Beef

Beef Enchilada Soup

February 6, 2015 by The Partial Ingredients

Tex-mex food is awesome in pretty much every form, including soup! A lot of the U.S. has been dealing with some epic winter weather so to all of you fighting the deluge of snow (hey Chicago!), enchiladas are the perfect winter comfort food. This recipe is super easy to make with hardly any prep time involved. You can buy pre-made enchilada sauce at the grocery store but it’s fresher and easy to make at home. In my opinion it’s worth it to whip up a batch before you start cooking the soup. It can be made several days ahead of time as well if you’re short on cooking time. Possible toppings include: tortilla chips/strips, avocado slices, cilantro, lime slices, diced red onion, cheddar cheese, sour cream…I could go on. The end result was delicious with minimal effort. It can be easily converted to the slow cooker, just add everything into the pot on low and cook for 6-8 hours or 3-4 hours on high!
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Stuffed Pepper Soup

January 18, 2015 by The Partial Ingredients

I’m a big fan of stuffed pepper recipes. Peppers make for a great food “vessel,” but eating a whole pepper can be a bit awkward. I’ve found that the filling-to-pepper ratio can be a little out of wack and most of the time I’m left with too much pepper and not enough filling. This soup takes care of that problem quite well and combines all the flavors of a stuffed pepper without the ratio problems. I was surprised at how similar it tasted to your basic stuffed pepper recipe! One trick I advise using with this recipe: In order to avoid the rice from absorbing too much of the valuable broth I cook the servings separately and add them in to each bowl. I’ve learned that pasta, noodles and rice love to soak up the broth you took pains to prepare and I use this trick on almost every soup recipe now. This recipe has become a staple weeknight meal and makes a lot for several days. Makes for some tasty leftovers when you’re too busy to make dinner each night.
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Classic Beef Tacos with Chipotle Tomato Salsa

November 9, 2014 by The Partial Ingredients

Even though it isn’t summer anymore it doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a good taco! If you’re craving food truck style tacos this is the recipe you need to make it at home. Seasoned ground beef comes together with smoky chipotle salsa, sharp cheddar and slices of avocado. The beef is seasoned in a simple combination of garlic, jalapenos, paprika and cumin. Finish it off with fresh lime juice and cilantro and you have one flavorful taco (or 10)!
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Green Chile and Chorizo Soup with Smokey Croutons

July 17, 2013 by The Partial Ingredients

I love soups and tex-mex food and this recipe combines the best of both worlds! This soup combines a delicious mix of green chilies and tomatillos, chorizo, hominy, potatoes and spices. I went a little overboard with the garnishes and topped the soup with crumbled queso fresco, green onion, fresh lime, cilantro and smokey baked croutons. Even the croutons alone in this recipe are stand out awesome and could easily be snacked on alone! The recipe does require a lot of ingredients and time to prepare but it is totally worth it in the end. I actually never made anything with hominy before and I thought it worked really nicely with the other ingredients. The soup was hardy, with multiple layers of sweet, spicy and savory flavors. I chose a beef chorizo for the meat but soy and pork varieties would work fine in this soup. All of the ingredients blended together so well and I was happy with how it came out!

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Classic Beef Chili

December 2, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I guess I always overlooked beef chili a bit. This is probably because I didn’t care much for ground beef for a long time. Lately I have been enjoying this chili recipe because it is so simple and tasty. It gets points for the amount of ingredients (you can count them on one hand.) That is definitely not the norm for chilies which can require up to 20 ingredients! This chili should be cooked on a heavy bottomed saute pan where it slow cooks for about an hour. I like the taste of grass-fed ground beef so I use it for this recipe. The amount of hot sauce to add into the chili is really up to personal tastes. I like it on the spicy side so I add approximately 1/4 cup. I topped the chili with sharp cheddar and it can be served on top of rice or with corn bread.

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Malaysian Beef Rendang

October 5, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Malaysian Rendang is a delicious slow cooked beef dish simmered in coconut milk and spices. The cut of beef used is usually a cheap cut that is good for slow cooking. Eventually the tough part of the meat breaks down over time and becomes tender. The dish starts off with a lot of liquid and slowly evaporates as it’s cooking. Eventually the liquid cooks almost completely off, coating the beef with tasty coconut flavor, tamarind, and spices. This is a great weekend project to try as the results are really satisfying but it’s also a labor intensive dish that requires a lot of time and effort. If you have trouble finding the ingredients at grocery stores, I would recommend going to a local asian or Thai market which might carry the more obscure ingredients. The dish is popular in Southeast Asia and once I made it I could see why! The beef was tender and bursting with flavor. I served it with a side of Malaysian flat bread called ‘Roti’ which was a perfect accompaniment to scoop up the last bits of sauce.

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Korean Kalbi Beef Tacos with Cilantro Lime Salsa

August 9, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Since Korean food works great with Tex-mex I wanted to try Korean-style tacos again! Usually “kalbi” refers to Korean BBQ short ribs but I really wanted to try the kalbi marinade on skirt steak since it’s a great meat for tacos. The marinade consists of ginger, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and asian pears so it was really easy to throw together. If you can’t find asian pears I think it would be alright to substitute in regular pears. I marinated the steak for about an hour before grilling. I used a flat pan to saute the beef at a high temperature, but I’m sure grilling the beef would be a great way to get extra flavor. The tacos were really tasty! I loved the sear on the beef along with the flavors of the kalbi marinade. I really enjoyed the sweet and savory kalbi beef with the tangy sesame soy dressing. I topped the tacos with chopped tomatoes, a cilantro lime salsa and sesame soy sauce dressing.

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Steak Tacos with Chipotle Cherry Salsa and Caramelized Onions

June 24, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

What better way to try out a tasty new salsa than to serve it with tacos? I picked out a skirt steak for these tacos because you can get a great sear on the outside and I figured it would go well with the salsa. I went simple and just seasoned the steak with a little cumin and smoked paprika. The salsa, steak and onions went really nicely together. The recipe for the salsa can be found here. Caramelized onions are so good on tacos so I add them in whenever possible. I caramelized the onions in the leftover adobo sauce which added a smokiness that wasn’t too sweet. Then for a little texture and crunch I added some red cabbage on top. A little crumbled queso fresco added creaminess (sour cream would probably work fine too.) All together, this was a really delicious taco and I look forward to having it again sometime.

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Phở Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)

April 3, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Pho is one of my favorite soups simply because the broth is so flavorful. A while ago I made Pho Ga which is the same soup only made with chicken. Then I went to a local Pho restaurant and the beef pho was just fantastic and I knew I had to try the beef version as well. The pho is seasoned with star anise, cinnamon stick, ginger, and cloves which gives the stock a fragrant and savory aroma. The most important part of making good stock is the beef. Charring the onion and ginger is an important first step for the stock as well and needs to be done over an open flame. I chose to make the stock with 4 pounds of beef neck bones with neck meat and the stock came out really well. Beefy and flavorful, it was one of my favorite stocks I have ever made! I chose some thinly sliced, good quality beef for the actual soup which cooks after pouring the boiling stock over the meat. My second favorite part (the first is the broth obviously) is all the great condiments that mix together in the broth! I chose cilantro, bean sprouts, jalapeno peppers, Thai basil, Hoisin sauce, and Sriracha for the condiments but you can pick and choose whatever you like. Making the stock takes time but it was well worth the effort as the soup turned out great!

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Mole Chili con Carne

May 20, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Since I enjoyed the pork mole negro I made a while ago I thought I would try it in a chili. Originally I started with a basic recipe for meat chili and it eventually evolved into both a mole and a chili recipe. I’ve always thought the flavors in mole would go well in a chili and it turns out I was right because this was very tasty! The flavors of the chili were multi-layered and complex (probably because of the 20+ ingredients in it). This recipe is ideal for a large slow cooker but a sauce pot on low heat would work fine too.

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