so we use the whole bag, but most people will only use half.

– – –

Okay, now you’re saying to yourself, “Salt as a tenderizer?! What?!” Yup. I read this at Steamy Kitchen and thought the same thing.

But hey – what won’t I try to tenderize those cheap cuts I’ve been buying? Plus SK’s post had cool hand-drawn pictures explaining the how and why.

Still, trying it is one thing; ruining an entire roast is a whole other. So, I cut a slice off a round roast I had and covered it with a teaspoon or two of kosher salt. I let it sit for about half an hour and then rinsed it, patted dry, and made a mini stir-fry with some leftover veggies. Oh. My. Gosh! Literally “melt in your mouth.”

It works for pork and poultry, and I suspect it will work great for venison as well.