The Humble Kitchen

My daughter requested Sloppy Joes for dinner last night and I was happy to oblige because it’s one of those recipes you can get some veg into without any complaint. I briefly considered the addition of mushrooms, but she can smell a mushroom a mile away, so I thought I’d better not push it. I like to use Muir Glen tomato paste and sauce, and Heinz organic ketchup. When it comes to beef, Niman Ranch is my standard, but any grass fed will do.

2 Tblsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stalk, diced

1 zucchini, diced

6 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup tomato paste

1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce

¾ cup ketchup

3 Tblsp apple cider vinegar

⅓ cup brown sugar

3 Tblsp Worcestershire sauce

2 lbs ground beef

8 bakery burger buns

Heat a large skillet over med-high heat, once hot add olive oil. Add chopped onion, celery and carrot and stir to combine. Cook for a few minutes, stirring a bit here and there until everything starts to soften. Add zucchini and garlic, stirring to keep garlic from burning. Now add the tomato paste, press it into the veg and mix it all in together. Pour in the tomato sauce and ketchup and stir well. Add apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Reduce heat and let simmer until sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally. Twenty minutes will do but up to an hour will make it that much thicker and richer.

Meanwhile heat a large skillet over high heat. Salt and pepper the ground beef well and throw it in the hot pan. Break it up with a wooden spoon, keep stirring and breaking it up until it’s no longer pink. (If the meat gives off a lot of grease, pour it off, but this doesn’t seem to happen with grass fed beef.)

When the sauce is reduced and thickened add salt and pepper to taste. If you feel it needs more vinegar or brown sugar, add a tablespoon, stir and taste again. Once it’s to your liking, combine with the meat and cook for just a moment to make sure it’s nice and hot. Toast your buns and dig in.

I served these with a green salad with lemon juice, balsamic and olive oil dressing, and some cut up fruit. Oh, and some good crunchy potato chips, Tim’s are my favorite.

-Jennifer

I went back to the farmer’s market, back to the place where I got the brisket to make pastrami last month. This time I got a chuck roast, primarily because it was affordable. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, so once I got home I started flipping through cookbooks. After finding a few possibilities I settle on Northern Style Shredded Beef with Tomatoes from Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless. I doubled his quantities, and used Fresno chiles instead of the spicier Jalapeños or Serranos. Feel free to halve this recipe, and to use whichever chile you prefer.

2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes

2 tsp. kosher salt

2 medium onions

6 cloves garlic, peeled

¼ cup lard or vegetable oil

4 ripe medium sized tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped, OR one 29 oz. can tomatoes, drained and chopped

4 green onions, root ends removed and chopped in ¼ inch pieces

Fresh Fresno chiles to taste, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped

Kosher salt, about a teaspoon

Place cubed beef, one halved onion and 2 cloves of garlic in a heavy dutch oven, cover with cold water and add 2 tsp. kosher salt . Place on high heat until water starts to boil then reduce to a gentle simmer. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface.  Partially cover and simmer gently for about an hour, until meat is very tender. Ideally the meat should cool in the broth and sit overnight in the fridge. If you don’t have time, just skip that step and allow the meat to cool enough to handle. Strain and reserve the liquid, skimming off excess fat. Finely shred the meat, discarding any gristle or fat  (or feed it to your cats/dogs/chickens) and dry it on paper towels.

Dice the remaining onion and garlic. Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat then add the lard or oil. Once hot add onions and shredded beef and stir frequently for 8 to 10 minutes, until well browned. This is a crucial step in developing intense flavors, don’t rush through it. Reduce heat to medium, add garlic, green onions, tomatoes, and chiles. Stir frequently for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes have softened. Deglaze your pan with about one cup of the reserved broth, and simmer until the liquid is evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Meltingly soft, intensely beefy, this filling is good with corn or flour tortillas. It hardly needs any accompaniment, but you could certainly add shredded lettuce, lime wedges, cilantro, a little salsa, whatever sounds good. So delicious, I can’t wait to make it again.

-Jennifer

P.S. I picked up a trick watching Jacques Pépin. When you need to peel tomatoes, or anything you’d normally have to blanch first, simply use a serrated peeler, and the skin comes off quite easily.

Also a friend of mine told me to save the root ends of green onions and stick them in the ground, and they will grow again. Sure enough it works. A constant supply of green onions at your fingertips.

I had a brisket I’d picked up at the farmer’s market kicking around and I decided to give pastrami a try. Last year around this time I attempted to do a corned beef, and it was far too salty to be enjoyable. I wanted to try again but this time use a more trusted source for the recipe. Everything I have made from the book Charcuterie has been amazing, so I started there. This is for a brisket just over 2 lbs.

For the brine:

2 quarts water

¾ cup kosher salt

½ cup sugar

½ tbls pickling spice

¼ cup packed brown sugar

⅛ cup honey

Combine all the brine ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Let cool to room temperature, then chill in a container large enough to fit the brisket. Once cold, place brisket in the brine, placing a plate on top to keep the meat fully submerged. Refrigerate for 3 days. Remove beef from brine and pat dry. Lightly toast and coarsely grind ½ tbls each coriander seed and black pepper corns. Rub onto brisket. Now it’s time to smoke the meat. I lit up a chimney full of charcoal while a few handfuls of wood chips soaked in water. Once the charcoal was glowing I placed it along one side of my lidded grill, and placed the drained chips on top of the glowing coals. The brisket goes on the cool side of the grill, lid on. The smokey fire lasts about half an hour, and I only wanted the pastrami lightly smoked, so I stopped there. You could certainly have another chimney of charcoal ready to go, and more soaked chips, and smoke it further. Once it’s as smokey as you’d like, place the brisket in an inch of water in an appropriately sized oven safe pan. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated 275º oven for about an hour and a half, or until it is fork-tender. We sliced it thin against the grain, served it on dark bread with hot mustard, emmenthaler and sauerkraut.

-Jennifer