Ultimate Beef Stew

Here's the recipe that made me want to do a Tyler Florence recipe every day for a year.



Ultimate Beef Stew


I tried this last night and it was a big hit! Searing the meat beforehand was definitely worth the time! I used what I had on hand: a marsalla wine, mmmm. I'll definitely be making this one often!

Ultimate Sloppy Joes

Here's my first Tyler Florence recipe that made it to the blog!

Last night I made Ultimate Sloppy Joes. Mmmmm...



Ingredients:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced (I cut out the onion...big surprise. But I added two cloves of garlic instead.)
1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey (Don't have the turkey on hand, so I used ground beef.)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
12 parker house rolls


Directions
Set a heavy-based pot over medium-high heat and add a 3-count of olive oil. Add onions and saute for 2 to 3 minutes until translucent. Add ground turkey, season well with salt and pepper and brown well all over, breaking it up with a wooden spoon - about 7 to 10 minutes. Add ketchup, mustard, cayenne, brown sugar and tomato paste. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes. Finish with a splash of red wine vinegar and season it once more before serving on parker rolls.

I did fewer adjustments on this recipe than I think I ever have on anything else! It came out WONDERFULL and it's a good thing I made a double batch because there was barely enough left over for my lunch today! I was a bit curious about the red wine vinegar at the end, but it really worked!!
Oh, also - with the change of using beef instead of turkey, there was a lot of oil rendered that I should have drained, but I didn't do so until the end. Well, I waited to add the vinegar unil after it was drained, but that was it.
So if you use a meat more fatty than turkey, just remember to drain and you won't be as grossed out by the pools of oil toward the end!

Also, I was totally pleased and surprised that it took me only 40 minutes to make this, from defrosting the meat and assembling all the ingredients to plating and serving! (I'm a bit slow, it'll probably not take you as long!)

Tyler Florence. Ultimate. {Chef}

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Stephanie and her amazing Crockpot Blog. Well, I've been thinking lately that it could be fun to do the same kind of challenge next year. Not the same EXACT challenge, though I'd certainly love to use my crockpot every day! No. I was thinking...mabe grilling every day!
But then I was thinking, that's an awefull lot of food. And quite a commitment. And perhaps after that I'd never want to look at another grill again. And I don't like the idea of never grilling again.
So I'm thinking now that I'll do a SIMILAR challenge, with less of a commitment.

2009: 4 meals a week using Tyler Florence's recipes.
Whadya think about that?

I'm drooling already.
Over the food.
I'm a married woman, people!

1/7/09
I decided to pare this down a bit and do 1 recipe a week. That's okay. The leftovers will last awhile!