Tag: beef
Romazava
Romazava
This is the first recipe from the East African island of Madagascar! Romazava happens to be the island nation’s national dish. This one pot meal consists of a variety of meats stewed with a bunch of greens. Traditionally, romazava is made with zebu. You are obviously going to have a hard time acquiring zebu meat, so a combination of beef, pork, and chicken is substituted. The greens used are mustard and 2 other greens that aren’t accessible, ananamy and paracress greens. Spinach and arugula are suitable replacements.
Ingredients
- 1 lb chuck roast cut into small cubes
- 1 lb pork sirloin cut into small cubes
- 1 lb chicken breast cut into small cubes
- 2 roma tomatoes diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 small onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2” ginger peeled and minced
- 3 serrano peppers seeded and chopped
- 1 bunch mustard greens chopped
- 1 bunch spinach
- 1 bunch arugula
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat up olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add in the beef and brown for 8 minutes.
- Stir in the tomatoes.
- Add in the onions, garlic, ginger, and serrano peppers.
- Pour in the stock. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add in the pork and chicken. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes.
- Place the mustard greens on top of the stew; followed by the spinach, then arugula. Cover. Simmer on medium low heat for 10 minutes without stirring.
- The greens will wilt and reduce by half. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir the greens into the stew.
Oxtail Stew
Oxtail Stew
Oxtail stew is an extremely popular Jamaican comfort food that deserves more recognition than it gets. Oxtails we’re once considered a cheap throw away cut that was eaten by lower income families. Now days, oxtails are kinda expensive. The tails of cows contains gelatinous meat with marrow running through the center. Once braised, the meat falls off the bone. This dish can be prepared on the stovetop, in a slow cooker, and even a pressure cooker if you’re pressed for time. If you can’t find oxtails, beef short ribs are a suitable replacement.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 lbs oxtails
- 1 medium onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 2 habanero
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 6 allspice berries
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 can butter beans
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown the oxtails for 8 minutes.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients except the butter beans. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 3 hours.
- Uncover. Stir in the butter beans. Simmer for 30 more minutes.
Picanha Steaks
Picanha Steaks
Picanha is slowly growing in popularity due to restaurants like Fogo de Chao and other Brazilian steakhouses. Picanha is from the culotte muscle, which is the top flap of the whole top butt sirloin. That entire muscle is peeled off with the fat cap left untrimmed. The culotte muscle is cut with the grain into 3 large steaks.Traditionally, the culotte steaks are marinated in Brazilian sofrito(onion/garlic/olive oil purée) and placed on large skewers and grilled upright on an open flame. While that might be an issue for most people to replicate, there are other ways to duplicate the picanha. You can simply grill them, broil them, and even pan fry in a cast iron skillet like I did in this recipe.
Equipment
- food processor
- cast iron pan
Ingredients
- 1 whole culotte about 2.5lbs; untrimmed
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 head garlic peeled
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- coarse sea salt
- cracked black pepper
- 2 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Purée the onion, garlic, and olive oil in a food processor.
- Cut the culotte with the grain into 3 steaks.
- Marinate the steaks with the Brazilian sofrito in a gallon sized storage bag for 24 hours. Make sure to squeeze out the excess air.
- Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Place the steaks on a meat/fat side. Sear for 4 minutes.
- Flip the steaks to the other meat/fat side. Sear for 4 minutes.
- Flip the meat to the fat side facing down. Cook for 5 minutes to render out some of the fat.
- Flip the steaks to fat side up. Sear for 2 minutes.
- Remove the steaks from the skillet. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- Thinly slice the steaks against the grain.
