Southwestern Pulled Brisket

Pretty much what the slow cooker was invented for.  This is AMAZING on either soft tacos (with spicy slaw and avocados) or as barbecue-style sandwiches on soft buns.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Beef Stroganoff

One of my (very many) favorite meals for Winter.  My only complaint:  I ALWAYS overcook the beef.  It really only needs to cook for 5 minutes, and I never get the timing quite right.  Still, a problem with my timing, not the recipe.

It only takes a half hour to make, including time to slice the onions, mushrooms, and steak. 

Pork Roast

This is so simple, it barely qualifies as a recipe.

The steps are:
1.  Throw a hunk of meat in the oven.

There is no step two. 

Beef Stew with Polenta

This beef stew is perfect for when there's a chill in the air.  Unlike many stews, this one is good on the first evening, although it's just as good leftover.
 

As with most soups, once the chopping is done, this requires a minimal amount of time actually spent at the stove.  The polenta takes 15-20 minutes total, concurrent with the last bit of stew simmering.

Kebabs

And... back at long last, delayed all week because I ran out of space on my hard drive and so my pictures were marooned on my camera.  Happily, I now have purchased an entire TERRABYTE of space (1,000 gigs!) which is, like, a zillion close-ups of bread crumb and such.

Anyway.

I made these kebabs because there was a grill available, and steak night was already taken.  They turned out really well; next time I will just make sure to cut the beef into more uniform chunks.  Mine were too large and took FOREVER to cook to medium.

When you want more than steak sauce...

Mmm... medium rare T-bone (cut in half) with gorgonzola and red wine sauce.

This was definitely not a weight watchers recipe... but keep the portions smallish, and it's not quite a heart attack on a plate.

Ingredients (for 2 people):

1 1-lb ribeye (probably better for cutting in half)
2-3 oz. gorgonzola cheese
4-6 oz. mushrooms, thinly sliced
a lot of butter (3 T?)
1/2 c. (1 glass) red wine (not too dry)
salt
pepper

30-60 minutes before cooking, remove the steak from the fridge. Pat dry with a paper towel; sprinkle coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper generously on each side.

When ready to cook, heat up heavy duty skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 T of butter to the skillet; it should sizzle and melt immediately. Add the steak to the skillet; cook somewhere around 4 minutes on each side. Remove steak to a plate; spread 1/2 T butter on top, crumble the cheese over it, and tent with foil.

Add yet another tablespoon of butter to the skillet and sautee the mushrooms until they stop giving up liquid (3-4 minutes). Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits up with a spatula. Cook until the wine is reduced by about half and looks a little thicker. Add remaining butter; stir until melted.

Cut steak in half and plate; pour mushrooms and sauce over each portion.

Pork chops

Pork chops are one of my go-to weeknight dinners-- pretty easy, pretty quick, and very satisfying. This if from a month or two ago (hence the asparagus-- it was still spring).


This is more of a method than a recipe. Start with thick pork chops (an inch or so would be great); dry them with paper towels.

Sprinkle each side with seasonings (salt, pepper, rosemary, tarragon, thyme, oregano, sage, etc.) Let sit for a bit, then heat up a heavy duty frying pan to which you have a lid over high heat. Add some butter to the pan to grease it; it should sizzle immediately. Add the pork chops; sear the first side for 2 minutes, then flip and cook the other side for a couple of minutes.

When both sides are nice and brown looking, add a splash (maybe 1/4 cup) of whatever you'll be drinking with dinner (beer, wine, or water), cover the pan, and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for an additional few minutes (5-10, depending on the thickness of your pork chops and how hot the pan is), just until pork is no longer pink in the center.

Serve with a veggie and a starch; you can pour the pan sauce over everything.

Porter braised pot roast

Or stout braised pot roast, depending on what kind of dark beer you have languishing in the back of the fridge.


This pot roast turned out better than any roast I have done before; something approaching the platonic ideal of the pot roast. Make it for your in-laws. They will love you forever. It's that good.

2 lbs. chuck steak (often conveniently labeled 'pot roast'), trimmed of excess fat
1 bottle (12 oz.) porter, stout, or other dark and flavorful beer
1 large onion, sliced
a couple of large carrots, peeled and sliced
8 oz. mushrooms
1/2 t. dried rosemary
1 T. dark brown sugar
Salt, pepper, olive oil for searing roast

Slice veggies and put them in the bottom of a large crock pot.

Sprinkle both sides of roast liberally with salt and pepper; heat up a large skillet with some olive oil it until the oil shimmers. Sear both sides of the roast (2-3 minutes a side should do)-- this step is mostly cosmetic, but it caramelizes the outside of the meat and keeps you from eating greyish brown pot roast later.

Place roast on top of veggies; sprinkle top with brown sugar and rosemary. Deglaze the pan with some beer, scraping up the brown bits from the pan, and pour it into the crock pot over the roast. Pour the rest of the beer over the roast, cover, and cook on low (200 degrees) for 10-12 hours or high (300 degrees) for 5-6.


Slice meat and scoop out veggies. Serve with mashed potatoes and horseradish on the side, or better yet, horseradish mashed potatoes. Ladle the sauce left in the pot over everything.

Note on cooking with crock pots: this is ideal for meat that would otherwise be tough; done in a slow cooker, it's fork tender. However, you do not need to cover everything completely with liquid-- the idea is to braise it slowly in a moist heat, not boil it for 12 hours.