You could probably come up with a really fancy name for this recipe if you wanted to, but it really doesn’t need one – the whole point is a simple, no-fuss meal that doesn’t need to play dress-up. Slow-braised beef chuck with some simple seasonings takes a while to cook, but the actual prep is very fast, and it goes perfectly with a plate of simple roasted vegetables.
To add some color to the recipe, go for a bunch of rainbow carrots (those are the ones that come in orange, yellow, and purple, and sometimes even red) – they all taste basically the same, but the visual effect is great.
This is a great recipe for budget-conscious cooks, because chuck is one of the cheaper cuts of beef, even grass-fed. It’s not great for cooking at high temperatures like a steak, but when you braise it like this, it gets delicious and tender and it’s just as tasty as the more expensive cuts. And you can use it for leftovers, too; try cooking double and just “serving” half of it directly to your lunchbox for tomorrow. It’s barely a minute of extra work, and you’ll have a healthy lunch all ready to go in the morning.
Beef Cubes With Roasted Carrots And Mushrooms Recipe
SERVES: 4
PREP: 20 min.
COOK: 3 h.
Ingredients
- 3 lb. beef chuck, cut into cubes
- 1 onion, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup beef stock
- Cooking fat
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients for the roasted carrots and mushrooms
- 8 oz. carrots, sliced
- 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tbsp. melted cooking fat
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
- Preheat your oven to 250 F.
- Season the beef cubes to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Melt some cooking fat in a Dutch oven or ovenproof pan over a medium-high heat.
- Brown the beef cubes on all sides for 1 to 2 minutes, remove, and set aside.
- Cook the garlic, and onion for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Add the beef stock and stir to scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Return the beef to the Dutch oven, cover, and place in the oven.
- Cook the beef in the preheated oven for about 3 hours, keeping an eye on it for the final 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the roasted vegetables.
- Place the vegetables on a roasting pan.
- Roast the vegetables during the last 15 minutes of the beef cooking process.
- Serve the meat cubes with the roasted vegetables.
