Pepper Steak in the Slow Cooker

Juggling your kid's after school activities with serving a home cooked meal is not always easy. I see why fast food, carry out and frozen meals are popular, but I do my best not to go there often, so I need a better strategy.  One is my slow cooker. Once in a while I will make time in the morning to get something going for the whole day, but there are also other ways to make this kitchen tool work for you.

If the activity allows about 30 minutes at home before we head out, I like to put together something that will basically keep warm in the slower cooker such as taco meat, or something that needs simmer time.  That's where this recipe comes into play. I've posted a version of this recipe before, but this has been modified for the slow cooker.

It takes about 15 minutes of minutes of prep to get it into the crock pot and it's worth it. I'm not a big fan of putting raw meat in the slow cooker, taking a few minutes to brown your meat such as in this recipe yields much better results. Even with that extra step, this recipe for Pepper Steak can be put together quickly so it can simmer in the slow cooker for a few hours while you are gone.  Then when you return, you put on the water for the noodles, add a few last minute items and dinner is served! 

Pepper Steak With Egg Noodles

Serving Size  : 6    

 

1lb Flat iron or Sirloin steak steak -- cut into 1/8 inch strips

3 tablespoons  olive oil

1 onion -- sliced

1 Clove  garlic -- pressed

salt and pepper to taste

1/8 cup red wine

1 can  beef broth

2 tablespoons  Worcestershire sauce

1 green pepper -- thinly sliced

2 tablespoons  cornstarch

1/4  cup  water

3  tomatoes -- sliced into thin wedges

12 ounces  egg noodles

Brown meat in oil in large skillet. Add onions cook a minute or two longer, add garlic and then wine. Allow a a few minutes for the alcohol to cook off.  Add beef broth and Worcestershire sauce to meat. Move all to the slow cooker. Add the green pepper strips on top. Cover and set slow cooker on low for about 2 1/2 hrs.

Turn slow cooker up to high. Put the water on for the noodles.  Combine cornstarch and 1/4 cup water; stir into meat mixture. Add tomatoes. Cover and cook on high 5-15 minutes longer. Cook noodles according to package directions. Serve pepper steak over the noodles. 

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Per Serving: 422 Calories; 13g Fat (26.9% calories from fat); 26g Protein; 51g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 98mg Cholesterol; 501mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 3 Grain(Starch); 2 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Pepper Steak with Penne

I've been making versions of this pepper steak for years.  It originally came from the back of some package, to which I would give proper credit, but the recipe is long gone and I can't remember the product.  That's okay, I think it's been morphed into my own thing anyway.

This dish is super easy and has wonderful fresh flavors due to the green peppers and tomatoes being added in at the end. It does take a bit of time though, you need to simmer the beef for over an hour before you can finish off the dish.  This is very important, otherwise the flank steak will tough rather than tender, and your fabulous dish will only be mediocre.


Pepper Steak with Penne

1 1/2  lbs flank steak, cut into 1/8 inch strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 each beef bouillon cubes
2 cups water
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup  red wine
1 each  green pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
3 tomatoes, sliced
12 ounces penne pasta
1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated

In a very large skillet, brown the steak in the olive oil, season with salt and pepper then add the onions, cook until slightly tender.  Add the garlic and saute about 3 seconds longer.  Add the water, bouillon cubes, Worcestershire sauce and red wine.  Bring to a slight boil then turn to low and cover.  Simmer on low for about 1 and 1/4 hours.

Once the beef is tender, cook the pasta according to package instructions.

Add the green pepper to the beef and cook for 2 minutes.  Mean while mix the water and cornstarch together.  Add it to the beef mixture and stir until thickened.  Add the tomatoes and heat through.  Stir in the cooked pasta and top with grated Parmesan.

My Favorite Lasagna

Nothing says comfort food like lasagna, and nothing lasts for several meals like a nice big lasagna. In fact doesn't that just bring more comfort knowing that dinner is ready for more than one night.  I love lasagna and even though it may seem like a production, it's really quite easy and well worth the effort.

One of the most important factors is the sauce, please don't waste your time using sauce from a jar.  This sauce is easy enough to throw together and will make all the difference. In fact, double the sauce recipe and put some away in the freezer for a quick pasta dinner on a lazy night.  I actually did it the other way around.  I made a double batch of sauce a night or two earlier and then decided to use the rest for this lasagna. It came together super fast and lasted for several days.


My Favorite Lasagna

Sauce

1 lb ground beef

1 T olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1 green pepper, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 - 32 ounce cans crushed tomatoes

¼ cup red wine

20 or so basil leaves, cut into slivers

salt and pepper

2 T. Honey

1 lb lasagna noodles, cooked

salt

Ricotta Mixture

32 ounces part skim ricotta

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

16 oz whole milk mozzarella, 12-13 ounces cut into small chunks, the rest shredded and reserved for later

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

   

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare large pan with cooking spray.  Start with the sauce.  Brown ground beef in olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Once browned add onions and saute for 2-3 minutes, then add mushrooms, green pepper and garlic.  Saute for about 5-8 minutes. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and allow it to simmer while preparing the ingredients for the other layers.

Cook pasta in salted water according to the directions on the package. Drain and set aside in cool water until needed.

In a large bowl, mix the ricotta mixture ingredients.

Assemble lasagna:  pour about 1 cup or so of sauce in the bottom the pan.  Then line the bottom with 4-5 noodles.  Top with 1/3 of the ricotta mixture. Add a layer of the sauce. Repeat noodles, ricotta and sauce 2 more times.  Top with the remaining noodles and then the rest of the sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until bubbly.  The pan I use is a huge a Polish stoneware pan and it takes longer to bake in this pan than others, so start checking at 40 minutes if using a glass or aluminum pan.  Once the lasagna is nice and bubbly, remove foil and sprinkle the reserved mozzarella on top.  Return to the oven for a few minutes for the cheese to melt.  Allow the lasagna to set for at least 15-30 minutes before slicing.

Asian Slow-Cooked Steak

Wow, we had a good hot streak going for awhile. When it's that hot, one of the last things you want to do is get in the kitchen and do a lot of cooking.  Okay not me, I'll crank up the A/C and turn on the oven. I know it's not helping my carbon footprint, but I try and make up for my A/C usage in other ways. Anyway this is about you. I know you don't want to cook. The problem is you still need to eat. That's where the slow cooker comes into to play.  Spend five minutes or so getting this dish prepped early in the day, and then at dinner time put on a veggie to steam and a pot of rice and you are done. It doesn't even feel like you did that much work, because you didn't.

One of the keys to this dish is the browning process.  There is no way to accomplish this in the slow cooker. If you throw it all in and walk away, the flavors are good and it will be a fine dish. But take the few minutes to brown the meat and caramelize the onions and it will be an awesome dish.

This is what I had on hand at the time, but if you want to kick it up a notch add some mushrooms with the onions and some ginger with the garlic. Ooh and maybe some chilies.

Asian Slow-Cooked Steak

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 flap steak also known as butchers cut
kosher salt and pepper
1 small onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
juice from 1 lime
cooked jasmine rice

Heat the oil in a skillet. When melted, brown the steak on both sides, season with salt and pepper to taste.  Move the steak to the slow cooker.  Add the onions to the pan and saute for 2-3 minutes, add the garlic, saute another 30 seconds and then remove the pan from the heat. Add the brown sugar and stir as it dissolves, then add the soy sauce.  Pour the sauce over the steak in the slow cooker then squeeze the lime juice over the top.

Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Serve over jasmine rice.

Short Ribs in the Crock Pot

With all this talk of vegetarian cooking, it might surprise you to see today's post of beef short ribs. I am not opposed to eating meat, it's good stuff.  The issues are how much of it we eat and how it is sourced.  I used to buy lots of meat on sale, put it in my freezer and then thaw it as I needed to use it.  I haven't completely stopped this practice, but I have severely cut back on it. More and more these days, as my budget allows, I buy less meat but much better quality meat.  Local, organic meat, like these short ribs.

Short ribs are rich, yes dare I say a bit fatty, so you don't need many per portion. Serve this dish with some rice to soak up the broth and add two green sides and you're done.  Some beef and lots of plant based foods to fill the plate.

These ribs are cooked in the Crock Pot. Don't let that fool you into thinking we just throw it all in and they come out looking so browned and beautiful.  Mistake number one with Crock Pot/slow cooker cooking is skipping the browning step with the meat. It's hard to do it when you are cooking a whole chicken, but with most pieces of meat the few minutes it takes to brown your meat on the stove (and yes one more pan to quickly wash) is more than worth it.

Short Ribs in the Crock Pot

Short ribs, enough for 3 per serving
olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 teaspoon flour
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

In a medium skillet over medium high heat, brown the short ribs in a scant amount of olive oil, using tongs to move the ribs to the crock pot. Discard half of drippings and in the remaining drippings saute the onion for about 2 minutes. Swirl in the tomato paste, red wine, flour, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper. Stir in 1 cup of water and then pour the mixture over the ribs in the crock pot. Cook on high 5-6 hours.

Sunken Beef Burritos

When I was growing up there was a Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood called Tippy's Taco House.  It was the first Mexican food that I had ever had, and in fact I don't think I had Mexican food anywhere else for many years.  Of course these days Mexican restaurants are a dime a dozen. Looking back Tippy's was a real dive, complete with a waitress named Libby who was missing a few teeth.  That's okay, I loved the place.  I even worked there for a while in my teen years. Today's post is a homage to one of my favorite dishes at Tippy's, the sunken burrito. It's a basic beef filled burrito, baked in a spicy gravy.

I've been making this dish for over 20 years and what's interesting is that until about 2 years ago, I haven't been to Tippy's for at least 20 years.  I think I know why.  First, it really is a dive, Libby isn't there anymore but sadly one of the younger, now much older waitresses is still working the tables. It's like the dive that time forgot. Second, the food, well it's not so hot.  I'm not going to dish on Tippy's burritos, but I can say mine are full of fresh ingredients and made in small batches.  So while Tippy's may have inspired this dish, it's really not anywhere near the same.

Btw, this recipe works just as wonderfully with ground turkey.


Sunken Beef Burritos

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
2 medium jalapeno chile peppers, seeded and minced
4 cloves garlic, pressed
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon tabasco sauce or sriracha
1 teaspoon kosher salt
8 large flour tortillas
1 packet chili seasoning mix
1 packet brown gravy mix
water
8 ounces shredded monterey jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground beef in oil with onion, peppers, and garlic. Drain fat. Add tomatoes, chili powder, tabasco and salt. Simmer 30 minutes.

Meanwhile add 4-5 cups water to chili seasoning and brown gravy mixes, simmer until thickened. Heat tortillas in foil for 10-15 minutes.

Prepare baking pan by spraying with nonstick spray and pour a little of the gravy into the bottom of the pan. Fill the tortillas with a little cheese and the meat mixture, wrap up burrito style and set into pan. Pour the remaining gravy over top the burritos.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes uncovered, top with any remaining cheese and cook another minute or two until the cheese melts.

Let set 10 minutes before serving.

Mapo Tofu

I love spicy dishes and this one fits the bill.  Not only is it spicy, it's complex.  There are layers of flavor that delight the senses.  This recipe came to me by a posting on Facebook, not a subscription but from an old friend who loves great food also. I have to confess I've never had this dish before, I didn't know what it was about.  But once I saw the recipe, I knew I had to try it.

The original recipe was published by Saveur. For the most part I followed their recipe with only a few small changes, including dialing the heat back a little bit.  Not because it would be too spicy for my daughter, because this dish in any form would not work for her, I made a hamburger for her out the extra ground beef. Given the amount of heat listed, I thought it would be too spicy for the hubby.  See, I am actually the only real heat lover in the family, so I always have to pull back. I walked a line keeping it edible for him, but hot enough to be true to the dish.

This dish has a few ingredients that the average American probably does not keep on hand, so making this dish will require a a trip to an Asian market.  Don't let that deter you, it will be worth the trip.  Plus once you make it, you'll want to make it again.  It's very easy, and once you have the ingredients on hand you'll be ready to roll for the next time.

Mapo Tofu

Adapted from Saveur magazine's Mapo Tofu (Sichuan Tofu and Ground Beef in Red Chile Sauce)

Ingredients:

1 14-oz. package firm tofu, drained and cut into 1" cubes

Kosher salt, to taste

½ cup Sichuan red chile oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons  ginger, peeled and minced

6 oz. ground beef

4 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish

1 jalapeno pepper,  stemmed and minced

2 ½ tbsp. Chinese red chile bean paste

1 tbsp. Chinese fermented black soybean paste

1¼ cups chicken stock

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. light soy sauce

¼ cup cornstarch, mixed with 6 tbsp. water

Steamed rice, for serving

• Place tofu in a bowl with 3 cups boiling salted water; let sit 15 minutes. Drain and spread on paper towels to dry; set aside.
• Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. 
• Add beef; cook, stirring and breaking up meat, until browned, 4–6 minutes.
• Add scallions, chiles, paste, and beans; cook, stirring about 2 minutes.
• Add stock and tofu; bring to a boil, stirring gently, so as not to break up the tofu.
• Add sugar and soy; cook, stirring, until sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute.
• While stirring, slowly add cornstarch mixture; cook until sauce has thickened, about 2 minutes more.
• Garnish with scallions. Serve with rice.