Category: Beef

All recipes paired with wine, Beef

Flank steak fajitas

Vera C.

I had leftover grilled flank steak from the other day and didn’t feel like throwing it away. We love leftovers! I grilled it medium rare so I can continue working with it, if I needed to.

There is a lot you can do with leftover steak, to create an entire different dish. Like this one. Originally, we had just steak with some veggies and red wine. Then I made a mushroom creamy sauce over it – that was sooo delicious!

The last few pieces of really tender meat were looking at us from the fridge and I thought of fajitas. This low carb version is quick and gives you all the flavors without messing your diet (don’t tell him, but if he insists, warm up some tortillas or add tortilla chips 🙂

I think I may grill some extra steak and make it for our Super bowl party!

Flank steak fajitas

Ingredients:
2 bell peppers (any color you like), seeded and sliced
1 chili pepper, sliced (leave in seeds if you like a lot of heat)
1 large red onion, chopped
1 can of dark beans (kidney, red or black)
1 tbs cayenne pepper
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tbs fajitas seasoning
Fresh ground black pepper
Glass of dry red wine
Slices of flank steak
Sour cream for garnish
Olive oil

In the heavy bottom pan heat up olive oil and saute onions and peppers on medium heat until soft. Season with all the seasoning and continue cooking. Drain the liquid of the beans in colander and run cold water through. Let it drain and add to peppers. Mix together to coat with the spices.

Pour red wine into the mix and cook for few more minutes, until it almost evaporates. Heat olive oil in frying pan, and quickly warm up the slices of steak, spicing it a little bit with fajita spices.

Ladle the onion-peppers-beans mixture on the bottom of your plate, top it with steaks and garnish with sour cream. You can sprinkle the whole dish with Mexican cheeses, if desired. Eat as it is, or serve with tortillas or/and tortilla chips. I was trying to be good and skipped the carbs. It was delicious anyway!

Wine pairing suggestion:
I have opened a spicy Argentinian Malbec with this dish, from Enrique Foster, called Ique. It was so good, the spicy beans brought up the spice in the wine and compliment the dish perfectly. I am sure that Corona with lime would work great too!

All recipes paired with wine, Beef

Beef brisket with roasted grapes

Vera C.

Beef brisket with roasted grapes

I have had this meal at my friends house – so the credit for this presentation got to go to my friend Teresa. It may seem like a lot of work, but the result was worth the effort. Note: for the most tender brisket, you need a little patience. Slow-braise the meat ahead of time, then refrigerate overnight to blend the flavors.

Beef brisket with roasted grapes

Ingredients:
1 5-6 lb beef brisket
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 lb onions, chopped (about 33/4 cup)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbs ground ginger
Salt and ground black pepper
2 cups red wine, such as Shiraz or Zinfandel
1 14oz. can beef or chicken broth
1 lb each carrots and pearl onions, peeled
4 cups seedless red grapes
2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried thyme, crushed
¼ cup cooking oil
¼ cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 F. Trim excess fat from brisket, set brisket aside. In roasting pan with cover, cook chopped onions and garlic in hot oil until onions are tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add ginger, cook and stir 1 minute more. Remove from heat. Season brisket with salt and pepper, place brisket on onion mixture. Add wine and broth. Cover, roast for 2 hours. If you don’t have a covered roasting pan, tightly cover pan with heavy foil.

Remove cover, add carrots. Roast, uncovered for 45 to 60 minutes more until carrots are just tender.

Remove brisket from oven, stir in pearl onions. Cover, let stand for 30 minutes. Transfer meat and vegetables to storage container. Cover and refrigerate meat and vegetables in one container and pan juices in another. Refrigerate all overnight (12 to 24 hours).

Before serving, preheat oven to 375 F. Remove fat from pan juices, discard fat. Transfer juices to saucepan, boil gently, uncovered, about 20 minutes until reduced to 2 ¼ cups. While brisket is cold, slice of any excess fat. Slice meat against the grain, slice carrots diagonally in 2 inch pieces. Return brisket and vegetables to roasting pan. Add grapes, herbs, and reduced juices. Cover and reheat in oven for 45 minutes. Transfer brisket, grapes, onion and carrots to platter. Discard herb sprigs.

For a gravy, combine oil and flour in a small sauce pan and stir in pan juices. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 more minute. Serve with brisket. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

To peel pearl onions, place whole onions in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Cut off end of each onion and squeeze gently to remove skin.

Wine pairing suggestion:
To complement the fruitiness of grapes and richness of the beef and gravy, I looked for fruity, robust wine to pair with this meal. My long time favorite Cline Ancient vines Zinfandel was a great choice.

All recipes paired with wine, Beef

Beef Chorizo

Vera C.

Beef Chorizo

One of the recipes that have a multiple use. On the occasion, I took this picture, I cut a meat into smaller cubes and served it as a Spanish tapas with spicy roasted peppers and red onions. That time we were tasting some big Spanish red wines and I needed to make some rich dish to pair well with the wines.

The original idea was to serve it as a main dish with rice and your choice of veggies. For that I would cut the cubes of meat bigger. The gravy is so intense and delicious, you will probably end up with a piece of crusty bread soaking every little bit of the gravy left, just like we did.

Beef chorizo

Ingredients:

1and 1/2 lb. top round beef (cubed)
2 cups of red wine such as Zinfandel or Malbec
1-2 links of raw chorizo sausage, or cured (sliced)
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika powder
1 tablespoon of Pelago Italian Roast seasoning
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 cup of beef stock (low sodium)
1 tablespoon flour
olive oil

In a heavy skillet, pan or dutch oven heat olive oil and cook onion for a minute or until soft. Add sliced chorizo (I bought a raw chorizo in Whole foods, so I took it out of its casing and cooked it like I would ground meat.). When the chorizo meat is almost done, add smashed garlic to the mix.

Turn the heat back on high and add cubes of beef. Stir so the meat browns quickly on each side, and season it with smoked paprika and Roast seasoning. Sprinkle with flour, mix with the meat and add 1 cup of red wine. Mix together.

Turn down the heat and cook the meat until most of the wine evaporates. Add beef stock, the rest of the wine, thyme sprigs and cover. Turn the heat on low and cook slowly for about 1,5 – 2 hours (or until the beef is soft).

Add more liquid if desired. Believe me, this gravy is so tasty, I ended up using a whole bottle of wine (except one glass for the “chef”) to make sure we had enough gravy.

Wine pairing suggestions:
A perfect match for this dish is Artesa Elements from Napa and Sonoma Valley. My other choice would be a Malbec based blend from Argentina, I have reviewed just last week: Cuvelier Los Andes Coleccion… Your favorite Cabernet, Malbec or Bordeaux blend will do just great as well….

All recipes paired with wine, Beef, Summer Grilling

Flank steak with shiitake sauce

Vera C.

Flank steak with shitakee sauce

Flank steak was so easy to make and came out so tender and moist, it didn’t really need any sauce at all. But, adding the rich shiitake mushroom’s sauce to it, brought the dining experience to the next level. It became a gourmet….By all means, if you don’t feel like spending time making the sauce, skip it. It’s delicious anyway.

Flank steak with shiitake sauce

Ingredients:

11/4 lb. beef flank steak, trimmed of fat
1 lb. finger potatoes (or baby red)
1 box of fresh shiitake mushrooms (I prefer to slice them myself, but you can buy already sliced ones)
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon olive oil
half a shallot finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup heavy cream (for skim version milk is OK)
freshly ground black pepper
salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1/2 cup cold water
2 tablespoon Arrosto Italiano Italian Roast seasoning

Clean your flan steak and trim excess fat if needed. generously season with Arrosto Italiano seasoning and seal the spice in with sprinkle olive oil. Use your hands and rub the seasoning into the meat on both sides. Let’s sit aside in room temperature for a few minutes.

Heat up the grill. Cut potatoes long wise (skin on) and place them in grill prove dish (cast iron or heavy duty pan). Sprinkle with remaining seasoning and olive oil. Mix well together. Place on grill and let cook, mixing with wooden spoon on medium heat.

Clean shiitake mushrooms (I only used heads) and slice it to similar size slices. In a pan heat butter with olive oil and add finely chopped onion and garlic. Cook for a minute on medium heat and add all mushrooms. Season with salt and cook for 2 minutes or until soft.

Add cream (or milk) and keep cooking in medium heat. Add Dijon mustard and mix. To thicken the sauce, mix corn starch in cold water until dissolved and stir it to the boiling sauce (optional). Cook for a minute to thicken. Add freshly ground pepper (I used a lot), taste and add more salt if needed.

When your potatoes are almost done, place the dish on the top to keep it warm and place your steak directly on the grill. Let cook for 8 minutes and turn around once for an additional 5 minutes for medium rare (recommended). Let sit aside for 5 minutes before you slice it.

Pour the sauce over sliced steak and serve with baked potatoes and your favorite vegetables. Bon Apetito!

Wine pairing suggestions:

This yummy dish deserve some nice red to go with. Keep in mind that I am always trying to pair wines that are available and bargain for our Sunday cooking wines. First wine I paired this dish with was Steltzner Claret from Napa Valley. The second was a crazy-value wine, organic Malbec from Argentina, called Yellow+Blue.

Yes, the only wine in Tetra Pak that I ever recommended to my fellow wine lovers. Before you navigate from this page and start screaming something about how you would never, ever…. try it first. I did the same thing. And if you have a psychological block to drink wine out of the box, just pour it into decanter. It’s worth it!

All recipes paired with wine, Beef

Philly Cheese steak Panini

Vera C.

Philly Cheese steak Panini
Great idea for an easy and inexpensive Sunday dinner, when you don’t feel like spending time in the kitchen. This semi-cooking will give you an extra time to do whatever you desire, and still serve a delicious meal that everybody loves.

Philly Cheesesteak Panini

Ingredients:

¼ cup sandwich toppers sweet pickled peppers – chopped
1 tablespoon hot pepper rings pickled – chopped (you can use fresh hot pepper instead or skip it, if you don’t care for heat)
1 6oz. jar marinated artichokes, drained and chopped
1 tablespoon sliced green olives
1 chopped medium size dill pickle
1 loaf frozen garlic bread (12 inch long) thawed
½ lb sliced lean roast beef
4-5 slices Finlandia Swiss cheese (or American cheese)

Preheat a Panini press or a cast-iron griddle. In a small bowl, combine the finely chopped pickled peppers, artichokes, olives and pickle. To speed up the preparation, you can also mix it in food processor for few seconds. Start with biggest artichokes, pickle and add peppers. Just pulse for a few times, so it’s not mashed.

Open the loaf of garlic bread and scrape off most of the garlic spread with table spoon – keep it aside.Spread evenly pickle mixture on the bottom half of each loaf. Top with the roast beef and cheese and close the sandwiches.

Spread the reserved garlic spread on the outside of the loaves. Grill loaves in the Panini press until the cheese is melted and the bread is browned and crisp, about 5 minutes.

If you don’t have Panini grill, you can also set a loaf on a griddle and top it with a heavy skillet. Use heavy can in the skillet for additional pressure. Cook over moderate heat until browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes.

Carefully flip over, cover with the skillet again and cook until the cheese is melted, about 3 more minutes. Cut each loaf into four pieces and serve with salad of your choice. This recipe servers 2 people.

Wine pairing suggestions:

Even though the star of this dish is a roast beef, the mix of pickles, artichoke and olives calls for low tannin, younger red wine. I picked Italian Di Majo Norante Sangiovese from Molise, not a “small wine”, and it matched very well.