Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast

Hi everyone! Just a heads up, I'll be going out of town soon so there will not be any new recipes until I get back August 1st. I will try to blog about the food I'm experiencing in Park City while I'm gone, but if not, fear not! I will be back next week with new recipes and foods! Tonight I'm playing catch up by posting a meal I made a few days ago. This is another recipe that took a bit of prep, but I'd say it was more like 25 minutes of prep rather than 45.  You could probably brown the meat the night before and put it in the fridge over night.

As always, here is the original link: http://www.acooksquest.blogspot.com/2011/12/balsamic-and-onion-pot-roast.html

Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast

 Ingredients:

3-4 pound boneless chuck roast
Seasoning Salt

Garlic Powder
black pepper to taste
1-2 T olive oil (depends on your pan)
1/4 cup water to deglaze pan
2-3 large onions, peeled and thickly sliced
1 cup beef stock, reduced to 1/2 cup (can use a can of beef broth, but be sure to reduce it)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup tomato sauce


Chop the onions thickly and place in the bottom of the crockpot

Rub meat well with seasoning salt, onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper. I find it easiest to sprinkle all of my seasoning on the plate first and then set the meat on top so the bottom gets plenty of seasoning too!

All the seasonings on the plate just before I plop down the meat

Mmmmm Hunk of beef!

 Heat heavy pan with small amount of olive oil and brown roast well on both sides.  I did 7 minutes per side and it worked out well.

Nicely browned after 7 minutes in the oil!

While roast browns put 1 cup beef stock in saucepan, bring to a boil and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, then let cool slightly and mix in balsamic vinegar and tomato sauce.

MMMM Balsamic and tomato

I use Hunt's tomato products because if you look at the label they are one of the few tomato companies that do not add sugar or corn syrup to their canned tomato products

When the meat is brown on all sides, remove the meat and plop it in the crock pot and then deglaze pan with 1/4 cup water. Add the pan drippings to sauce mixture.

Pour beef stock mixture over the meat and the onions in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, until beef is tender. The meat might be partly submerged in liquid after this much time.

Remove meat from slow cooker and keep warm. 

 Drain liquid from Crockpot and remove as much of the fat as you can with fat separator or skimmer. Cook down liquid by about 1/3, and serve sauce with meat and onions.

LOVE my gravy separator! If you've been checking my blog regularly, you've already seen this photo :-)

Finally ready to eat with some roasted Red potatoes from Wegmans

 So I'd give this recipe a 7.5 out of 10 on flavor and I'd say it didn't require a whole lot of skill, you just have to pay attention to boiling liquids (twice) in this recipe so you reduce them properly.  It was an interesting savory, tart Pot Roast that was just as good the second day as the first. The reason I did not rate this higher on flavor was that I know not everyone likes Balsamic as well as I do, but it was also nice to taste a pot roast that wasn't the same old thing you normally have. After you try this one, let me know what you think! I'm curious if everyone liked it as much as I did.

Happy Eating!