Slow Cooked Beef

You could probably never tell it from this blog, but we actually eat vegetarian most of the time. I was a vegetarian for 13 years (even vegan for a few of those) but have been eating meat again for almost four (oh-my-god-time-goes-fast) years.

Most of my vegetarian recipes seem so second nature to me I don't bother to write them down, but I'll start trying to get more of those up.

There are certain times of the month when, I'm feeling a bit, um, anemic, that I Constantly. Crave. Cow.

For those occasions there's this recipe (served here as sandwiches, but probably excellent over egg noodles or spaetzle)


ready to spend hours alone

Slow-Cooked Beef, serves 6 adapted from the pioneer woman:

You will need:

• chuck roast, about 1.5 lbs (grass-fed local please)
  
• large onion, sliced
• 1 tbsp butter
  
• 6 cups beef broth +/or chicken broth, divided
  
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced in thirds lengthwise
  
• 10-20 pepperoncini peppers, chopped, divided
• 1/2 cup pepperoncini brine
• 2 tbsp italian seasoning
• tabasco sauce
• tamari or soy sauce

sauteed onions, browning beef

1. in dutch oven, heat butter and saute onion until browned
2. put in roast and brown on both sides
3. sprinkle roast with seasoning, garlic and 1/2 the pepperoncinis, then add brine & broth to level with top of beef
4. cover and simmer on stove-top one hour, preheat oven to 275- 300 degrees
5. transfer dutch oven to oven and cook 3-4 hours more check periodically to make sure broth hasn't completely evaporated due to your negligence in getting dutch oven lid back on straight, add more broth as needed.
6. Once meat is very very tender remove it from oven and carefully pull it entirely apart using two forks.
   
7. add remaining pepperoncinis, give it a good stir, then add dashes of tabasco and tamari to taste
8. return covered dutch oven to stove-top and simmer until ready to serve. Alternately, you can refrigerate it at this point then gently reheat the next day when you're ready to eat (what I did)

left over rolls salvaged as new tops

1. toast buttered french rolls under the broiler and top 1/2 with beef mixture (squeeze it out with a slotted spoon so the rolls don't get too soggy)
2. top meat side with swiss or provolone cheese and return to the broiler until cheese melts*
3. close sandwich, plate, serve with the beef juices in small bowls and a giant helping of vegetables to balance it out
   
4. fail to get a single picture that makes a delicious meal look appetizing
   
5. share, eat, enjoy

This could easily be adapted for a slow cooker; Just saute the onions and brown the beef before throwing it all in the cooker.


all eaten up

*monitor the broiling sandwiches very closely, or don't make this when you're having friends over for dinner. For the life of me I can NOT broil anything when we have company; this was the second time I've smoked friends out the house when something only needed a "few more seconds" under the boiler. At least the food didn't burst into flames, this time.

Mushroom Beef Bourguignon

This weekend we had some friends over for dinner, and I wanted to make dinner using my new toy/ dutch oven. None of the recipes it came with  seemed quite right, I wanted something I could leave mostly unattended and that would cook for hours. I googled, I searched epicurious for "dutch oven" still nothing, so I decided to search Smitten Kitchen, success! I was going to make the vegetarian version, but had been feeling a bit anemic lately so decided to add the beef. The recipe seems like it could easily be made vegan by leaving out the beef, using veggie broth and substituting soy margarine; I bet it would still be delicious.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Mushroom Bourguignon (serves 4 with a little left over)

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3/4 lb beef stew meat 
  
• 6 cups mushrooms, sliced (combination of portabella & crimini)
• 1 smallish yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 large carrot, finely diced
• 1 tsp fresh thyme (all my normal thyme seems to have died, so I used the flourishing "caraway thyme")
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
  
• 1 cup pearl onions
  
• 1.5 tbsp flour

1. Heat 1 tbsp butter and olive oil in dutch oven or large heavy pot.  Brown beef and remove. Briefly brown mushrooms and remove (careful not not let them weep)
2. Add 2nd tbsp olive oil to pot then saute onion, carrots & thyme along with a bit salt & fresh ground pepper until onion is translucent and beginning to brown. Add garlic, cook briefly then add wine. Turn up heat until wine is reduced by half (if your beef chunks are large you may want to cut them into smaller pieces now), then add beef broth & tomato paste
3. Add beef and simmer, covered, on low heat until beef is exceptionally tender (this took several hours, don't worry about overcooking it)
4. Once beef is falling-apart tender add mushrooms and give it all a good stir. Keep cooking on low, covered, stirring occasionally. After mushrooms have shrunken add pearl onions, and continue to cook as before until mushrooms are tender. (or longer, I ended up having started too early so the food simmered, just barely, a good hour at this point)
5. Mash the remaining butter & flour together, and stir the paste into the bourguignon. Start the water for your noodles and let cook
   
6. Serve bourguignon over egg noodles with a dollop of sour cream. I Accompanied it with butter lettuce salad in lemon vinaigrette. Success!

Beef Stroganoff

I have been craving beef stroganoff for three years, really. For some reason I just hadn't gotten around to making it- I wanted it to taste just like I remember from childhood, I kept forgetting to ask my mom for her recipe, she didn't have a recipe, I lost the copy she gave me, etc... and three years later I decided it was time to do a little searching and find a recipe that would taste right.


Despite the bad picture the food was delicious

Thank to the epicurious app on my iphone and the tragically, dearly departed gourmet I managed to make beef stroganoff that tasted exactly like what I'd been dreaming about.

Adapted from Beef Stroganov in Gourmet October 2001

You will need

• 3 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter (divided 1.5+1+1)
  
• 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 lb beef*
  
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (divided 1+1)
  
• 1/2 cup shallot, sliced thin
  
• 4 cups (3/4 lb) brown mushrooms, cut in thick slices
  
• 3 Tbsp sour cream at room temperature
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped
  
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• (you'll also need egg noodles to serve properly)
  

*I used stir-fry strips my meat counter had pre-cut, but they cook through a little too quickly, so next time I'll just have the butcher cube a steak



This recipe was what finally got it through my head that prep is important, I got all my ingredients measured and chopped and ground and whatnot prior to cooking and it made things go sooo smooth.

1. Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over moderate heat then whisk in flour
   
2. Cook roux, whisking constantly for 2 minutes.
   
3. Add beef broth in a slow stream whisking constantly, bring to a boil.
   
4. Reduce heat & simmer sauce 3 minutes, whisking periodically.
   
5. Remove from heat & keep covered & warm.

1. Rinse & pat beef dry then season well with salt and pepper.
   
2. Heat 1 Tbsp butter with 1 Tbsp olive oil in a heavy skillet over moderately high heat.
   
3. Sauté beef in two batches, turning to brown on both sides but still pink inside, about 1 minute.
   
4. Transfer the meat and its juices to a bowl .

1. Heat remaining butter with remaining olive oil in the same skillet until hot but not smoking,
   
2. Sauté shallot lightly brown, about 3 minutes.
   
3. Add mushrooms and sauté, stirring occasionally, until their water is evaporated and mushrooms are browned, about 8 to 10 minutes.
   
4. Return meat with its juices to skillet and stir to combine.
5. Keep on lowest heat.
   

1. Reheat roux/broth sauce over low heat without boiling
   
2. Whisk sour cream, mustard, dill*, salt, & pepper into sauce.
   
3. Stir sauce into beef and mushrooms until combined
4. serve over buttered egg noodles

*I didn't remember there being dill in stroganoff, but it definitely gave the food the flavor I wanted.



Enjoy!

The not-super-appetizing-looking side above the stroganoff is leftover actually-quite-delicious cabbage dish I'll post the recipe for soon.

This recipe claims to make six servings, but really it's four, two if you have the metabolism of my skinny husband.