Dreary Day, Happy Food

What do you think of  when you look out the window and see this?

It's not very inviting. Football is on and the house is a much cozier option then venturing out in the damp cold. So I decided to make Spanish-braised beef with creamy polenta and steamed brussell sprouts. Dan got so pumped up about it that he invited some friends over so I made a few bacon wrapped shrimp for appetizers.

You might be saying "wow, that sounds amazing" and it is my friends, oh, it is. But it's also so easy to do. Braising is one of my favorite techniques because it produces some of the most flavorful results and requires very little effort. In fact, braising has become such a hit in our household that we now have a 'mother sauce' that we keep resuing over and over again to develop some amazing depth of flavor.

Here's how it works. 1- buy a beef chuck roast (aka pot roast), leg of lamb, or lamb shanks. In all cases make sure there is a good fat-to-meat ratio because fat equals flavor. This time I used a 2.8lb beef chuck roast.

Remove the beef from the packaging and pat it dry with some paper towels. Salt and pepper and set it aside. The next step is to take a whole yellow onion and 3-4 cloves of garlic and start building some flavor. I sliced the onion and crushed the garlic and added it to my Dutch Oven which has been warming up on the stove. Toss in some more S&P and little oil and let them start working their magic.

Once those guys are starting to look more transparent part the seas and add the beef.

Brown the beef on both sides over medium to medium-high heat.

Keep in mind, you aren't cooking the beef here, just browning it to get some juices into the pan. This should take no more than 10 mins total (5 mins per side). Once the meat is brown, start building your braising liquid. A cup or 2 of beef broth, a can of diced tomatoes, olives, raisins, paprika, chipolte, carrots, and water.

In the meantime, get your oven up to about 250 degrees. Add enough liquid to cover the meat, put a lid on the Dutch Oven, and bring everything to a boil. Boil for about 8-10 mins and then put it into the oven. I cooked this one for 3 hours at 250 degrees. The beauty of braising is that it is meant to be sort of  'set it and forget it' cooking. The lower the oven temp, the longer you need to cook. I have found that you cannot quickly braise something so avoid trying to cook something at 425 degrees for half the time. It just doesn't get the same effect. Once the meat is in the oven and you can go watch some football.

As time for kick off got closer I preped my Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp. But these are no ordinary Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp- I like to tuck a little mint leaf into the wrappings so that when you bite into the shrimp you get a little surprise.

Shrimp are often sold by their size so when you go to the market take a look at the lables. You'll notice that they frequently have things like 16-20 or U-15 next to the name of the shrimp. That tells you about how many shrimp per pound. So if you bought a pound of 16-20 shrimp you'd get between 16 and 20 shrimp. Great to know when trying to do menu planning for a party.

I used 16-20 shrimp for the football party. After pealing the shrimp I always double check them for the mud-vein which runs up the back of the shrimp. Most of the time this vein is already removed by the time the shrimp get to you, but every so often it's still there. It won't harm you but it could make your shrimp taste a little muddy or grainy. You can just pull the vein out with your fingers and toss it.

I used maple bacon this time around. Cut the bacon strips in half and lay a shrimp and mint leaf on the bacon.

Roll the bacon around the shrimp and repeat.

Cook the shrimp over medium-high heat. You need the pan to be hot enough to crisp the bacon and cook the shrimp at the same time.

Once they are done, set them on some paper towels to drain the grease, then serve.

Once the beef is done, fish it out of the braising liquid and shred.

Polenta is super easy to make. Just remember that the 2:1 ratio- liquid to polenta. In this case I did 1 cup of water + 1 cup of 2% milk and a little butter. Bring all that to a boil and then add 1 cup of Polenta. Remove from the heat and stir. The polenta will absorb the liquid and be ready to go in less than 10 mins.

To steam the brussel sprouts I trimed the bottoms and then cut them in half. I steamed them for about 8-10 mins.

Once everything is ready, make a bead of polenta and top it with the beef. Spoon some of the braising liquid over the beef and polenta. Add a spoon full of brussell sprouts and you are set! Warm comfort food, good friends, and the NFL playoffs. That is the way to beat a dreary day.