Meet Ribeye and T-Bone + Beef and Sweet Potato Stew

Since Monday was a vegetarian recipe, today here's one for the carnivores.  Remember when I said I'd be partaking in a cow share?

Meet Ribeye and T-Bone.

Ribeye (left) and T-Bone (right) as babies.

The email I received about them from their owner said "Ribeye and T-Bone Say 'Hi We're Tasty!'".  When I saw their baby picture, it made me sad to think that in a few short months, they'd be food.  I thought you weren't supposed to name the animals that you eat but what do I know.  My friend Amy said she visited the farm herself and saw how they were raised.  She assured me they had a really good life and quite well taken care of while alive.  They were grass fed cows that were raised using organic methods by her co-worker on his personal land.  Amy bought 1/4 of T-Bone and of that, we purchased 1/4 of that for a total of 1/16th of a cow share for our personal consumption.  It was a hot, dry Summer here in Ohio which resulted in less grass for T-Bone and Ribeye to graze upon.  Thus, they ended up smaller than anticipated.  Just about 1000 pounds.  After all the processing, our total yield was just roughly 20 pounds of meat.  A lot of time and effort goes into such a small amount of meat and now I understand why it is better for our planet if we would reduce our consumption of it.

In all, our part of the share included:

• 1.2 lb stew meat
• ~2 lb round steak
• 2.58 lb flat iron steak
• 1.27 lb sirloin strip steak
• 1.10 lb filet mignon
• 1.5 lb brisket
• 1.58 lb soup beef bones
• 3.33 lb beef chuck steak
• 1.04 lb ribeye steak
• 8 lb ground beef
• 1 ox tail

Our 1/16th cow share in our side-by-side freezer.
We needed surprisingly less room needed than we anticipated.

Now here's where the story gets a little bit sad.  We stored our beef in our spare refrigerator which is kept the basement.  Sometime over Christmas, the circuit broke on that outlet along with 3 others in the house.  While we noticed our outdoor Christmas lights mysteriously stopped working, it never occurred to us that other outlets could also have been affected.  It wasn't until 2 or 3 days later that my husband went to the basement and to his horror, saw a bloody puddle forming underneath the refrigerator.  We felt the beef and though it felt cool to the touch, it clearly had thawed almost completely.  We deemed it too risky to try to eat or save and with a heavy heart, threw away nearly all our precious cow share.  I had only used the tail (mom made a great soup out of it), the stew meat, and the round steak.  The brisket is safe at Amy's house because it's a part of a giant chunk of meat which we could not divide as it was frozen.  We had plans to grill the steaks when the summer got warmer.  I felt so guilty that T-Bone had died in vain...

So this brings me to the meat that we DID get to enjoy.  This stew was sweet and salty and comforting.  I enjoyed the use of sweet potatoes instead of the regular run of the mill potatoes.  The flavor contrast was lovely.  It was by far the most tender, rich beefy tasting meat I have ever had.  Given this wasn't even that premium of a cut, it makes me lament the more prime cuts that will never be tasted.

RIP T-Bone.  You were a good cow.

Two Years Ago:  Cookies and Cream Oreo Look-Alike Cake and Stovetop Mac and Cheese
Three Years Ago: Vegetable Soup (with Optional Sausage for the Men)

Beef and Sweet Potato Stew

Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour with a big pinch of salt and pepper 
• 1 1/4 pound stew beef, cut into 1-inch chunks 
• about 1/4 cup olive oil 
• 1 medium yellow onion, coarsely diced 
• 2 cups peeled and thickly sliced carrots 
• 3/4 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and cut in half 
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced 
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste 
• 1/2 cup light beer (I used red wine)
• 1 pound sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1-inch chunks 
• 4 cups beef broth (more if you’d like it more soupy) 
• 1 bay leaf 
• 3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 
• 1-2 tablespoons sugar 
• salt and pepper to taste 
• couscous, rice, or pasta and parsley to serve 

Directions

1. In a large ziplock bag, place flour, salt, and pepper. Add diced beef. Close the bag. Hold it tight and shake, ensuring that all of the beef is lightly coated in flour and seasoning.  Set aside. 
2. In a large dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add as much beef as will fit along the bottom of the pan in a single layer. Cook, browning on all sides. The beef doesn’t need to be cooked through, just browned. Once all of the beef is cooked, remove from the pan and place on a plate. Set aside. 
3. In the same dutch oven, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onions and carrots and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic, and cook for another 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and heat through. Deglaze the pan with the beer or wine, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan as the beer steams. 
4. Add the sweet potatoes, and cover with beef broth. Add bay leaf, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce. 
5. Add beef. Turn heat to low and let gently simmer for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked through. Taste and add sugar (this helps the acidity), salt, and pepper as necessary.  Remove the bay leaf. 
6. Serve stew over couscous, rice, or pasta with fresh parsley if desired.

Source: Joy the Baker

Chicken Palava (African Peanut Stew)

Are you ready to travel to Africa?  I decided to give this recipe a try because it seemed a bit different.  Surprisingly when you look at the ingredients list its not so exotic...to the point where I'm not really sure what makes this African.  Either way, it was a pretty easy week night meal and a refreshing change of pace.  I added more peanut butter and hot sauce to the original recipe because I thought the flavor needed a little boost for personal preference.  I brought leftovers to work and the aroma was enough such that my administrator, who sits across from my cube wall, popped her head up and asked me what it was because she said it smelled delicious.

Look closely at the picture below.  You think I served this over rice, I bet.  Well, I'll let you in on a little secret.  That "rice" is really shredded steamed cauliflower!  "Caulirice" as its sometimes called, is a great substitute because it not only helps to cut down on your carb intake, but it also gets in some extra servings of veggies!  Genius!  All you do is to shred your raw cauliflower using a cheese grater or food processor and then steam it (I used the microwave and some veggie steaming bags).  We used half a head for the 2 of us so I guess if you grated the whole head you could serve 4 entree sized portions.  I have to say that I was skeptical (I mean, I LOVE carbs!) but it really was pretty darn good.  You can use it as you would use rice except for when you need it to really absorb.  But as a base for this dish or other Asian dishes (I've even seen it used in fried rice!), it works like a charm.

Give this stew and caulirice a shot today!

Chicken Palava (African Peanut Stew)
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Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 large red bell pepper, sliced
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 large tomatoes, coarsely diced
• 1/2 pound fresh spinach, washed and dried
• 4 tbsp peanut oil (used vegetable oil because that's all I had)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger (omitted)
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 6 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 cups chicken broth
• Hot sauce, to taste
• Extra brown sugar, salt, and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Cut chicken breast into 1" cubes.  In a gallon sized ziplock bag or bowl, combine chicken, peanut oil, sesame oil, chili powder, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, thyme, and some salt and pepper.  Put in refrigerator and marinate at least 15 minutes.
2. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  After chicken has marinated, add chicken to hot pan and cook until the outside turns white and loses its rawness.  Add onion and red bell pepper, sauteeing for 5 more minutes.  Stir in peanut butter, chicken broth, and tomatoes.  Bring the mixture to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 20-25 minutes with the lid off.  Stir occasionally.  Adjust seasoning with additional brown sugar, salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste.
4. Add spinach and when it has wilted, turn off the heat.  Serve over rice (or caulirice).

Source: Slightly modified from Kayotic Kitchen