Beef Pot Roast - Pressure Cooked
Pot roast is one meal that my mother mastered, since it is simple and doesn’t require lots of attention. Pressure cooking a pot roast is even easier, and much faster than simmering the roast for hours on the stove. I adapted this from the Beef and Vegetable Casserole recipe in ‘Pressure Cooking The Easy Way: Healthy One-Pot Meals Everyone Will Love’ by Maureen B. Keane and Daniella Chase, Prima Publishing, 1997.
Ingredients:
2-3 pound beef roast. Choose a roast with less fat.
Several cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large or 2 medium onions, coarsely sliced in wedges
3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups beef broth (or 2 cups water with 2 tsp (or 2 cubes) of beef bouillon, or 1 1/2 cup water plus
1/2 cup red wine with 2 tsp (or 2 cubes) of beef bouillon)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp pepper
1-2 tbsp of olive or canola oil
Heat oil over medium heat in pressure cooker, add chopped garlic cloves and sliced onions, cook, stirring, until onions are transparent.
If roast is tied with string, cut string off and discard. Cut a large roast into 2 pieces for more even cooking. Put roast in pot with garlic and onions and sear all sides, turning with a meat fork, until all sides of the meat are browned.
When roast is browned, add carrots, broth or water/wine with bouillon, pepper, and bay leaf. Give a good stir to make sure all ingredients are mixed and nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Put on pressure cooker lid, keep on medium heat until pressure cooker indicator shows pressure is about 15 pounds.
Turn down heat slightly, and cook at high pressure for 45 to 55 minutes.
Move the pressure cooker off the burner and let pressure fall on its own.
Using meat fork, take roast and put onto serving plate. Let rest for about 10 minutes for easier carving. Arrange vegetables around carved roast, or just scoop vegetables out of pressure cooker onto plates. Can spoon broth over roast (and mashed potatoes). Making gravy is too much trouble.
Serves 4-6, or one meal for 2 with leftovers for sandwiches. Round out the meal with a green vegetable and/or garlic mashed potatoes, and crusty bread (and the rest of the red wine, if used). You can cool the cooking broth in the refrigerator, skim off the fat, then freeze and use later in a beef-based soup.