peruvian roast
When I'm looking at recipes, I oscillate between "fast but moderately impressive" and "long and slow". This recipe is a wonderful combination of both worlds. Yes, it takes 3 hours in the oven .... but it only takes like 15 minutes of hands-on time. A real winner in my book.
I made this on a Saturday afternoon before heading out for a late afternoon walk. While it was simmering away in the oven, I enjoyed a lovely stroll, found some sea glass, scanned a family photo album, did a face mask, and took a shower. Real productive. Also, incredibly easy and you probably already have most of the ingredients.
I first found this recipe a couple weeks back and it piqued my interest - but when I went to the grocery store for the meat.... I was stopped dead in my tracks. A pot roast was $24. I'm just one person and this was an experiment... so I needed to find a cheaper alternative. Googling in the store didn't give me a lot of comfort in the other roast options (rump, bottom, round, or whatever they were called) - but I did see some beef stew cuts of meat and grabbed that. This was $6 - so well worth the experiment.
A few notes:
- Meat // I think any cut of meat that can be cooked long and slow will be just fine. If pot roast was on sale, I would totally buy it - but beef stew cuts will be great too and perhaps easier for leftovers.
- SO EASY // I haven't had a recipe like this in a while. Essentially all the prep work is done in the blender and all the cooking happens in one dutch oven.
- Rice v Cauliflower Puree // I'm not on the Whole30 diet so I opted for rice as the base. I love making a good batch of rice on the weekends and slowly picking away at it during the week. Cauliflower puree doesn't exactly have that same allure and versatility.
- Spicy // The flavor profile of this meal absolutely has a kick to it. It's not spicy hot but just absolutely a punch. If you are serving to multiple flavor profiles, just cut back on the jalapeno and have extra lime. The lime is essential.
Here's how it goes.
- In a medium Dutch oven, set over medium heat, add the oil. When hot, add the onion and sear on first side for 1 to 2 minutes, until browned. Flip pieces of onion over and cook on opposite side for an additional minute or so. Remove the onion from the pot and set aside. I had a hard time actually flipping the onion over because they began to break up - don't stress about it.
- Add more olive oil to the pot and turn the heat up to high.
- Sprinkle both sides of the meat with salt and pepper and place the meat in the pot. Brown on first side for about 5 minutes. Flip over and cook on the opposite side for an additional 5 minutes. If you are using stew meat like me, this won't be as precise but just try and brown the meat relatively evenly.
- Remove from the dutch oven from the heat and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a blender, add the cilantro, jalapeño, garlic, thyme, cumin, salt, coriander, paprika and 1/2 cup of beef broth. Pulse until very smooth.
- Add the remaining beef broth (2 3/4 cup) to the pot.
- Add 75% of your cilantro mixture to the pot. We'll use the other 25% for serving - so just save that to the side.
- Transfer the dutch oven to the oven and braise for 3 hours or so until the meat pulls apart easily. After about 3 hours I wanted my broth to reduce a bit more so I pulled the lid from the dutch oven, this also gave some of the meat pieces a nice little crust to them - which I liked.
- Plate the meat over white rice. Drizzle some of the extra cilantro sauce, chopped green onion and serve with a slice of lime.
olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
1 purple onion, peeled and quartered
1 purple onion, peeled and quartered
Salt and pepper
2 pound stew beef
1 1/2 bunch of cilantro + more as garnish
1 jalapeño, ends discarded
4 peeled cloves of garlic
4 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
3 cups beef broth, divided
Limes, as garnish
Green onions, as garnish
2 pound stew beef
1 1/2 bunch of cilantro + more as garnish
1 jalapeño, ends discarded
4 peeled cloves of garlic
4 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
3 cups beef broth, divided
Limes, as garnish
Green onions, as garnish
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