Slow cooker Italian pot roast with sun-dried tomatoes and olives
It's school vacation week, and you've got your hands full. Why not toss a few ingredients into the slow cooker, and let dinner cook all day while you're making snow angels or going to see The Hobbit with the kids? This Italian pot roast tastes great on the day you make it, served with boiled potatoes or egg noodles, and even better the next day. The balsamic vinegar and olives lend their perky tang, and sun-dried tomatoes deepen the sauce, turning a humble chuck roast into a divine stew. Dinner doesn't get much easier, or more comforting, than this.
Slow cooker Italian pot roast with sun-dried tomatoes and olives
From the pantry, you'll need: balsamic vinegar, red wine, roasted garlic paste or sliced garlic, arrowroot, olives.
Serves 6.
Ingredients
3 lbs beef chuck roast
1/4 cup roasted garlic paste, or 20 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning (or dried thyme)
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
1 tsp arrowroot
8-10 large green olives stuffed with pimiento, sliced crosswise into thick slices
Directions
Trim the beef to remove all visible fat. Follow the natural separations in the meat, and you will end up with several pieces totalling approximately 2 pounds. Set aside.
Into a 4-quart slow cooker, place the garlic paste (or sliced garlic) and sun-dried tomatoes. Set the beef on top. Pour the wine over the meat, and sprinkle with the vinegar, Italian seasoning and black pepper.
Cook on LOW for 7 hours, or until the meat is falling-apart tender. With a slotted spoon, remove the meat to a platter, and turn the cooker to HIGH.
In a small bowl, mix the arrowroot with 2 teaspoons of water to form a smooth paste. Add this to the liquid in the slow cooker, and stir to combine. Cover, and cook for 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
Pour the sauce over the meat, and stir in the sliced olives.
Sliced the meat or separate into chunks, and serve over rice or noodles, or let the meat cool and refrigerate overnight. Like all stews, this tastes better on the second day.
More recipes in The Perfect Pantry:
Slow cooker Tex-Mex pot roast
Slow cooker espresso rubbed pot roast
Slow cooker sweet and smoky beef
Beef, ale and onion stew
Slow cooker beef stew with potatoes, parsnips and rutabaga
Other recipes that use these pantry ingredients:
Picadillo Cubano, from My Colombian Recipes
Crockpot beef stew with olives, garlic, capers and tomatoes, from Kalyn's Kitchen
Olives stuffed with ground beef in piquant tomato ragout, from Leite's Culinaria
Beef with olives and tomatoes, from Laws of the Kitchen
Ropa vieja with olives and capers, from Healthy. Delicious.








Posted by: carol, boston @ cabinetstew | December 27, 2012 at 08:31 AM
ohhhh yum. beef,tomatoes, olives....this could be my "last supper" it has all my favorites!
Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | December 27, 2012 at 10:48 AM
Carol, it's a kind of meat-and-potatoes day here in New England, isn't it? Enjoy this one.
Posted by: foodwanderings | December 27, 2012 at 09:01 PM
I love roasts Lydia. So comforting year round but especially on dreary weather days like today. I never cooked chuck with balsamic and arrow root and now, must! :)
Posted by: Donna | December 27, 2012 at 09:57 PM
Oh, Lydia--I love this and I haven't even cooked it yet. But I will. Happy New Year and thanks for all the inspiration!
Posted by: Kalyn | December 27, 2012 at 10:25 PM
This sounds so delicious! Bookmarked.
Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | December 27, 2012 at 10:41 PM
Foodwanderings, I loved the rich flavors of this pot roast, and like all stews, it was even better on the second day. I hope you like it.
Donna, many thanks for your kind words. I thank you, and all of my readers, for inspiring me. Happy New Year!
Kalyn, so, so good. Then again, I am a pot roast lover at heart!
Posted by: Cookin Canuck | December 28, 2012 at 04:54 PM
You do amazing things with your crockpot, Lydia! I have yet to cook a pot roast in my crockpot, but this looks simply divine and is making me re-think that.
Posted by: Erica | December 29, 2012 at 01:27 PM
Beautiful dish and full of flavor!Thanks for the link,Lydia! Happy New Year!
Posted by: Beverly | January 1, 2013 at 08:55 PM
This is truly lovely! It's going in my crockpot tomorrow.
Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | January 1, 2013 at 09:40 PM
Cookin Canuck, thank you so much. I'm fairly new to slow cooker cooking, and I'm having so much fun experimenting. I've had great luck with pot roasts.
Erica, Beverly: Enjoy!
Posted by: Lynne | January 8, 2013 at 08:16 PM
I made this a couple of nights ago and it was a big hit. I used a beef pot roast rather than several pieces of meat, and even though it was falling apart tender I was able to slice it like a roast. I laid the beef on a bed of thickly sliced onions, which were also delicious.I cooked it on High 8 hrs. We had the leftovers the following night and it reheated beautifully. I loved the sundried tomatoes in it.
Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | January 8, 2013 at 08:44 PM
Lynne, thanks so much for taking the time to come back and let us know how much you liked the recipe. After 8 hours on high, that meat must have been so tender! The thought of those leftovers has me salivating.