Slow Cooker Pot Roast Sliders with Blue Cheese

Okay, here's a quick one with only one picture - sorry, I'm the worst blogger ever sometimes.  In my defense, I was trying to throw a party, which went over much better once I served everyone some pot roast sliders.  And that brings us to the recipe, which I found online and modified slightly to improve the flavor and healthiness, and also to use what I had available.  I'll note that the original recipe called for chuck roast and I used top round, which is MUCH more lean and probably didn't have quite the same flavor or moistness as would have been found in the original, but it was still delicious, meaning this is pretty forgiving.

If I had it to do over, I would brown the meat, and would definitely use chuck roast to get something a bit more moist and rich, but I was pleased with the immense amount of flavor these sandwiches had, most of which happened to come from the pungent blue cheese paired with the tender threads of a mild, tender beef.  I'll definitely make this again, new and improved, and post a few more pictures some time soon.  In the meantime, go with this for now, or substitute your favorite preparation for a 2 pound pot roast yielding fork-tender beef that can be shredded, and you won't be disappointed with the end result.


Pot Roast Sliders

• 2 lb beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat, or top round if you've got one lying around
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp celery seed
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 1 cup beef or vegetable broth
• 1 packet french onion spice dip mix, or soup mix

• 12 white dinner rolls
• 1 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 3-5 oz blue cheese crumbles
• 1/4 C mayonnaise
• 2 tsp prepared horseradish
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp poppy seeds (optional, I didn't have)
• 2 tsp dehydrated onion, or 2 tbsp minced onion, sauteed in 2 tsp olive oil until slightly browned
• 1 tsp sugar

If you have time, season the beef with a bit of salt and pepper, and brown it in a skillet.  If not, just throw it right into the bottom of your slow cooker, and cover with the next 8 ingredients.  Cook on high for 4-5 hours, or low for 7-8, until fork tender.  Remove to a casserole and shred with two forks.  If this is done too early, cover with foil and place in a 200 deg F oven with a bit of cooking liquid to keep warm.  Mix the horseradish with the mayo and black pepper to make a slathering sauce for the buns - this will keep them from getting soggy.

Once it's showtime, boost the oven to 375 deg F and remove the meat.  Next, slice your dinner rolls in half and assemble the sandwiches.  On each roll, spread on a layer of the horseradish mayo at least on the bottom half, ideally both halves, then top with shredded beef, mozzarella, and blue cheese.  Close up the sandwich.

Melt the butter in a microwave-safe dish and stir in Worcestershire sauce, poppy seeds, onion, and sugar.  Brush this onto the tops of the rolls.  Cover this with foil, and bake for 10 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes, then serve.

Caramelized Onion and Horseradish Pork Sandwiches

As I mentioned in another post, I had a stack of recipes calling for leftover roasted pork loin, and this one sounded like the most savoury of the lot. So after doubling up on the meat to have enough to get me through my leftover experiment, I went ahead and attempted this sandwich recipe.  This calls for caramelizing onions, which is not always an easy task.  The trick is to cook over low heat for a long time, so you don't end up with fajita-style onions that are charred.  You want to get the sugars in the onion to caramelize without burning.  Believe me when I tell you that this requires patience, but that it is worth the effort.

Do yourself a favor on this one - go find good bread.  There's no point in caramelizing onions for an hour if you're going to use Wonder bread.  Though I suppose they're going bankrupt anyway, so maybe when you find this recipe you won't even know what I'm talking about.  Anyway, a good crusty French boule or Italian loaf will do the trick.

Serve with something fried, like these mushrooms, and send your taste buds on vacation

Caramelized Onion and Horseradish Pork Sandwiches

from Cooking Light, September 2004

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cups vertically sliced onion (about 1 1/4 pounds)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
• 2 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
• 1 (8-ounce) loaf French bread, halved lengthwise
• 1 cup torn red leaf lettuce leaves
• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced roasted pork loin (about 8 ounces)

This gives you a feel for how thinly I sliced the onions - about 1/4"

A pork loin, going out with dignity - by way of the electric knife

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Not high, probably not low either but it's too late now. Add onion and next 6 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; cook 30 minutes or until onions are golden, stirring occasionally. This took me an hour of careful monitoring, but if you're really good I bet you can do it in 30. See my time lapse photos below to get a feel for what's going on.  Remove from heat; let cool.

Let's take a journey through caramelizing these bad boys.  This is about 2 minutes in.

14 minutes in.  Keep stirring!

27 minutes in.  Things should start sticking a bit more by now, so you need to keep monitoring.

52 minutes in.  Probably could have stopped by now, but I was still cooking so I let them go a bit more.

59 minutes after starting.  No black bits in the onions = win.

Toast the sliced bread. Warm sliced pork loin if you prefer a hot sandwich. Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, and horseradish; spread evenly over cut side of bottom half of bread. Arrange lettuce (I omitted this - too healthy) over the now mayonnaise-laden bread half (the mayo will prevent the bread from getting soggy). Arrange onions and roasted pork over lettuce. Top with other half of bread. Cut stuffed loaf into 4 pieces and serve.  If you want to get really crazy, add some gruyere cheese and feel your arteries clog in one last meat- and cheese-laden blowout.  Imagine a ham and cheese sandwich on steroids, because that's what you'll end up with.