I stole this recipe for Italian Pot Roast & Parmesan Risotto from Plainchicken.com who stole it from food.com. Pot roast is cooked in the slow cooker and the risotto cooks on the stove near the end. Au jus mix, Italian dressing mix and tomato juice are some of the tasty ingredients that the roast cooks in while in the slow cooker. The roast meat is shredded and cooks for another 30 minutes in the gravy while you make the creamy risotto. An beautiful Italian meal that your family can devote attention to eating.
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” – Luciano Pavarotti, Italian operatic tenor (see more quotes in the Quotes tab)
Place 3 lb pot roast (blade roast) in slow cooker.
In a small bowl add 1 tbsp diced minced onion flakes, 2 tbsp minced fresh garlic, 1 ¼ oz package au jus mix, 1 oz package dried Italian salad dressing mix, 2 tsp black pepper, 1 pinch cayenne and 1 ½ cups tomato juice.
Whisk ingredients together and pour over roast.
Cook on LOW for 8-12 hours or HIGH for 4 ½ hours.
Shred the meat with two forks and mix with gravy. Cover slow cooker and leave on Low or Warm while you make the risotto.
In a large skillet, coat 1 lb Arborio rice with 3 tsp olive oil.
Add 1 cup of heated chicken broth, stirring continually.
Maintain a slow boil and add rest of broth (from 46 oz container), 1 cup at a time, while stirring continually.
When broth is absorbed add 3 oz grated Parmesan cheese, 1 tsp onion powder and 1 tsp ground black pepper.
Stir risotto ingredients together, place the risotto on the center of a plate, and slightly flatten it.
Ladle the shredded roast on top of the risotto, adding sauce from the slow cooker if needed.
Italian Pot Roast & Parmesan Risotto
Pot roast is cooked in the slow cooker and the risotto cooks on the stove near the end. Au jus mix, Italian dressing mix and tomato juice are some of the tasty ingredients that the roast cooks in while in the slow cooker. The roast meat is shredded and cooks for another 30 minutes in the gravy while you make the creamy risotto.
Ingredients
Italian Pot Roast
- 3 lb pot roast blade roast
- 1 tbsp diced minced onion flakes
- 2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
- 1 ¼ oz package au jus mix
- 1 oz package dried Italian salad dressing mix
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 pinch cayenne
- 1 ½ cups tomato juice
Parmesan Risotto
- 3 tsp olive oil
- 46 oz chicken broth warmed
- 1 lb Arborio rice
- 3 oz grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp onion powder
- Ground black pepper
Instructions
Pot Roast
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Place roast in slow cooker. Whisk remaining ingredients and pour over roast. Cook on LOW for 8-12 hours or HIGH for 4 ½ hours.
Risotto
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In a large skillet, coat the rice with olive oil. Add 1 cup of heated chicken broth, stirring continually. Maintain a slow boil and add rest of broth, 1 cup at a time, while stirring continually. When broth is absorbed add cheese, onion powder and pepper.
Recipe Notes
Italian Pot Roast: I couldn’t find the oz sizes of au jus and salad dressing mix the recipe called for, my grocery store didn’t carry those sizes. So I used a 1 oz package of au jus mix and a 0.7 oz package of dried Italian salad dressing mix (I added a dash of Italian seasoning to be safe). Everything came out great seasoning wise. So don’t worry if the packages of the dried mixes are slightly less than the recipe calls for. The cooking time range for the LOW was a little odd to me, it seems like too big of a gap at 4 hours. So I cooked the roast on LOW for 8 ½ hours, shredded the meat in the slow cooker using two forks, stirred everything together and let it cook for another 30 minutes for a total of 9 hours. Also after a few hours I would break apart the sauce that was burning along the edges and move the sauce a little to recover the roast. I think it I cooked for the 12 hours the tomato juice would have burned.
Parmesan Risotto: Toast the rice in the olive oil first, on medium low heat, stirring constantly until the rice gets toasty with a little color. Then cook the rice 2 to 3 minutes between each addition of rice. To plate this dish, I put the risotto on the center of a plate, slightly flatten it then ladle the shredded roast over top, adding sauce from the slow cooker if needed.