Moroccan Inspired Pot Roast with Chickpeas & Couscous

The first thing you will want to do is brown the pot roast in a stainless steel skillet. You don’t want to use non-stick because you want some brown bits to be stuck to the bottom of the pan. Heat the pan over medium-high heat with a bit of canola oil or olive oil in the bottom. In the meantime, liberally salt both sides of the chuck roast. When the pan just starts to smoke, place the beef into it. Cook until you get a nice brown sear on one side, then flip and repeat with the other side. Then remove the beef from the pan to a slow cooker.

Add the chopped garlic into the skillet, cook just to soften, but make sure you don’t burn it. Then add the garlic to the slow cooker.

Now pour about 1/2 cup of the beef stock into the skillet and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the liquid from the pan as well as the remaining stock into the slow cooker.

Add in your spices: cinnamon, cumin and paprika, along with some grinds of black pepper. I also like to taste a bit of the liquid at this point, to see if it needs any additional salt. Cook in your slow cooker for at least 4 hours on high.

As for adding the carrots, I like to add them about an hour before the meat is done, so they aren’t complete mush. But if you are going to be out and about, feel free to add them now.

To prepare the chickpeas:
I used 8 ounces of dried chickpeas. I put them in a separate slow cooker with 5-6 cups of water and a pinch of baking soda. You could prepare these beforehand and just refrigerate them until ready to add them to the final dish.

To prepare the final dish:
Once the meat and chickpeas are done, drain the chickpeas and add them to the slow cooker with the meat. You might not use all of them it’s up to your judgment. If not, you can save any leftovers for another use later. Break the meat up with a fork inside the slow cooker and scoop everything out and serve over couscous. Garnish with chopped parsley.