Last Monday I used the slow cooker to prepare a pot roast and, happily, it came out tasting to me just about exactly as a pot roast should, so I'm going to make a note of the recipe before I forget the details. This is somewhat modified by me from the recipe for "Lazy Day Braised Pot Roast" on page 316 of Beth Hensperger's and Julie Kaufmann's Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook (Boston : Harvard Common Press, 2005). The apricots and prunes are something I've always put in with pot roast -- they make it taste richer.
Braised, Fruity Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker
- One 3.5 to 4 pound pot roast (seven-bone roast worked well)
- salt, pepper, paprika
- 2 onions, sliced in half moons
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 10 dried apricots
- 10 prunes
- 3 cups water
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened (optional)
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (optional)
- Cover the roast generously with salt, pepper, and paprika. Put it in the slow cooker.
- Add the onions, garlic, apricots, and prunes.
- Pour in the water and wine.
- Cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. (6.5 hours was fine for this roast.)
- Optional (I didn't) to thicken the sauce: lift out the roast after cooking; turn heat to HIGH; mash flour and butter together, and whisk it into the liquids until they thicken suitably.
