My Birthday Steak

For my birthday I want steak.

This is a sirloin steak that I actually slow-roasted in my oven. I know that many people swear by pan searing, but here’s the thing: I am not sure what cut of sirloin it is. Bottom round? Top? Center? Because it’s part of my cow share, the meat tends to be quite lean. So even if it’s part of the sirloin section that is usually fatty, my grass fed Holstein does not have much fat to it. And I am not sure if using a mallet to soften up the tissue is really going to do the trick.

Slow roasting works best on the so-called cheaper cuts, like a pot roast or London broil. Basically, you turn your oven on to 200 degrees and let your piece of meat cook for about 3 or 4 hours. For my uncertain cut of sirloin—which was a whopping 5 pounds bone in—I used a garlic thyme rub and slow roasted this beast for 4 hours and the outcome was pure heaven.

Garlic thyme rub

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

10 cloves of garlic, mashed with a garlic press

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

Instructions

Add rub to one side of steak and place in plastic bag. Put in fridge overnight.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Take out steak and bring to room temperature. Place on roasting pan and put in oven for 4 hours.  And that’s pretty much it. Take out of the oven, let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

Dumplings and Soup

 

I made this dumpling and soup dish for Easter Sunday. And it was yummy!

The broth is made from some rather large and meaty soup bones from my grass-fed cow share, which means that I can check off another part of this massive Holstein cow as being conquered in my kitchen.

 

To really take advantage of all the nutrients locked in the beef bones, start cooking the broth at least a day in advance and allow it to simmer all day long (and into the night if you can). And trust me when I say the broth is SO much yummier if you do.

As with every recipe you encounter, read all the directions so you can get a sense of how long it will take to complete. This particular recipe can be short on prep time—especially if you use a food processor for the dicing—but long on the cooking time.

INGREDIENTS

Soup

2 lbs beef soup bones

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons sea salt

1 medium size onion, quartered

4 large slices of ginger root

2 whole cloves of garlic, peeled

1 tablespoon whole peppercorns

8 cups water

3 bay leaves

1 package thin rice or vermicelli noodles

Dumpling Filling (all ingredients are diced)

2 stalks of celery

½ carrot

¼ medium size onion

2 garlic cloves

½ package of firm tofu

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon ground ginger

vegetable oil

1 package of 25 gyoza dumpling skins

DIRECTIONS

1. Making the broth (part 1): In an 8-quart stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil under a medium flame. Add the salt and stir around. Brown the soup bones—or whatever meat may be attached to the soup bones—in the oil. Add the onion and cook it for a few minutes until slightly golden. Add ginger root and cook for a few minutes. Then add the water, peppercorns, and bays leaves to the pot. Once it begins to boil, lower flame until the liquid is simmering. Let it simmer for a minimum of 8 hours. Turn off heat, remove from stovetop, and let it cool down to room temperature. (This will take a while, so it may be best to let it cool overnight.) Remove any solid fat that rises to the top. Set aside.

2. Making the broth (part 2): Remove the bones and any fat or meat that has fallen off. Discard the fat and bones. Shred the meat and set aside. Pour the broth through a strainer to remove ginger slices, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Pick out onions and garlic from the strainer, and puree in a blender with 2 cups of broth. Add puree back to the pot with the rest of the broth. Add shredded meat. Heat pot until broth is boiling. Reduce heat to simmer. Place noodles in a bowl with cold water and let sit soak for 30 minutes. Using a pair of scissors, cut noodles in the bowl to about 6 inches in length. Drain noodles and add to the pot.

3. Making the filling: In a sauté pan, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add salt, black pepper, and ground ginger. Add the tofu and toss around for a few minutes until the edges are slightly brown and crunchy. Remove the tofu from the pan and add the celery, carrots, onion, and garlic. Saute for a few minutes, but be sure to NOT over cook. Add the tofu and mix together for another few minutes. Turn off heat and let it cool.

4. Making the dumplings: Place 1½ teaspoons of filling in each gyoza skin. Fold skin over to make a crescent and wet edges with water. Press firmly at the edges so it sticks together and stays closed. Repeat until all the gyoza skins are filled. Heat oil in frying pan. Pan-fry each of the dumplings and place them on a cookie sheet. Keep the cooked ones warm and crispy in the oven at 200 degrees.

5. Putting it all together: When you are ready to serve, place 3 to 4 dumplings per bowl soup bowl and ladle soup into bowl. Garnish with some chopped green onions and serve immediately.

Braised Short Ribs

A little background before I delve into this recipe: about a year ago, my neighbor and I began a journey into the world of grass-fed beef.
We bought our first share of a cow raised by a local farmer (or somewhat local—it’s a four hour drive from where I live, but I am not the one who drives—thanks, Karen!). It’s been an interesting experience so far. The only negative part is the physical storage of all that beautiful beef, especially since my husband Dave is not a big fan of purchasing an additional freezer for our basement. I’m hoping to wear him down soon, especially since grilling weather is on the horizon. But until Dave gets his “a-ha” moment, my neighbor and cow share cohort lets us store some extra cuts in her basement freezer.

Now I am preparing my home for the next delivery of our grass-fed beef. The short ribs, which are the most intimidating part of our cow share, still remained from the previous delivery until about three days ago.

And why are short ribs intimidating? For two reasons: 1. the entire cut is really, really big, about 7 pounds of dead weight that require me to, as my Pilates instructor would say, “engage my core” in order to carry it and not hurt my back; and 2. they are really, really fatty in all the wrongs places (with a naked eye it looks like pure fat attached to bones—where’s the beef?). Oh, I know that some of you who are short ribs fans are probably booing me right now. But ordering short ribs in a nice restaurant and cooking them in your kitchen are two very different things.

Being the crafty gal that I am I decided to braised the crap out of these suckers. Four hours later, I let them cool off so I could remove most of the rendered fat. And two hours after that, we all ate like kings.

Short ribs, I have conquered thee.

Now if I can only talk my way into getting a piece of cow tongue. That would be a real challenge!

RECIPE FOR BRAISED SHORT RIBS
Since I had no idea how to braise these short ribs, I decided to perform the kitchen sink method: I ransacked my kitchen and threw into the pot everything my hands touched. Aw, don’t get picky on me now…

Ingredients

5-7 pounds of short ribs
3 small carrots
1 large yellow onions
2 celery stalks
1 whole head of garlic
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes
1 bottle of red wine (I used a nice cabernet)
4 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of water
4 stalks fresh thyme
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

First, brown each piece to get rid of some of the fat in a large pot. Set aside.

Dice one large onion, three carrots, and 2 celery stalks. Crushed a whole head of garlic. After sautéing these ingredients in the melted fat left in the pot, Add the bottle of red wine, chicken broth, another two cups of water, and the spices (thyme, oregano, bay leaves, salt, and pepper). Bring to boil and add short ribs. Reduce heat to simmer and slow cook for 4 hours. Let it cool so the fat rises to the top and solidifies. Remove rendered fat.

Preheat oven to broil. Remove short ribs and place in casserole dishes. Broil short ribs for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from oven and add sauce. Add fresh thyme for garnish and serve immediately.

Serve with mashed potatoes.