Fixer Upper Pot Roast

Background

Let me paint you a picture: you found some beautiful butternut squash in your grocery store and what's more, it was pre-cubed.  Happy day!  So, you put it in your cart and spend the next several days ruminating over what exactly to do with it.  Unfortunately, it takes one day too many to land on 'oh, yummy pot roast!' and when you remove it from the refrigerator, it is sadly moldy.  Equally unfortunately, it is now 9:00 in the morning and you have but half an hour to get all your ingredients into the slow cooker before needing to start the activities of the day.  Rummaging through your stock of vegetables, you emerge with some summer squash, onions, tomatoes, a few sliced peppers and mushrooms and, the item that makes you most wary, brussels sprouts.  You love brussels sprouts, but have never cooked them all day and aren't sure how they'll hold up.  Nevertheless, you need something sturdy to sit on the bottom of the pot, so in they go.  Turns out, this was your best move in a long time!  In the end, those tiny cabbages will soak up so much of the meat juice and wine in the pot that they become exquisite, spongy balls of dinnertime yumminess.  You're welcome.

Ingredients

12 brussels sprouts, stalky ends removed
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 Roma/plum tomatoes, cut into large chunks
2 lbs. chuck roast, or similar cut
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste
1 C. summer squash, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 C. bell peppers sliced, or other veggies you have, like mushrooms
3/4 C. beef broth
1/4 C. Merlot
1 t. thyme
1 t. rosemary

Directions

Get your slow cooker out, baby, because it's time to cook by tossing a bunch of stuff in a pot, pressing a button and returning at the end of the day!  You need to know that this process is going to take 8-10 hours, so if you're reading this at 5:00 p.m., hoping for a quick dinner idea, sorry to disappoint.

Distribute your brussels sprouts evenly around the bottom of the pot.  Fill in extra space with half of the onion and half of the tomato.  Prepare your roast by rubbing it with salt and pepper on all sides.  Place into the center of the slow cooker pot, on top of the veggies.  Rub the minced garlic onto the top of the roast; don't worry if some of it falls to the sides, it's all going to the same place anyway.  Fill in the extra space around the roast with your summer squash and/or other vegetables.  Top those off with the rest of the onion and tomato pieces.  In a measuring cup, combine beef broth, wine, thyme and rosemary.  Pour mixture over meat and vegetables.  Cover the pot, set cooking temperature to low and cook 8-10 hours (I cooked mine for 10 and it was starting to get a little dry).  Remove meat to a platter and serve surrounded with vegetables.

If you so enjoy - we do - you can easily make gravy from the delicious juices at the bottom of the pot (those that escaped brussels sprouts absorption).  Strain the juice into a small frying pan and place over medium-low heat, reserving about 3 T. or so.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the reserved juice and some corn starch - enough to get the consistency you like.  I used about 1 T., but I like a thick gravy.  Pour this mixture into your frying pan, continually whisking.  Add 1 T. butter or margarine and whisk until all ingredients are well combined and mixture is thick.  Add salt and pepper to taste.