This weekend it was all about tile. Chuck spent the whole time in a half crunched position laying the tile backsplash between the cabinets and the counter tops. Needless to say, his back was not a fan come Sunday night, but man is the kitchen looking good.
Since the space he was working in was really too small for me to really do much helping, I did what I do best, and that’s feed him. Since the weather was cold, and cloudy, I opted to feed him with this amazing pot roast. I’ve always found hearty and saucy dishes like these to be comforting, and besides it’s one of his favorites.
Pot Roast is another one of those American classics that we all seemed to have grown up with. Around here, we don’t tend to eat a lot of beef (the standard pot roast meat in the US) so I wanted to find/create a really amazing venison version, since that is something that we have stocked up in the freezer. Venison is a lean meat that can sometimes be tough, depending on the age and life of the animal so it took a little finesse to come up with this recipe.
For this particular day we chose to roll with mashed potatoes, because that was what we were craving, but there’s no reason you can’t add in quartered potatoes, chopped carrots or other veggies into the crock pot to make life a little easier. Just spoon them out on to the serving platter along with the meat and gravy.
- 2 to 4 lb venison roast
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion (diced fine)
- 1 large carrot (peeled and diced fine)
- 1 large celery stalk (diced fine)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
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Season the roast well with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
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Add the meat to the pan and sear it for 4 to 5 minutes or until well browned. Turn the meat and sear the other side. Continue until all sides are well browned. Remove the roast to the crock pot.
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In the same pan, add the vegetables and cook, stirring often with a wooden spoon until they have softened, about 5 to 6 minutes. While the vegetables cook use the spoon to scrape up any browned bits left from cooking the meat.
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Stir in the tomato paste until well blended and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
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Add the broth and all the herbs, except parsley to the pan and stir well, scraping the pan.
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Remove from heat and pour the mixture over the roast. Cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours, or until meat is tender.
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Once cooked, remove the meat from the crock pot and slice. Pour the remaining juice from the crock pot into a small sauce pan over medium high heat and whisk in the corn starch. Allow the mixture to bubble and thicken. Transfer the meat to a serving platter, and pour the thickened gravy over the top.
Similar Recipes:
Marinated Grilled Venison
Venison Barley Stew
Crock Pot Split Pea Soup