HomeCookin’- seared soy & vinegar marinated steak with stir fry noodles and broccoli.
HomeCookin’ : Slow Cooker Chipotle three bean beef chili
My crock pot is a favorite. I am loving learning new tricks and experimenting slow cooking different dishes.
Let me say, my first try at this was a DISASTER! So Kit and I tried again and had success.
Tips: Always brown your ground beef before adding it the the slow cooker. Duh. But for some reason I thought I could just mix it all together and set it and forget it. Our first try resulted in a soupy mess that looked closer to vomit than an appetizing meal! haha. YIKES!
Try & try again.
RECIPE:
1lb ground beef
1 large onion (half chopped finely and half sliced into rings)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
2 chipotles in adobo - chopped
2 dried red chilies - chopped
1 large can Italian crushed tomatoes
1 can white beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup tomato sauce ( I used ketchup)
Bottle of Beer
Beef broth
In a fry pan, saute the finely chopped onion, garlic, beef and red pepper flakes. Once brown, add the tomato paste and stir through.
Add the browned beef to your crock pot, with the beans, chilies, and tomatoes.
Set on high for 4 hours (or alternately you could slow cook over night)
About two hours into the cooking, in a pan saute the onion rings in some oil until caramelized. Add beer and cook off. Keep adding beer and sauteing the onions until they are really reduced and smelling amazing. Add to the chili mixture and stir through.
Add a little beef broth for the last 2 hours of cooking. (I probably added about 1/2-3/4 cup)
Serve with sour cream, cheese and a wedge of lime. We also scooped our chili with yummy white corn tortilla chips.
Its that Brisket baby @ Mile End Deli
If you haven’t been to Mile End Deli ( 97a hoyt street, brooklyn ) for their smoked meat sandwich then you are missing out!
Opened by Noah Bernamoff, a 27-year-old part-time Brooklyn Law School student and native Montrealer… Mile End is bringing Montreal style deli sandwiches to Boerum Hill.
A self taught cook with zero deli or restaurant experience Noah was experimenting curing meat in his Park Slope fridge and then smoking it on his rooftop bbq.
Friends loved the sandwiches so much he quit law school and opened Mile End.
Holla! I love this story…..
So Kit and I originally found out about this place on the Food Network…. (probably a year after everyone else) …. but hey, better late than never!!! Right?
Today we made our second little trek out to BK because this place is really THAT good.
The smoked meat sandwich : cured & smoked beef brisket, mustard, rye
Via NY magazine :
” He uses prime-Angus-certified briskets from LaFrieda and Meat Innovations, which he cures for nine days in a dry rub of coarse salt, black pepper, tons of fresh garlic, and about a dozen different spices. He then smokes the brisket over oak in an electric smoker for eight to ten hours and steams it for four more, and slices and layers it atop Orwasher’s Jewish rye bread. The taste: more aggressively peppery than pastrami, and a little hotter thanks to the paprika in the dry rub. “
Not much more to say except. SO GOOD.
This is a must try!
We also had the Wagyu Beef Au Jus w/ horseradish on a sea salt roll. Delicious as well and the sea salt roll really kicked it up a level.
A big Aussie thumbs up for Mile End.
Follow them on Twitter @mileendbrooklyn
Home Cookin’ - Beef Catalan [ Falling Off The Bone ]
Adapted from Falling Off The Bone by Jean Anderson Page 42.
Beef Catalan P 42 . recipe adapted
4 slices thick cut smoked bacon
1.5 Lbs Beef Chuck ( trimmed of fat and cut into 1.5 inch pieces )
2 onions - halved and then quartered
6 cloves of garlic ( peeled + smashed w a knife )
5 medium carrots - roughly cut into 2 inch pieces
bay leaf
sprig of fresh thyme
2 - three inch strips of orange peel
1 tsp cumin
1 cup beef broth
1 cup dry red wine
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly cracked pepper
1 can chopped tomatoes and juice
1 can cannellini beans - drained
1/4 cup Italian parsley for garnish
[ The recipe had called for a bouquet garni w/ bay leaves, thyme, cinnamon sticks, cloves and the orange peel but I didn’t have cheesecloth or the cinnamon nor cloves… so I adjusted this ]
METHOD:
Preheat Oven to 350F
Cook the bacon in a Dutch Oven or heavy bottomed pot on med to high heat on the stove until fat is rendered and brown bits form on bottom.
Transfer with slotted spoon to paper towel.
Discard all but 4 tbsp of bacon drippings.
Heat the drippings to a ripple and brown the beef in batches. Once brown transfer to a plate.
Saute the onions until soft, then return the beef to the pot.
Add the bay leaf, thyme, strips of orange peel, cumin, beef broth, red wine, salt, cracked pepper and the can of tomatoes with their juice. Stir through and then transfer to middle rack of the oven with lid on.
Cook for one hour.
Add the carrots and stir though and make sure they are covered by the sauce.
( If at this point your sauce is boiling dry, add a little more beef broth to the pot. )
Cook another 20 mins.
Add the can of drained cannelleni beans and stir through gently.
Cover and cook for another 15 mins.
Stir through the reserved crispy bacon and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Transfer to bowls and garnish with italian parsley and serve with crusty baguette.
This meal was really easy to make and once in the oven, didn’t take much effort on my part at all!
The beef was completely tender and really was falling apart. The carrots were cooked perfectly due to the timing of their addition to the pot and the same with the beans. I loved the flavors of the orange and the garlic with the rich beef broth and wine sauce. So delicious!
Kit loved it and I will definitely be making this again…. Wonderful flavors and that real comfort food feeling to eat…
Check out Falling Off The Bone on Amazon
