Slow Cooker Italian Pot Roast

    We were making a split second decision to head to Kingston for the day, but I knew we would be back by dinner time (and would want to eat!). I already had a venison roast thawed and ready for a supper in the fridge (from cleaning out the freezer, and realizing we needed to eat some meat), but with no time to spare, I quickly put this together, and headed out the door. It turned out sooooo good! 

Slow Cooker Italian Pot Roast (Using Venison)

Ingredients:

• One 3-3 1/2 lb deer (venison) roast.  A beef chunk roast would work too.  If the roast has been "aged" it will be more tender. You can age a roast by having it in the fridge for 1-2 days before cooking. 
• 2 tbsp oil, and 1 tbsp butter (for searing the roast)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 1 bag of baby carrots (I would have used regular if I had them-probably about 5, cut up)
• 5 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 tbsp italian seasoning (a homemade mix of dried thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, and basil). Use any/all of these seasonings that you like.
• One can tomato sauce (I used a tomato & basil kind) 680 ml
• *If I had potatoes I would have added them. If you have some, add 4-5 small potatoes, quartered. 

Method:

1. Heat 2 tbsp of oil, and 1 tbsp of butter in a large skillet on medium-high heat.

2. While the oil is heating, add to your slow cooker the onion, carrots, cloves of garlic, and potatoes . Sprinkle seasoning over the veggies. 

3. Sprinkle one side of the roast with salt and pepper. Once oil/butter is hot, carefully place the roast (salt and pepper side down) into the pan. This process is called searing, and helps the roast stay moist by sealing in the juices. The point here is not to cook the roast right through, but to give the outside a beautiful brown colour. 

4. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each side of the roast as you turn the roast to all sides to get each side browned.   

5. Using tongs, or 2 spoons, lift the roast from the pan, and set into the prepped slow cooker.

6. Pour tomato sauce over roast and veggies, turn slow cooker to low, and go about your day!  

7. A venison roast will require (to be really tender, and  not too gamey) about 7 hours on low. It will be 'done' sooner than that, but it gets more tender the longer it slow cooks. A regular beef roast will only take about 5 hours on low, but again, the longer it slow cooks, the more tender it will be. Mine got to cook for 9 hours because we were gone a looooong time!  

8. Once the roast is ready, remove from the slow cooker to a cutting board, and let it sit for at least 5 minutes. While it's sitting, get the carrots & potatoes out of the slow cooker using a slotted spoon. Place into a bowl, and put foil on top to keep them warm. Then, slice the roast across the grain, and place back into the crock pot so the juices keep it moist. 

9. To serve, simply put some meat on your plate, and spoon on the 'gravy' (the tomato sauce from the crock pot) over it! Don't forget your carrots and potatoes! 

    I am using deer meat not really because I like it that much, but because my freezer is full of it! My husband and his friends hunt, and "meat share". So, if any of the guys get anything, they share the meat with everyone in the hunt camp. If prepared correctly, it can be a very nice meat. This roast did not have a lot of gaminess to it at all because of being slow roasted with the tomato sauce. It was tender, flavourful, and all around yummy! 

    How do you feel about deer meat, have you ever had it? Do you know of any great venison recipes I might like to try? Do share! Hate venison? Try this with a regular roast, you won't be sorry! :)