Hello my zucchinis! I've got two little monkeys in the house that I'm constantly feeding but for some reason, I'm not posting at all. The "for some reason" is really because I was lazy and cooking unblogworthy things. I really need to snap out of this blogfunk. This time around, I'm posting something that my sister thinks can never look good in photos: Beef! Or as she calls it "food food", because to my sister "food food" is anything that isn't sugary. So here I am trying to make her believe that "food food" might not look all that bad in photos. Okay, maybe a little. For those of you who are curious, blogworthy things are beautiful things that come out of our kitchen that are so fun in your mouth that you want to create a mini-you who isn't grossed out by chewed food to go in there and party. So today, I took out the mediocre meat hanging out in our freezer, the carrots everyone is too bored to eat and the mushrooms we'll forget about and made something wonderful out of them.
On another note, we went to the amusement park today and I didn't find any fried ice cream. My heart died a little. Anyone crazy enough to have a good recipe?
On another note, we went to the amusement park today and I didn't find any fried ice cream. My heart died a little. Anyone crazy enough to have a good recipe?
Cubist Brisket
You'll need:
You'll need:
1 kg of beef, cubed. [You could go ahead with a not so fancy kind. It won't make that much of a difference to have a good cut over a tougher cut.]
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
2 onions, finely minced
1 cup of hot water + 1/2 cup just in case
1 tablespoon of sugar
1.5 teaspoons of salt (Use less if you want. Or a lot more like me. Ha!)
1.5 teaspoons of garlic powder + 1 pinch
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2.5 heaped tablespoons of tomato paste, dissolved in 1 cup of hot water
1 cube of beef bouillon, dissolved in 1 cup of hot water
200 grams of white button mushrooms
3 medium sized carrots, roughly diced
Start by combining all your spices in a small bowl to create a seasoning mix. Begin searing your meat. Wait until the pan really, really, really hot then add your tablespoon of olive oil and sear the meat on all sides until nice and brown. Don't be lazy with the searing, it really adds to the color of your sauce as well. Remove from the heat and get a stock pot or dutch oven ready. Place the meat in the stock pot along with the flour. On low heat, toss the beef cubes in the flour for a minute. Add the carrots and minced onions and toss for another two-three minutes until it basically starts to look a little unpleasant. Haha. Add your total 3 cups of water including the bouillon and tomato paste. Add all your spices. Begin preheating your oven to 180 degrees Celsius after 20 minutes. Stir for a few seconds until it's all mixed together. Leave on high heat until the broth boils then turn down your heat to the lowest possible and leave to simmer gently for 40 minutes.
While it simmers, quarter your mushrooms and sautee them in a pan with a drop of oil and a pinch of garlic powder. Here's a photo of the mushrooms in black and white to prettify the photo because prettifying is fun.
Take your dutch oven and place it in the oven or transfer the contents from your stock pot to an ovenproof casserole dish with a lid. If you want a thinner sauce, add the extra half cup of water.
Leave to simmer in your covered dish for half an hour then add the mushrooms and leave to simmer again for another hour. Serve with something that sops up the sauce. Our pick was mashed potatoes and Lord of the Rings. This is a really good dish to make a day early. It heats really well in the oven and it only makes the sauce richer. Until next time, ole!
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