Beefy Mac and Cheese

 

 

"If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

 

-Thomas Alva Edison 

 

 

 

This is my husbands kind of food. He eats about 5 different meals over and over again. Sure I tried cooking different varieties of things for him over the years but a long time ago I stopped trying. It was like fighting against the tide.

 

There is a quote that I am reminded of about this, which is:

 

"What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?" Lin Yutang

 

 

You see all of these meals are nostalgic to him, they make him feel comfortable, like home. So I can respect that. Now I'm accustomed to it. Usually I cook food for him, and something different for myself since we have different tastes. However, I feel completely the opposite. My sister Melanie as well. I've heard her say, "I'll never eat another lunch meat sandwich again for the rest of my life." Since we ate so many of them in our lunches as kids. But my husband? He grew up eating ready made sandwiches out of the fridge, and he still loves them. So we're all different, I guess.

I add a layer of cheese in the middle so it's nice and cheesy

When I saw this recipe from Michael Rhulman on pinterest, (from his blog back in 2010) I was like, "heck yeah!" Now that's a recipe my husband could add to his repertoire. It has all the essential elements, beef and noodles. Many of his favorite meals consist of those elements in different forms, such as spaghetti with meat sauce, homemade macaroni and cheese with ground beef and beef noodles, a version of beef strogonoff with no sour cream, he hates sour cream.

Ready for the oven

I told him, "I have a new meal that you'll like, beefy mac." He said, "I love beefy mac! I'm hungry, can you make it now?"

I did and he loved it.

Thank you Michael Rhulman for posting a simple, heartwarming, easy and well liked recipe. My husband thanks you too.

 

Beefy Mac and Cheese

 

adapted from Michael Rhulman's Macaroni and Beef
 

This makes a lot. Feel free to halve it. It also freezes well. 2 pounds of beef to one pound of macaroni may be a lot for you, it's pretty beefy, (but just right for us) feel free to only use 1 pound. This fills my deep dish 9x13 dish to the top. If you don't have a deep 9x13 pan you may need to use a second pan. I reheated some later in individual ramekins as seen in the above picture, so cooking some up individually is another option.

Ingredients

 

1 large onion, diced

1 tablespoon oil

salt to taste

optional seasonings: black pepper, oregano, cumin, coriander, chopped garlic, hot smoked paprika, chili powder—whatever you’re in the mood for (I just used black pepper and a tsp. of granulated garlic.)

2 - 15 oz cans (850 g. total) diced tomatoes

1 - 15 oz can (425 g.) tomato sauce

2 pounds (907 g.) lean ground beef

1 box (1 lb.) (454 g.) elbow macaroni

4 cups (1 lb.) (454 g.) grated sharp cheddar cheese or you can use a mixture of different cheeses

 

 

Directions

 

Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, 200 degrees Celsius, Gas Mark 6.

 

Cook the macaroni a few minutes less than the package directions; drain and place back in the pan, add the diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce to let the pasta absorb the tomatoes.

 

Heat the oil in a large skillet; add the onion and and saute until soft. Add the ground beef and saute until browned. Add plenty of salt to taste, and pepper and spices if using.

 

Add the ground beef mixture to the macaroni mixture and stir. In a greased deep dish 9x13 inch casserole dish, add about half of the macaroni. Add a layer of cheese, about half, (2 cups.) Add the rest of the macaroni and top with the rest of the cheese. Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and broil the top for another few minutes so it gets nice and bubbly, brown and melted. Let sit about 10 minutes before serving.

 

Beef and Guinness Stew

"Who cares how time advances? I am drinking ale today."

- Edgar Allan Poe

My husband's favorite beer is Guinness. We have it in the fridge at any given time. So every year around St. Patricks Day when I see beef and Guinness recipes, I always think, "I should be making that." But I hadn't till now, don't ask me why. In fact, I make beef stew often enough. Silly, I say.

My very large hunk of beef chuck ready to be cut up for stew

Silly indeed, because folks, this is delicious! Absolutely scrumptious! Beef and Guinness were made for each other, I'm telling you. Once it cooks down and all of the flavors have melded, you probably couldn't even tell that is what you were tasting. So it doesn't have a strong alcohol taste, or even a strong beer taste like I thought it might due to the fact that I added 2 bottles of it. The gravy tastes slightly like malt. It's savory and beefy with a hint of fresh flavor from the herbs.

Cutting up the chuck for stew

I made a large batch. I used 4 lbs of beef chuck and it filled my 6 quart slow cooker. You could easily make half that amount, and use a 4 quart crock pot if you'd like.

My pieces of beef that have been dredged in flour in the oil to be browned

I prefer using chuck for beef stew, and pot roast for that matter. I find it gets the most tender, and has the best flavor. My butcher sells it in that large piece (pictured above). That adds a little more work than if you were to have purchased stew meat that is already cut into pieces. The problem is, beef stew meat is usually beef round. It's much leaner than chuck and well, fat = flavor, and round doesn't have much of either.

Beef getting seared

Whenever I want to cook something low and slow like this, I go for the slow cooker. I prefer the results to oven cooking. But if you need to cook it in the oven, go for it. I've added oven directions in the recipe as well.

Fresh herbs into cheesecloth

This recipe is best made the day before serving for two reasons. One is so that the flavors can really marry. The second is while it is cooling overnight in the fridge, the fat rises to the top and solidifies, making it easy to skim off the next day.  This makes it a great dish to serve to company. Paired with a nice salad and some crusty bread you'll have quite a tasty meal.

My stew just placed into the crock pot (I used a 6 qt. since I made a large batch)

Looking for some more Irish recipes?

How about some Irish Coffee Cupcakes- (these are very good!)

Or some Luck Of The Irish Cookies- O.K. these aren't really Irish, but they are fun and yummy!

Or complete your meal with some traditional Irish Soda Bread- this is a great bread for novice bread bakers, and it would be perfect with this stew.

It took me a while to make it for the first time, but it won't take me long to make it for the second time!

My little Papillon, Lucien. My husband took this picture and I fell in love with it, so I wanted to share it with you.

Beef Stew with Guinness

this makes a large batch, enough for 8 roughly, but it can easily be halved

Keep in mind this recipe is best eaten the day after it's made.

Ingredients

4 pounds of Beef Chuck, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces, and with large pieces of fat trimmed off. There should be fat marbled throughout it, but if there are large pieces of fat, cut them off.

2 bottles of Guinness beer

6-8 cups (1 1/2 - 2 liters) beef stock, homemade is better, or a good brand that is low sodium

5-7 carrots (depending on size and how many you want), peeled and sliced diagonally

1-2 large onions, peeled and chopped

3 bay leaves

fresh herbs- I used a combination of a few thyme sprigs, a large rosemary sprig and some parsley (I have fresh herbs growing in my garden) if you need to buy fresh herbs I would just get either some thyme or rosemary whichever you prefer and use either 3 thyme sprigs or 2 rosemary sprigs.

salt and freshly ground pepper

flour for dredging

olive oil or vegetable oil for browning meat

about 5 cooked cubed potatoes to add after stew is cooked, (so they don't get over cooked in the stew if using crockpot, or alternately add them raw halfway through cooking time. If cooking in oven, add them raw per directions below.)

1-2 Tablespoons cornstarch for thickening the sauce if needed

fresh parsley- minced, for topping individual servings (optional)


Instructions


The day before you want to eat this, start by browning the meat. Cover all sides of the cubes of meat with salt and freshly ground pepper. Place some flour (about 1/2 cup, you can add more as needed) into a shallow dish like a pie plate. Dredge the seasoned meat cubes in the flour.  Use a large dutch oven or large frying pan and add a few Tablespoons of oil and turn onto medium high heat. When pan is hot, place an even layer of cubes into hot oil. Don't crowd the pan, you're going to do this in batches. Get it nice and brown on one side (not grey, but brown) then turn the cubes and cook till brown on all sides.This is only about getting some color on the meat, it doesn't matter if they aren't cooked throughout. Remove them when done into another clean dish, and repeat until all the cubes are browned on all sides.

In the same pan, add a little of the beef stock and with a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom to remove the fond (the bits from the browned meat) and pour it all in the crock pot/slow cooker.

Add the ingredients in a few layers to your slow cooker. First add about half of the meat, then add about half of the carrots and onions, then more beef, then more carrots and onions. Add the bay leaves, and add the 2 bottles of beer. Now add enough beef stock to cover it all well, for me it was around 8 cups.

Place the fresh herbs in a cheesecloth bag, or tie them up with twine for easy removal later. Add the herbs and submerge into the stew.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

When finished, turn off cooker, remove the crock from the base if you can to let cool slightly. Place the covered crock in the fridge to cool overnight.

The next day remove from fridge and scrape off the fat that has risen to the surface and discard. Pour or ladle the contents of the crock into a large dutch oven to heat. When it's heated, taste it to check for seasoning. Add salt and pepper if needed. If you would like the sauce to be thicker, either reduce it., or add a cornstarch slurry by placing 1-2 Tablespoons of cornstarch (use 2 Tablespoons if you want it thick) into 2 Tablespoons of cold water and mix well. Add that to the hot stew and bring to boil. Right before serving add the cooked potatoes. Top individual servings with chopped parsley if desired.


For Oven Cooking-

Follow directions above, except when placing all the ingredients into the slow cooker place into a large dutch oven, like a big Le Cruset pan that has a tight fitting lid.

Cook with the lid on tight, at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, 150 degrees Celsius, or Gas Mark 2, for about 4 hours. After 3 hours of cooking you can add the diced potatoes, raw, and continue cooking for another hour. Then continue recipe as stated above.