Southwestern Pot Roast Cooked in the Crockpot

This is a great way to cook roast. I have a coke roast recipe, but this is more healthy, and I really like it as well as the other one. Thanks to Kalyn's blog, I am eating more healthy and seeing some small results.  I know, I know, give it time.  You have gained the weight over the last 30 years and you want to take it off in 1 week.  Good things sometimes happen slow. Like this slow-cooked roast.


Printable Recipe:

https://sites.google.com/site/whatscookingattheedwards/sw-pot-roast---crockpot

Ingredients:

3-pound chuck roast, trimmed of visible fat

1 can reduced sodium beef broth

1 cup + 1/4 cup of your favorite salsa

steak rub or your favorite seasoning for steak to rub on the meat before browning

1-2 teaspoons olive oil for browning the meat

Put beef broth in a small saucepan, removing any fat that has collected on top in the can. Boil until the broth is reduced to 1/2 cup.

While beef broth is reducing, trim all visible fat from chuck roast.  You may need to cut the roast into several pieces to remove big pockets of fat. Rub pot roast on all sides with steak rub. Heat olive oil in a heavy frying pan (pans that aren't nonstick will give the best browning.)  Brown roast well on all sides. Don't rush this step because browning provides flavor, and I think it's especially important in crockpot cooking.

When roast is browned on all sides, put pieces of meat in crockpot, arranging them in a single layer. Pour reduced beef broth into frying pan and use a metal turner to scrap off any carmelized bits from the browned meat. Add salsa and stir into broth, then pour salsa/beef broth mixture over pot roast.

Cook on high for 1 hour, then turn to low and cook 3-4 hours, or until meat is very tender when pierced with a fork. If you don't have a slow cooker, cook in a heavy dutch oven on stovetop at lowest setting for 2-3 hours. Remove meat from crockpot and pour sauce into small saucepan. If there is a lot of fat on top of the sauce, spoon it off or use a fat separator to remove the fat. You may not need to do this if you did a good job trimming. Put meat back into crockpot to kep warm, then add final 1/4 cup salsa to the sauce and simmer until reduced to about 1 cup.

To serve, slice meat across the grain and serve hot, with sauce spooned over the top. I also think this meat would be great served as a filling for tacos or burritos.