Beer and Coffee Beef, Perfectly Delicious and Easy to Make

You may remember that I wasn't happy with the Malka "Stout" beer I had bought and even wrote that I saw it as the perfect addition to beef. Davka, that morning I had perked my coffee, and had some leftover, since the percolator is larger than even I need for my morning fix. So, I decided to google "beer, beef, coffee" to see if there were recipes or suggestions. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't going to actually follow a recipe; I just wanted to know if people cook their beef in those two delicious liquids. Apparently there is a whole genre of beef cooked in beer and coffee, so I got cooking!

Ingredients:
beef, one of the least expensive cuts from the freezer section
onion
fresh garlic
carrots
vegetable oil
stout beer* (any strong black beer would do)
strong coffee*

Directions:

1. soak beef in water for at least half hour, and then spill it in the sink
2. add vegetable oil to beef in pan
3. place on high flame to sear
4. turn over to sear all over
5. add cut onion and garlic
6. turn to expose garlic to hot oil
7. cut carrots, large-not small, and add to pot
8. pour in coffee and beer
9. add water** if liquid doesn't reach at least half way up
10. cover, cook on high flame until it reaches a boil, then lower flame to simmer.
11. Check periodically to see that there still is liquid. Add if necessary. 
12. Cook for at least an hour and a half, usually better if more. 

That's it. Beer and Coffee Beef is very easy to make. Don't be afraid to be creative. Potatoes or other long-cooking vegetables can be added to the carrots. Enjoy!

Tell me in the comments about how yours comes out or if you've ever made any beef dish that is similar.

*At least a half a cup of each, though even less would be ok; you can add water if there doesn't seem to be enough liquid.
**Most of the recipes I saw on google included tomato paste, so if you're afraid there won't be enough flavor/liquid from the beer and coffee you can add that or even tomato juice.

Super Easy Way to Add Flavor to Meat/Fish/Poultry

There are two condiments that almost everyone has in their kitchens, catsup and mustard. Adding them to your cooking is the simplest, easiest way to add flavor to meat, fish, poultry and other foods.

I know that they all have additives, salt and sugar, but most recipes ask you to add those evils separately. There are times when even the most "natural health" cooks, like yours truly, need to cheat.

The other day when I was in a big rush to cook a couple of meals before leaving home, I put a couple of spoons of mustard and squirts of catsup on this chicken breast vegetable dish before putting it in the oven (covered) for baking. The result was stupendous, delicious, just perfect.

Sometimes we all need shortcuts. I draw the line at powdered soup mixes, jam and straight sugar. Even salt is rarely used for cooking in my kitchen. And when I use salt in soup and kugels, it's coarse, not table salt. What are your little cooking "cheats?" Please let me know in the comments, thanks.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake, Like No Other

The other day I had to replenish my cake* supply. I bake a few cakes and freeze all but one. As usual I did a version of my very simple, basic cake. It really is the easiest cake to bake and very amenable to variations. For the basic recipe, click above on the embedded bold links.

My plan was to use perked coffee I had put in the fridge a few weeks ago for the liquid, but it didn't look usable. I had thought it would go perfectly with chocolate chips. It would be a bit more sophisticated than just the vanilla.

Then I got another idea. I added some instant coffee and some of the morning's leftover coffee grounds from the French Press.

The cake was absolutely delicious. There are three more in the freezer!

*I bake with 70% extra fine ground whole wheat flour and brown sugar. Besides the health value, I think it has more flavor than white flour and white sugar.

Creative Vegetable Cooking

There are many people who have complained about my recipes, because I just can't give exact ingredients, temperatures, times etc. Sorry, for those of you who are too terrified of making "cooking mistakes." I guess that my cooking style would never work in a restaurant, because I pretty much never reproduce any food/dish exactly.

Maybe I'm exaggerating in this, but not by much. In recent years, not even my cakes are measured exactly, and cakes are more like a "chemistry formula" than vegetables. But I've discovered that after decades, pretty close to half a century of cooking, I've developed a "feel" for even my cakes and cookies. And since even the famous 1, 2, 3 cookies my kids adore, are really best and easiest produced with a food scale, I so rarely make them that I haven't replaced my broken scale for years, and I have still managed to make an irresistible version of them sans scale.

Back to my "Creative Vegetable" dishes. They don't need a scale, and you don't have to count, measure etc. All you need is a good covered pan/pot or an oven. I don't have a microwave, but I have no doubt, and would love your reports, that my creative vegetable dishes can just as easily be made in a microwave. 

Recently I've been on a fresh ginger kick. I even slice it into my quick oatmeal. I keep some root in the freezer and slice off a bit with a sharp knife when I want to cook with it. Leave it out for a few minutes to make it easier to slice.

The other day I "sauteed"* it up with onion, carrot, apple, mushroom and cabbage, plus some cooking oil.

When I bake my vegetables, I spread the same ingredients on a baking dish, bake 'n serve ones are fantastic, dribble some oil on top and then bake in a hot oven until seems ready. You may have to lower the oven's temperature, depending on your oven. Ditto about turning off before fully cooked, unless you're cooking more things afterwards.

I'd love to hear your reports of how your versions of my recipes are. So please don't be shy. Comment with reports and questions.

* my concept of "sauteing" is to put the cut vegetables in a good pot or pan, add some oil, cover and cook on low heat until softish. Turn off the stove when almost ready, because the pan's heat will continue the cooking for another few minutes.

Creative Vegetable Cooking

I don't cook by following recipes, and I don't shop to suit recipes either. I'm very flexible and creative. I try to buy the most reasonably priced and healthy and fun to cook produce, and then when the time comes to cook it, I just wing it, as the saying goes.

Usually I slice and layer the vegetables, onions on the bottom, eggplant next, then sweet potatoes and the more fun things like pumpkin and mushrooms. Of course it depends on what I have in stock and the mood I'm in. Carrots are always towards the bottom, because they take ages to cook and need the oil.

I'm not one for using salt and pepper in my veggies, just onion and fresh garlic. And I dribble some oil on top and bake uncovered until the vegetables are soft. Take a look!

#1 Before

#1 After

#2 Viewed from the side

#2 Viewed from above

#2 after being baked

They were both delicious and brought to our Shabbat hosts for two different meals. Both vegetable dishes are creative and healthy additions to any meal.