Tuesday's moose roast = today's moose stew

The other night we got a call from Jeff's co-worker that he was across the street smoking some caribou and we should stop by.  It was definitely a good idea, because we came home bearing gifts of meat.

One of the things he gave us was a moose roast.  Now, Jeff & I aren't big steak eaters, and I've only made roast a couple times in our 5 years together.  We are much more chicken or ground beef kind of people.  But that's okay, because it was time for roast and I had yet to haul out my crock pot since I got up here.

I have this stuff called Better Than Bullion; it's in a jar, a very thick liquid, and you mix it with water to create stock or broth.  I figured that way I don't have to keep a bunch of broth on hand.  I made some beef stock with that, along with some apple cider (I used two cups of each liquid), for the crock pot liquid.  I seared the roast on all sides before putting it into the crock pot with some onions.  And then I put an envelope of crock pot roast seasoning in.  I wasn't going to settle for a flavorless roast!  Since I had put apple cider in, I chose not to add in an envelope of onion soup mix, or any ranch seasoning.

I cooked it for 2 hours on low, 2 hours on high, and another 2 hours on low (I was limited on time, or else I would have cooked it for 8 hours on low).

When I had two hours left, I added in some bite-size chunks of carrot and potato, because that is my favorite* part of having roast - the veggies that were cooked in the juice and sucked up all the flavor.


*When I was a kid I was the youngest so I was always served first at dinner.  And every time we would have crock pot roast, I would complain that my piece was "hard" (7-year-old word for tough), and everyone else would say "No it's not."  And so I would not enjoy having roast.  Finally, after many years, my Dad tried my piece of roast.  And he said, "It is tough."  Finally!  Vindication!  And probably the reason I don't order steak.  I don't know what Jeff's problem is.


So on Tuesday night we had roast & veggies, and mac n cheese per Jeff's request.  Um, the flavors didn't really go together well, but I did like what the cheese did to the liquid I had in my bowl (I almost always serve my dinner into a bowl.  true story).

Obviously we had leftovers of the roast & veggies because 2 people aren't going to eat the whole thing!  I sliced up more of the roast and fished out the veggies, and put it into a container and filling it with liquid from the crock pot.  I also put about a third of the roast into a freezer bag and popped it into the freezer.  I have plans for that!  Oh, I need to add Ritz crackers to my shopping list...


And today is Thursday.  I didn't make dinner last night.  I thought we had fish or burritos in the freezer so I figured Jeff wouldn't starve.  Ooops.  We didn't have either one.  I guess I should have made dinner.  So today I took that left over roast & veggies and turned it in to stew!  (Don't worry, Jeff ended up having meatballs for dinner)

I stared with the juice.  I had kept a mason jar of it before I emptied the crock pot.  I used it to make a gravy.

Gravy
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
8 ounces broth/stock

First melt the butter.  Then whisk in the flour, cooking for 2 minutes while you whisk.  Add in the liquid, all while continuing to whisk.  Yes, it's difficult to do both things at once.  But you can do it!

Once you get it all whisked together and heated through, you have gravy!  Mine ended up being very thick, but that was okay, because I wasn't going to use it as gravy.  I put most of that gravy into another container so I could use the same sauce pan for the stew.

I then grabbed that moose roast & veggies in liquid.  I used my Ulu to cut everything to small chunks.

you caught me mid-cut...

I put the meat, veggies, and some liquid into the little bit of gravy that I left in the sauce pan.  Mixed it all around.  Then I added a big more liquid and the rest of the gravy to get it to the consistency that I like my stews to be.  When Jeff gets home I will make either mashed potatoes or rice to serve it with.

Look at me, a real Alaska housewife, making moose for dinner multiple nights in one week...  And Jeff's been have snacks of caribou sausage every once in a while...  You should come visit!