Slow Cooker Spice Rubbed Tri-Tip Roast w/ Rich and Thick Parmesan Cauliflower Mash

This evening we had a delicious "comfort food" dinner. I pulled out my crock pot to make Slow Cooker Beef Loin Tri-Tip Roast. It turned out delicious. Every time I go to Costco (which is almost every week), I look at these "beef loin tri-tip" roasts they carry that I don't find in my grocery store. I had read an article about them not too long ago in Fine Cooking Magazine and decided that if I could ever find a package with just 1 roast in it instead of 2, that I wanted to try it. Costco always packages them in packs of 2 roasts. They are a triangular shaped roast and not like anything I've seen before (I've added a link below if you are interested in reading about them). This past weekend Costco actually had a couple packages with only 1 roast, so I snatched one up immediately (it was calling my name). It wasn't a large roast -- it was 2.12 pounds (and not too expensive at $5.99/lb). I got a head start on preparing tonight's dinner by beginning it late last night. I originally planned to prep the roast and put it in the crock pot so I could just take it out of the fridge and turn it on before heading to work. Instead, I decided to go ahead and actually cook it for 8 hours overnight while we slept. I turned the crock pot off when I got up at 6:00 this morning and transferred the roast to a platter to cool while I showered. When I got back downstairs the roast was cool so I went ahead and thinly sliced it and placed it back in the "au jus" in the crock pot, covered it and placed it in the fridge until this evening. When I got home, I reheated the sliced roast in the crock pot while I prepared my Rich & Thick Parmesan Cauliflower Mash and cooked my yellow squash by lightly sauteing it in a bit of butter and olive oil with sea salt and black pepper...NO water added -- it makes squash squeak in your teeth when you chew it if you cook it in water (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). To season my 2+ pound roast before placing in the crock pot, I made a super simple rub -- nothing magical, just flavorful. I mixed approximately 1/2 teaspoon of each: sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, smoked paprika, ground ancho chile pepper, and then about 1/4 teaspoon each onion powder and garlic powder (you can use your own favorite combination in place of any or all of these). I placed the roast on a cutting board and just rubbed the mixture all over the roast. I placed a very thinly sliced small-medium sized onion in the bottom of the crock pot so the roast would sit on top of the onion and not directly on the bottom of the pot. After I had a thin layer of onion in the bottom of the pot, I placed my spice rubbed roast on top, covered the crock pot and turned it on high for the first 1-1/2 hours and then down to low for the remaining 6-1/2 hours of slow cooking. I bet you are wondering if I forgot to mention that I added some type of liquid...nope, I didn't forget to mention it because I did not add any liquid. The "au jus" that was created as the roast cooked was a very concentrated flavorful juice made up entirely of beef juices and the little bit of liquid in the onion mixed with the spices and seasonings and was not diluted with anything other liquid. It produced approximately 2 cups of juice. Now...if you were going to leave the house all day long for 8+ hours or so, I would probably add about 1/4 cup of liquid to the pot to make sure it stayed moist. I added a touch more salt and pepper to the au jus and spooned it over the cauliflower mash and beef. It was delicious. If you wanted to thicken it into a gravy, you could do that, too if you preferred...but this juice was very flavorful and didn't require any interference whatsoever, it was good as is. I snapped a few photos below and included the recipe for my Rich & Thick Parmesan Cauliflower Mash. P.S--I would definitely buy this kind of roast again. To read more about what a tri-tip roast is, here is a link: Tri-Tip Roast. Enjoy!

See how I have cooked all the chicken broth down out of the cauliflower?

Freshly pureed with my immersion blender along with the cream, cream cheese, Parmesan. salt and pepper.

Rich and Thick Parmesan Cauliflower Mash

1 medium head of fresh cauliflower, broken into 1-inch florets
1 cup (8 oz) of chicken broth or stock
2 ounces brick style cream cheese (1/4 of an 8-oz brick)
3 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream
3 to 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a medium saucepan, place cauliflower and chicken broth; bring to a boil and then cover pan; turn heat down to low and simmer until cauliflower is very soft and tender and chicken broth has completely cooked into the cauliflower (about 20 to 30 minutes). Make sure there is no liquid left at all in the bottom of the pan (remove the cover if necessary and cook until any remaining liquid is gone and the cauliflower is no longer wet looking).  Remove pan from heat and add cream cheese and heavy cream.  Using an immersion blender stick, blend or puree the cauliflower until the cheese and cream are fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth.  Add grated Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper, to taste.  Blend another minute.  Adjust seasoning and add additional cream, if necessary, to thin out a little bit.  The cauliflower mash should be thick and not runny at all. 

*Note:  To reduce the cooking time for the cauliflower, just cut it up into smaller pieces. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a handheld potato masher, it just won't be quite as smooth. I prefer using an immersion blender rather than transferring it to free-standing blender because it is much easier and less messy since you blend it directly in the pot. It allows you to cover it and keep it warm until ready to serve.