Corned Beef Brisket

100_1990, a photo by jarmstrong23 on Flickr.

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post-- 2 months, to be a little more exact. Life seems to speed up when all you really want is for it to slow down, and as a result, I haven't been as adventurous with my cooking as I'd like to be.

With all the new recipes I read and save each week, I'm never at a loss for new ideas. Time to think and plan, however, is another story. Trying a new recipe, for me, requires some "think-time" (as we teachers like to call it). I like to mull an idea over in my head before executing the plan, and when life speeds up that time slips away.

Today I decided that enough was enough, and that I would take 10 minutes to blog a meal that I'm trying for the first time: Corned Beef Brisket. With St. Patrick's Day well behind us, I have had some time to read all the recipes others use for this traditional dish. For some reason, I found myself drawn to the CrockPot method. :) (You all know how much I love this appliance, and a hands-off recipe is just what I needed for this hectic time of year.)


Source: Adapted from Fisch Foods


Ingredients:

3-4 lbs. corned beef brisket, plus seasoning packet

1 onion, sliced

1 c. chicken broth

1 T. Worchestershire sauce

Sprinkle of red pepper flakes

Directions:

Line bottom of CrockPot with onion.

Thoroughly rinse brisket and place atop the onions.

Combine chicken broth and worchestershire sauce. Pour over brisket. Add red pepper flakes and seasoning packet.

Cook on LOW for 5 1/2 to 6 hours.

Verdict: KEEPER!

The meat was so tender and flavorful... I can't wait to make sandwiches with the leftovers! Tonight I served it with sauerkraut and horseradish sauce, and The Mr. was practically drooling :) We will definitely use this again.

Pasta Fagioli

I love my Freezer.

This is only a recently developed relationship.  It has only been within the past year that I have truly come to embrace and utilize this under-appreciated half of the appliance.

You see, the Freezer was the Black Hole of my childhood kitchen.  Once something was placed in the freezer, you could forget it. It was gone-- if not forever, at least long enough that you would wonder how long it had been in there when you did see it again.

Chicken breasts that were on sale and required buying them in bulk? Forget about those for another year. 

Pork chops that we could grill out?  Forget about those for at least a couple of months.  

A gallon of ice cream? Well, we never let that get too far out of sight:)   

(Right now, my Mother is reading this and cringing, or laughing, because that's exactly how it was. Sorry Mom! :))

Now that I'm cooking for The Mr. and myself, we often have leftovers.  I will eat leftovers for days and days, until it is all used up.  The Mr., on the other hand, will only eat leftovers for 1 or 2 days before he begins to worry about food poisoning.  There would be recipes that would make so much food we couldn't finish it all before we'd have to throw it out. 

I. Hate. Throwing. Away. Food.

Enter the Freezer. Once I realized that many recipes' frozen/reheated leftovers tasted as good as the first time, I fell in love.  Some soups and chilis taste even better than the first time.  This revelation changed my whole outlook on recipes yielding 8 servings or more.  Now, on days when I don't feel like doing anything, I can pull something out of the Freezer, heat it up slowly on the stove, and dinner's ready. 

Seriously people, that's about as close to food-magic as it gets.

Tonight I reheated Pasta Fagioli, a recipe I tried about a month ago.  As expected, it was (magically) as good as it was the first time.  Just another reminder of why I love my Freezer so much.

Source:  Crockpot Tuesdays (slightly altered, since I don't like to measure veggies)

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
1/2 large red onion, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups beef broth
1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce
2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup dry pasta (to add at end)

Directions:

Brown the meat and drain well. Set aside

Combine all ingredients EXCEPT PASTA in the CrockPot.  Stir.

Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 hours). At end of cook time, stir in 1/2 cup pasta. Cover and cook for another hour on LOW.

Serve with parmesan, mozzarella, or any other kind of cheese you like.  Enjoy!

Gravy

What I have learned:

1) Making gravy is a piece of cake.

2) Making it more photogenic is a bit more of a challenge!

Since I was making Beef Stew, and remembered that I always end up wishing I had some gravy for it, I decided to take the plunge and make some gravy from the drippings contained in the CrockPot.  Gravy hasn't been something I have tackled recently, since my first (and last, till now) attempt was a little hair-raising. 

(Let's just put it this way... it involved Thanksgiving dinner at my house, my first time hosting, and my Mother-in-Law and my Mom in the kitchen with me both trying to show me how they make gravy.  And no, they weren't the same methods.  I felt like either method I chose, I was going to hurt someone's feelings.  Oy.) 

I want to curl up into the fetal position just remembering that moment.  

But anyway, I'm a big girl now, and I dove into making it on my own using what I remembered of that Thanksgiving near-meltdown. 

Source:  My Mom

Pretty much, you need 3 things to make any kind of gravy...

Drippings from the meat (I started with about 2 c.)-- I used a turkey baster to get the drippings out of the CrockPot and into a measuring cup.  Ideally, I'd use one of those nifty fat-separating cups with a spout, but that will have to wait till I get one!) 

Milk-- I started off with about 1/2 c. 

Flour-- I think I used about 1-2 T.

And just for good measure, I also ended up adding about 1 tsp. (maybe more) of beef-flavored soup base.  If I were working with chicken or turkey drippings, I'd use a chicken flavored soup base. 

Directions:

1.  In a saucepan, heat the drippings on medium heat. 

Here's the part that my Mom swears by... and I think I'll end up swearing by it, too...  

2.  In a Tupperware shaker, combine the milk and flour.  Shake well till flour is mixed thoroughly with the milk. 

3.  Stirring constantly with a whisk, add the milk mixture to the drippings. 

4.  Add soup base.

5.  Continue stirring for several minutes.  Gravy will thicken. 

Verdict:

Keeper!  The Mr. said that his Mom, a gravy expert, would love it.  That's good enough for me! :)

CrockPot Beef Stew

Oh CrockPot, how I love thee...

Okay, Okay.... I know it's summer, and in our part of the world, we've been battling temperatures in the upper 90's with humidity like that of a sauna. Beef stew isn't exactly what I would call a summer dish, but celery and carrots needed to be used up...  and when I need to use up those items, I am always drawn back to my quest of making a great beef stew.  Plus, since it's a CrockPot meal, the heat in the kitchen was not as intense. 

As easy as beef stew can be, I've never been happy with mine.  The meat was too dry. Or too tough.  Or the flavor was too bland.  Or it was too watery.  Whatever the case, I hadn't met "the one" when it came to beef stew.  

But today, I got it right!  And here's what I did...

Ingredients

3-4 lbs. beef chuck shoulder

2 c. water

1 packet of "Crockery Gourmet" seasoning mix-- So I cheated a little, what of it?

1 lb. carrots (about 5-6) peeled and chopped

1/2 bunch of celery heart, chopped

1/2 onion, quartered

6 New Potatoes, quartered

Directions:

1.  Mix together seasoning packet with water.

2.  Place beef in the CrockPot, and cover with seasoning/water mixture.  

3.  Add celery, carrots, onion, and potatoes.

4.  Cook for 4 hours on High, or 8 hours on Low. 

5.  Before serving, cut the meat into chunks.  Stir till mixed well.

Verdict: 

Keeper! The only change I might try is cubing the meat before cooking.  And since my trial run of making Beef Gravy went so well, I'll definitely do it again with this meal.  

Pot Roast with Veggies

I was at the grocery store today picking up "everyday" items when it dawned on me:  I had carrots, onion, and celery left over in the fridge from a few days ago that needed to be used.  In my world, celery + carrots + onion = pot roast materials.  So, I browsed online and found one from one of my favorite blogs, elly says opa! Most of the ingredients are the same as hers, but since I don't have a food scale, I don't do "pounds" of potatoes... I have to count.  :)


Ingredients:

3-4 lb. pot roast
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3-4 celery stalks, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. tomato paste
3/4 c. red wine
32 oz. beef broth
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
4 potatoes, peeled and cut into large "chunks" (smaller than quartered :))
4 carrots, peeled and chopped into pieces
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Season the roast with salt and pepper, then sear in the oil on all sides.  Remove the roast and set aside.  Add garlic, onions, and celery.  Saute till tender.  Add tomato paste, and cook till browned (1-2 minutes).

Deglaze with red wine (If you're like me and had to look up the word "deglaze," I'll save you the trouble:  it means to add liquid to a saute pan, bringing up the heat to simmer it down into a saucier version of what was orginially there, all while scraping up the browned bits left on the bottom of the pan.  You can thank me later :))

Add beef broth, salt, and pepper (to taste).  Place roast back into the Dutch oven.  Add rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, cover, and place into the oven.  Cook for 3 hours-- turn the roast occasionally.

Add potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms, stirring so all veggies are covered with some cooking liquid. Cook for another 45 minutes to an hour, until veggies are soft. 

Remove pot roast and veggies from the Dutch oven.  Meanwhile, place the pot over high heat and reduce the liquid to thicken.  Serve sauce over meat and vegetables. 

Enjoy!

Verdict: Keeper, with revision

Cooking this was an adventure-- another way to play with my cast iron Dutch oven. Plus, I had to look up what "deglazing" meant! Most everything went according to plan, with the exception of my main veggies. My potatoes and carrots ended up being underdone. So, when I make this again (and trust me, it will be made again) I'll have to cook it longer to give me the mushier potatoes I crave when I want pot roast. Either that or cut them into smaller chunks. Either way, the flavor was perfect... now I just need to work on my timing (i.e. "patience!")

Beef Barley Soup

This was my first soup.

Ever.
After receiving a cast iron Dutch oven as a wedding gift (which, by the way, I had no idea I even needed till I asked some experienced cooks) I was on the hunt for a good winter soup-- you know, something that I could cook on a Sunday while I was busy with homework and household chores. Cooking Light had a recipe that sounded most like what I wanted, but I added some more liquid to get a good, brothy soup instead of a stew. Also, since I'm too cheap to spend money on stew meat, I used center cut beef shanks, trimming beforehand and cutting into bite-sized pieces towards the end.
Honestly, I cannot tell you how excited I was to have this turn out so great on the first try! My husband had never tried beef barley soup before, so it was important to me that this one made a good impression. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Ingredients:

2 Beef Shanks (about 2 lbs. total)

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups chopped leek (about 4 medium leeks)

2 cups chopped carrot

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups water

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 bay leaves

2 32oz. cartons beef broth

1 cup uncooked pearl barley


Heat a large Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Add the oil.
While the oil is warming, trim any fat from the beef shanks. After trimming, brown the shanks on both sides. Remove from the pan.
Add the leeks, carrots, and garlic and saute till lightly browned. (You may need to add a little extra oil) Return the shanks to the pan, along with the water, salt, thyme, pepper, bay leaves, and beef broth.
Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until meat begins to fall from the bone.
When meat is cooked through, remove from pan and cut into bite-sized pieces. Replace meat into the pan. Add barley, and simmer for 30-40 minutes (or till the barley is tender).
Remove bay leaves, serve, and enjoy!

Verdict: KeeperDirections: