Start this recipe at around noon for a 5 o'clock supper. Purchase a boneless chuck roast--2 1/2 to three pounds. Cut this up in large pieces about 2 inches square with a big knife. Finely chop a couple slices of onion. In a large skillet (I use a 12-inch cast iron one) brown the onion in a little oil. Then toss in the pot roast pieces, and lightly brown in the oil & sauteed onion. When the roast is lightly browned, add to the mix 1/2 cup white wine and continue cooling a bit longer.
Finely chop a few mushrooms. and put them in the bottom of a crock pot. Put meat and onion mixture from frying pan on top of the mushrooms Add a dash of herbs (I use the Spice Islands italian mix thyme, oregano etc mixed together). Add a dash of worcestershire sauce to the mix, and 1/2-3/4 cups of water
Start cooking the meat on the high crock pot setting..though you can reduce to low if it appears to be cooking too fast. Cook this for about 4 hours.
Undercook a couple of medium potatoes in a microwave oven, and cut them into one inch cubes. Don't cook them to the point where they become mealy! Steam some miniature carrots and brussels sprouts in a pan steamer (I found some frozen brussels sprouts that were very flavorful), again undercooking from the amount of time you would normally use.
At about 4:00 PM, place a piece of tin foil over the top of the meat in the crock pot. The potatoes go on top of the tin foil, but not in the meat juices at this point salt the potato pieces and sprinkle with dried parsley. Place another piece of foil on top of potatoes & add carrots & brussels sprouts. Continue cooling for another hour, till 5 pm.
When serving first remove the vegetables. Some of the juices from the meat can be used instead of butter on the vegetables. The vegetables will retain a lot of color and flavor compared to cooking them for a longer period of time in the crock pot only.
This all re-warms well in the microwave.
Delicious!
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