Roast Beef with Sweet Potatoes and Apples

This was a slow cooker recipe that I converted to a pressure cooker recipe.  To use in a slow cooker, brown the roast in a sauté pan and cook on low for 8-9 hours.

2-3 lb beef boneless shoulder roast
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. black pepper
1 c. beef broth
Water
1 medium onion, sliced
2 minced garlic cloves
3 sweet potatoes
2 green apples, cored and sliced
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. cold water
salt and pepper t.t.

Heat the oil in the bottom of the cooker without the rack.  

Combine flour, thyme, salt, and pepper in a gallon ziploc bag.  

Place roast in the bag and shake until roast is coated on all sides.  

When oil is hot, place the roast in the cooker and brown on all sides.  Remove the roast, place the rack in the bottom of the cooker, and place the roast on the rack.  

Add beef broth and enough water to bring the liquid level up to 2 inches from the bottom of the cooker.  

Add apples, sweet potatoes, onions and garlic.  Leave the sweet potatoes whole because they tend to fall apart in the cooker.  

Seal the lid and place the weight regulator over the vent at 15 lbs of pressure.  Turn your burner on high until the weight begins to rattle, then reduce the heat to maintain approximately 4 rattles per minute.  

Let cook for 60 minutes from the time the weight began to rattle.

When cooking time is complete, turn off the heat and use a pot holder to remove the weight from the vent pipe.  

Allow the pressure inside the cooker to come to 0 before opening the lid.  

Open the lid from the back first to avoid getting a face full of steam.  

Place the roast, sweet potatoes, onions and apples on a serving platter and hold.  

Chances are the only thing left of the apples are the skins.  That’s ok.  They help to sweeten and thicken the sauce.  

Remove the rack from the cooker.  

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, cinnamon and cold water.  Whisk until well combined and no lumps remain.  

Turn the burner with the cooker onto medium heat and whisk in slurry mixture.  Simmer and whisk for 15 minutes or until it reaches desired thickness.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  

Serve sauce with roast and potatoes.

This wasn’t the prettiest dish, but it tasted good.  I especially enjoyed the sweet sauce with the beef.  

I’m not a big fan of sweet potatoes, so I tossed in a couple Yukon Gold potatoes for myself.  My husband enjoyed the sweet potatoes while I ate my regular potatoes.  

The biggest problem with pressure cooking is that the vegetables tend to turn out like mush.  If you want a prettier dish, I would recommend using the pressure cooker for the meat and steaming or sautéing your vegetables; however, you will lose a lot of flavor in your sauce if you cook the apples and sweet potatoes separately in this case.  

Another option would be to cook the roast for 50 minutes, release the pressure, add the vegetables, bring the pressure back up and cook for an additional 10 minutes.  I’ve done this with pot roast and it turned out really good.  I’ll probably try that with this recipe next time around.

I made the mistake of quartering my potatoes before cooking.  The Yukon Golds held up really well, but the sweet potatoes turned to mush.  I would recommend leaving the potatoes whole.  

Different varieties of potatoes have different starch levels and therefore some fall apart more easily.  Without getting into specifics, it’s easier to just leave them whole.  The pressure cooker will have no problem cooking them all the way through.  

If you decided to do this recipe in a slow cooker, you may still want to quarter them.