Scandinavian Pot Roast

Beef pot roast isn’t one of my favorite meats.  It has to have a hook, a pop, that elevates it over the pot roast my Mom used to make.  When I found this Scandinavian recipe that uses dried fruit, cinnamon and ginger, I couldn’t wait to try it.  I would change it to a crockpot recipe and the wonderful smells would float through the castle for hours!

Mix flour, ginger, salt and pepper in a shallow dish

I combined the first four dry ingredients in a flat dish and mixed well.

Dredge roast through flour, covering all sides

I dredged the roast in the flour until it was covered on all sides.

Sear all sides of roast in a skillet with a drizzle of oil until dark brown all over.

I’d preheated my skillet with a drizzle of oil and placed the roast in it to sear as many sides as possible.

Place roast in crockpot. Cover with diced dried fruit (I used apricots) and add 1/2 cup water to pot.

When the roast was nicely seared I placed it in the crockpot.  I diced the dried apricots I’d chosen as my fruit and placed them over the top of the roast.

Place lid on crockpot and cook on low for 4 hours. Add orange juice and cook another hour.

Adding 1/2 cup of water to the crockpot along with a cinnamon stick, I placed the lid on the crockpot and set the temperature to low.  I let it cook for 4 hours and see how things were progressing.  I also needed to add the orange juice the last hour.

The smells coming out of the crockpot were amazing in 4 hours.  The ginger and cinnamon and beef smelled so good!  I added the orange juice to the pot and let it cook for another hour.

Remove roast to a platter and cover with foil.

After 5 hours I carefully lifted the roast onto a platter and covered it with foil.  I set it in the oven to keep it out-of-the-way while I took care of the juices.

Pour juices into skillet with 1/2 cup sugar. Cook on medium high until reduced to half.

I poured the juices into a large skillet and set the heat for medium high.  I tasted the juice and decided it was quite bitter.  I added 1/4 cup of sugar, stirred, tasted and added another 1/4 cup.  Perfect!  I let the liquid reduce down to half, about 20 minutes.  It was the same amount of time needed to get my rice cooked as well.

Slice roast and serve drizzled with gravy

I served the roast beef sliced and drizzled with the reduction and pieces of apricot.  I drizzled more of the sauce over the rice as well.  I’d stir fried some greens in bacon fat as a vegetable side dish.  Dinner was served.

Scandinavian Pot Roast

I think it was the best roast beef I’ve ever tasted!  The beef was tender enough to cut with a fork, moist and flavorful, and it did remind me of Norwegian dishes with their unusual spice combinations.  Who’d have thought to add cinnamon and ginger to roast beef?  It worked very, very well!

Scandinavian Pot Roast

My P.S. (Princely Spouse) loved the roast beef.  He suggested the gravy/reduction could have used a touch of acid to make it pop a little more.  He suggested a shot of lemon juice.  I suggested grated orange peel to mirror the orange juice in the recipe.  When I make this recipe again, I’ll let you know if I find that tweak helpful.

Adapted from Food.com