Nemo Pot Roast
When WHDH’s Pete Bouchard warned me with doom and gloom that a giant blizzard was heading my way the weekend of February 6, I went into food panic mode. I looked in my cabinets and saw a strange array of food that if I was unable to go to the supermarket for days on end, or if I lost power, all I would have to eat is one granola bar, some eggs, coconut oil, and pearl onions. I decided that this storm would inspire me to whip up a pot roast on the Friday of the storm so we’d have a big meal with plenty of leftovers to eat all weekend. In case we lost power, I could keep leftovers outside where they could keep chilled, and reheat it on my gas stove top.
Last year, my kind future mother-in-law gave me a crockpot for Christmas. This has been a game changer for my weekend cooking. I can start a meal in the morning, have a busy and productive Sunday, and then at 6-7pm have a dinner I barely had to put effort into. I’ve been meaning to catalog favorite meals and recipes in my crockpot for The Appreciator, and with a planned meal and lots of time indoors to document the recipe, this seemed like the perfect time.
This recipe is barely a recipe, but more a story about how to throw together a pot roast while quietly preparing and fretting for a blizzard. You can certainly change is how you see fit.
Nemo Pot Roast
Ingredients:
-3.5 lb pot roast.
(NOTE: You could make this smaller or larger, but I went with 3.5 because only two people would be eating it. It lasted us three meals, if that gives perspective. If you get a larger cut, you may want to add more liquid and vegetables to even it all out.)
-1 12 oz beer, ideally a porter. You could also sub in wine. Or Guinness. I just don’t think something like an IPA or a Heiferweitzen would taste good.
-salt and pepper
-garlic powder
-Worcestershire Sauce
-6-10 chunks of carrots (If you are lazy, you can just use baby carrots.)
-6-10 pearl onions (You could chop onions, but I think it’s easier just to throw in like a handful of pearl onions)
-half a bag of frozen peas
-potatoes to make mashed potatoes. You could also just cook up some egg noodles if you are so inclined.
-A crockpot.
1. Sear the meat. This makes all the difference in the world. Put a little bit of oil in a pan over medium heat and sear each side of the meat until it’s browned on every side. You can then deglaze the pan with a bit of the beer or even some butter, and then pour the the bits and pieces from the pan in the crock pot.
2. Put your handfuls of carrots and onions in the crockpot, then place the meat on said onions and carrots.
3. Add your salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce to the crockpot. This is all eyeballing, but I’d guess I put in a teaspoon of salt and pepper, half a tablespoon of garlic powder, and half a tablespoon to a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.
4. Pour your beer into the crockpot. I used Sam Adams Maple Porter because my fiance bought a spring sampler 12-pack in preparation for Nemo and that was the porter in it. It is quite delicious. As I said above, you could use a dark red wine or any dark beer. **One note about cooking with wines and beers. The alcohol burns off so you just have the flavors left. You really don’t need to buy a crazy expensive wine or beer for cooking. I have a jug of Carlo Rossi Burgundy for when I make stews and it tastes great every time.
5. Mix up all the spices, veggies, and beer with a spatula for a bit.
6. Set your crockpot on low for 8 hours. In the meantime, while you are waiting for the blizzard to hit, you can do any of the following activities:
a. Watch storm coverage on local news.
b. Make sure all your snow shovels and car scraper are inside your house and not trapped in the trunk of your car. Because that mistake didn’t happen during a previous blizzard. Nope, not one bit.
c. Watch House of Cards on Netflix and vow to never fully trust Kevin Spacey again.
d. Knit Christmas stockings.
e. Play with your cat.
f. Run last minute errands before the travel ban goes into effect and see if you can buy bread anywhere (hint: you can’t, there was a run on bread earlier in the week)
g. Call your mother every 2-3 hours to make sure she and your stepfather are okay, even though it’s not snowing yet.
h. Spend an hour on Pinterest looking at cute animals, juice cleanses, and shoes.
i. Charge your phone and laptop all day.
j. Make sure you have enough candles in case you lose power.
k. Watch more storm coverage on local news.
7. At this point in the day, it should be about 7.5 hours into the crockpot experience. Add your frozen peas to the crockpot and mix them all up. While the peas and meat finish cooking, prepare your mashed potatoes or egg noodles. You could have also just cooked your potatoes in the crockpot, but I am partial to mashed potatoes so I don’t.
8. When the crockpot goes from cooking mode to warming mode, scoop mashed potatoes into a bowl and cut a piece of the meat off of the roast and place on top of the mashed potatoes. With a ladle, add some of the juices and vegetables to your bowl.
Voila! This would be tasty with a crusty bread, but as I mentioned, there was a run on bread. Enjoy your delicious meal and be relieved that you are inside where there is heat and electricity and not outside in feet of snow and blustery winds.
Sarah Landry appreciates preparation and local weathermen.