Mississippi Pot Roast

 Another TikTok inspired meal. This one was sent to me by Melissa. Quote: "I’m eating this on rolls for lunch today and it’s sooooooo good." After a brief conversation: "On Hawaiian rolls is unreal 🤣🤤I never think of pepperoncinis as spicy but they for sure have a kick." I vowed to add it to our families meal rotation. I couldn't copy the exact recipe because I'm too stubborn to sign up for TikTok and I didn't want to handwrite the recipe, but I found a Mississippi Pot Roast recipe that is super similar. 

Mississippi Pot Roast

Source: Lindsey Arnold (yay dancing with the stars) via Melissa Walker Lewis

3–4 lb. beef rump roast (Both rump roast and chuck roast work perfectly. **See Note)
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 packet aus jus gravy mix
8–10 pepperoncini peppers (with 1/4 cup juice from jar)
1/4 cup butter, cut into 4 or 5 square pats


Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions
Place the roast in your slow cooker.
Sprinkle the ranch dressing mix and aus jus mix over the top of the roast.
Add pepperoncini peppers on top of and around the roast.
Cut the butter into slices and arrange on top of the roast.
Add 1/4 cup pickle juice from pepperoncini jar to the bottom of the slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until the roast is fork tender. Internal temperature should be about 160° when you remove it to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving. In most slow cookers, my guess is this will be achieved by the 6 hour mark. If you’re cooking rump roast with the intention of slicing it, this may be the time you want to take it out and rest it. If your plan is to break the roast (rump or chuck) into larger chunks and pieces or to shred it, the full 8 hours will be more to your liking.

Serve over Mashed Potatoes, on Rolls, or over Noodles. 




Notes

I find that the cut of roast I choose has more to do with how I plan to use the beef. When I want larger pieces or even slices of roast beef, I prefer a rump roast. This is the one I usually serve over mashed potatoes and my typical go-to.

However, if my plan is to shred the beef, then I choose a chuck roast. It just tends to fall apart on its own in the slow cooker. This lends itself well to French dip sandwiches or even over homemade noodles for a beef and noodles type of dish.

Both roasts work equally well. Both are tender and delicious. And, in our area, they are similarly priced.

Pot Roast

I didn't get a picture of this (yet) but it was definitely the best pot roast that I've ever made in the history of pot roasts that I've attempted to make - therefore, it must get recorded. 

Pot Roast 

Source: Recipes that Crock

Ingredients:
2-3 lb beef roast
5-6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
3-4 medium baby carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, quartered

2 pkgs brown gravy mix
2 c water


Directions:
Spray your crock pot with cooking spray. Rinse roast and brown in a hot frying pan for a couple of minutes on each side to brown. Place roast in crock pot, fat side up. Surround the roast with potatoes, onions and carrots.
Mix together one brown gravy packet with 1 c cold water and pour over the roast and veggies. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (total). 

An hour before serving, mix together the remaining brown gravy mix and 1 c cold water. Pour over roast and veggies. Cover again for the last hour of cooking.

Beef and Noodles

I made a beef roast a couple of weeks ago and was lamenting to David that I always do the same things when I make a roast (delicious things, but the same things). Mostly just roast with potatoes, and french dip sandwiches. Luckily, I came across a few new beef roast dishes to try. I made a few things, but this meal was by far the winner. Like, David couldn't stop talking about this meal. You'd think that I'd suddenly become a master chef rivaling Bobby Flay. It was so funny. I'll let you in on a secret - it's the way I cooked the roast.... and the homemade noodles. 

Melt-in-your-mouth pieces of shredded beef with homemade egg noodles in a salty broth. Comfort food doesn't get much better than this. 

(Don't be scared of the egg noodles, it was actually really easy and SO much less expensive than the frozen egg noodles you can buy at the store and SO much tastier than dried egg noodles. 

Beef and Noodles
Source: Adapted from Spicy Southern Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 lb cooked and shredded beef roast, (recipe below)

Homemade egg noodles, (recipe below)

2 TBS dried onion flakes
3 beef bullion cubes
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp parsley flakes
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp black pepper

1 can cream of chicken soup (or mushroom if your husband likes mushrooms more than mine)
4-6 cups water

salt and pepper to taste
parsley for garnish, optional

Directions:
Prepare egg noodles following recipe below. Set out previously cooked beef roast. (I used leftover beef roast from another meal. If you don't have leftover roast, earlier in the day you will need to put your raw beef roast in the crock pot using the recipe below so that it will be ready at this point.)

In a medium sized pot, combine cream of chicken soup, seasonings (bullion, onion flakes, etc...), and 4-6 cups of water (add more water if you want it more like a soup and less water if you want it to be more like a beef and noodle dish with a smaller amount of broth). Bring to a boil. Add beef and egg noodles. Cook until noodles are al dente (cooked all the way through, but not soggy.)

Serve hot with rolls on the side. If your family is anything like mine, this will be a dinner-time hit!



Egg Noodles
2 cups all purpose flour, plus additional for dusting the board
4 eggs, beaten
¼-1/2 teaspoon salt

http://dineanddish.net/2015/04/easy-homemade-egg-noodles-recipe/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/fresh-pasta-recipe.html

Mound the flour in the center of a clean countertop. Make a well in the middle of the flour, add the eggs and salt. Using a fork, beat together the eggs and begin to incorporate the flour starting with the inner rim of the well. As you incorporate the eggs, keep pushing the flour up to retain the well shape (do not worry if it looks messy). The dough will come together in a shaggy mass when about half of the flour is incorporated. When the mixture starts to become stiff, start kneading the dough with both hands incorporating all of the flour.

Scrape the area to find any loose bits of dough, then re-flour the surface. Continue kneading, adding flour as necessary, until the dough is thick and smooth in texture.The dough will only take as much flour as it needs, so don't worry about adding too much, the rest will fall off, or stay on the outside covering the dough so it won't stick.

Roll out the dough, until very thin, at least 1/8". (The dough will expand/bubble quite a bit while cooking, so try to get it as thin as  possible. Once your dough is rolled out, use a pizza cutter to slice your dough into thin vertical strips. Make a couple of slices horizontally until your noodles are a desired size.

Remember, fresh pasta cooks much faster than dry pasta. It will only need 3-6 minutes until it's cooked through!

Shredded Beef Roast

2-3lb chuck roast
1 large onion, peeled then roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled then smashed
15oz can beef broth
1 Tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
lots of garlic salt and pepper
4oz can chopped green chiles

Directions
Trim large pieces of excess fat from roast then cut into 6-8 big hunks. Add onion, garlic, and beef broth into the bottom of a crock pot then nestle beef into mixture. Sprinkle in chili powder, cumin, garlic salt, and pepper and then place the lid on top and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or until beef shreds easily. Remove beef then shred and place into a large bowl with enough cooking liquid to make it juicy, but not so much that it's dripping. Pull out as many onions as you'd like to include with the beef. Stir in green chiles. Discard remaining cooking liquid.

This Beef and Noodle recipe may also be made as a crock pot meal using the following instructions: 

Crock Pot Beef and Noodles
Place beef roast in slow cooker. Sprinkle seasonings from both recipes on top. Add cream soup and smear on top of roast. Add beef broth.
Put lid on crockpot and cook 9 to 10 hours on LOW.
Remove lid and shred beef using 2 forks. Add noodles and enough water to mostly submerge the noodles.

Cook for 1 hour. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

French Dip Sandwiches

This recipe is from the wonderful ladies at Our Best Bites. My sister-in-law, Wendy, first introduced us to this delicious dish and we were hooked! I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to shred the roast and how quickly it came together in the morning. I love when we find a new recipe that I can envision myself making it for my children someday. I'm sure they will love it as much as we do.

French Dip Sandwiches

1 2.5-3 lb. beef roast
2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
2 packages dry onion soup mix
2 c. water
2 cans beef broth
6-8 large buns
Provolone cheese, sliced


Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and rub roast with salt and pepper.

When very hot, carefully place roast in pan and sear on all sides. You're not cooking the meat, you're just browning it quickly on all sides to add flavor and seal in the juices.

Place in crockpot and sprinkle with onion soup mixes. Pour water and beef broth over roast.

Cook 8-10 hours on low or cook 4-5 hours on high and another 3-4 hours on low. It's hard to screw this part up; basically, the longer it cooks, the more tender it will be. But you know it's done when you pop a fork in it and the meat just falls apart. When meat is ready, shred with a fork.

Place meat in crusty rolls. Top with cheese and broil open-faced in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes, until bread is golden and cheese is melty.

Ladle juices into small cups for dipping and enjoy!


***

FREEZER DIRECTIONS:

Prepare roast through the searing step; after meat has cooled, place in a plastic freezer-safe container (think Gladware), cover with onion soup mix and boullion, and freeze. When ready to cook, pop it straight into the crockpot (frozen), add 2 cups of water, and set to high until warm or, even better, simmering. Turn to low; cook for a total of 8-10 hours.