When you miss Texas and you can't visit (Carne Guisada)

A disclaimer, this was another social life gets in the way of fancy Sunday cooking post. Hence how I just stop with the photos before the finished product. As usual the socialness was great and the food wasn't affected. Anyway, I lived in Texas for two years. I say Texas and not Austin as my job made me feel like I traveled small towns for a living and I was hardly in Austin. My time in Texas really made me appreciate New Orleans, but it also turned me on to things I would have never experienced had I not lived there. One blog I picked up on my feed while I lived there was Homesick Texan.  It really has some great Texas recipes and anecdotes that helped me try to make my adopted home state more familiar.  

Not only did my sister and I get flank steaks at Costco recently, we also split a chuck roast. I made pot roast recently, and I don't have a crock pot yet to make daube (recipe to come).  I have been trying to coordinate a trip back to Austin to visit my friend for what feels like months now. Football and social season are in full swing for me and so is a busy travel schedule for her.  No trip to Austin is going to happen now anytime soon, but I figured I could use that roast to take a culinary adventure to Texas! Enter this recipe for Carne Guisada.  I had some of the ingredients on hand, it could be yummy as leftovers and was worthy of a fancy Sunday cook. Perfection!  Full recipe after the photo play by play.  Linking up with Meal Plan Monday over at Southern Plate and others!

They didn't have serranos so I nerded out yet again and got some hatch chiles while they still had them.

I cut mine into bigger chunks because I was planning on creative leftovers.
You will want smaller pieces if you want  more of a shredded texture.  Which you probably will.

Brown your meat on both sides until all the pink is out (doesn't need to be cooked through)

Don't plan on taking your contacts out before or after this, you are screwed either way!

No garlic yet so it doesn't smell like usual wonderfulness

Chopping fresh herbs is a chore I will always volunteer for!

Add in everything else to get the long cooking process going.

Bring to a boil and then cover and cook through the entire Saints loss.
Cook longer to stew while you stew over it!

The finished product, although it wasn't quite thick enough for me...

I decided to make a roux to thicken, guess it is gumbo time soon!

I removed a half cup of the sauce and added to my caramel covered roux.

After this, I ate it over rice, put it in a tortilla to make tacos and also made something creative that you will see tomorrow.  It is such a nice spin on a traditional stew and can be put in or on pretty much everything.  I am sure you could pop this in the crock pot all day as well and get something yummy.

Carne Guisada (borrowed from Homesick Texan)(which I am not one as I am home now!)

Ingredients
4 pounds of chuck or bottom round beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 tablespoons of oil
1 medium onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted with chiles)
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
2 serrano peppers, diced (I used hatch)
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano (I used 2 tbsp chopped fresh)
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
2 cups of water
1 12 oz. bottle of dark Mexican beer such as Negro Modelo
Optional roux:

1 tablespoon of flour 

1.5 tablespoon oil

Method
In a large pot or a Dutch oven, brown the beef on medium high heat in 2 tablespoons of the oil, you will have to do in batches

Remove beef from pot, add the other 2 tablespoons of oil and cook on medium heat the onions and chiles for about 10 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Throw in the browned beef, add the herbs, spices, water, tomatoes and beer and mix everything really well. Turn up the heat to high, bring the stew to a boil and then turn heat down to low and simmer for five hours, stirring occasionally.

Note on roux:

Remove 1/2 cup of sauce.  In a cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium heat and add flour.  Stir with a whisk over heat until it is the color of caramel.  Add reserved sauce and combine and then add back to pot.

This and some warm tortillas with cheese is the bomb.  Really good over rice with or without beans, or used as a topping for salad, in a quesadilla, whatever.  If you try it over something I haven't mentioned, please let me know!

Happy Cooking!

Missy