Banana Pepper Pulled Beef

You can tell by now that I love my Crock-Pot. It makes preparing a week of meals in one afternoon so much simpler by freeing up my oven for other work. And on top of that, the food is delicious after cooking for hours in flavorful juice. So I always have a Crock-Pot recipe (or two) in mind, when I start meal planning for the week.

This recipe was inspired by an episode of Diners Drive-ins and Dives where they visited a restaurant that made italian beef sandwiches. I realized while watching the show that I haven't been to a deli in forever. Makes sense, but it's also sad. I used to love a roast beef (or turkey or tuna salad) sandwich piled high with deli sliced banana peppers.

So, I decided to take a page from my own recipe book and modify my popular Pepperoncini Pulled Pork to replicate the delicious deli flavors I've missed for so long. Unlike my pulled pork, I decided to keep the banana peppers out of the Crock-Pot to preserve their texture and bright flavor. I'm glad I did! I think you will be too.

Banana Pepper Pulled Beef

Pretty, right?

Ingredients

3 lbs beef roast

6 cloves garlic, diced

2 yellow onions, sliced

1 16 oz jar deli sliced banana peppers

1 cup beef stock

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried tarragon

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Black pepper

Instructions

Add onion, garlic, and seasonings to your Crock-Pot. Place beef roast on top of the onions. Pour in beef stock and juice from the jar of banana peppers (reserve the peppers for later). Set on high and cook until beef pulls apart with a fork. About 5 hours. Turn off heat and let cool enough so that you don't scald yourself in the next steps.

Remove roast and onions from the Crock-Pot. Set aside. Pour juice into a medium skillet. Boil over medium-high heat until the sauce reduces by half. While the sauce reduces, return the cooked roast and onions to the Crock-Pot bowl. Shred the roast using two forks. Add the sliced banana peppers. Pour the reduced sauce over the meat and peppers and combine well. Makes 8 servings.