Crock Pot Season

We seem to have turned from long Indian summer to full-on Fall over night in Missoula.  And that's the Montana way--wild weather extremes.  The air is crisp, it's started raining again and it's time to pull out the Crock Pot!

I decided to kick off this season of slow-simmered dishes with "Beef in Barolo" from Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever.  Hyperbole? Possibly.  But it's certainly the best slow cooker cookbook ever. 

Beef in Barolo involves cubed beef chuck browned with salt, pepper and minced garlic, then cooking a sliced sweet onion, a carrot and some dried rosemary in the juices, then dumping it all in the Crock Pot with some crushed tomatoes and some Italian red wine.  Barolo or Chianti or whatever you have on hand.  I used those Muir Glen fire-roasted tomatoes for some extra flavor.  We'll eat it over brown rice tonight with something green on the side.  The aroma of slow cooking beef in red wine with rosemary is making the kitchen smell heavenly.  And Ford is mostly taking his afternoon nap in his crib.  Quite the pleasant afternoon!