Crockpot french dips

Ingredients:
3-4 lbs chuck roast, remove as much fat as possible
1/2 c soy sauce
1 beef boullion cube
2 bay leaves
4 whole peppercorns
1 t thyme
1 t garlic powder (I used fresh minced)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

1. Slap it all into a corckpot, set on low.
2. Add and stir in water to barely cover the meat.
3. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.
4. Shred meat, serve on rolls with broth from pot to dip.

Ahh yes, here we are at the long ago promised crockpot french dip post. Sorry for the delay. Every time a new semester starts at school it takes me a while to get back into the regular flow of things, and here I am!

Contrary to the simple directions above, I did some additional prep work the night prior to add another laywer of flavor. My foodie friend Jessica gave me this recipe, and also gave me this extra tip. Take a beautiful hunk of meat like this:
And combine them with this:

And what you end up with is pure flavor insanity.

First I mixed some wine (probably about a cup), a generous drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic.

Then I got to trimming off as much fat as I could. If you leave any fat on there it will dissolve into the dipping juice and basically eventually give you a heart attack. Nice visual. On we go...

After the fat has been trimmed, put the meat in a large ziploc bag.

Add the wine and olive oil mixture. Let this mellow, and get the other additions ready for the morning.

Mix the soy sauce,

the boullion ( I used Better Than Boullion paste),

add the peppercorns,

the thyme,

Mix that and toss in the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs.

I set this and the bag of meat in the fridge overnight so it is all ready to put together in the morning. I am so devoted to food blogging I managed to snap a few morning pictures of the assembly, even though I get up at the atrocious hour of 5am. Yikes.

I get up so early that my brain isn't ready to work until I am long gone from the house, as evidenced by the mistake I made in the recipe at this point. I forgot to add the water! Which is why I came home and the crockpot looked like this:

It still smelled and tasted amazing, just salty. So I took the meat out and added some liquids to the pot. I put about a half cup of wine, and 1-1 1/2 c of water. I put the crockpot on high and let the liquid bubble while I prepared the topping.

I started by getting my cast iron skillet nice and hot. While also being mortified and the hot mess that is the griddle in the background. I didn't have the time to clean it off because at this point I was almost drowning in my own drool the house smelled THAT GOOD. I added some olive oil to the pan.

Then went to chop up some beautiful peppers. I don't like to waste anything so I use all but the stem.

My super secret ingredient to any sauteed peppers is always anchovies. Toos a few fillets into the hot oil and stir them around. They will melt into the oil leaving a salty and nutty flavor behind. It does not taste like fish at all, but it does provide an incredible extra layer of flavor.

I add the peppers.

Yum, aren't they gorgeous? Peppers like this are one of my favorite things.

For the bread I knew I wanted something crusty, but not too big so it would be easy enough to handle and dip into the sauce. These are technically hotdog buns from Whole Foods, but they work really well for sandwiches.

And there was no possible way these sandwiches could be eaten without some creamy hot beaver! We are huge fans of horseradish in this house.

I toasted the buns, smeared generously with horseradish, piled on the meat and pepper, and set it on a plate next to a bowl of the drippings.

Completely fabulous and out of this world delicious.

Next time I will make sure to remember the water. I mean really? I blame the 5am wake up alarm. I scarfed this sandwich down in about two bites, with my eyes closed, maybe swaying from side to side in a trance.

In fact, I texted the fiance "What time are you off? 8? I want to know when you will be home to experience this culinary masterpiece".

Make this. Remember the water. Be amazed. That is all.

French Dips, to be continued....

Yesterday was a foodie's delight. There were some amazing blog updates, I found a recipe I wanted to try and had all the ingredients for, but first thing in the morning THIS happened:
I admit, I am a bit of a meat snob. There are so many rules regarding meat I will or will not eat that it is often easier to tell people I am a vegeterian. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found a kindred meat snob soul at work! We quickly bonded over our mutual love of Whole Foods, and she happens to have about one of the cutest babies I have ever seen.

She gave me a recipe for french dip sandwiches you make in the crockpot, one of my favorite tools. Then she went above and beyond and brought me a sample of the recipe she made the night before! Well, needless to say I think it took about two bites for me to polish off the sandwich, then it took everything in me to not bathe in the remaining sauce. The poor fiance didn't get a single bite. I actually had to wash the dish out quickly and drink some wine for fear he would smell it on me, like a wild dog. You see, these type of sandwiches are pretty much one of his very favorite things. That being said, I trust we can keep this fact between us: I have no choice but to purchase the ingredients and surprise him with this meal sometime next week. The recipe will be posted of course.

In the meantime, I have even more recipe and posts in the pipeline. But it is Friday, I have poured my first glass of wine, and I intend to at least finish the rest of this bottle. Until tomorrow then...