Slow Cooker Pot Roast

There were many things that I learned while growing up and being taught to cook by the women of my family.  My grandmother was very "brand loyal" and was insistent that you only bought and used name-brand products, wasn't happy when I bought her a microwave, thought it was cheating if you used a crock pot or any other cooking appliance that wasn't the range.

Well, I am not her.  I still don't do a lot of 'cooking' in my microwave and, while I love my range, I often opt for my slow cooker and my latest discovery (gasp) an electric roaster oven.

Last night's dinner, as I stated in the the previous post, had pot roast with the traditional veggies.  Following is a very successful, fool-proof and simple way to do a roast in the crock pot.  I used more veggies than what I've listed here (a whole bag of carrots and I used small red potatoes in their jackets - about 12 about the size of an egg).  If you like your sauce/gravy a bit thicker, increase the buerre manie.

SLOW COOKER POT ROAST

1 - 4# beef roast, trimmed of as much fat as possible and blotted dry

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch lengths

4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered

2 bay leaves

3 C water

1/2 C cider vinegar

3 T butter, softened

3 T flour

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray.  Put the roast in cooker and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add carrots, potatoes, onion and bay leaves.  Pour water and vinegar over the meat and vegetables.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

Transfer meat and vegetables to a heated platter and cover with aluminum foil.  Turn the cooker to HIGH.  There will be about 3 full cups of liquid in cooker.  In a small bowl, mash together butter and flour to make a paste (this is called buerre manie - the French use this for thickening sauces and soups - simple and the rule of thumb is 1 T flour and 1 T butter for EACH cup of liquid).  Add the buerre manie to the hot liquid and whisk until melted and the liquid thickens.  Ladle some over the meat and vegetables, if desired, and serve the remainder in a bowl.