(Makes 4-6 servings, recipe created by Kalyn, modified by Eliz.)
- 3 lb. beef chuck roast, fat trimmed
- steak rub, for seasoning meat before browning (I used Pride of Szeged Steak Rub, but I think others would work)
- 1-2 tsp. olive oil, for browning roast
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup water (depending on the size of your roast and pan, see note below)
- 1 T Better Than Bouillon Mushroom Base
- 2 onions, peeled and cut in fourths
- 1 T finely chopped fresh sage (or 1 tsp. dried rubbed sage, I think thyme would also be good if you don't have sage)
- 1 lb. crimini or white mushrooms, washed and cut in half
- 1 T flour mixed into 2 T water to thicken gravy (I used white whole wheat flour to keep it South Beach friendly)
- Trim all visible fat from the roast. (Chuck steak often has pockets of fat running through the roast, which I just cut away when I'm serving.) Rub both sides of the roast with steak rub of your choice, then brown roast well in a tiny amount of olive oil.
- Put roast into crockpot, and add onions and chopped sage. Mix mushroom base into water, use to deglaze the browning pan, and pour over roast. (My pot roast barely fit into the dutch oven, so I browned it in another pan. Then I de-glazed the pan I browned it in with the water, mixed in the mushroom base, and poured it over the roast. Use 1/2 - 3/4 cup water, more water for larger size pan. The roast should not be covered with water.)
- Let roast cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6. Add mushrooms and cook 30-45 minutes longer.
- Remove roast, mushrooms and onions from pot. Discard onions and set aside mushrooms and meat. Strain liquid if desired to remove bits of sage. (You could also use an immersion blender to mix in the sage, which is what I'd do next time.) Remove fat using a fat separator or by skimming it off with a fine-mesh stock skimmer. Taste the liquid for flavor, and if it tastes weak to you, simmer at high heat for a few minutes to reduce.
- Mix 1 T flour into 2 T water with a whisk, then whisk that mixture into simmering stock and cook 5-10 minutes until gravy thickens. (Use white whole wheat flour for South Beach Diet.) For my pot roast, this was enough flour to make about 1 1/4 cups of slightly thickened gravy. If you have a lot more liquid than that or you prefer thick gravy you may need a bit more flour. You could also add some beef stock to the liquid if you wanted more gravy and increase the thickening accordingly.
- Cut pot roast into thick slices, and serve hot with mushrooms (and other vegetables if desired) on the side, with gravy spooned over meat and mushrooms.
source: modified from http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2007/10/stove-top-pot-roast-recipe-with.html
tags: low-carb, slow-cooker
If you take care to trim fat from the meat, and then skim off fat from the liquid, this would be a great meal for the South Beach Diet. For phase one, I would probably leave out the flour and serve the liquid as au jus, although this is a tiny amount of flour. For phase two or three, you could add carrots or turnips along with the mushrooms. South Beach does not recommend potatoes for any phase of the diet, but if you're cooking for a family, this would be simple enough to make with potatoes for the non-dieters, and then skip the potatoes yourself if you are following the diet.