Lastawhile meal

Well,
it's back to working nights and the morning classes are killing me. I don't get to bed until 11:00am and it is so hard to NOT watch my stories, although I really miss Martha. I won't see her again until Spring Break (sob).

I needed to find something hearty and delicious that would last a few days. The first few days of the work cycle I am just too tired to even brush my teeth. I found a Belgian Beer stew that sounded very promising and I was not disappointed.

The recipe calls for 3 1/2 pounds of blade steak. First of all, I couldn't even find anything called "Blade Steaks," and so I had to ask Butcher. My local pantry store was selling wafer thin slices for $4/lb. Not in the budget. I asked Butcher for an alternative and walked away with a tri tip. That guy is a genious. I will return often because recipes list cuts I am unfamiliar with (don't know my meat / alternate names) and he actually made a better recommendation.

Serves 6? (4 meals so far and more to go.)
3 1/2 lbs tri tip trimmed of fat (big thick pad on bottom)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
2 med yellow onions, large dice
1 T tomato paste
3 medium cloves of garlic rasped (I prefer rasping because it melts away)
3 T flour
3/4 c chicken broth
3/4 c beef broth (may need a little more of either to deglaze pan if it gets to dark at anypoint)
12 ounce bottle belgian beer
3 sprigs thyme (not a fan so I use two baby ones)
2 bay leaves
1 T cider vinegar.


1 Dice the two onions and grate the garlic. Set both aside.
2 Trim the tri tip and cut into 1 inch cubes.
3 Heat a little vegetable oil in the skillet and brown the meat in small batches. The recipe suggested 3 but I had to do 4. The meat will still be raw so set asied in a bowl to catch all the juices. Add a little vegetable oil with each batch. If the fond gets too dark, deglaze and pour off into the meat bowl.
4 Sweat the onions with the tomato paste and a little salt, scraping the bottom. After about 5 minutes, turn the heat up and carmelize. I had to add a little stock at this point because the bottom was really getting dark - just enough to pick up the fond.
5 Add the garlic and count to 30 while stirring.
6 Add the flour and cook about a minute while stirring.
7 Add the remaining liquid ingredients and scrape up the rest of the fond.
8 Add back the beef and all the accumulated juices.
9 Bring to a full simmer and either cook (covered) in a 300 degree oven for 2 - 2 1/2 hours or cover it, leave it on the stove top at a real low heat for 1 1/2 hours. I don't have a dutch oven for stove top cooking so I did this in a stock pot and left it on the stove.

I was not prepared for the wonderfully yeasty flavor of this dish. Made me wish for a giant crusty loaf of bread.

The recipe suggests serving this over mashed potatoes of buttered egg noodles, but I think it would be great over polenta.