French Dips in the crock pot

Well, well.  Look what I found in the grocery store today.  You know what this means...

It means the holidays are on their way.

I've had trouble finding these handy little spice packets in the past, so I snapped some up, even though it will be a little while before I use them.  Actually I have an event coming up in two weeks that I will want a crock-full-o-spicy-cider for, and there's enough in this one box to probably get me through Thanksgiving too...but maybe I'll need more before Christmas.  I'm thinking mulled wassail in the owl crock...oh it's too adorable. :)  And the added bonus is that the house smells so ridiculously good when people arrive.  It's just festive.  And really: juice, spices, turn on the crock.  I'll post you a recipe when I make it in a couple weeks.  I LUV to take it in a thermos too, for outdoor stuff between Thanksgiving and Christmas, like Christmas tree hunting in the woods.

But as for now...I made the most unusual thing yesterday:  French Dips in the crock pot...not a whole roast, but a roast that was thin-sliced (carne asada style, ask your butcher to do that for you) and cooked in beef broth with onions, garlic, seasonings, and wine.  It was really weird to make French dips with sliced meat, rather than a whole roast.  I've never even thought around doing that before. 

This recipe comes from Stephanie O'Dea.  I found it in her book Make it Fast, Cook it Slow, but she also has it posted on her website HERE .  She adapted it from someone else, so there are two versions on that webpage.

Here's something odd though...in Stephanie's photo the broth the meat is cooked in, or "au jus" as it is used in her recipe, is clear.  Mine was cloudy...?  I did not use the beer, because I could not find a gluten free beer, and I did not have any sherry either, so I just used the beef broth and 1/4 c. of merlot.  I also used 3 lb of beef instead of 2.

Stephanie's recipe simply gets everything directly into the crock pot, but, I went ahead and sautéed the onions in the butter in a stainless steel pan on the stovetop until translucent, then added the garlic to warm it.  I put that in the bottom of the crock pot, then deglazed the pan with the wine, and added that to the crock pot.  Sliced beef on top of that, then the pepper, Worcestershire, and 1/2 tsp sucanat (instead of the sugar).  Then the broth.  Mine was done in 5 hrs, but next time I'd check at 4 hrs.  (As always, the recipe cook time would have been WAY too long...it recommends 7-9 hrs.  Check it much earlier.)

So, since my broth was cloudy, I wasn't big on using it as au jou, and no one really wanted that anyway, but it was nice to have the beef kinda "wet" or "soggy" on a toasted bun.  It was a nice juicy sandwich.  I put swiss on one half of the bun, and butter on the other, and then toasted it in the toaster oven, and when it was all nice and toasty I took it out and piled on the beef.  The beef was nice, but needed salt and pepper, and personally, I like my roast beef sandwiches with ketchup.

 Here's what the beef looked like going in...the sautéed onions and garlic and wine are underneath.

 

Here's what it looked like on my lunch sandwich today, with gluten free bun, and slice of swiss cheese.

 

Do make sure you check on it about every hour after the first three hours, because I think 5 hrs was a little long.  Without the broth it was a tad dry, but with the broth it was good.  However, I would probably prefer just a little less cook time, like maybe 4 hrs.

 



The nice thing about having this beef done up and in the fridge is that it's a quick re-heat for lunches, which is why I made 3 lbs, so it would last a few meals.  It was quicker and easier in my opinion than doing a whole roast, but if you prefer a whole roast, Stephanie has a great recipe for that too.  HERE is one I have made many times, and it's really good--"Red Wine and Cranberries Glazed Pot Roast".  Remarkably, the cook time on that recipe is quite accurate.  I have found 8 hrs. on low to be just about right. 

All in all, this was a nice, simple, mid-week dinner, with veggies and dip on the side, and leftover thin-sliced cranberry cake topped with fresh pears for dessert.