Marsala Mushroom Cream Sauce over Beer Braised Beef over Mashed Potatoes

Made this dish last week. It was awesome! A hit with the entire family. Such perfect comfort food for chillier weather. Doesn't it just look comforting?

This recipe is assembled in 3 parts. I took the recipe from the Mushroom Channel, but made some changes. 

Beer Braised Beef

1 (2 1/2 lb) boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 2-3 inch chunks.

1/2 c flour

4 Tbsp veg oil

2 med yellow onions, halved & thinly sliced

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 (12 oz) bottles of lager beer

3 beef bouillion cubes

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 6in sprig rosemary

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Season beef generously with salt & pepper and place in a ziplock bag with added flour. Seal and shake until the beef until each piece is dredged and coated in flour. Add 3 Tbsp of oil to a large heavy duty pot and heat over med-high heat. Brown the beef on all sides, then transfer to a plate. Add remaining tablespoon of oil to pot and add onions, cook for 20 minutes until soft and slightly carmelized. Stir in balsamic vinegar, beef and boulion (*I used broth). Bring to a boil, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom. Add beef and juices back to the pot and give everything a good stir. *Cover pot with a lid and place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. (*Instead of placing in the oven, I put it in the crockpot on low and left it for 4-5 hours. It came out perfect.)

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

2 lbs yukon gold potatoes, washed and quartered

1/2 c butter, sliced

3/4 c buttermilk

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, add potatoes and cook for 20 minutes until fork tender. Carefully strain and place in large bowl. Add butter and allow it to melt. Stir in the buttermilk. Using potato masher, carefully mash until creamy. Salt and pepper to taste.

(*This is what they recommended. I made regular mashed potatoes. I love to make mine from baked potatoes, so I baked the potatoes while the beef was cooking in the morning. Then I scooped and made the mashed the potatoes with butter and milk. I covered them and reheated at dinner time.)

Marsala Mushroom Cream Sauce

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp oil

8 oz cremini mushrooms

8 oz button mushrooms

3/4 c marsala wine

1/2 c heavy cream

fresh thyme, salt and pepper

In a large skillet, heat butter and oil. Add sliced mushrooms and saute 3-4 minutes. Add marasala wine and cook 5 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and thyme. Reduce the heat to med and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To serve: Layer in a bowl - mashed potatoes, beef, sauce. It sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't... and it is SO worth it. It was decadently delicious! 

Quick Spring Dinner Ideas

With Baseball, Art Shows, concerts, etc... in full swing I try to plan ahead and use the crock pot for meals that whenever someone gets home to eat there is dinner ready! For tonight I decided to try Shephard's Pie, as I had leftover Lamb from Easter. All I needed to do was make Mashed Potatoes and mix frozen veggies and gravy with the lamb. I will post later to let you know how it turned out! Thursday I will be doing

Beer Brisket (from Prevention Slow Cooker)

2 large onions

3-4 Lbs Beef Brisket, fat trimmed

1 bottle of beer

1/2 c chili sauce

2 tsp dried steak seasoning

Place onion in slow cooker, top with beef. Mix chili sauce, beer and steak seasoning. Pour over beef. Cook on low 10-12 hours. Thinly slice across grain. Use slotted spoon to remove onions and place on top of meat. Drizzle some cooking liquid over meat and serve on rolls!

Freezer Meals (Mostly Crockpot)

My daughter and I spent an hour and half prepping meals today to fill our freezer. Here is what we did:

Chicken Teriyaki

Pork Loin Teriyaki (used the same ingredients - teriyaki marinade, broccoli, carrots & pineapple, then added pork to one, chicken to the other)

Chicken Tacos

Beef Tacos (onion, peppers, salsa - one with chicken and one with browned ground beef)

Shredded Roast Pork (BBQ sauce, can of cola)

Pineapple Skirt Steak (pineapple, olive oil, lime, garlic and soy sauce)

2 bags of meat sauce

While she chopped and put together the most of the bags, I browned ground beef for tacos, meat sauce and lasagna, browned sausage for sauce and lasagna, cooked the sauce and put together the lasagna.

We labeled the bags and will just pull one out and pop in the crock pot when needed. I can't believe how easy it was with 2 of us doing it together and how much we got done. Yeah!

Flank Steak with Creole Hash Brown Stuffing

I have been wanting to try this for quite awhile and finally got around to it yesterday. It was yummy, but spicy and I didn't even put the full amount of creole seasoning. I am looking forward to trying the pizza stuffing next:)
http://hyshamecho.blogspot.com/2010/08/stuffed-grilled-flank-steak.html

The Steak EVERYONE loves!

This summer we were lucky enough to visit Brendan & Sarah and enjoy Sarah's Korean Flank Steak. Since we returned, it has been a big request in our house, and one recipe that EVERYONE enjoys (YEAH!). Tonight, I am serving it with a peanutbutter noodles with shredded carrots and cucumbers. Can't wait!

Korean BBQ

Korean Marinade for Flank Steak

3 lb flank steak (while we love this with flank steak, we have used it with other cuts of meat as well and it works great) 1/2 c soy 1/2 c white sugar 1/2 c water 1/4 c sesame oil 1/4 c sake or I use whatever wine I have left over in the fridge 2 T chopped garlic (or more if you like it more garlicky) 1 T sesame seeds 1 t black pepper 1 bunch of scallions, washed and rinsed well. (If you don't have scallions, feel free to throw in some white onion wedges in with the beef after marinating.) Set aside scallions and meat. Mix everything else together in a large bowl (marinade ingredients.) Layer in green onions as you place in the flank. Continue until all flank is marinated. Pour remaining marinade on top. Marinate at least 8 hours or overnight if possible. I personally have found that a 24 hour soak yields the best flavor. If you are planning to freeze, you can allow it to soak and then portion off what you want into ziploc bags OR immediately put into bags and freeze. Try and put a bit of marinade into each bag when freezing. You can grill it on the bbq (our family favorite) or broil it in the oven for about 12-15 minutes, depending on your preference for rare, medium or well. *You can boil the marinade and serve with the steak for added yumminess.

Beef advice

I am having my in laws back to the house for a BBQ Saturday, after soccer and baseball games. I will do ribs ahead of time and have them warming in the oven. I want to have Beef also. Any suggestions on a good cut, that is easy to cook and relatively quick? Also, any favorite rub or marinade ideas would also be appreciated from this non-beef lover:)

2 good new recipes

This week I made these 2 recipes from BHG's January 2009 issue.
Garlic Basil Shrimp with Pasta http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pasta/garlic-basil-shrimp/
and Aromatic Beef stew with butternut squash http://www.bhg.com/recipe/beef/aromatic-beef-stew-with-butternut-squash/

We enjoyed them both. The beef however, was a bit tough still after 45 minutes of cooking, so next time I would most likely make it in the Crock Pot. Also, I would experiment with making it vegetarian, adding celery, beans and carrots to it.

Let me know if you try either of them:)