Tag: beef
Seco de Carne
Seco de Carne
Seco de Carne is another one of my favorite dishes from Los Cabos in downtown Denver. It consists of chunks of stewing beef seared then braised in beer and a cilantro pepper sauce. The sugars in the beer help break down the connective tissues in the meat. The meat is then served over rice, usually with a side of beans or boiled yellow potato. This is a great one pot meal that takes minimal effort to make.There are a couple of cuts beef that will work well with this dish. Chuck, bottom round, shank meat, and arm roast are all acceptable choices. Avoid using top round, eye of round, and sirloin tip. They are too lean for this dish.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2-3 lbs chuck roast cubed
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 cups chicken or beef stock
- 1 cup beer lager
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 3 serrano peppers seeded
- 1/4 cup chicken or beef stock
Instructions
- Cut up chuck into 1 1/2” cubes. Season with salt.
- Heat up 2 tbsp ofcooking oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Sear the beef on all sides for 4 minutes in total.
- Cook the beef in 2 batches, making sure that the pot isn’t overcrowded. Put in a bowl and set aside.
- Add the other 2 tbsp of cooking oil to th Dutch oven. Turn the heat down to medium high. Add in the onions. Cook for 5 minutes until translucent.
- Add in the garlic. Cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add in the cumin, paprika, and salt. Cook for a minute.
- Deglaze with the beer and stock. Scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add in the beef.
- While the beef in simmering, add cilantro, serrano peppers, and 1/4 cup of stock to a blender or food processor.
- Purée.
- Add the cilantro purée to the beef. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Cover the beef and cook for 2 hours.
- Uncover and let cook for another 30 minutes.
African Style Meatballs in Sauce
African Style Meatballs in Sauce
This is an African/Caribbean fusion take on Italian style meatballs in tomato sauce. You can do a 50/50 mix of ground beef and pork, or use only beef or pork. That is up to you. Both turn out delicious. Although I made my meatballs larger and sautéed them, I’d recommend baking larger meatballs in the oven and sautéing smaller ones on the stove top. Sautéing larger ones are a little more difficult in handling and can potentially fall apart.The sauce uses more traditional African and Caribbean ingredients such as thyme, white pepper, Maggi, smoked paprika, and curry powder. It is also not garlic heavy unlike the Italian counterpart.Typically in Italy, meatballs are just served in sauce and not over pasta. But I still think it’s great over pasta. Eat them how you want. I plan on turning the leftovers into meatball sandwiches on a baguette with sautéed peppers and onions.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb ground pork
- 4 slices of bread
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup grated onion
- 1 tsbp minced garlic
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 large egg
Sauce
- 3 roma tomatoes diced
- 2 small cans of tomato paste
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp thyme
- 2 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 4 tbsp parsley chopped
- 2 tsp maggi
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- salt to taste
Instructions
Meatballs
- Soak the bread in the milk.
- Combine all of the meatballs ingredients together.
- Form into balls. The ones I made are fairly large. I yielded 18. You can make these half the size and get 40 out of the meatball mix.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauce pan or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook the meatballs in batches, browning on all sides for 8-10 minutes
- Set the meatballs aside. These don’t have to be completely cooked through since they will finish in the sauce. They should be browned well though.
- In the same pan or Dutch oven, sauté the onion, garlic, thyme, and chopped tomatoes for 3 minutes. Add the tomato paste, followed by the beef stock, parsley, curry powder, white pepper, smoked paprika, Maggie, and salt. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes.
- Stir in the meatballs to the sauce. Cover and let simmer for another 15 minutes.
- These balls are saucy.
- Serve with your favorite pasta.
Curry Beef Satays
Curry Beef Satays
These curry beef satays are to die for and relatively easy to make. For the beef, I used top sirloin. I personally would not use any cut less tender than this. Top sirloin is a great all purpose cut of beef that has a ton of flavor and is still tender at a minimal price. You get your bang for your buck.If you want to grill these, cook them directly over the coals for 3-5 minutes a side, depending on how well you want your beef done.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs top sirloin
- 1/4 cup roasted shelled peanuts
- 1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp white pepper
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tbsp boullion powder
- 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
Instructions
- Mix all of the dry spices together. In a coffee grinder, grind the peanuts. Mix them into the spice blend. Set aside.
- Slice the top sirloin no more than 1/4" thick. If you can slice it thinner then that, the better.
- Before skewering the meat, make sure that your skewers have been soaked in water for at least 30 minutes. This will prevent them from burning. Thread the meat onto the skewer. I used large 10" skewers, so I'm able to put on 4 pieces of meat. I yielded 8 skewers from this recipe, 1/4lb. each. You definitely can make them smaller if you have smaller skewers.
- Evenly spread out the peanut spice mixture onto a large plate.
- Roll each skewer into the peanut mixture. Make sure that all sides are heavily coated.
- Turn your oven's broiler on. Arrange the skewers on a rack on a baking sheet lined in foil. Brush the cooking oil onto the skewers.
- Broil for 5 minutes on the first side.
- Flip.
- Broil for 5 more minutes.
- Serve these with african pepper sauce for even more of a kick.
