St. Patrick's Day Dinner Party: Guinness Braised London Broil

All I can say is, yum. Beer + red meat is an unbelievably delicious combination. I let the meat soak up my sweet & spicy Guinness marinade for a full 24 hours, and wow. But don't take my word for it, try it yourself!

Note: You can easily make this gluten free by substituting a gluten free beer.

Guinness Braised London Broil

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ketchup
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp spicy or dijon mustard
2 inch piece of ginger, sliced
4 garlic cloves, cracked and peeled
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 shots of Sriracha or other hot sauce
2 sprigs of rosemary
3 sprigs of thyme
14 oz. Guinness or other stout
2 lbs london broil (I used two 1 lb-ers)

Directions:

1. Mix together all ingredients but meat in a heavy zip-top bag. Add meat, then marinate in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours (I did a full 24).

2. Using a pair of tongs, remove meat from marinade into a baking dish. Pour in enough of the marinade so the meat is just submerged.

3. Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of your cuts of meat (if you use a single cut at 2 lbs, it might take longer; you can also braise this on the stove-top in a large dutch oven).

The cost:
meat: 17.98
other ingredients: <3.00

Grand total: $20.98; serves 6-8

One Pot Wonder: Dutch Oven Chicken & Rice

One-pot dishes are the best. You throw in a whole bunch of ingredients for a complete meal, and you only have to wash one pot (fine, maybe a spoon, knife and cutting board too)!

Pretty much any combination of vegetables, grain/legumes and protein can work so feel free to be adventurous! If you don't have a dutch oven, either than highly recommending you get one, you can also do this is a large saucepan and baking dish, but you will have more to wash :)

Note: Some readers have asked for more pictures of my preparation/cooking in addition to the finished product. Please let me know what you think!

Dutch Oven Chicken & Rice

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, quartered and sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
8 oz cremini mushrooms
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
3 carrots, sliced into rounds
12 brussel sprouts, quartered
1 cup white basmati rice
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 bay leaves
2 chicken quarters

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in dutch oven and cook onions over low heat until soft and browned, 10-12 minutes (add garlic and mustard seed after 5 minutes). Add mushrooms and cook until they are soft and have released their juices, 4-5 minutes.

2. Add brussel sprouts, carrots and 1/2 cup of stock. Bring to a boil and cook covered 2-3 minutes. Add rice, remaining stock, salt, pepper & bay leaves, stirring to combine.

3. Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper and add to pot, slightly submerging in liquid. Raise heat and bring to a boil, then cover and transfer to oven. Bake at 350 degrees 35-40 minutes until rice has absorbed all liquid and chicken is cooked through. Remove bay leaves before serving.

The cost:
onions: .69
garlic: .10
mushrooms: 1.99
carrots: .99
brussel sprouts: 1.89
rice: .99
stock: .99
chicken: 3.89

Grand total: $11.53 (5.77/person)

Recipe Remix: Smoked Paprika & Mustard Seed Chicken (Dutch Oven Braised)

I have become a huge fan of mustard seeds. Not only do they add great flavor to a dish, but they also lend a nice crunchy texture, but they soften with cooking so they aren't too hard. For now I'm just using yellow mustard seeds which are pretty mild, but when those are done I am totally going to try brown ones which are much spicier.

This chicken is similar to a previous recipe, although I think the addition of white wine really makes all of the flavors pop. This dish also inaugurated my new dutch oven (thanks Mom :)). If you have any other recipes for dutch ovens please feel free to share!

Smoked Paprika & Mustard Seed Chicken (Dutch Oven Braised)

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
6 scallions, chopped
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 lb boneless chicken breasts
1/4 cup white wine

Directions:

1. Heat oil in dutch oven and saute scallions until soft, 4-5 minutes.
2. Combine paprika, mustard seeds, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. Pat chicken breasts dry, then dip into spice mixture, rubbing and massaging into chicken.
3. Add chicken to pan and brown chicken, 1-2 minutes on each side. Add white wine to deglaze pan, moving the chicken around to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom. Cover and cook over low heat 6-8 minutes chicken is no longer pink.

The cost:
scallions: 1.19
chicken: 5.99

Grand total: $7.18; serves 2 (add brown rice & steamed broccoli for a complete meal)

Recipe 2-fer: Washington's Green Grocer Produce Box Adventure

I recently signed up to have a vegetable and fruit box delivered to me from local farms through Washington's Green Grocer. It doesn't cost too much more than I usually spend on produce in a given week, and it's local and organic!

I got my first box yesterday, and it had so many beautiful fruits and veggies including huckleberry potatoes (never even heard of them before--they are pink inside!), purple potatoes, purple top turnips (yikes don't usually cook with those), and kale.

Having never used turnips before in anything but chicken soup I was skeptical, but they were really flavorful, and in a good way! I peeled them after reading they have a tough and sometimes bitter skin, then roasted the turnips and potatoes simply with olive oil, salt, garlic powder and Aleppo pepper (you could substitute red pepper flakes).

For protein I decided on a stovetop chicken rubbed with a spice mix of smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt and mustard seed (gave a great crunchy texture!), and then did a quick braise on the kale in the leftover juices.

All in all delicious, and I'm so glad I decided to do this local farm produce delivery!

Roasted Purple-Top Turnips with Huckleberry & Purple Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 large turnips, peeled and cubed
6 huckleberry potatoes, cubed
6 purple potatoes, cubed
1 Tbsp light olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Aleppo pepper

Directions:

1. Place veggies in a roasting pan. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with spices, mixing to coat.
2. Roast at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes covered, 20-25 minutes uncovered or until veggies are tender.

Smoked Paprika & Mustard Seed Crusted Chicken w/ Braised Kale

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
6 scallions, chopped (or 1 onion, I just didn't have any)
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
3 boneless chicken breasts
3 Tbsp vegetable stock
1 bunch of kale, cleaned

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large saute pan and saute scallions and garlic 4-5 minutes.
2. Combine paprika, mustard seeds, garlic powder & salt in a bowl. Pat chicken breasts dry, then dip into spice mixture, rubbing and massaging into chicken.
3. Add chicken to pan and cook 3-4 minutes on each side or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from pan.
4. Remove kale leaves from stalk and tear leaves into bite-sized pieces (discard stalk or save for making soup stock another time). Deglaze pan with soup stock and add kale, turning to coat in juices. Cook 1-2 minutes until tender but still very green.

The cost:
veggies: $9.00 (1/4 of box)
chicken: 6.17

Grand total: $15.17; serves 2 + lunch leftovers :)

Pine Nut, Parsley & Mustard Seed Crusted Salmon

My Penzey's purchase this past weekend also included a bag of yellow mustard seeds (smells like pickles, or rather pickles smell like it because it's a common pickling spice! A little spicy, a little bitter, really great flavor). After browsing the internet for some uses, I decided to use it to crust fish; I wanted to make sure there was enough texture so I added pine nuts, and for color and flavor: Parsley, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper (sort of like a parsley pesto--I should try it with basil next time!).

Pine Nut, Parsley & Mustard Seed Crusted Salmon

Ingredients:

1 lb salmon fillet
2 Tbsp pine nuts, coarsely crushed
2 Tbsp mustard seed, coarsely crushed
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
pinch of cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. Place fish skin-side down on a baking sheet.
2. Roughly blend together remaining ingredients to form a paste  (I used my immersion blender attachment, but you can also finely chop everything then mix together); spread over salmon, pressing firmly to coat.
3. Broil 4-6 minutes until fish is cooked through and nut/seed crust is toasty brown.

Serve over rice or quinoa (1 cup = .99) with roasted brussel sprouts (2.49)

The cost:
salmon: 6.99
parsley: 1.00 (on sale at Shoppers)

Grand total: $7.99 ($11.47 for the whole meal); serves 4