Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli

For the past three months I've been trying to convince myself to order Chinese takeout. Mr. O-P and I had a favorite Chinese restaurant that was located not too far from the house. In order to get delivery, we had to have a minimum purchase of $20. That may not seem like a lot, but $20 is a lot of Chinese food.  The two of us could eat for three days on that food; my guess is that I’d probably have it until the end of the year, but I digress.

The other day I really had a hankering for Chinese food, and toyed with the idea of calling Green China for my favorite combination of carryout items, but it just seemed weird to be doing that on my own. I know, I know, I'll get over it, and move on, and soon I will have a refrigerator full of Chinese takeout containers. But for now, I think I'm going to have to content myself with just making Chinese food at home.

When I saw this recipe for beef and broccoli (coincidentally enough exactly the dish I was craving) that is also made in the crockpot, I figured, why not? Truth be told, instead of using the sirloin steak called for the recipe, I actually used a rather large filet mignon from the freezer. (As you may recall from this post, I'm trying to clean older items out of the freezer, in order to make room for something new.) The use of a filet in a dish like this may seem a bit extravagant, and perhaps it was, but I have quite a number of them in the freezer, and I'm not sure that I'll be able to eat all of them on my own. So I figured why not treat myself to a special dish this evening.

Whether I used the fillet or the sirloin, this dish was spectacular! I could not believe how easy it was to put together -- it almost seemed sinful -- and the aroma that wafted through the house while it was cooking was amazing. If you like Chinese food the way that I do, this is absolutely the recipe for you. I adapted it slightly by adding an entire onion that I sliced up and layered on top of the meat, and I thought this was just perfect. I may try this again and, instead calling it beef with broccoli, call it beef with vegetables and add thin strips of carrots in addition to the broccoli and onion as well as some water chestnuts and diagonally sliced pieces of celery. This recipe is a winner, no matter what you do. Highly recommended.

Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli

(Slightly adapted from Buzzfeed.com)

2 lbs sirloin steak or boneless beef chuck roast, sliced thin
1 medium onion, sliced

1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
4 Tbsp. Water

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

In a medium bowl whisk together beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic. Pour mixture into the bottom of the crockpot.

Place slices of beef into the liquid and toss to coat. Layer sliced onion on top. Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 4 hours.

After 4 hours, whisk together cornstarch and water in small bowl. Pour into crockpot and stir to mix well. Add the broccoli, and gently stir to combine. Cover with lid and cook 30 minutes more to cook broccoli and thicken sauce.

Serve over warm white rice.

This post is linked to:

What’s for Dinner Sunday

Art of Homemaking Monday
Make it Pretty Monday

Happiness is Homemade
Inspire Me Tuesday
Dishing it and Digging it
Amaze Me Monday
Cooking & Crafting with J&J

 Full Plate Thursday
Home and Garden Thursday
Thoughts of Home on Thursday
Weekend Linky Party
Grace at Home
Simple & Sweet Friday
Foodie Friday & Everything Else
Share Your Cup
Wildly Original
Creative Ways Party
Share Your Style
Simple Saturday Blog Hop
A Bouquet of Talent

Chicken Emil

Tonight's selection from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch cookbook of reader requested recipes from area restaurants, MORE SPECIAL REQUESTS, was Chicken Emil from Rich and Charlie's Pasta House Restaurant. It was delicious. 

This wonderful restaurant-quality meal goes together quicker than you might think.  Clean the chicken and broccoli the night before, wrap well and keep refrigerated.  Measure out all of your ingredients before you start cooking.  (Having a great prep bowl set can be a great boon to any cook and they make life so much easier!)  The sauce can be made ahead as well.  I had this meal on the table in about 40 minutes.

CHICKEN EMIL

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) softened butter, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 8 ounces each)
1/2 cup Italian-seasoned dry bread crumbs
1-1/2 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup thinly sliced mushrooms (about 3 ounces)
1 cup broccoli florets  (See note)
2 tablespoons chopped prosciutto (about 1 slice)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 pinch red pepper flakes
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 Tablespoons)
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cup shredded provel cheese (8 ounces), divided*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt 1/4 cup butter; set aside.

In a bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup butter with flour, using the back of a fork or a pastry blender to mix until creamy.

Rinse chicken and pat dry.  Cut each piece of chicken in half.  Coat chicken with bread crumbs, pressing firmly.  Drizzle coated chicken with melted butter; grill or broil for about 5 minutes per side or until fully cooked.  Keep chicken warm while you make the sauce.

In a large ovenproof skillet, bring stock to a boil; whisk in better-flour mixture.  bring to a boil and cook, stirring until mixture thickens.  Reduce to a simmer.  Add mushrooms, broccoli, prosciutto, garlic, red pepper flakes, lemon juice and wine.  Simmer 5 minutes.

Place cooked chicken pieces in sauce; sprinkle cheese on top of each chicken piece, dividing evenly.  Place in oven and bake just until cheese melts, 3 o 4 minutes. 

Lift chicken onto plates; use a slotted spoon to ladle vegetables over cheese.  Pour sauce over all; serve immediately.

Note:  If using fresh broccoli, cut florets and steam or microwave just until crisp tender,  If using frozen broccoli spears or florets, thaw and drain well.

Tester's note:  The sauce may be started about 30 minutes ahead.  prepare as directed, but do not add mushrooms and broccoli.  Just before serving, add vegetables and simmer until hot, about 7 minutes.

Serves 4.

*Provel cheese is a St. Louis invention.  If you don't have access to it in your area (and unless you live here in the Mississippi Valley you probably don't), Provolone  makes an adequate substitute.


(More information on provel cheese can be found here.)

This is linked to:

Baked Potato Soup from the Magpie Cafe

A trip to St. Charles would not be complete without shopping on Historic Main Street, and dining at Magpie Cafe. Fortunately when I can't get there, or when the weather is too inclement to be able to sit outside on their multi-level patio and watch shoppers stroll the cobbled streets, I can at least fix one of my favorites, the Baked Potato Soup, at home.  It is but one of their many delicious specialties.

As luck would have it, this recipe is one of the many gems in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's cookbook called Special Requests, that I mentioned earlier here.

I made this soup for dinner tonight to accompany a salad, and while the atmosphere might not have been quite as festive as dining at the restaurant (though I'm sure my husband would disagree), the soup was just as good.

Let me encourage you to try it!  Here's the recipe.

Cup - Konitz Cappuccino from Amazon

Scallion Soup Redux

Sunday dinner is something special at our house.  We both work on the meal, each one making a significant contribution.  This evening we wanted to try another recipe from one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Cookbooks.  Jim chose to make Steak Diane from Al's Restaurant.  It was heaven!  My contribution was a fresh salad with lots of ingredients purchased from the farmer's market visit, a cup of scallion soup (that morphed into true delicate deliciousness overnight in the fridge, so forget what I said yesterday about adding another potato to the recipe, I wouldn't change a thing), a crusty roll, and glass of wine.  It was a delicious meal, beautifully and lovingly presented. 

I wish you could have joined us!

Kirby’s Grandmother’s Meatloaf with Wild Mushroom Demiglace

I like meatloaf. I always have. As a kid, meatloaf night seemed like putting one over on mom because I always topped my slice with mustard and pickles and told myself I was getting away with having a hamburger for dinner. Like most kids back then, hamburgers were my favorite food; my dream meal was a hamburger, red Jell-O, and chocolate milk. I cringe at the thought today, but still love a good burger – cheeseburgers now -- and I still enjoy meatloaf. But unlike the tomato-topped loaf served to me as a kid, I’m now in search of the perfect meatloaf, the one with the most sophisticated combination of tastes, a firm texture, and topped with a sauce of complex and exotic flavors, a “company worthy” meatloaf that people feel privileged to consume. A meatloaf so good that even non-meatloaf lovers clamor for the recipe.  (Okay, maybe not clamor, but request with zeal.) I have found such a recipe, and by a rather circuitous course. Not only are the ingredients unique, but the method of cooking is as well (we’ll talk about this one later), but despite having found the meatloaf to end all meatloaves, I still search for something to exceed this level of perfection. I’ve come close, but so far my recipe is the winner. I do enjoy the hunt though, and even today while trying a recipe from a well-regarded local restaurant and thoroughly enjoying it, I can smile smugly knowing mine is still better.

Last night’s dinner was thick slices of Kirby’s Grandmother’s Meatloaf with Wild Mushroom Demi Glace from the Eleven Eleven Mississippi Restaurant in St. Louis, MO. It was relatively easy to prepare, but did call for a number of ingredients we don’t normally stock, including Veal Demi-Glace that I ended up getting as a gift for my birthday last week. It may sound lame, but this little jar goes for a whopping $30 at Williams-Sonoma, so was a thoughtful gift indeed for a foodie like me. From what I hear from people who’ve actually made their own veal stock, it’s well worth every penny.

The recipe for this dish came from one of my favorite cookbooks called More Special Requests, a publication of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and volume two of a compilation of the most requested area restaurant recipes. It’s a wonderful cookbook. A beautiful color picture accompanies each recipe, and I find this a must in a really good cookbook. Directions are clear and concise, so it’s easy to create restaurant quality food at home. I’ve been slowly working my way through this book as well as the original, simply entitled Special Requests, ever since I received the duo in the mail a couple of months ago. As a third volume, I’m told, is in the works, so buying these two now is a great deal because if you buy the second edition, you get the first one free. To purchase both, go to the online Post-Dispatch Store, and your cookbooks will soon be winging their way to you. I assure you, you will not regret it.

I like to assemble all needed ingredients before I start. I find this speeds up the cooking/baking process and will ensure I don’t forget anything. (This brings to mind the birthday cake incident of 2002, something I’ll share with you later.)

I cut the recipe in half since there’s just the two of us and not only did we have ample portions this evening, we’ll have meatloaf sandwiches for lunch tomorrow, and will freeze the remainder and extra demi-glace for a nice winter meal at some point in the future. I did not, however, shorten the cooking time, so if you make this, do let it go the full 90 minutes to assure doneness.

The amount of bacon seemed a bit hefty, but surprisingly there wasn’t a lot of excess grease after the meat had cooked, just a very flavorful, very moist loaf.

If you can’t read the recipe from the picture below and would like to have it to try this out for yourself, please email me and I’ll send it to you.

Bon Appetit!

You can also find this recipe and many more at Cookbook Sundays.