Beef, Wine and a Slow Cooker

Thank you to Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies and Anne S. for becoming followers of my blog!

This is one of those crock pot recipes that does not require expensive ingredients and is meant for a cool evening.

A toast to our returning health............



My only complaint is……you need to tend to it after 6 hours, so …it’s still a weekend recipe for me. One solution for preparing it for a workday would be cooking the beef when you go to bed. That means dealing with tossing the veggies in as soon as you are up, while coffee is brewing.

If you’ve precut them, that would be a breeze. By the time you are done showering, walking dogs or whatever your morning routine is…..take the crock (assuming you have a removable one, and if you don’t, I highly recommend a removable crock) and place the cooked meal in your fridge. You’ll be all ready for a reheat that evening.

But…..getting to directions for same day prep……. What shall you have on hand?
This stuff:

2 lb of chuck roast
Lots of garlic cloves, peeled but not sliced
1 cup of red wine
2 cups of beef stock or broth
1 bay leaves
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
You’ll need these veggies later!

8 ounces or more of white button mushrooms
1 onion, sliced fine
1 stalks of celery, cut in small pieces
2 carrots cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 parsnip cut into 1/2 inch slice
About 6 medium red potatoes, cut into quarters
1/2 cup of peas
1/2 cup of corn
Ready to get this baby into the crock pot?

Make little cuts into the meat then insert the cloves of garlic into holes. Now salt and pepper the meat, just a bit.

Sear the chuck roast in hot oil – I used my All Clad frying pan. When it’s browned all over, move it to the crock pot.
Look at the garlic here...it melts beautifully inside the beef while slow cooking.


Tip a cup of wine into the skillet: let it simmer up and scrape the stuck bits of beef up, stir occasionally. After wine has chance to simmer and reduce a bit, pour it into the crock pot along with your stock, herbs, tomato paste, paprika and bay leaf. Turn it to LOW and cook for 6 or 7 hours.

After you return home from whatever you were doing for 6+ hours or so…….add the onions, celery, parsnips, carrots and potatoes. Cook, still on LOW, for one hour. Add mushrooms and cook another hour. Add the corn and peas and cook until they are warm (ought to be another 15 minutes or a bit more).



The vegetables were so tender..........



This may be served over rice, egg noodles or all alone in a bowl. Behold the thick gravy...it was lovely, I promise you.


Sop up with good crusty bread!



Sure to be a repeat in our kitchen. Makes good soup too...love the leftovers :-)