Crock Pot to the Rescue - Again

There are days I am just unprepared. No ideas in mind for dinner at all. It's already after 10:30 AM and I have nothing thawed. What to do?

I went to the freezer and mulled a bit. We have a freezer full of a half a cow, so it isn't that there aren't options. Still. It's been such a long winter. Far too cold except very recently to even consider grilling. I have made my One Skillet Hamburger Meal about 15 times in the last few months. At least it seems that way. I've made stews over and over. A couple of roasts, either in the crock pot or oven. The trouble is that most of the meat is either hamburger or roasts. Some of them are cut strangely and look far different than what you see in the supermarket. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, I got out a chuck roast.

Crock Pot BBQ Chuck served on Root Vegetable Flatbread

The roast was probably about 2½ or 3 pounds, though I forgot to weigh it to see. It was very thick, but small enough around to set into my crock pot. To speed things up just a bit, I put the roast into the microwave to defrost just a little. I never thaw something completely in the microwave. I hate to even use the microwave at all, frankly. With that in mind, I set it to defrost something that weighed 1 pound. I turned it over twice during that short period. It was still hard as a rock when I was done, but I know it had to have some effect. 

Next I wondered what to do for flavor. My husband has always loved roast beef, but since he had some bad teeth, then had to have one extracted, and it didn't heal as well as it might have, due to constantly chomping down on things, he has been rather resistant to the idea of a roast. The pieces are larger, and it's too much bother to cut them smaller for eating. So I have made a couple of roasts, but he doesn't come back for leftovers. Not good, because that usually means I need to make something else. And who gets to eat the leftovers? 

I recently had made a new batch of my:

Sweet Tangy BBQ Sauce

Sweet Tangy BBQ Sauce

Makes 5 cups

2 tablespoons olive oil (or other cooking oil of choice)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 jalapeno, seeds & membranes removed, finely minced
½ cup pineapple juice
¼ cup orange juice
3 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons Barbecue Spice Mix (below)
1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon celery seed
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
½ cup honey
3 cups ketchup
1 teaspoon liquid smoke, optional
6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter cut into ½-inch cubes

Mince the garlic and the jalapeno together and set aside. Heat a large saucepan. Chop the onion finely. Put the oil into the hot pan and add the onion, along with the salt and sauté at medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the onion is deep golden brown. Add in the reserved garlic and jalapeno and sauté for 5 minutes more. Add in the juices and stir to dissolve any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add in the Barbecue Spice Mix, black pepper, ground ginger and celery seed and stir to combine. Add in the mustard and tamarind paste and stir to dissolve the tamarind. Add in the honey and ketchup, with the liquid smoke if using. Stir to combine all the ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil, being very careful it does not splatter on you. Cover the pan, reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat, remove lid and add in 2 little cubes of the cold butter at a time, stirring to dissolve before adding more.

Allow the sauce to cool before storing in the refrigerator. If desired, it may be frozen until needed. 

Barbecue Spice Mix

Barbecue Spices

Makes ½ cup

4 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons smoked paprika (Pimenton de la Vera)
2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cassia cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground thyme
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
¼ teaspoon ground dried ginger
¼ teaspoon dried chipotle powder

Directions: Combine all herbs and spices together and store in a glass jar with tight fitting lid.

NOTES: If using as a spice rub for a meat, mix into the entire amount: ¼ cup each of Kosher Salt and light brown sugar. Mix well and rub all over one whole chicken, cut up and allow to rest overnight, refrigerated, before grilling.

I was thinking BBQ, though I had never really done this with beef. I decided to chop a half onion left in the fridge and threw that into the bottom of the crock pot. I set the roast on top of the onions, to allow some juices to get underneath the meat while cooking. I poured on 1 cup of the BBQ Sauce. I happened to have a bottle of Fonseca Bin 27 Port setting on the counter (we hadn't gotten around to finishing the bottle), so I poured in 1/2 cup of the port. I added 3 cloves of garlic, sliced very thinly, 2 little bay leaves and a teaspoon of salt. Put the lid on, turned it to the higher temperature and hoped for the best.

After 6 hours, the meat was tender and there was plenty of sauce in the pot, though it was thinner than my husband likes. It did have a lot of fat floating on top, so I took some paper towels and did a quick slide over the surface to pick up fat. It took quite a few of those half-sheets sized paper towels to get most of the extra fat off there. I took the roast out and mixed up about 3/4 cup of water with a half cup of flour and whisked that into the pot. Still on high, it came back to a simmer quickly, so I covered it and let it go. Meanwhile, I started pulling the meat off the bones and other thick things in there - I tell you, this "chuck" looks nothing like chuck in the grocery. All in all, there wasn't that much meat, considering the size of the original roast. It was still plenty though, so once I had it off bones, and took off any fat, I shredded the meat and added it back to the pot. It tasted really great. I am sure the port was not 100% necessary, but it would add just that little sweetness, so it's up to you.

Crock Pot BBQ Chuck

Crock Pot BBQ Chuck

Serves about 6

1 chuck roast 2½ to 3 pounds
1 cup Sweet Tangy BBQ Sauce, or your favorite brand
½ cup port, or other liquid
1 small onion, diced
2 - 3 gloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 or 2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt

To Thicken:
½ to ¾ cup water
½ cup flour

Place the onion in the bottom of the crock pot and set the roast on top. Pour the BBQ sauce and port over the roast and add in the garlic, bay leaves and salt. Cover and cook about 6 hours on high if the roast is frozen or mostly frozen, or on low if the meat is thawed. Turn the meat over once during this period so both sides are flavored well. 

Once cooked through, remove the roast from the pot and set on a plate until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, whisk together briskly the water and flour. If it is too lumpy, pour it through a strainer into the crock pot to thicken the sauce, whisking at first to blend well. Cover the pot while working with the meat, allowing the sauce to thicken and the starchy taste to cook out.

Remove any bones or large chunks of fat from the meat. Shred the meat as desired, then add it back to the pot to reheat through. This is good on a bun, or on my Root Vegetable Flatbreads.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Spaghetti - Ahhh

Who doesn't love spaghetti? Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, I mean, and obviously, outside of vegetarians. Just the smell of the sauce cooking is evocative. Early in our relationship, I found my husband loves spaghetti....just not the way I made it. I pride myself on my cooking, so that was quite a blow. I thought it was pretty good. But, his preference was Ragu. His main beef (pardon the pun) about my spaghetti sauce is that it became watery on the plate. He does not like that watery residue. I cannot quite understand the problem, but problem it was, anyway. Why it would take so long for me to figure out how to remedy this difficulty is a question I cannot answer, except for sheer ennui. I hate trying to get specific enough answers about what, precisely, is right or wrong, as that usually ends in frustration. He likes things just a certain way; there is no rhyme nor reason. It has been far easier to buy a jar of Ragu periodically than to mess with the status quo.

Spaghetti Sauce over Linguine with Parmigiano-Reggiano

So here I am, over 20 years later, and it strikes me that I could probably approximate the Ragu sauce he loves! And, when I do something like this, as with my Sloppy Joes recently, and he cannot tell it is not the name-brand jar or can he loves so much, but my own concoction - I consider that a win. I have been writing a lot lately, it seems, about what my husband doesn't like. I am writing mainly to show that there is a way to appease even the pickiest eaters. Maybe not all the time, but it is possible. For me, this is a challenge; moreso lately since I have been focused on creating my own recipes. Everyone has likes and dislikes. Some people have more dislikes than others. This is life. When life hands you lemons - turn them into candy! (More on that subject in another blog. . .)

Closeup of Spaghetti Sauce

Then there is the subject of pasta. Spaghetti pasta is great. However, it seemed that after a time I started noticing that hubby didn't seem to like the round noodles so much; too slippery. I switched to using linguine, and that seems to be working far better, so we use linguine when I make "Spaghetti."  Regardless, I did come up with a viable sauce that hubby liked a lot, so I post this here in the hopes that maybe others with similar difficulties will try this out. Obviously, you do not need a problem to make this an option. The sauce was, in my humble opinion, spectacular. The only thing better would be to use fresh herbs, but none were available when I made this sauce. Fresh basil, fresh oregano, and maybe some fresh marjoram would have made this even better. My husband loves green pepper, so green peppers are in this sauce, as well as mushrooms. These are personal preferences and can easily be left out. To counteract the "watery sauce" I added a little flour after browning the meat, so once the liquids were added, it would thicken. If you need a gluten free sauce, omit the flour. If you still want it thickened, use cornstarch mixed with a little of  the tomato sauce and add it in to cook.

Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti Sauce

Serves 8

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds lean hamburger
2 onions, chopped
1½ tablespoons (4½ teaspoons) flour
4 - 6 cloves garlic
2 green bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, chopped
8 pitted green olives, minced
1 teaspoon capers, minced
1 (29-ounce) can tomato sauce +
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 (13.25 ounces) mushroom stems & pieces, drained
1 cup water
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar, optional (rounds out the flavor)
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, lightly crushed
1½ teaspoons dried basil (use 1/2 cup, fresh)
1½ teaspoons dried oregano (1/3 - 1/2 cup, fresh)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder (NOT pre-mixed "Chili Powder")

In a large pot, heat the olive oil and add the meat. Brown the meat over medium high heat, breaking up any chunks well while stirring. Add in the onions and continue cooking for 2 - 3 minutes longer. Add the garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Stir in the flour, until it is no longer visible. Add all the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover the pot and cook slowly for at least an hour, to meld flavors. Serve over your favorite pasta and pass the Parmigiana-Reggiano! Garlic Bread on the side is great, and a nice Chianti would be lovely alongside.

NOTE: This recipe could me made up to the point of adding in the flour, then placed into a large crock pot. Add all the rest of the ingredients to the crock pot, cover and cook on low for 5 hours or so.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.