Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef with Onions (Recipe 54 of 125)

This house smells amazing. It started smelling amazing around 11 am this morning when I put the 

Photo from Cook's Country

 onions on to cook. The smell of cooking onions is one that is one of my favorite smells. As the day progressed and this concoction cooked, the smell made me so hungry. Tomato-y, beefy, onion-y...all delicious. 

This was a good recipe. It could have used more salt, but that's the cook not the recipe. I didn't taste it midway through like I normally do. I didn't put this over anything, just ate it like a pot roast. Hindsight it would have been good with mashed potatoes. 

My liquid wasn't as thick as I expected it to be. If I make it again, I'd make a slurry with cornstarch and turn it up to high for about 30 minutes. 

Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef with Onions (Carbonnade)

Cook's Country Dec/Jan 2018

Serves 6

• 4 lbs boneless beef chuck eye roast, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 pieces
• Salt and pepper
• 2 large onions, sliced thin
• 1 c water
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 T packed brown sugar
• 1/4 c tomato paste
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 3 T flour
• 1 1/2 c Belgian style or lager beer
• 1 c chicken broth
• 1/2 c chopped parsley

Season beef with salt and pepper and place into a slow cooker. [JW note: I actually browned the beef before putting it in the slow cooker.]

Combine onions, water, oil, sugar salt and pepper into a non stick skillet. Bring mixture to boil over medium-high heat. Cover and cook until onions are softened and water is nearly evaporated, about 10 minutes. 

Uncover and continue to cook, stirring often, until onions are soft and dark brown, 8-10 minutes. 

Add tomato paste, garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. 

Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in beer and broth and bring to simmer. Cook until thickened, about 2 minutes.

Transfer to slow cooker and stir to combine. Cook until beef is tender, 6-7 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low. Discard thyme sprigs. Skim off fat from surface. Stir in parsley and season to taste. 

Serve with mashed potatoes or wide egg noodles.