Pot Roast: a True Montana Meal

Last week our good friend Jaci Bjorne posted an article about the Best Recipes from Montana, featuring a list from Taste of Home magazine.  Supposedly these recipes came from home cooks in the state.  Really?  Apple Frangipane Phyllo Tart?  Butternut Squash Butter?  Orange-Cranberry Nut Tarts?  In terms of actual meals, there's two pork chop recipies, okay fine.  There's Tourtieres, with ground beef and pork, which is a fancy term for shepherd pie.  Finally a beef dish touted as Strawberry-Blue Cheese Steak Salad.  A salad, with steak and strawberries???

Maybe Taste of Home should have asked those current MT home cooks where they were born and raised.  (Okay, that was not nice, Travis)

So this weekend I fixed a staple of Montana family meals: the pot roast.  Whether in a roaster in the oven or in a slow cooker, pot roast ranks right up there with the sirloin steak and the hamburger as a true American and Montana family dinner.

Since the magazine and Jaci provided the recipes, I'll give my technique for this dish.  So simple even a bachelor can make it.  I should know, I am one.

Ingredients:

Here are the rough amounts for 2 diners: 1-2+ pounds beef roast, 2-3 potatoes, 3-4 carrots, about 1/2 cup chopped onion, minced garlic, 3/4 cup beef bouillon, black pepper to taste.  Rutabega is a good additional ingredient.

Preparation:

AT about 8 in the morning, turn on slow cooker to low.  Thoroughly wash the potatoes and carrots.  Peeling is optional but remember that most of the nutrients are in the peel.  Cut both into chunks and place in bottom of slow cooker.  Include onions and garlic.  If using rutabega, wash, peel and cut into chunks.

Rinse the roast and place on top of vegetables.  Pour the bouillon over the meat, letting it dribble over the vegetables.  Sprinkle pepper, maybe some garlic and onion powder to taste.

Cover with lid and cook 9-10 hours, in time for supper.  Cut meat with a sharp knife and serve.  Rolls go good with pot roast, and no, not French crescent rolls.

That's It

Never been one for "presentation."  The taste buds and the stomach couldn't care less.

There's more work in cleaning up after supper than in preparing it.