From time to time on this blog I’ll share a recipe that I made entirely from Trader Joe’s ingredients.
It’s that time of the year, the days are getting shorter and frost is on the ground (and my damn windshield!). Time to make some rib sticking food! This has always been one of my favorite dishes and if your local Trader’s has really good bread, make sure to get a loaf for sopping up all that great gravy!
I start this recipe on the stovetop and then transfer everything to the Crock Pot to all the slow cooking.
Ingredients:
- 1 Trader Joe’s Tri-Tip beef roast about 3 lbs, cut into 1″ cubes
- 1/3 of a cup of good Trader Joe’s Italian Olive oil (or whatever Olive Oil you have from Trader Joes)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup of Cognac (OK, I don’t think you can probably get this at Trader’s!)
- 1/3 lb of Trader Joe’s Uncured Applewood smoked bacon
- 3 garlic cloves coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots coarsely chopped
- 2 leeks coarsely chopped
- 3 cups of chopped onions
- 2 tablespoons of chopped Parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon of Thyme
- 1 bottle of Burgundy wine (Pinot Noir or even a light bodied Syrah)
- 5 tablespoons of Trader Joe’s unsalted sweet butter
- 36 whole frozen Trader Joe’s pearl onions
- 20 or so small crimini mushrooms
- Juice from half a lemon
1. Roll the beef cubes in flour
2. Add Olive Oil to a skillet, non stick would be best here
3. Brown beef in batches, don’t over crowd the meet so it browns and not stews
4. Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper, add cognac. (Optional: Ignite cognac)
5. After flame dies down, transfer meat to crock pot or large casserole pot
6. Add a little water to the skillet and deglaze the pan and scrape up the bits. Pour over meat.
7. Preheat oven to 375, or use a crock pot (6 hours is plenty of time, but more is better)
8. Brown the bacon in the skillet
9. Add garlic, carrots, leeks, onions and parsley to the skillet
10. Saute the vegetables until lightly browned
11. Transfer vegetables to casserole or crock
12. Add bay, thyme and a whole bottle of wine!
13. Add enough water to cover the meat
14. Cover and bake in the oven for 1.5 hours or crock pot.
15. Blend butter with flour, stir into the casserole.
16. Cook 2-3 hours longer
17. Brown small onions in butter, then add to casserole
18. Saute mushroom in 2 tablespoons of butter until light brown, add to casserole
19. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsely
Recipe adapted from Craig Claiborne of the New York Times.