Tag: beef
Meatballs with Saffron Rice
Meatballs with Saffron Rice
Do you like meatballs? I like meatballs. These particular ones are of Persian cuisine; browned then simmered in a saffron tomato sauce; served over saffron rice. These meatballs do not contain egg or breadcrumbs, so they are a little denser, but still tender.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 medium onion grated
- 2 tsp ground saffron dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 tbsp tomato sauce
- 3 tbsp parsley chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Dissolve 2 tsp of ground saffron in a 1/2 cup of warm water.
- Add half of the saffron liquid to the ground been, grated onion, turmeric, salt, and pepper.
- Mix thoroughly.
- To get perfectly even sized Meatballs, I use a small cookie dropper. Once the meatball mix is portioned out, roll them into balls. You should yield 2 dozen meatballs.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the meatballs for 5 minutes.
- Pour in the rest of the saffron water. Cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato sauce. Turn the heat to medium high and simmer for 5 minutes, letting the sauce thicken.
- Serve over saffron rice. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Oxtail Stew (Instant Pot)
Oxtail Stew (Instant Pot)
I’m a huge fan of oxtails. When properly cooked, the meat falls right off the bone. The problem is that they take forever to cook…unless you use the Instant Pot. They can take 6-8 hours if you use a slow cooker to prepare. In an Instant Pot, the oxtails take 50 minutes. That’s it. Add the vegetables the last 10 minutes. You can serve the oxtail soup as is or over rice with a salad and avocado.
Equipment
- instant pot
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 2 lbs oxtails
- 1/2 medium white onion
- 8 garlic cloves
- 4 green onion chopped
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1/2 cup alinos columbianos paste
- 1 lb frozen yucca 1 1/2” cubes
- 4 medium red potatoes 1 1/2” cubes
- 2 medium tomatoes finely diced
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp sazon
- 1 tsp black pepper
- cilantro chopped for garnish
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, purée the onion, garlic, green onion, and water.
- Add the purée to the Instant Pot along with the oxtails, alinos paste, and beef stock. Use the pressure cooker function on high for 40 minutes.
- Release the pressure.
- Add in the potatoes, yucca, tomato, sazon, cumin, salt, and pepper. Set the function to pressure cooker on high for 10 minutes.
- Release the pressure. Garnish with cilantro.
Anticuchos (Peruvian Beef Heart Kabobs)
Peruvian Beef Heart Kabobs
In Stoned Soup’s September installment of “How In The Hell Do You Cook That?”, site followers voted between beef heart and beef intestines. Beef heart won with a majority of the votes. So how am I going to cook this thing? I know what it tastes like, but have never personally prepared heart. So this is what I’ve learned from research…Beef heart is very low in calories and fat; about the same as a chicken breast. It is very high in iron, protein, and vitamin B12. The only downside to beef heart is that it is very high in cholesterol. While the heart is an organ, it is also a muscle. It is fibrous unlike liver, kidneys, or other organ meat. I purchased my beef heart at my local Asian market. I bought 2 chunks that equaled about 3lbs. They came untrimmed, which isn’t a problem for me to do. If you purchase a beef heart untrimmed, all of the fat, silver skin, veins or arteries need to be removed. After the trimming, I yielded 1 1/2lbs of lean meat. The best part of purchasing the beef heart is that it’s $1.99lb.I’ve recently been reading up on Peruvian cuisine and culture to add more South American recipes to the website. I just happen to stumble across a beef heart recipe where the heart is marinated and grilled on kabobs. They are called anticuchos and are a huge staple in Peruvian cuisine, dating back to the country’s colonial times. They are also sold as a popular street food in Peru.Making these kabobs is pretty easy once the heart is trimmed. To get maximum flavor, marinate the meat overnight. You can either grill or broil the kabobs. Heart doesn’t need to be cooked for very long. In this situation, it is best medium rare. If cooked more then that, they will be tough. These kabobs only take 4-5 minutes a side, turning out surprisingly tender. Like, really, really tender.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs beef heart trimmed
- 1/2 red onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp cumin seed
- 2 canned chipotle peppers
- 3 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Purée in a food processor or blender the garlic, cumin, chipotle peppers, red wine and apple cider vinegars, smoked paprika, and olive oil.
- Set aside in a bowl.
- Here in the pic are 2 chunks of beef heart. Trim them of all fat, silver skin, and any veins or arteries.
- Once trimmed, you will end up with 2 nice pieces of meat.
- Cut the meat into 1 1/2” cubes. Add the heart to the marinade and marinate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
- When ready to cook, turn on your oven’s broiler, moving the top rack 6” away. Skewer up the heart with pieces of red onion in between the meat. Place on a broiler pan or on a baking rack.
- Broil for 5 minutes a side.
