I'm a vegetarian.... between meals.

This past weekend I was in the checkout line at Best Buy and I noticed that the man in front of me had in his hands a crockpot. (Yeah, I didn't know Best Buy sold Crockpots either). I was tempted to grab his arm and congratulate him on his fortuitous purchase. I wanted to say, "Remember this moment. Today is the first day of the rest of your life."

My regular dinner companions for Crockpot Mondays are Bindi and Amish. Amish, being a vegetarian, (from here on out I will lovingly refer to him as "The Veg") is a challenge for the traditional crockpot chef. The crockpot has built its reputation on its ability to take tough cuts of meat (ie. the chuck roast) and transform them into melt-in-your-mouth meals. But I'm a pretty ambitious/adventurous soul and, starting this blog, I was determined to take on the challenge of vegetarian slow cooking.


But then I read the recipe for Beef in Barolo in the Best Cookbook Ever. So, needless to say, I couldn't even make it 2 consecutive weeks of vegetarian meals. Tonight's meal was a carnivore's delight.

Here's the Recipe...
Combine the following in a small bowl and stir
2 TB olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced

Add 3 to 4 lb beef chuck, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch pieces to the bowl and toss to coat. You will probably have to do this in batches.

Heat 2 TB oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the beef to the skillet and brown on all sides. While browning the meat adds another step and requires more clean-up, it is an important step. It enriches the flavor of the beef and it makes it look nicer on your plate.

Transfer the beef to a slow cooker insert.

Add the following to the same skillet over medium-high heat:
2 large sweet onions, cut into half rounds
2 tsp sugar
1 TB dried rosemary

Saute until onions soften. Transfer onion mixture to the slow cooker insert.

Add & stir to combine...
One 32-ounce can crushed tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup red wine

The recipe suggests using Chianti or Barolo - the namesake of the recipe - but, since Georgia law forbids the sale of alcohol on Sundays (I could devote an entire blog entry to the pain this law causes me), I had to use Merlot, which I had on hand.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. I served the beef with garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and cauliflower and a glass of Merlot.

We finished the meal off with slices of Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake I had made for my brother's birthday, which was last Thursday. (There's your shout-out, Todd.)

If you want happy dinner guests make this dish.