BAM! It's Beef & Barley Soup

Tonya will go on Facebook and see what recipes that other people have posted.  Then she links me, and I get the hint, she wants me to make this or that.

Being in the Navy for 25 years, we would have soup every day at 10:00, for Stand Easy.  I don't know how many bowls of soup I had over the years.  This one is always a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2–3 lbs chuck roast
2 carrots sliced in thin
2 stalks celery sliced thin
1 medium onion chopped fine
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
6 cups beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce)
1 bay leaf
2/3 cup medium Barley
1 can corn drained (14.5 ounce)
1 package beef gravy mix

Stuff you will need

Dutch Oven or stock pot
Cutting Board
Sharp Knife
Mixing bowl - several
Meat fork
Wooden spoon - for string your soup
Ladle - for serving your soup

Directions

In dutch oven or large stockpot heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Add beef and sear. Remove beef to a mixing bowl.

Add carrots, celery, and onion and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic, parsley, oregano and thyme and cook for just 1 minute; stirring constantly.  

Add the beef broth, diced tomatoes, bay leaf and beef back to the pot. 

Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until the roast is fork tender. 

Add barley and corn; cover with lid for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue simmering for 15 minutes.

Remove roast from the pot and trim cutting the beef away from any gristle or fat.  Cut or shred into bite size chunks and return to the pot.  Throw the gristle and fat out to the sea gulls.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome!

The Best Beef Stroganoff

While I was in the Navy, we used to have this at least twice, if not three times a month.  Although the recipe calls for sliced steak, I would imagine that using ground beef (hamburger) would be just fine.

Ingredients

1.5 lb sliced steak
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion
10 oz mushrooms
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 cups beef broth
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2/3 cup sour cream
1 package of flat noodles

Salt and pepper

Stuff you will need

Skillet
Cutting board
Sharp Knife
Large pot

Directions

Add enough water to the pot to boil the noodles.  Follow the instructions on the package for the noodles.

I used a 14 inch cast iron skillet.  I started by adding the oil and frying the steak.  Don't over cook it.  Just two or three minutes.  Remove from the pan.

Add the remainder of the oil and fry the onions and mushrooms.  Remove from the pan.

Now your going to make a rue with the flour and butter.  Don't over cook the rue.  Add the broth, about a 1/2 cup at a time and continue to stir till smooth.  Add the mustard and the sour cream.  Stir until smooth.

Add the beef and vegetables.  Stir together.

If you timed it correctly, the noodles and the beef mixture will be all done at the same time.  Serve immediately.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome!

Burnt Ends Roast Beef

So Tonya runs across this post on Facebook.  It's about this roast that is cooked on the BBQ, but it's all burnt ends.  

WHAT?!  

This can't be true.  

But it is!

Your gonna regret finding this recipe, as you will never want to have a roast any other way.

Ingredients

1 x inexpensive roast
Spice to taste
Your favorite BBQ sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar (optional)

Stuff you will need

BBQ
Heavy weight Tin Foil
Tongs
Temperature probe
Mixing bowl
Disposable tin foil pan
Patience

Directions

This recipe can be modified for any BBQ, smoker, or grill.

Spice up your inexpensive roast.  This roast is going to be cooked low and slow, so if you got a cut of roast that is normally tough, this recipe is going to "fix" that.

Set up your BBQ so that it's like an off set smoker.  i.e. charcoal on one side and the meat will go on the other side.

The timings are approximate.  If it's a smaller roast, you may not want to have it "smoking" as long.  Obviously, if you got a monster roast, your gonna need more time.

Once your BBQ is up to temperature, put the roast on the grill.  It's going to be in there for no less than 1 hour.  Or until the internal temperature hits 160 F.

Wrap the roast in tin foil and put it back in the BBQ for another hour, or until the internal temperature hits 190 F. 

Take the roast off the BBQ and let rest for 10 minutes.  There is a lot of drippings inside the tin foil.  Lets allow some of those drippings to be re-absorbed by the roast.

Cut up your roast into large bite size pieces.  Put the cut up roast into the mixing bowl.  Add your BBQ sauce and ensure every piece gets covered.  Now, in the video below, you will see that I've added brown sugar.  The brown sugar will glaze up.  This is NOT required to be added.  The BBQ sauce will already have a lot of sugar to start with.  So if your on a diet, just watch your portion size.

Pour everything into the the tin foil pan.  I found that the disposable tin foil pans from the Dollar Store are great.  You would like to make sure that the pan is large enough so that the roast pieces gets equal exposure to the smoke and heat.  So your not getting a cookie sheet, but something about 1/2 that size.

In this video, the only tin foil pan that I had went missing (from the last burnt end BBQ'ed roast), so I improvised and put a layer of tin foil in this tin foil pan that has holes in it.

You will also seen in the video (below) that I didn't mix the cut up roast in a mixing bowl.  Again, a lot of my recipes, are ONLY a guideline.  Make this anyways you want.  Make it YOUR recipe.

Enough talking...  back into the BBQ for another hour.  Not covered.  You want that smoke to "hit it" one last time.

So this is the end results...  oh my...  try not to eat it all in one sitting.  

Try, if you can, to save a few pieces and take them to work to share with your co-workers.  If you can, put it in the microwave to warm the pieces up before serving them.

Prep time, 10 minutes
1 hour in the BBQ "naked"
1 hour in the BBQ wrapped in heavy tin foil
10 minutes rest
10 minutes prep 
1 hour in the BBQ "naked" on the open tray

This will amount to 4 to 5 minutes of eating.  Then it's GONE!

Click on the picture below to see the video.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome!

Baked Meatballs

Makes about 25 meatballs

Ingredients

1 pound ground meat
1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup finely minced Italian parsley
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, finely minced

Directions

Pre-heat your oven.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Do not use a mixer for this recipe.  

Overworking the meat will create "tough" meatballs.  Put everything into a large mixing bowl and mix by hand.  It could take a few minutes for everything to get mixed together.

Although I was able to get 25 meatballs, you could make a lot more if you make them smaller (Obviously).

Arrange the meatballs spaced slightly apart on a cookie sheet. Cook under the broiler for 20 to 25 minutes or bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. 

Do you like spicy meatballs?  They feel free to add spices of your choice.  This recipe is intended to be a guide line to making meatballs, not the absolute and only way to make them.  You could use milk when making the meatballs, but I used whipping cream.  I found it gave a creamy taste that the milk just wasn't getting.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket

I've posted how to slow cook a beef brisket in a smoker..  

Today, I'm going to post how to cook a beef brisket in the oven.

Normally the brisket is a tough cut of meat.  So you are going to be cooking this a long time.

Ingredients

seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, etc)
1 beef brisket
2 onions
6 stalks of celery

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Cut up your onions and celery.

Spray your cooking pan with pam (non stick cooking spray)

Put your onions and celery in the bottom of the pan.  This is going to act like a cooking rack.

Season the raw brisket on both sides.  For the first hour, leave the pan uncovered.

Cover pan tightly and continue cooking 1 hour for every pound of brisket.  

4 pound brisket - 1 hour uncovered, 3 hours covered
10 pound brisket -1 hour uncovered, 9 hours covered

Trim the fat and slice meat thinly across the grain.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Beef Marinade

Meat of any kind can be so expensive.  Why purchase a rib roast @ $19.99 a pound, when you can get some other cheaper cut and just marinade it?

Ingredients

1 cup dry red wine
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey (Omit and/or use sugar substitute for Keto)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup canola oil

You will also need

A bowl to mix the ingredients in
A whisk
A ziplock bag, or a bowl deep enough to immerse the meat in
Patience

Directions

To make the marinade, whisk together the red wine, soy sauce, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, honey, garlic, cumin, coriander, onion powder, pepper, and canola oil in a bowl until smooth.

To use the marinade, pour over 4 steaks in a resealable plastic bag. Squeeze out the air, and massage the bag to coat the meat with the marinade. Refrigerate at least 8 hours before cooking to desired degree of doneness.

Please remember, the ingredients are just a suggestion.  If you keep it simple, just think, you need an acid (Lemon juice, and/or wine), oil, and salt (Soy sauce).

I finally cooked the roast @ 350 F for 90 minutes, uncovered.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome!