Prep: 20 min Bake: 3 hr Total: 3 hr 20 min Serves:8
Ingredients
1 (4 to 5-pound) prime boneless beef chuck roast, tied
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour
Good olive oil
2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 cups chopped celery (4 stalks)
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 to 4 leeks)
5 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 cups good red wine, such as Burgundy
2 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes in puree
1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 chicken bouillon cube
3 branches fresh thyme
2 branches fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Season the roast all over with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Dredge the whole roast in flour, including the ends. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the roast and sear for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn and sear the other side and then turn and sear the ends. This should take 4 to 5 minutes for each side. Remove the roast to a large plate.
Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the Dutch oven. Add the carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add the wine and Cognac and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, bouillon cube, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Tie the thyme and rosemary together with kitchen string and add to the pot. Put the roast back into the pot, bring to a boil, and cover. Place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is fork tender or about 160 degrees F internally. Turn the heat down to 250 degrees F after about an hour to keep the sauce at a simmer.
Remove the roast to a cutting board. Remove the herb bundle and discard. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Transfer half the sauce and vegetables to a blender or a food processor fitted with the steel blade and puree until smooth. Pour the puree back into the pot, place on the stovetop over low heat, and return the sauce to a simmer. Place 2 tablespoons flour and the butter in a small bowl and mash them together with a fork. Stir into the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thickened. Taste for seasonings. Remove the strings from the roast, and slice the meat. Serve warm with the sauce spooned over it.
Dearest Boo……….what a day to share with Kevin Bacon, Michael Weatherly and Rocky Carroll (from my television husband’s show), Toby Keith, Marty Feldman, Anjelica Huston, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (author), Eli Lilly (of the pharmaceutical company of the same name), Anna Quindlen (journalist), Nelson Rockefeller, Jaden Smith, Jeffery Tambor, Jerry Vale (singer), Steve, Lawrence (singer), Wolfgang Puck, Roone Arledge (ABC sportscaster), and me. Ringo Starr almost made the cut, but his birthday was yesterday, the 7th.
Here is what I want for my birthday from any and everyone who is reading this blog…..Will you give me a gift of a random (or not so random) act of kindness? I truly wish this was my original idea, but sadly no. I read it online some time ago and wanted to share it on my birthday. However, I am so sorry that I did not write down which blog I found this on, as now it is not possible for me to give that brilliant blogger props.
It’s so easy and best part? Nothing to wrap or buy. You can tell someone how they have changed your life or how much you love them. You can mow your neighbor’s lawn or help them clean out their cupboards. You can have coffee with a friend or buy lunch for a stranger. You can leave change in a vending machine for someone else to find or pay for coffee for the car behind you. You can tell someone how much you appreciate how they did a job or make a donation to your favorite charity. Volunteer at your local Food Bank or send a letter of thanks to your favorite teacher. You can drop off flowers or a plant to a nursing home or take balloons to a hospital. You can just start with a smile. Today there are so many people who are rushing through their day that I would think that a smile from a stranger brighten up their day. You may even give them their only laugh of the day. Heck, why not be like Michael Jackson and “Start with the Man in the Mirror”?
“I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could’ve been any clearer. If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself and then make that . . .change!
You gotta get it right, while you got the time ’cause when you close your heart then you close your . . .mind . with that man in the mirror I’m asking him to change his ways
Just lift yourself you kKnow you’ve got to stop it yourself! I’ve got to make that change, today!
You’ve got to move! Come on! Come on! You got to . . .stand up! Stand up! Stand up! Stand up and lift yourself, now! Man In The Mirror make that change gonna make that change . . come on!
You know . . .Change . . . Make that change.”
You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you get what you need. We may not get what we want… but we must ask ourselves, what do we really need? Well, the short term answer is this: you need this marinated flank steak for dinner tonight.
Flank steak has very little fat, making it an ideal low fat beef dish. Marinating it makes the beef tender and provides a wonderful flavor. I usually marinate the steak at least two hours, but longer if at all possible. To be honest, I usually allow the steak to marinate overnight, before I grill it. You should cut a flank steak across (perpendicular to) the grain to make the meat fibers as short as possible. Cutting it on the bias would lengthen the fibers and make it slightly tougher (not sure if it will be appreciably tougher). If you don’t really care about having a wide slice to fan out on the plate, cut it vertically across the grain. We have served this with Funeral Potatoes or in a fajita or on a salad or in a panini sandwich. Heck, I have even been known to eat slices cold from the refrigerator. Not only is this very delicious, but it is super, super easy to fix. Two things that definitely will help with Joy Rising!
Marinated Flank Steak
Source: Recipezaar #18902
Prep Time: 2 ¼ hours/2 hours of this is to marinate
Dearest Boo, well it’s out there. It’s out there in Bloggerland. And I am not sorry at all. I saw a notice that a production company was looking for help for a car commercial. After reading all the qualifications, the non-disclosure agreement, the time frame when they wanted to do the shoot, and how big my part would be, I quickly signed on the dotted line. Imagine my surprise to learn that not only would I be paid for my time, but every time the commercial was shown on are I would get a residual check! Holy Schnickey!! Who needs a job?? I figured that with all the times this is on television, and you know it’s on a ton – you can hardly watch a show without it playing at least one – I would be able to retire a wealthy old broad. I figured that I would be safe……….I can admit it, accept my responsibility and be totally safe. You will never know what I did! I have know put out this information online and the whole will know about it. And why won’t you know? Why am I feeling safe? Why am I jumping for joy? Is it because I got my first residual check for the month of May – for the tidy sum of $2.09? Happy times are here again…………I can retire with ease. Why if you multiple the $2.09 by twelve my yearly check will be $25.08. Life is good! So, now you know…………your messy bedroom is out there for the whole world to see!
Okay, not really. I was just fooling. This commercial does not show your exact bedroom. I was just trying to shame you into cleaning. Truth be told, you probably get your desire from cleaning from me. Now it’s time for my confession: I don’t enjoy cleaning. Keeping my house clean (even by my low standards) is a constant struggle for me. I really do love a clean house. Unfortunately, what I hate… is actually doing it.
Our basement would make it on a segment of “Hoarders” without a doubt. When it comes to cleaning time I do try to find a place for everything and everything in it’s place. The problem is that I have too much of “everything” and not enough places, so when I cannot find a place for the “stuff” it gets relegated to the basement. The basement has piles and piles and boxes and boxes. I swear, one day last week I was down there looking for some items I needed for a sewing project. I know that some of the piles moved!! And I know that they multiplied by themselves. There are the patio chairs that I need to get upstairs and out to the back yard. There is the hammock that I need to get upstairs and out to the back yard. There are the planters that I need to get upstairs and out to the yard, filled with flowers. And once they are out there, in now time at all it will be the fall and back down stairs they all go.
It’s just like that with cleaning. You do it once and then you have to do it all over again next week or in two weeks or in a month……whatever. How pointless is all that??? I have tried to make a “game” out of cleaning. Like if I clean one room I can read three chapters in the latest murder thriller on my night stand. That kind of works, except that I always read more than three chapters. Or I can listen to my favorite cleaning song, “Old Time Rock ‘n Roll” by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, as long as I am dusting or cleaning the hardwood floors. I had to stop that when I got a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror sliding up and down the floor with used dryer sheets taped onto my feet while I was in my “white dress shirt and tighty-whities” singing into the spray can of Pledge. Thank goodness the living room draperies were closed tight. Pretty sure that the neighbors would have had a petition to get me out of the neighborhood started after that sight. That cleaning gene must have skipped right over me and gave my dose to your aunts. Their homes are always so clean…….pretty sure that I can do the white glove routine over any surfaces in their homes and the glove would be spotless.
Maybe they are really a Disney Princess who has slipped away from Disney World and is living here among the humans. You know, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I can just see Aunt Bev singing this to her two grandsons:
Those two boys are always clean and when you go to her home you cannot tell that two little boys live there. I think you can almost eat off her floor. Amazing. Or your Aunt Rose……..I have been there while she was cleaning. And I cannot be certain, but I am pretty sure she is so cheerful that if I close my eyes I can see/hear this scene from “Cinderella”
Even when I try to sing those songs while I clean it just will not do the trick to make cleaning a “happy” chore. Why, I have even tired checking into buying Hazmat suits for us to change into before we enter the house. THAT would surely cut down on the dirt, but when I realized that it would do nothing to help with the clutter or clean the toilet bowls or scrub the shower/tub/sinks or do the laundry or mop the floors or load the dishwasher or clean the windows.
However, if we were like your Aunt Teri life would be so much easier. Her sweet daughter, Amanda, lives to clean. To NOT be able to clean would be punishment for her. Since it is summer I am thinking that I may have to invite that sweet girl to our home for a week of “fun” with us. To come here to clean would be like winning the lottery in her world. Of course, once she has done her thing here, we will have to move out just so that it would stay that way. Guess that won’t work.
And lastly is your Aunt Charlotte who I think has found the “Secret” to a clean house. She likes things to be perfectly clean, but just does not appear to be working hard while she is making it happen. I am not at her home enough to discover her exact secret. However, it is my belief that she uses the “10 Minute Rule for Cleaning”. How does that work? You set up a timer for 10 minutes exactly (a timer is an absolute must if you really want to get motivated.) As soon as the timer starts, it’s basically “Ready, Set… GO!!!” You then have exactly 10 minutes to do anything and everything necessary to help you get your home back into shape. This can include making the bed, washing the dishes, picking up dirty laundry from the floor, scrubbing the bathtub, dusting the shelves, sweeping the floor, vacuuming the rug, WHATEVER… You don’t have to do everything on the list… You just have to keep going until the timer goes off. That’s the rule: Once the timer goes off, you immediately stop what you are doing and postpone it for another day. Next day, same thing. Timer – Do what you can – Back to life. Pure Genius! It’s every lazy person and procrastinator’s dream!
Oh well, there is one thing that has to be done daily that I do love to do – cook. And part of the fun of cooking is finding and trying out new recipes. I found this one while watching “Guy’s Big Bite” on the FoodNetwork. It is not a hard recipe, just takes time so you need to be sure that you start early enough in the day. It is so delicious, that I know we will have this again and soon. I could spend all day cooking. For me, it is Joy Rising!
Holla Beef Enchiladas
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 4 hrs 45 mintues
Source: Guy Fieri
Ingredients
5 1/2 pounds chuck, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus more for frying
2 yellow onions, peeled and sliced in 1-inch rounds
8 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 cup low-sodium beef stock
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup warm water
Enchilada sauce, recipe follows
16 (6-inch) corn tortillas
2 cups grated Cheddar
2 cups grated pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 (6-ounce) can sliced black olives
1 cup sour cream, for garnish
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Trim, cut, pat dry and season the beef with salt and pepper.
Coat the bottom of a large heavy Dutch oven with oil. Heat the oil, over medium heat, and brown the beef, in batches, being careful to not crowd. Add 1 tablespoon of oil, if needed, to finish the beef. As the beef browns, remove it to a bowl and keep warm.
Add 1 tablespoon of canola oil to the pot over medium heat and add the onions; cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the garlic, cook for 1 minute more, then stir in the stock to deglaze the pan.
Add the browned beef, the vinegar and the water and cover tightly.
Put the pot in the oven and after 45 minutes, give the beef a stir.
Cover and cook for an additional 2 hours and 15 minutes, stirring every 30 to 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool for 20 to 30 minutes.
Shred with forks, incorporating the onions and garlic.
When ready to assemble, put 1/2 cup enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
Heat a medium saute pan over medium-high heat with just enough enchilada sauce to coat the bottom.
Dip the tortillas, 1 at a time, into the sauce, and cook until tender, about 1 minute each.
Combine the cheeses in a medium bowl.
Remove the enchiladas to a flat surface. Fill each with some of the shredded meat and cheese, (reserve some cheese for the top of the baking pan).
Roll and arrange them, seam side down, in the baking pan, packing the enchiladas tightly.
Add additional sauce to come 1/3 up the sides of the enchiladas, then sprinkle a line of cheese, lengthwise, down the center of the pan.
Garnish with green onions and black olives.
Bake until bubbly, about 25 to 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven, let sit for 5 minutes and then serve with sour cream.
Caesars Enchilada Sauce:
4 cups boiling water
3 ounces dried California chile pods
6 ounces dried guajillo chile pods
2 ounces dried pasilla chile pods
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, preferably fire roasted
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Directions:
Add the boiling water to a large bowl and add all of the chiles. Let steep in water for 1 hour.
Transfer the chiles and the steeping liquid to a blender and puree for 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove from the blender and strain through strainer.
Heat the oil in heavy saucepan over medium heat.
Add the onions and garlic, saute until soft.
Stir in the diced tomatoes, strained chiles, oregano, cumin, salt, black pepper and cloves.
Cover, lower the heat and simmer for approximately 30 minutes.
