Category Archives: BEEF RECIPES

GROUND BEEF SLIDERS WITH BACON JAM AND CAMBOZOLA CHEESE

If I were a person who didn’t really like to cook, first of all, I wouldn’t be a food blogger (yah think!) and I undoubtedly would sport a great deal thinner wallet. And why is that you ask? Because I love really good food. And if I couldn’t fix it for myself, well then, I would have to go out to eat more often at places like Skillet, one of Seattle’s fabulous mobile diners. And why would I eat there as often as possible? Because, they make “the burger” – featuring grass fed beef, arugula, Bacon Jam, and Cambozola cheese (cow’s milk cheese that is a combination of a French soft-ripened triple cream cheese and Italian Gorgonzola). Need I say more?

But because I do love to cook, and am an inveterate copycat, I can munch on my take of this fabulous burger (I like to serve them slider sized) any time my heart desires, and time permits, of course. (FYI: if I am serving any type of burger at a function, I usually make them slider sized. Many of the people I entertain are getting older and simply don’t require as much food as when they were younger. So for most of my guests, a smaller burger is much appreciated. After all, they can always come back for seconds! Or even thirds! )

So next time you plan a picnic dinner for family and friends, try serving sliders in place of standard sized burgers. Or if you want to offer a choice, feature a couple of Seattle’s own creations. Serve both this slider (thank you “Skillet”) along with halved Seattle Cream Cheese Dogs (my next post). I mean really, we can’t just be known for our coffee snobbery, more Birkenstock shod women than any other city in America, and grunge music; we also need to take pride in our own gourmet twists on hamburgers and hot dogs. After all, hamburgers and hot dogs represent American cuisine at it’s finest! (I do believe I just talked myself into a trip to Italy. Arrivederci!)

  • 1 lb. not-so-lean ground beef
  • ½ tsp. seasoned salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • ½ tsp. granulated garlic
  • 1 T. grated fresh onion
  • 1 tsp. Montreal Steak Seasoning (made by McCormick)
  • Slider Buns (under Bread & Roll Recipes)
  • arugula
  • Cambozola cheese
  • Bacon Jam (under This & That Recipes)

Gently combine the ground beef, seasoned salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, onion, and Montreal Steak Seasoning. Don’t over-mix. Form into 2-inch patties and let rest for a few minutes. Meanwhile toast the buns in the frying pan you plan to use to cook your burgers. Set buns aside. Place pan over medium high heat. Once the pan is nice and hot, add the burgers and leave them alone. Do not try to flatten the burgers while they cook or all the lovely juices will escape. Don’t move the burgers except to flip them once the juices start to puddle on top. Do not flip again! How long you cook the second side depends on personal preference. For a rarer burger only cook for a couple of minutes. You can tell doneness by gently pressing your spatula in the center of the patty without breaking the crust. The squishier the burger, the rarer it is. Meanwhile, place some arugula on the bottom half of each bun. Add a very thin slice of cambozola cheese. When the patties are cooked, place on the cheese. Add a nice slathering of Bacon Jam to the top half of each bun and place on top of the cheese. Serve sliders immediately.

 

 

 

WEEKNIGHT TAMALE PIE

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Ok, now that you have my real Tamale Pie recipe, I am going to share my weeknight tamale pie recipe with you. This recipe is especially helpful for working parents.  In fact, this recipe helped save my sanity many times over the years when I would arrive home from work, having already exhausted every fiber in my body, and there was still work to be done, i.e. dinner to fix, laundry, baths to oversee….you know the drill! For all the years my kids were growing up, this was my “I’m too tired to cope and basically I hate everything and everybody” go to recipe. (I’m sure, as a parent, you’ve never experienced that kind of a feeling, but if you ever do, this recipe will be just the thing to help you make it through!) And the best part, Weeknight Tamale Pie is really tasty. Everyone in your family will love it. Now granted, this is not gourmet food, and will never make the likes of Gourmet Magazine or Bon Appétit. Also, it will not win you the “best working mother or father nutritional achievement award”. But I say who cares. It contains enough good, nutritious ingredients for occasional simple dinners; plus your little darlings will love it. And truly, after an exhausting day, do you really want to spend the evening arguing with your children about broccoli or Brussels sprouts? Save those battles for days when you have even a remote chance of winning! So, on the days when it seems that everything that could have gone wrong did, remember this recipe. When you first get home from work, take a package of ground beef out of the freezer and place it in the microwave to defrost. Then change your cloths, tell your family how happy you are to see them, and that you would appreciate their patience while you prepare them a wonderful dinner. Take the meat out of the microwave, place it in a large covered pan, and pour yourself a wee dram of something delicious. Doesn’t even have to be an adult beverage, although why not? Then sit down to dinner with your family and relax. That hideous pile of laundry can wait!

  • 1 lb. extra lean ground beef
  • 1 small onion, chopped or ¼ c. dehydrated chopped onion
  • 1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
  • 1 pkg. taco seasoning or 2 T. bulk taco seasoning (or to taste)
  • 1 (16-oz.) can whole kernel corn, drained
  • 1 (6-oz.) can black olives, drained and halved
  • 1 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • tortilla chips
  • sour cream, opt.
  • salsa, opt.

Fry ground beef in a heavy covered Dutch oven or sauce pan. Add chopped onion and cook until tender. Add tomato sauce, taco seasoning, corn, and black olives. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat as far as possible.

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Remove lid and sprinkle with cheese and enough tortilla chips to hide the cheese, cover and let sit on low heat until cheese melts, about 5 minutes. Do not stir. Serve as soon as cheese is melted with additional tortilla chips, sour cream, and salsa.  Note: I serve this dish as a stand-alone dish. It may not be as well balanced a meal as it should be, but some nights I’m not as well balanced as I should be either! And do yourself a favor. Since this is a dish that contains mostly pantry ingredients, stock up on cans of tomato sauce, black olives, corn, etc. when they go on sale. And never be without ground beef in your freezer. Or tortilla chips in your pantry.

 

BEEF STEW

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On cold dark rainy winter evenings (which granted are most winter evenings in the Seattle area) my tummy fairly screams at me to give it something warm, hearty and comforting. And not being a person who has ever denied my stomach anything, I comply as best I can while still trying to maintain some semblance of dietary responsibility. One of the dishes I make to satisfy my inner cravings is this stew. It actually took me several years to achieve just the right flavor, thickness, and proportion of meat to vegetable that I required in a perfect stew. I wanted my stew to be reminiscent of Beef Bourguignon, but contain more healthy veggies. So when I finally hit on this combination of ingredients, I was happy. (And yes, I do have a marvelous recipe for Beef Bourguignon that I will share with you at a later time.) So if you too have a desire for a healthy (bacon, not withstanding) and hearty hot dish, I recommend you build yourself a pot of stew. Chunk up a chewy baguette to go with it, pour yourself a nice glass of red wine, and try to forget (all you Puget Sound/Salish Sea inhabitants) that it has been cloudy, grey, and rainy for 47 days in a row! Take heart – the wine will help!

  • 4 slices lean bacon, diced
  • 1 lb. lean beef (round steak or top sirloin is great)
  • 2 tsp. seasoned salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 ½ tsp. paprika
  • ½ c. flour
  • 1 lg. onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 c. chopped celery
  • 2 carrots, sliced ¼-inch thick
  • 3 c. beef stock
  • 1 c. red wine (I use Hearty Burgundy)
  • 1 T. tomato paste
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
  • ½ tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
  • 1 T. dried parsley
  • 2 medium potatoes, diced
  • 4-6 c. fresh or frozen vegetables (corn, beans, peas, broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, etc.)

Fry bacon until crisp in a large, covered soup pot. Remove bacon to medium sized bowl. Don’t discard bacon fat. Meanwhile, remove any fat or grizzle from meat and cut into bite size pieces. Sprinkle meat with seasoned salt, pepper, and paprika. Place flour in a bag and add meat cubes. Shake until well coated. Brown meat in bacon fat. As pieces brown, remove to the same bowl as bacon. If more fat is needed to brown all the meat cubes, add a teaspoon or so of vegetable oil . After all the meat has been browned, add onion, garlic, celery, and carrot slices to the pot. Stir fry for about 5 minutes, lifting brown bits off the bottom. Add beef stock, red wine, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, and parsley. Bring to boil and add cooked bacon, meat cubes and any accumulated meat juices. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 90 minutes or until the meat is almost tender. Stir periodically. Add potatoes and simmer until they are almost done, about 30 minutes. Add fresh vegetables and cook until crisp tender. Add frozen vegetables and continue cooking only until they are warmed through. Taste and adjust seasoning before serving steaming hot.

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CHEZ CARR CHILI CON CARNE

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When I think about fixing chili, I usually (thankfully) don’t remember the chili my dear departed parents used to serve when I was a child. Some of you had the pleasure of knowing my parents, but most of you did not have to dine (and I use the term very loosely) in their home. While their food was not burned or awful tasting, it certainly didn’t bear any resemblance to the food most of us enjoy in our homes today. Please allow to me to give you an example and thereby prove my point. Their “recipe” for chili consisted of one can chili (I think there was only one brand available when I was a child) and one can of water. Heat until warm (not even hot, mind you) and serve with saltine crackers. Yep – that was their idea of chili. Why the can of water you ask? Good question. It’s not like my parents couldn’t read. My dad had a masters in English and my mom wasn’t any dummy either. But for whatever reason, that can of water was added. (Perhaps they just assumed chili was just like any other canned soup and never bothered to read the label.) Regardless, it was pretty much unpalatable. After I grew up and started making chili for my own family, I taught my dad how to make chili from scratch. He never looked back.  So if you too need a good, solid recipe for chili, this is about as basic and easy as it gets. And if you are even remotely thinking about trying my parents “recipe” for chili – don’t! Believe me, there are only three people in this world that liked my parents chili, and then only if it was added to a prepared package of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. My three younger children thought that this was the best food in the world when they were little. They always loved when grandpa and grandma babysat them, because they were going to get to eat this yummy concoction. (And no, please don’t try my parent’s “recipe” for Macaroni and Cheese Chili either. There are just going to be times when you have to trust me, and this is one of them!)

  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 2 lbs. lean ground beef
  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 1 qt. chicken stock
  • 1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
  • 1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste
  • 1 T. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme
  • 2 T. dried parsley
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
  • 7 T. mild chili powder
  • 2 T. ground cumin
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • kosher salt
  • 2 cans chili beans
  • finely chopped red onion, garnish
  • grated sharp cheddar cheese, garnish
  • sour cream, garnish

Heat oil in a large, heavy, covered pot. Add ground beef and fry until the meat is very, very dark brown and sticking to the bottom of the pan. (It’s those lovely caramelized brown bits in the bottom of the pan that you really need to give your chili the deep rich flavor.) When the meat is good and brown add the chopped onions, garlic, and green pepper and cook uncovered until the onion is translucent and you have scraped all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken broth, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, cloves, chili powder, cumin, pepper, salt to taste, and chili beans. Replace lid and continue simmering for an hour. Stir occasionally. Adjust seasoning and serve topped with red onion, cheese, and sour cream.

 

SWEDISH MEATBALLS

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So OK, I’m not Swedish, not even remotely Swedish. I am French with a little bit of German thrown in for interest. I think. Actually, the part of France my maternal grandfather’s family came from was the area around Strasbourg, France. (What were they thinking leaving the beautiful area around Strasbourg to settle on the mid-western plains? But I digress……) At one time Strasbourg was a town in old Germany.  Strasbourg lies in the heart of Europe just 240 miles from Paris, Geneva, Munich and Brussels. So am I more German than French on my mother’s side, who knows? And as to what actually flows through my veins; it could be one of the five French “mother” sauces, Tomat, Bechamel, Veloute, Espagnole or Hollandaise with a small addition of the classic German sauce Grie Soβ, or any combination thereof. Matters not, I like them all! On my father’s side, his forefathers immigrated from the French part of Switzerland also to the mid-west. (All my ancestors were apparently crazy!) So, like I said – I am not Swedish. However, my former husband is, so I learned a few Swedish dishes along the way. (After all, with step children named Eden, Sven, and Ursala, you are pretty much obliged to learn something from the Scandinavian cuisine!) So along with pickled herring and Glögg (and yes I know I have very eclectic tastes), Swedish meatballs were a common main dish in our household. Of course my meatballs bear very little resemblance to anything I was served when I was visiting Sweden, but for now let’s just keep that our little secret. Skål! (Cheers!)

  • 1/3 c. dehydrated onion
  • ½ tsp. granulated garlic
  • 2 T. parsley (dried or fresh)
  • ½ tsp. ground savory
  • ¼ tsp. paprika
  • ½ tsp. dried thyme leaves
  • ¼ tsp. dried rosemary
  • pinch nutmeg
  • ½ tsp seasoned salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 T. milk
  • ¾ c. uncooked oats
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 lb. seasoned pork sausage
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 tsp. beef base
  • 2 c. low fat sour cream

Combine the onion, garlic, parsley, savory, paprika, thyme, rosemary, nutmeg, salt, pepper, eggs, and milk in a bowl. Add the oats, ground beef and pork sausage. Forms into balls with a small ice cream scoop. Place on a low sided baking pan and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Meanwhile whisk together the cream of mushroom soup, beef base, and sour cream. When meatballs are out of the oven, layer them with the sour cream mixture in a covered casserole. Cover dish and bake at 350 degree for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and continue baking an additional 15 minutes.

Side dish suggestions: Refrigerator Mashed Potatoes, Noodles Romanoff or

buttered wide noodles, Green Beans

Wine pairing: A nice buttery Chardonnay