Monday, October 8, 2012

Braised Beef with Butternut Squash, Petite Potatoes, Carrots, and Green Beans

This dish gets the award for most colorful dish, ever. Don't you think? It's one of the things that really drew me to the recipe, the combination of butternut squash, carrots, green beans, and multi-colored potatoes. I made the rainbow!


I like to braise meat on my days off, because I
can clean the house, blog, or do whatever I want really, without having to pay attention to what I'm cooking (I hope to get a slow-cooker and/or a pressure cooker soon, so I can use those methods too one day). Another great benefit of braising is that it emits a delicious aroma throughout the house. I found the following recipe in my FODMAPs booklet  (which you can order by clicking on the link on my right sidebar). As you can see, the original recipe was written using the metric system.......



I converted the best I could, and ended up with the following recipe (oh, and I also changed the protein, in case you didn't notice. Nick claims to be allergic to lamb. Whatever).

Braised Beef with Butternut Squash, Petite Potatoes, Carrots, and Green Beans

Ingredients
(Serves 4)

2 T garlic-infused olive oil
1 pound lean beef, cubed (I used lean stew beef)
4 large carrots
3-3.5 cups low sodium beef broth **
1/2 cup corn flour
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 cups fresh green beans
10 petite potatoes (I bought purple, red, and white potatoes, for more color and nutrients)
Chopped parsley for garnish (optional)


**NOTE:  Look for a garlic and onion free beef broth to make this low-FODMAPs. 

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and roast the butternut squash and potatoes for about 40 minutes (I seasoned mine with a bit of salt and garlic olive oil)

2. After the butternut squash and potatoes are roasted, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. While the temperature is adjusting, blanch your fresh green beans.

3. Heat a pan with your garlic-infused olive oil, then brown teach side of the beef. Add the chopped carrots to your braising pan and then place the beef on top/around the carrots.

4. Add about 3 cups of beef broth to the braising pan (or enough to cover the beef a bit more than half way).

5. Put the lid on the braiser and place in oven for about one hour. After one hour, flip the beef so the other side gets emerged in the beef broth. Heat for another 30-40 minutes, or until the beef is to your desired tenderness.

6. Add the corn flour to a small saucepan and add enough cold water to make a thick paste. Next, add the remains of the juices from the meat to your corn flour paste. If needed, add about 1/2 cup of beef stock to thin the paste into a sauce, and cook over a high heat until the sauce thickens (stir regularly).

7. Serve everything together on a plate, and garnish with parsley if you desire.

You might prefer a more watery/thinned-down sauce, but I like thick sauces (I guess this is more like a gravy, right?). This sauce ("gravy") was not great on it's own, but worked well when eaten together with all the other ingredients.



Estimated Nutrition Facts
(Recipe makes 4 servings)


And since I am such an amazing daughter (haha) I brought some leftovers to my mom. She loved it.



QUESTION: What's your favorite slow-cooking method? Is it braising? Pressure cooking? Slow-cooker?

7 comments :

  1. ooh I would definitely recommend getting a slow cooker (I've heard pressure cookers are great as well)- it's so fun to dump a bunch of ingredients together, walk away for 8 hours and come back to an amazing meal!

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  2. I've been looking for more beef dishes because of my low iron levels-- this looks great!

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  3. wow -garlic infused olive oil? that sounds amazing

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  4. http://celebs.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981018033

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  5. I'm a slow cooker person. My top 2 favorite to do for sit and leave is a chicken salsa verde and chicken and curry simmer sauce.
    I rarely make beef but I should more oftern. My family would LOVE this! I grew up on pot roast and roasted pot/veggies...It reminds me of that. Maybe you can put slow cooker on your bridal registry! :) How did you make the nutrition facts label?? I like that!!!

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  6. I've never tried braising, I read it for the first time in Janetha's blog and meant to try it since then.
    your's looks really good.
    slow cook meal? soup or chili that has beef or beans in it! it's so easy and always so tasty!

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  7. Looks & sounds like a great dish! I definitely love all the colors!

    I'm trying to use my slow cooker more as I can literally just forget about the meal...

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