Easy Pot Roast

I'm back, and with me I bring another delicious dish from the slow cooker. During my weekly grocery run I found Boston butt (pork shoulder) at a deep discount at Kroger. I've used this cut before, but I've always prepared it BBQ-style. I wanted go with a more southern, "roast-style" flavor this time around, so I seasoned the shoulder with salt, pepper, and some McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning and placed it in the fridge overnight. The next morning I put the shoulder into the slow cooker along with a couple of cups of beef broth, a little Worcestershire sauce, and some chopped veggies, set the heat to low, and let 'er cook all day while I was at work. When I got home I skimmed the fat out, threw the shoulder bone to the dog, pulled the meat out of the slow cooker and put it in a pan in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes to tighten the meat up a bit. While the meat was cooking I took some of the broth mixture from the cooker and made an au jous by boiling over high heat with some white wine, salt, and pepper until it had reduced by 3/4ths. Side note - if you have an immersion blender, you can add some of the fat and vegetables in with the broth and puree it smooth. It makes the au jous quite a bit tastier. I served the meat topped with the au jous and alongside mashed sweet potatoes. This was good stuff - real comfort food that was even better after a long day at work.

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 8lb Pork shoulder
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Onion, sliced into quarters and separated
  
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 5 fingerling potatoes, halved
• salt & pepper
• McCormick's Montreal steak seasoning
• For mashed sweet potatoes:
• 3 sweet potatoes
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp nutmeg

Season exterior of pork shoulder with salt, pepper, and McCormick's seasoning, wrap with plastic and place in refrigerator overnight. The next day, place shoulder into slow cooker along with beef broth, Worcestershire, carrots, onions, and potatoes. Set cooker to low and allow to cook for 6-8 hours. Turn off and remove meat. Pull away loose fat and place in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. While meat is cooking, take 2 cups of leftover broth and bring to a boil along with 1/4 cup white wine, 1 tsp salt, and 2 tsp pepper. Allow to simmer until mixture has reduced by 3/4ths. Remove meat and serve topped with au jous.

Perfect Mashed Sweet Potatoes:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees Clean sweet potatoes, pierce with a fork all over, and cook for an hour or until insides of potatoes are soft. Remove potatoes from oven, peel off skin, and puree along with butter, milk, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Serve topped with butter and a dash of cinnamon.