Crockpot London Broil w/ Red Wine & Fennel

I participated in a professional development program this past Spring, and I've stayed in touch with a number of other people from my cohort, especially those who live in my area. A fellow cohort member was in town from the West Coast for a conference, so I invited a small group over to my place for dinner.

It ended up being just myself and JK, but we had a great time regardless (although we missed you SG, JM and NK!). I was very happy with the dishes I made: London broil with fennel and red wine in the crockpot, curried spinach & lentils, cucumber and radish salad with ginger-lime dressing and sweet potato muffins.

Here's the recipe I made up for my crockpot London broil (and here you thought you were going to get a super-sized post with all of the dishes I made today--you'll just have to wait for the rest!). I was exceedingly happy with the flavor profile; the red wine, fennel and thyme melded together beautifully and the meat was succulent and tender.

Note: I had leftover red wine from Shabbat, but you could also use beer if you have that on hand, although it will have a bit of a different flavor profile.

Crockpot London Broil w/ Red Wine & Fennel

Ingredients:

2 onions
2 fennel bulbs
1 box cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, cleaned
2 cups vegetable stock
1 lb london broil
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp chopped fennel fronds
6 sprigs thyme

Directions:

1. Slice onions and fennel (white part only) into rounds and layer with mushrooms in the bottom of a crockpot. Pour soup stock over mixture.
   
2. Lay meat on top of veggie mixture. Pour red wine and sprinkle salt, pepper and brown sugar over contents of crockpot. Lay chopped fennel fronds and thyme sprigs on top of meat.
3. Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 10-12 hours.
   

The cost:
onions: .50
fennel: 2.85
mushrooms: 1.99
veggie broth: .99
london broil: 9.49
thyme: 1.69

Grand total: $17.51; serves 4-6