Sweet and Sour Meatballs

One of my very favorite things to make. Nothing fancy, but I always love these meatballs. I serve them over rice with a green salad or other vegetable, or as the case was here, a Tomato Cucumber Salad. I also always make a full 9x13 pan, which this recipe is good for and makes about 24 golf ball sized meatballs or 40 ping pong ball sized meatballs. That way I have left overs. No, I don't eat them the next day (usually) instead I put them in a big freezer bag and have them ready for a night I don't want to cook, but want something really good.

Boeuf Bourguignon

I'm sure you've all seen Julie and Julia by now. I for one loved it. I loved the food, the scenery (yes, please to Paris!) and watching Meryl Streep do an awesome Julia Child. And, if you must know, I watch(ed) it for analytical purposes. To my dismay and shame, the character of Julie (sadly, not Julia, she's way too nice to be me), is so strikingly similar in all the worst ways to myself, that I had to watch the movie over and over to critique/observe my many flaws. And yes, I have been known to throw a fit in the kitchen. It's a bit embarrassing, actually. Remind me why I'm writing this...

Boeuf Bourguignon is probably one of Julia Child's more famous dishes and it's a major part of the movie Julie and Julia. It took me a while to get around to making it because I figured it was just a beef stew, and who needs to go sprinting to the kitchen for beef stew? Good, yes. Worth skipping all sorts of other interesting recipes, not a chance, I thought. But I was wrong. So wrong. Boeuf Bourguignon is amazing. It's not hard to make and is totally worth the 2.5 hour wait and the extra expense of cooking with wine.

Here's another confession: I am utterly lost in the wine aisle. Being a non-alcohol drinker and living in a place where all alcohol must be purchased at the liquor store, I have been used to grabbing the cheapest whatever I could find and ducking out of the store in a hurry (lots of creepy dudes hang out at the liquor store). But now that I live in DC and alcohol is available at the grocery store, it's a different ball game. Because the alcohol section of my grocery store is about twice the size of liquor store I was accustomed to. And there are 15 shelves of wine claiming to be red. So what do I choose? Do I want something very oaky? Young? Full? Dark red? Light red? Sweet?

Caroline's Burgers

We have a lot of great recipes on this blog, some that I absolutely love. And there are so many different types of food that I just can't get enough of - for me that would mainly be Mexican and Italian dishes. But when all that is said and done I will always have to say that my favorite thing to eat is a good burger (or at least in the top 3). Specifically, a grilled burger; in my mind that is the only way to have a burger.

After many years of grilling burgers, I have, in my mind, perfected the ultimate summer burger. It is perfect because it is delicious, and I admit whenever I make them I get lots of compliments, so I think that I am not alone in thinking this is one fine burger.

Balsamic Roasted Beef

Who doesn't love roast beef? Okay lots of people, but if you do love roast beef and you want a simple, simple recipe that will turn out fantastic, this is it.

In her book Barefoot Contessa: How Easy is That?, Ina Garten says to, "Be sure your oven is very clean before turning it to 500 degrees or the fire deprtment will show up!" I express the same sentiment, otherwise any filth that is in your oven will surely burn.

One last thing, follow her cooking times. Sadly I did not and our roast turned out medium rather than medium-rare. Now, if you like your meat brown all the way through, my roast would have been perfect for you. But me and my husband like our beast still pink in the middle - the flavor and the texture are just better. And if you know anything about a roast, so long as it is hot enough, it is perfectly safe to have a pink center.

Rosemary Roast with Caramelized Onions

Sunday dinner, anyone? My mom didn't always like to make a big Sunday dinner (after all, it was her day to relax too, right?), but when she did, it usually included either roast beef or pork. Her creamy, lump-free mashed potatoes were to die for, and possibly my all time favorite side,Yorkshire Pudding (coming soon!), made the meal a success no matter how the meat tasted. Luckily for us, the meat was always good. And then to top it off with a homemade apple pie, left us comatose for several hours after dinner. 

This roast is simply roasted, not braised. Be careful not to overcook the meat or it may become a bit dry. As you can see from the picture, I like my meat with a bit of pink in the center. If you have a good cut of meat (about which I would love to advice you, but am no expert myself), about 1.5 hours should make a de-lish family dinner.

Rosemary Roast with Caramelized Onions

Recipe by Kelly

Pictures by Kelly

1 3 lb beef chuck or rump roast

3 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Dry the roast with paper towels. Rub meat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Rub spice mixture over meat, pressing into the flesh. 
2. Heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil on medium high in a large skillet. Sear meat by browning on all sides. Remove from heat.
3. In the same skillet, heat remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Saute onion until lightly browned and soft. 
4. Place meat in an ungreased baking pan. Arrange onions around and on top of meat. Bake for 1-2 hours, or until the temperature in the center of the meat reaches about 150 degrees F for medium done-ness.

Shepherd's Pie

This is a pretty straight-forward recipe for shepherds pie and comes to you courtesy of my mother and at the request of one of our readers. I recently discovered that while we were growing up, my youngest brother would take left-over shepherds pie to his friend because he enjoyed it so much. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of shepherds pie when I was younger, but when my mother recently made this, I remembered my brother's friend liking it so much, and it turned out I really liked it too. So here I share a recipe for a good ole' meat n' potatoes shepherd pie. (I hope you will appreciate this Ryan F.)

 

Irish Stew

I feel a little guilty posting this recipe right now because it's just not very springy. But then again, the weather around here hasn't been very springy. So after a cold, cloudy, rainy day like today, I thought a hearty stew would be just the thing. As long as I ignored the fact that it's MAY, I was ok with it.

This "Irish" stew is sneakily similar to your basic pot roast, but for some reason I thought it tasted better (maybe because it has "Irish" in the name). The recipe calls for lamb, but being as lamb can be a bit difficult to find, I used beef (I believe it was a chuck roast) instead. It's also supposed to be made in a large casserole dish (or dutch oven!), but I'm sure you could use a crock pot instead (though I can't give you any good suggestions for cook time...4-6 hours on low?). And finally, as you can see in the picture, I served my stew on a plate. Kind of strange, I know. The stew creates enough juice that you could and might want to use bowls, but it's definitely a thick, casserole-type stew. Regardless of which way you decide to make/serve this goodness, when you walk in the door to the heavenly aroma of meat and thyme and potatoes...you'll just melt.

Beef Stroganoff

Oh yes, this is a picture of a pile of meat. And yes it was delicious, post cooking. I found this recipe for a slow-cooked Beef Stroganoff, although it turned out to not be a slow-cooker recipe in the traditional one-pot sense. The meat is cooked in the slow-cooker and then the noodles and sauce are cooked just before you serve it. However, overall it was quite simple to make and it was nice to just throw the meat and veggies in the slow-cooker and come home to the fragrant smells of roasting meat. I would recommend this recipe to anyone.

Beef Stroganoff
Recipe from Everyday Foods
Pictures by Caroline
Serves 8

Ingredients:
2 pounds beef chuck, trimmed of excess fat and cut into thin slices (about 1/2 inch thick and 3 inches long)
1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 pound white mushrooms, trimmed and halved (or quartered, if large)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Cooked thin egg noodles, for serving
Chopped fresh dill, for garnish (optional)

Directions:
1. In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, toss beef, onion, and mushrooms with 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt and teaspoon pepper. Cover, and cook on low until meat is tender, about 8 hours (or on high for 6 hours). *I trimmed off the fat and threw it in with the meat while it was cooking, then just pulled it out before serving. I also added about 1/2 cup of water into the slow cooker for extra juices
2. In a 2-cup glass measuring cup, whisk cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water. Ladle 1 cup cooking liquid into measuring cup; whisk to combine. Pour into a small saucepan, and bring to a boil; cook until thickened, about 1 minute. With slow cooker turned off, stir in cornstarch mixture, then sour cream and mustard. Serve beef over noodles; sprinkle with dill, if desired.

Mongolian Beef

If you like the restaurant PF Chang and you like their Mongolian Beef, you will like this recipe. I combined a couple of copycat recipes, made some adaptations, and this is was I came up with. I will admit, there are quite a few steps to this recipe, but if you prep your meat and veggies, it really isn't very hard. To me the most difficult part is frying the meat in the oil without getting burned. In fact, I would suggest having a helper with the meat frying, one of you should be responsible for putting the meat into the pan and the other person should be in charge of flipping the meat and removing it to a reserve plate.


One, no two final notes. I added mushrooms to this dish, mostly I just thought it would add an extra flavor and a little more texture to the dish, but if you don't like mushrooms just leave them out. And two, I listed in the ingredients 1 or 2 bunches of green onions. I used one, and wished that I had about half as much more. So, I would suggest using about 1 1/2 bunches of green onions, but that will vary on your taste preference, as well as the size of bunch your local market sells.

Enjoy!

Mongolian Beef
Recipe and pictures by Caroline

2 lbs flank or skirt steak
¼ cup corn starch
2 tsp vegetable or peanut oil
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
½ cup low sodium soy sauce
½ cup water
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup vegetable or peanut oil
¼ to ½ cup mushroom pieces, depending on your preference
1 to 2 bunches green onions, green part only, cut in half

1. Trim all fat and silver skin from meat. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Dust steak pieces lightly in cornstarch and set aside while preparing the sauce. Be sure to use a very light dusting of cornstarch, otherwise the texture will not be what you want.
2. In a small sauce pan heat oil over medium high heat. Add ginger and garlic. Add soy sauce and water to the ginger and garlic before it browns. Add brown sugar and whisk until dissolved. Bring sauce to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes or until slightly reduced and thickened. Remove from the heat and reserve.
3. In a large skillet or wok heat 1/2 cup oil over medium high heat. Working in batches, add the steak a few at a time to the hot oil. Cook about 2 minutes without touching the meat then flip each piece and cook 1 minute more. Remove meat and continue with next batch, leave meat just slightly rarer than you want it cooked. Once all meat is browned, pour off oil and wipe out skillet. 4. Put pan back over heat and add the mushrooms, let cook for about 1 minute until slightly softened. Add the meat and the sauce to the pan and simmer for about 1 minute. Add the green onions and continue to heat for about 2 more minutes.
5. Use tongs to remove meat and veggies to a serving dish, leaving excess sauce in the pan. Serve over rice.

Penne with Beef and Arugula

This is simple, yet delicious. And I'm sure in the next few weeks, you'll have reason to want something both fast enough for a weeknight, but elegant enough for dinner guests.

Cook this steak to your preferred degree of done-ness. I like it red as red can be, but knowing that not everyone likes their beef still mooing, I usually go for medium/medium-rare. Also, the original recipe calls for arugula, but as it can be expensive and hard to find at this time of year, we used spinach instead.

Penne with Beef and Arugula
Recipe adapted from Everyday Pasta
Pictures by Caroline

2 New York strip steaks, about 8 ounces each
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound penne pasta
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 cups chopped spinach or arugula

1. Rub the steak with salt and pepper, herbes de Provence, and the minced garlic. In a skillet, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Cook the steaks for about 5 minutes per side, or until outside is browned and inside is still pink (or red, if you prefer; remember that the steak will keep cooking after you take it off the heat, so pull it off just before you think it's actually done). Let cool about 5 minutes, then slice the steaks into thin pieces.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender, but still firm to the bite. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water (this is very important!).
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, basil, pasley, and 3/4 cup olive oil.
4. In a large bowl, toss the pasta with half the vinegar mixture and the drained pasta water. Add meat and spinach (or arugula). Add more dressing, salt and pepper, as desired.

Sunday Pot Roast

I would guess that most of our readers have a great pot roast recipe. However, I thought we should add one to our collection of recipes here at Two Little Chefs. Because let's face it, sometimes you just need to cook up a traditional Sunday Pot Roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots. So here is a simple pot roast recipe that is sure to please.

In our house we love carrots, so I add lots of carrots - basically as many as I can fit into the crock-pot. But if potatoes are your thing, or maybe even celery, go ahead and put as many in as you want. Just make sure that there is enough liquid to come up to about 1 1/2 to 2 inches below the rim to ensure that everything gets cooked.

Sunday Pot Roast
Recipe and pictures by Caroline
Makes 4 servings

2 or 3 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch thick pieces (or your potato of choice)
2 cups baby carrots (or more)
1/2 large red onion, cut into wedges
2lb. beef pot roast, or chuck roast
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup white cooking wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons beef base, or beef bouillion
1 teaspoon dried basil

Directions:
1. Place half of the vegetables in bottom of crock-pot
2. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan. Brown roast on each side, and then place on top of vegetables. Add the rest of the vegetables around the roast.
3. Combine water, wine, Worcestershire, beef base, and basil. Pour over meat and vegetables.
4. Cover. Cook on low heat 10-12 hours. Or on high heat 5-6 hours.

Green Pepper Steak

This dish is a perfect weeknight meal. It's hearty, healthy, and delicious. And it's pretty easy--the hardest part is waiting for it to be ready to eat.


Green Pepper Steak
Recipe adapted from Dorothy Rich
Pictures by Kelly
Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons water
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon ginger root, finely chopped
1 pound chuck tender steak, cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 cup green onion, chopped
1 cup celery, diced
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/3 cup water
4 Roma tomatoes, halved and sliced lengthwise

1. In a bowl, mix soy sauce, 4 tablespoons water, garlic and ginger. Add steak and let stand 5 minutes.
2. Heat oil to medium high heat in a large skillet. Add steak (without sauce) and cook until all sides are browned. Pour sauce onto steak and cover. Let simmer on low 20 minutes.
   
3. Add vegetables to skillet. Cook, covered, 5-10 more minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
   
4. In a small bowl, mix corn starch and water until smooth. Add to sauce and stir until thickened.
5. Add tomatoes and cook, just until warm. Serve over rice.

Lentil Soup with Beef

Just when you think spring is here, Mother Nature turns around and throws you a curve-ball in the form of an early spring blizzard. Maybe you're lucky enough to live in a part of the country with pleasant weather right now, but I'm really sick of the snow, wind and clouds.

But at least it gives me a reason to keep eating dishes like this one. Lentil soup has always been one of my favorites on a cold and blustery day. So until the balmy days of spring and summer arrive, this easy one-pot meal will make life seem a little more pleasant.

And what better way to use up those lentils from the Chicken Dhansak a few weeks ago.

Lentil Soup with Beef
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
Pictures by Caroline

makes 6-8 hearty servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large celery stalks, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped dried rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
4 (14-ounce) cans beef broth
2 cups water
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with
2 cups lentils (any color), rinsed

1. Heat the oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the beef with salt and pepper. Add the beef and cook until brown, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a bowl.
2. Add the celery, carrots, onion, garlic, rosemary, and oregano to the pot. Saute until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes.
3. Return the beef and any accumulated juices from the bowl to the pot. Add the broth and tomatoes with their juice. Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the meat is just tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour.
4. Add the lentils. Cover and continue simmering until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes.
5. Season the soup, to taste, with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.