Beef Satay with Cashew Butter Sauce

We re-worked this recipe to our liking from a Williams-Sonoma recipe. It's especially delicious with fresh green peppers, or at least it was last night :) We also make our own teriyaki sauce, but that's something everyone should make to their liking.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs flank steak
• 2/3 c teriyaki sauce
• 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
• 2 green or red sweet peppers
• 6 Tbsp cashew butter
• 6 Tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
• 4 Tbsp teriyaki sauce

Directions
Cut steak diagonally across the grain in thin slices. For marinade, combine 2/3 c teriyaki sauce and 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 min. Drain steak, reserving marinade. If grilling on skewers, alternate steak strips and peppers. Brush skewers with remaining marinade. For peanut sauce, combine 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce, cashew butter, water and 4 Tbsp teriyaki sauce in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through; keep warm.

Grill, saute with marinade, or broil steak and pepper mix until steak is cooked to your liking.

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground or cubed meat (we've used beef, pork, venison, bison)
• 3 c beef broth
• 2 c diced mushrooms
• 1 c sour cream (grass-fed if available)
• parsley (garnish)
  
• Pepper to taste
  
• 1-2 packs of kelp noodles
  

Directions
Brown the meat in a large skillet, add pepper while browning. Add the beef broth and mushrooms, heat to a boil. Add kelp noodles, cook until softened, about 5-10 min. Stir in sour cream and heat through.

If you can't find the kelp noodles, this could probably be made as just a meat dish. We order our noodles by the case, and they keep in the pantry for several months.

Freezer stew

I've been trying to clean out our freezer, and I had about a pound of beef chuck roast and a pound of boneless lamb leg.  Not enough to do anything with on their own, but they made a really good stew together!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb beef chuck roast, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 lb leg of lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 parsnip, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 5-6 large white mushrooms, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• Spices: dried basil, thyme, oregano; black pepper; seasoned salt
• 6 giant cloves of garlic, crushed in my garlic press
• 2-3 cups of chicken broth

I threw all this in the crockpot this morning and let it cook on low for 7 hours.  It came out really flavorful, the meat was perfectly tender and not dry at all!  Usually, I find my miscellaneous stews to be rather bland and uninspired with a taste that doesn't make me want to eat the leftovers, but this one was really good!  I think the secret ingredient was the Borsari seasoned salt.  We picked it up at Whole Foods a few weeks ago and so far it's made everything we've put it on amazing.

Short rib ragu

I made the short rib ragu yesterday while puttering around the house, and wow.  It came out delicious!  The meat is incredibly meltingly tender, and the sauce is thick and fatty without feeling greasy or heavy.

I made a few modifications out of necessity: my grocery store didn't have porcini mushrooms this time, so I substituted 0.75 oz of assorted dried mushrooms.  I also didn't have Worcestershire sauce, so I added a dash of tamari soy sauce and probably about a teaspoon of anchovy paste.  And I skipped the gremolata (out of laziness).

For the meat, I used about 5.5 lbs of bone-in short ribs.  I would have liked to put in more to increase the final amount of meat, but that's all that would fit in my pot!  Lacking an immersion blender I pureed the sauce in my food processor in two batches.  Finally, I ended up simmering it very gently for about 2 more hours to reduce it, in large part because that's just how long it was until we ate it.

The final product doesn't look like the picture of the recipe; mine is much more like a thick stew.  I can imagine it would be delicious served over some sort of floppy pasta (like bowties) so I'm trying to figure out a good paleo substitution.  Maybe thin blanched zucchini slices next time?  It's delicious in a bowl by itself though so I'm not thinking too hard about it!

Beef braised in coconut milk

I made this beef braised in coconut milk and was thoroughly impressed!  It came out tender and flavorful, although I think next time I might actually increase the seasonings some.  It mostly tasted like coconut and beef--delicious, but the other flavors didn't really come through.

1. Preheat the oven to 275, and cut a ~3 lb beef chuck roast into six or so pieces.  Rub them with salt and brown them well in coconut oil in a big (oven safe) Dutch oven.  You'll want to do them in batches, and reserve them on a plate to the side.  I also took a lime out of the fridge now so it would be at room temperature for later juicing.
2. Drop the heat on the Dutch oven to medium and add a chopped onion, 2 minced cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger, the zest of one lime, and 2 tablespoons of curry paste.  Saute this for a few minutes to partially cook the onion, scraping the beefy bits off the bottom of the pan.  Then, add a can of coconut milk, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce.  Now, you put all your beef (and any juices) back in the pot, cover it up, and put it in the oven.  It took mine 3 hours to get to falling-apart tender.
3. Pull the pieces of beef out and put them on a cutting board to cool slightly.  Meanwhile, put the pot over medium heat and add a chopped bell pepper; simmer for a few minutes to cook it.  Add the juice of that lime, 2 chopped scallions, and 1/4 c of basil cut into thin ribbons.  Chop or shred the beef into bite size pieces and add them back in!

We made cauliflower rice and served it over that--it was perfect.  I''ll definitely be making this again!

Prosciutto wrapped pot roast

Prosciutto wrapped pot roast

Bored with pot roast - I was looking for a new twist.

Everyone said that the house smelled fantastic -- and a lot like corned beef.

Ingredients:

2.5 pound whole beef eye round roast

2 medium onions

1 celery stalk

garlic - chopped (as much as you like)

1/2 bell pepper - I used orange - very high in vitamin C

Olive oil

Veggies - as you like. I used a pound of carrots, a turnip and threw in a package of frozen carrots and broccoli for extra veggies.

8 cups of chicken stock - or beef, whatever you have

Red wine

Steak rub - Salt, pepper, garlic, paprika

8 oz prosciutto

Basil, thyme, bay leaf

Chop onions and saute in Dutch Oven with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.

Chop the bell pepper and add to pan.

Add salt and pepper

Rub the Beef with the steak rub all over -- a good coating.

Lay the prosciutto over the top and wrap it over the ends..... You could tie it - but it all falls apart if it is done right anyway.....

Now layer garlic onto the prosciutto

Lay the beef into the Dutch Oven

Add the broth

Add the bay leaf

Cook for 3-4 hours on low

Add 1/2 cup red wine, chopped turnip, carrots and broccoli and simmer for another hour.

Yum!