Beer Brisket

With football season right around the corner, I thought it was time to break out the ol' brisket recipe.  This is perfect to make the night before and bring to a tailgate or the neighbor's house to watch the game.  It's easy to prepare and fork tender.  It's like butta, I tell ya!

Rub one up today.  Here's what you'll need:

A brisket.  I get mine from Sam's (from what I hear, they're like Costco.  But I've never been to a Costco, so this is not first-hand knowledge).  But the important part is they have 2 choices: this big granddaddy thing that is mostly white (read: fat) on the outside; or a smaller version with a white side and a red side (read: the butcher already trimmed most of the fat *YAY*)

For the rub:
1/3 cup onion powder
1/3 cup garlic powder
1 Tbsp ground mustard
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp dill weed
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp celery seed

For the liquid:
1 beer (12oz)*
1 cup beef broth
worcestershire sauce
*You can use whatever beer you have on hand, but a darker beer will lend more flavor to the meat.  Also, it might be interesting to try a fruity beer?

I usually cook this in a foil roasting pan from the grocery store.  You can cook it in here, then put it in the fridge, then take it to the tailgate and just throw it away.  Sure beats washing 16 different pans/containers.

Start by preparing your oven.  Check to make sure the rack is in the center and preheat to 300 degrees.

Get your pan out and remove any tags.  Don't forget that little dab of sticky that makes the paper label stick.  Open the brisket over the sink.  Rinse and pat dry.  Lay in the foil pan fat side DOWN.  Sorry, there are no pictures of the rinsing and drying because it is a pretty sizeable piece of meat to handle with one hand while taking pictures.

Combine all ingredients for the rub in a medium bowl.

Stir until well combined.  You could also put it in a container with a lid and just shake it up.  Whichever one you like is fine.

Rub the meaty (not fatty) side with the spice mix.  Put a good, thick, even coat on it.

Then splash on a little worcestershire.

Now...rub the fatty side of the meat with your spice mix, and splash on some more worcestershire.

Pour the beer and beef broth into the pan.  Be sure to pout it on the corner of the pan, not over the meat --- you don't want to wash off your rub.  *As you can see I used Mich Ultra here, it was all I had on hand.  The flavor was definitely weaker.

Cover the pan with foil and put it in the preheated oven (300 degrees) for 4 hours.  Now this is the tough part - don't touch it.  Don't open the oven or peek.  Just put it in there, set the timer, and go fold laundry.  What?  You don't have 4 hours worth of laundry? 

After the 4 hours, take it out of the oven and let it cool (still covered!) for 30 to 45 minutes.  Now this is the best/worst part.  It's a little icky to do, but it's so worth it. . .

Set the brisket, fat side up, on a large cutting board.  Using the blade of a kinfe, scrape away the fat.  It should be soft because it's still warm, so it will basically wipe right off.  

I'm very serious about this scraping business.

Set the scraped brisket back in the pan and refrigerate overnight.  *Sorry this is getting lengthy - I promise it's worth it.*

In the morning, take it out and cut it across the grain.  Why couldn't you just cut it yesterday, when it was already out?  Because it's so wonderfully tender, it would have just shredded.  If you have to have it right away (I mean after the 4 hours), serve it shredded, it's pretty yum that way, too.

Serve it up with potato rolls!  Sorry again....I had waited 4 long hours to cook it, then overnight to cut it, and it looks like I forgot to take a picture before I ate it.  Just picture a light, fluffy potato roll slathered with spicy brown mustard and stuffed with juicy, tender slices of brisket. 

Get the printable recipe.

Linking up with Kristen

Chili Pepper Meatloaf

I have had meatloaf on the brain lately.  I don't really know why, I've just been thinking about it daily.  Do you ever get a food stuck in your head and think about it constantly?  No?  Maybe it's just me. . . I tend to think in food, and I kinda knew it wouldn't go away until I made some.

AND...

I've been seeing these adorable little tubes of spices in the produce section at the store.  I always look, then decide that I'm perfectly capable of chopping my own herbs . . . and I leave the little tubes at the store.

But ya know what?  Sometimes I don't have the time.  And sometimes the fresh produce isn't looking so fresh.  And sometimes I just don't feel like it.  So I picked up this little guy today.  He's the secret ingredient in this meatloaf.  Of course, if your grocery store doesn't carry these, you can just get a red chili pepper.

First, grab all of this for the meatloaf. . . .

Meatloaf
1 pound ground meat ( I always use the leanest I can find)
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 Tbsp Red Chili Pepper Spice Blend (or 1 red chili pepper, minced)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup diced tomatoes, drained (canned is fine)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt

and this for the sauce. . . .

Sauce
1 1/2 cups pureed tomato (about (1) 28oz can)
1/2 can cream of mushroom soup
1 Tbsp Red Chili Pepper Spice Blend (or 1 red chili pepper, minced)
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Throw all of the meatloaf ingredients in a bowl.

Squish it all together with CLEAN hands.

Form into a loaf in a square pan.  I use a 9" pan, so there's room in the oven for another pan with potatoes.  If you have a hungry crew, you might need 2 meatloafs (meatloaves?). . . so you'll have to do a 9x13 pan.  But if one pound of meat serves your family, definitely think ahead of time about where you'll cook your potatoes ~ it's kind of a rule that meatloaf has potatoes next to it.

Put this in the preheated oven, uncovered for about 15 minutes, to brown.

Meanwhile, mix up your sauce.  Just put everything together in a bowl

and whisk

until the cream of mushroom isn't clumpy anymore.

Remove your browned meatloaf from the oven,

and pour the sauce in the pan.

Return to the oven (still uncovered), reduce ove temperature to 375 degrees, and cook another 45-55 minutes, until cooked through.

Serve in slices with sauce poured over the top.  For smaller children I break it into pieces with the spatula and hold off on extra sauce.  There's a little heat in the sauce, so what's on there in the pan is probably enough for the younger ones.  Mine attacked this and asked for more.

Get the printable here!

***Make Ahead Tip***  You can mix everything up for your meatloaf, form it in the pan, cover it and store it in the fridge overnight.  That way when you get home from work and you're too tired to cook, all you have to do is throw it in the oven.  Don't forget to go ahead and mix up your sauce too.  Just store it in a separate container in the fridge. 

This recipe is linked to:
Mingle Monday and Melt in Your Mouth Monday

Roast Beef Update

It was so nice to get home to dinner already cooked last night!  Here are some pictures of how it turned out...

 I did it a little differently than I described yesterday, so I wanted to tell you that way, too.  It requires a little less attention (well almost none), which is nice.

After you sear all of the edges, add 3 cups of beef broth to the pot and cover.  Put it in the oven at 285 degrees for 4 hours.  Remove it from the oven and dip out about a cup of the broth.  Add 3 Tbsp brown gravy mix to the cup of broth, stir until there are no clumps and pour it back into the pot.  Stir it all and heat over a burner (medium - medium high) for 8-10 minutes. 

Roast Beef with Rice and Gravy

Nothing says Sunday dinner to me quite like roast beef with rice and gravy and a whole smorgasboard of yummy side dishes.  Unfortunately, I didn't think about roast beef this Sunday... I thought about it on Monday.  Not wanting to wait a whole week, I decided I'd let it cook today while I'm at work.

***DISCLAIMER:  I know that it is not really advisable to leave the oven on while you're gone.  I recommend you cook this roast while you're home...so the printable recipe will have the time/temperature/instructions for cooking a roast while you're at home.  Please do not leave dinner cooking in your oven because I told you to.  I am not telling you to.  There ~ do as I say, not as I do (or as I say I do).***

I was supposed to get up early to get the roast in the oven, then run home at lunch to check on it.  Weeeeellllll, me and mornings aren't really friendly.  So I ran home at lunch to put it going.  Here's what I did...

Chop a shallot (or small onion) and 6 or so cloves of garlic (you can read more about my garlic addiction here)

Put the onions and shallots in a small bowl (a ramekin works great, too).  Add salt, pepper, worcestershire and Kitchen Bouquet (go easy on the Kitchen Bouquet...it's rich)

Stir it all up (YUM!)

Cut slits about 1 inch wide and an inch or 2 deep all over the roast

Fill each slit with the onion/garlic mixture

Now sprinkle some salt and pour any remaining mixture over the outside of the roast, and rub it in.

Heat some olive oil (just enough to wet the bottom) in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Sear all sides of the roast.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm........

I threw it in the oven, covered with a bunch of liquid in there.  Since you're STAYING HOME WHILE YOUR OVEN IS ON....

Put it in the oven uncovered for about 45 minutes.  Then add a little water (about a quarter inch deep in the pot, pour it over the meat when you pour it in) and check it again in about 45 minutes.  When all the water cooks out, mix beef broth (1 cup), brown gravy mix (2 Tbsp) and water (1 cup) in a bowl and whisk until all the lumps are gone.  Pour over roast, cover the pot and cook until roast is fork tender (another hour or so).  Serve it over rice.

I got this in the oven in a little under 30 minutes.  When you cook yours (and you should, this Sunday - Dad, or Dad To Your Babies, will LOVE it!) you can throw it in the oven and just give it a little love every now and again throughout the day.  Here's the printable.

By the way. . . while I was home I grabbed some leftover spaghetti and meatballs. . . that's what we had for dinner last night.

Come back tomorrow....I'll let you know the roast turns out!!!

Stuffed Flank Steak

Okay, so admittedly it's more layed on and rolled up than stuffed, but there is stuffing 'in' the steak.

Either way - doesn't this look yummy!?!

I found this recipe on Delish a while back and saved it in my favorites, then just happened upon it while I was making my grocery list out.  I changed it up a bit to fit our tastes.  John loved it.  Funny too, because he was pacing the kitchen looking nervous talking about how flank steak is usually tough and basic the whole time I was cooking it.  This steak is not tough or basic - not at ALL!

So here's how ya do it! (Printable recipe below)

Mix bread crumbs, garlic, cheese, seasonings and 1 Tbsp olive oil in a bowl and stir them up and set them aside.

Lay out your steak on a cutting board and wrap loosley with cling wrap.  Then relieve a little bit of the day's stress by beating it until it's about a half inch thick.

Before the beating:

And after:

Now unwrap it and smash all that cheesy, breadcrumby goodness on top in a nice, even layer.  Mmmm.....

Roll it up longways and tie it with some kitchen twine.

Then plop it in a roasting pan and pour the grape tomatoes all around.

If you have a meat thermometer that can go in the oven, insert that into the thickest part of the steak roll (130 degrees = dinner time).  Roast it at 475 for about 26 minutes. 


This may be a good time to see how the kids are doing.  Or is that just me?
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Wow...I'm pretty sure I didn't give that sucker to my 9 month old

Thanks, Tank!

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Back to the kitchen.

When your thermometer reaches 130 degrees (or the timer goes off), your steak will be medium rare in the center of the fattest part of the roll and a little more 'done' at the ends.  If you don't like medium rare, you may want to leave it in a little longer.

However --- it is G-O-O-D at 130.  Honestly, almost like filet.  Crazy good.

So when you have achieved satisfactory doneness remove the pan from the oven.  Take the roll out of the pan (I use tongs with a spatula underneath) and set it on a cutting board to rest.  Add the beef broth in the roasting pan and warm on the stove scraping with the spatula.  This will incorporate the yummy brown bits on the bottom of the pan with the juices from the tomatoes.

Slice the steak and serve with the tomatoes and jus.

....Heeeeeerrrre's dinner

Get the printable recipe here