Roast Beef and Sweet Citrus Salad 2

UPC’s Roast Beef and Sweet Citrus Salad

There’s something special about slow-cooked meat. It’s really easy to make, and really easy to time for completion. It’s both demanding and forgiving: demanding in that you must plan enough time or it won’t work, and forgiving in that as long as you plan for enough time, you can reasonably cook without fear of failure and it will still come out pretty good! It’s universally worth the effort. Ok, that might be a bit of an overstatement… But only a bit. The only people I know who don’t like slow-cooked meat are vegetarians. And, well, there’s just not much more to add to that…

So now that you know, yet again, how I feel about slow-cooked meat let’s take a look at meal-planning for that sumptuous slow-cooked roast that you’ve got bubbling away deliciously in your slow-cooker right now. If you’re looking to go the really-easy-way, a Swiss Steak style meal could be just the thing! Swiss Steak is a special way of cooking meat to tenderize an otherwise relatively tough cut; but it has been somewhat modernized to include slow-cooking your vegetables along with the steak, making it a complete meal. I have a few meals like that here, here, here, and here, and several more which are all worth cooking, tasting, and sharing. These meals are delicious almost no matter how you make them, and for the right occasion, they’ll feel like a sure-fire ticket to success! I mean, who doesn’t love a slow-cooked steak, right?
And while Swiss Steak meals are delicious, there are some meals where you don’t want your vegetables to have been slow-cooked with the steak. You want your vegetables to represent a vibrant and opposing flavor, helping you to really appreciate the contrast between what you did with the meat on your plate, and what you’ve done with your veggies. For those meals, a side salad like my Sweet Citrus Salad could be just the thing! In today’s recipe, I do a variation on the Sweet Citrus Salad salad, preferring for the veggies on the plate to be that more vibrant and opposing flavor.

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Roast Beef and Sweet Citrus Salad

A subtly spiced slow-cooked beef roast, combined with a quick, easy, delicious salad could be just the thing to bring you home with a smile!

Author: Urban Paleo Chef

Recipe type: Entree

Serves: 4-8

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  10 hours

Total time:  10 hours 15 mins

Ingredients

• 3-6 lb Beef Roast (Grass-fed for best flavor)
• 4-6 Carrots, cut to 3-inch pieces
• 4-6 medium Sweet Potatoes
• 2 tablespoons each spice: Cloves, Turmeric, Sea Salt
• Optional Spices: Ginger, Cumin, Paprika, Chile Powder
• Sweet Citrus Salad (link for recipe here)

Instructions

1. Lay the roast in the middle of a slow-cooker or Crock Pot, leaving as much room around the outside of the roast as possible.
2. Turn the slow-cooker on to the "Low" setting.
3. Spice the roast by spreading the spices as evenly as reasonably possible onto the roast.
4. Make sure that a little bit of the spices are sprinkled around the bottom of the slow-cooker too.
5. Add the carrots around the base of the slow-cooker. Try to cover as much space as possible, so that the sweet potatoes will have to be laid on top of the carrots.
6. Lay the sweet potatoes into the slow-cooker, leaving them on top of the carrots as much as possible. They will taste much better if they're held above most of the juices.
7. Cover, and let cook all day.
8. When you return home, prepare the Sweet Citrus Salad, serve, and enjoy!

Notes

If you're using any of the "Optional Spices" - be sure to remove an equivalent amount of the already recommended spices. Most roasts are best with simple, subtle flavors and flavor combinations. So carefully consider the end-flavor you have in mind when choosing which spices to use on your roast.
For reference, the "Low" setting on your slow-cooker should boil water, eventually; but it should take quite some time to get there.

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