I tried to make Shepard’s pie for a potluck, and it was a big ole plate of gross!  I was especially mad because 1) I HAD to bring it to the party because I didn’t make a back-up dish (d’oh!) and 2) I bought the more expensive ground sirloin for the meat.  So needless to say, I pretty much threw in the proverbial towel in for Shepard’s pie.

A few months ago, a friend/colleague of mine (shout out to Chris Baker!) told me that this is one of his favorite meals from his childhood.  So when I saw a packet for Shepard’s pie mix at the grocery store, I thought maybe it wasn’t the meal that was gross — maybe it wasn’t a good recipe!  I mean, I’m sure everyone has experienced disappointment after using a “good on paper” recipe from the Internet or a magazine.  It’s beef and veggies in a gravy-like sauce covered with mashed potatoes – what’s not to like?

I bought the packet, but ended using my noggin to create this more tasty and satisfying dish (which means recipe coming soon!).  Two thumbs up and one empty plate!

Tonight’s dinner: T-bone steak with sauteed onions and mushrooms, and a side of sweet peas

I haven’t been doing very well with adding new posts, so I’m trying this new idea out of taking pictures of what I’m eating for dinner for that night.  Perhaps it will encourage me to not eat some of the not-so-healthy meals (damn you, McDonald’s and your crack fries!) if I know that I have to publish it online. We’ll see how that goes! LOL!

Anyways, I like my steak plainly seasoned (just sea salt, cracked black pepper, and garlic powder).  I usually use a tab of butter and just pan-fried to a juicy medium rare.  This time I used a few spritzes of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” and it turned out pretty good, except it didn’t quite have that nice crisp crust that butter gets.

The onions and mushrooms were sauteed in the steak drippings with sea salt and pepper again.  Sometimes I put a little soy sauce if I want to add extra flavor, but I would recommend skipping the salt if you go that route — unless you like really salty food.

And the frozen peas were microwaved in a little bit of water and — you guessed it, sea salt and pepper.

This is a family recipe, created by my grandma on my dad’s side.  My dad is the oldest of nine kids; while big families weren’t so uncommon in the Philippines a few decades ago, you can imagine it was tough feed such a large group on a limited budget.  This recipe is proof that you can make a few ingredients go a long, tasty way.

The Basics

• Chuck roast  – cut into large pieces
• Potatoes – peeled and cut into a large pieces
• Tomato sauce – The large can
• Soy sauce
• Garlic powder

The Rundown

Brown beef in a large pot with a tbsp of oil.  Remove beef and set aside.

Add potatoes to the pot and cook potatoes until just about cooked.  It’ll take about 10 minutes.  Make sure you stir occasionally.

Add tomato sauce, a few shakes of garlic powder, and about 1/4 cup of soy sauce.  Let simmer for about 20 minutes.  Serve with rice.  Enjoy!

Beef stew is one of my dad’s favorite American comfort foods.  There are pre-made seasoning packets that you can buy, but if you have red wine, tomato paste, bay leaves and beef broth, you don’t need all the extra sodium!

The Basics

• Beef chuck roast – Cut into hearty 1″ inches.
• Garlic – Peeled and minced; I like garlic so I used 4 cloves.
• Celery stalks – Washed and sliced
• Carrots – Peeled and sliced
• Green peppers – De-seeded, and diced
• Potatoes – Peeled and diced
• Red wine – Use what you drink!
• Tomato paste – Use 2-3 tbsp
• Bay leaves
• Salt and pepper
• Beef broth; about 1 or 2 cans
• Cornstarch; about 1 tbsp
• Water

The Rundown

Season beef with salt and pepper.  Heat a dutch oven on the stove top on medium heat.  Here’s some tips when you’re browning beef:

1. Dry meat with paper towels.
2. Don’t over crowd meat.  Cook it in small batches if necessary.
3. Let beef cook for about 3 minutes before you even think about flipping it.

Once beef is browned, transfer the beef to a plate.

Pour red wine to deglaze the bottom.  Gently scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan

Add beef, garlic, bay leaves, tomato paste and beef broth.  Bring to a gentle boil on medium heat.  Cover and continue cooking for about 30-45 minutes.

Add vegetables and stir.  Cover and continue cooking for about 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked.  Enjoy!

I never knew that pot roast could be so simple to make.  My dad usually uses those seasoning that come with a bag, but the beef usually still becomes too salt and dry.  I did some research and have tried this recipe a number of times with slight modifications here and there.  I usually stock up on beef roasts when its $1.99/lb so this can be a really cheap, yet filling meal!

The Basics

• Chuck or bottom round roast
• Red wine – use whatever you like to drink; about 1 to 1 1/2 cups
• Salt and pepper
• Italian seasoning
• Cooking oil – 1 tbsp
• Carrots – peeled and cut into large pieces
• Celery – washed and cut into large pieces
• Onion – 1 onion sliced
• Garlic – 1-2 tbsp peeled and minced
• Soup mix – use onion soup or vegetable soup

The Rundown

Liberally season the roast with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  If you’re using a dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat and preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Brown meat by letting it sit for 5 minutes on each side.  If you’re using a crock pot, brown in a big saute/frying pan.  Remove roast and set aside.

Add onions to your cooking dutch oven and cook until translucent.  Add garlic and cook for two more minutes.  If you’re using a crock pot, turn it on and a bit of cooking oil and cook the same way.  Add roast to the dutch oven or the crock pot.

In a separate bowl, combine wine and soup mix.  Pour over roast.  If you’re using a dutch oven, place lid on top and cook in the oven for about 3 – 3 1/2 hours.  If you’re using a crock pot, add water until roast is about covered and let cook under low heat for about 4-5 hours.

Before the last hour of cooking, add celery, carrots and potatoes.  The meat will be very tender, so carefully lift out.  Enjoy!

When most people think “Salisbury steak”, they conjure images of salty TV dinners.  But really, its similar to sliced meatloaf soaking in mushroom gravy.

My dad, a Coast Guard retiree, loves Salisbury steak — which I think is attributed to meals he used to have on the ship.  The funny thing is my dad can’t quite get the recipe right.  The beef patties turn into huge balls of meat, and for some reason, he always adds a can of cream of mushroom. So I decided to do something nice for my dad and make it the way he remembered from his days as a “Coastie”.

The Basics

• Ground beef; 1 lb
• Peeled carrot
• Stalk of celery
• Half onion
• Bread crumbs
• 2 eggs – scrambled
• Salt and pepper
• Beef gravy
• Sliced mushrooms
• Dry onion soup – 1 packet
• Red wine – about 1/2 cup

The Rundown

Food process the carrot, celery and onion until finely chopped.  In a large bowl, mix veggies, ground beef, about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, salt, pepper and eggs.  If it’s too soupy, add more bread crumbs.  Form into 1/2″ thick patties.

Grill patties until brown, which will take about 5 minutes on each side.

In a oven-safe casserole dish, mix gravy, wine and onion soup package.  Add mushrooms and coat.  Remove mushrooms and set aside.

Add cooked patties then pile the mushrooms on top.  Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.  Enjoy!

Most of the time I would use oxtails in kare-kare, but I wanted to try something new.  A friend, Mike Deguzman, posted a picture of oxtails he ate for lunch at a local Caribbean restaurant, so I wanted to try it out.

This recipe is inspired by Emeril Lagasse’s recipe, but I made a quite a few modifications.  It was sticky, fatty, and had very bold flavors — all things I love!  Try it out if you’re feeling adventurous.

The Basics

• Olive oil – 2 tbsp.
• Oxtails – Defrosted (Don’t know where to find this?)
• Small onion-diced
• 1 carrot – peeled and diced
• 2 green onions – chopped
• Garlic – 2 cloves, peeled and minced
• Ginger – about 1 inch.  You can mince it, but I prefer to grate it because I don’t like biting into chunks of garlic.
• Beer – use a dark beer like Guinness or a beer you would drink.
• 1 can of beef stock
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp parsley
• 1 tsp allspice. – I used Essence of Emeril and thyme as a substitute.

The Rundown

1. Put about 2 tbsp of oil on medium heat in your pressure cooker.  Carefully add oxtails so you don’t get splashed.  Brown oxtails, which should be able 3 or 4 minutes on each side.   If you can’t fit all the oxtails, brown half at a time. Remove from pot and set aside.
2. Add onions and cook to pot, and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until onions are translucent.
3. Add green onions, garlic and ginger.  Mix and cook for about 1 minute.
4. Add tomato paste and mix well with vegetables.  Sprinkle flour.  Mix well and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
5. Add beer.  Add slowly as this will deglaze the pan.  A small amount of liquid will allow you to scrape the brown off the bottom of the pot.  Let boil for about 5 minutes.
6. Add beef broth.
7. Add allspice and oxtails.  Pressure cook for about 40-45 minutes.
8. Safely depressurize and add parsley.
9. Serve immediately!

After a KILLER boot-camp workout, I was craving protein.  I don’t usually eat steak, but this turned out pretty good.  I’m also including the recipe for the au jus (pronounced “ah-shew”) sauce.

The Basics

The Steak

• Steak of your choice – I think a bone-less ribeye
• Butter – 1 tbsp
• Spices – I used kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder

Au jus

• Pan drippings
• Beef broth
• Spices – Kosher salt, pepper
• Cornstarch
• Water

The Rundown – Steak

1. Steak should be room temperature.  Allow it t o sit out for about an hour to regulate temperature.
2. Season steak. I used mostly salt and pepper with a little bit of garlic powder
3. Heat non-stick frying pan to medium heat.  Melt butter.
4. Add steak and turn to medium high heat.
5. Cook for about 6 minutes on each side.
6. Lower cooking time a minute until steak is cooked to your preference.  It will also depend on how thick your steak is.

Here is the internal cooking temperatures :

• Very Rare Steak – 120°
• Rare Steak – 125°
• Medium-Rare Steak – 130° – 135°
• Medium Steak – 140° – 145°
• Medium-Well Steak – 150° – 155°
• Well-Done Steak – 160°

7.  Take steak off 5 degrees before the done-ness you prefer, because steak will continue to cook as it rests.
8.  Let the steak rest on a plate, covered loosely with aluminum foil or put in microwave.

The Rundown – Au jus

1. Pour steak drippings in a small saucepan.  Heat to medium heat until rapidly bubbling.
2. Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup beef broth.
3. Add about 1/4 tsp pepper and a pinch of salt.
4. In a small bowl, put about 4 tbsp. of cold water and a teaspoon of corn starch.  Mix well.
5. Slowly incorporate corn starch mixture in broth.
6. Au jus should be slightly thick.
7. Put on the side of steak for dipping.

The Basics

• Beef; some sort of steak cut into medium sized strips.
• 1 med-large onion; cut into rings
• Soy sauce
• Calamansi juice – Calamansi is a special type of citrus fruit.  You can substitute this with lemon juice.
• A little bit of cooking oil

The Rundown

1. Marinate beef in 1-2 tbs of lemon juice and 1-2 tbs of soy sauce at least for 15 minutes.  It’s better if you can let it soak overnight.
2. Put enough oil to cover the bottom of the frying pan.  Put heat to medium low.
3. Add steak and liquid to pan and add onions.  Add  a dash of  salt and pepper.
4. Cook low to medium heat for about 20-30 minutes until steak is done.
5. Serve with rice and drizzle sauce on rice if you like!

Additional Notes

You can quickly fry the steak and onions, but one of my aunties (Jela’s mom) told me slow cooking is always best.

Lindsey and I watched “Julie/Julia” this weekend (Meryl Strep was hilarious!), and it really inspired me to try french cuisine.  Beef bourguignon is a slow-cooked beef stew in a wine sauce.  I couldn’t find the Julia Child’s recipe online, so I tried Ina Garten’s verison (aka The Barefoot Contessa from The Food Network) and it was awesome!

I have to say the BEST part was when I got to flambe the veggies! My heart was beating out of chest and the flame when pretty high, but it was sooooo cool!  Also the meat came out really tender and absorbed the flavor really well.

Things I would change/alter:

• Recipe called for a pinot noir, which is too dark for me, so I might change it up to a Cab or a Shiraz because I don’t mind drinking those.
• Recipe also called for frozen onions, whereas I might just use regular chopped onions.  The frozen pearl onions were cute, but after a while, I just couldn’t handle eating them.
• Ina’s recipe only used thyme as the only herb, but other recipes used parsley and some other spices.  I feel like it was missing just a little something extra, so you may want to go with a different spice combo or recipe if you want to make it.

As Julia says, “Bon appetite!” =)