Sweet and Sour Brisket

We ran across this recipe in our favorite cookbook, The Food You Crave, by Ellie Krieger. It's slow cooked brisket in a home made, and plate licking, sweet and sour sauce. We bought our brisket at Fulton Market and literally couldn't wait to prepare this, but it takes some time! So make this on the weekend, and please let us know what you think, because we literally have never tasted any brisket more incredible then this one! We had to share. Some tricks we learned while making this... make sure you have a large stove top to oven pot, like our Le Creuset dutch oven with the heavy lid. Also, you have to let the roast rest and cool down for 45 minutes before slicing it- otherwise it will shread ( which is also yummy but not as ideal for sharing a sliced roast!) Just put the sliced meat back in to the sauce over the stovetop to heat it back up- and it's perfection!


Ingredients
1 (3-pound) beef brisket, first-cut or flat-half cut, trimmed of any excess fat
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium onion, cut in 1/2, then thinly sliced into 1/2 moons
3 cloves garlic, chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
One 15- oz. can tomato sauce, preferably no salt added
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup golden raisins
5 black peppercorns
1 allspice berry

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Pat the brisket dry and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or braising pot. Sear the brisket until it is browned, 4 minutes per side. Transfer the brisket to a plate.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pot and cook the onion, stirring a few times, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomato sauce, broth, brown sugar, 1/3 cup of the vinegar, the raisins, peppercorns, and allspice and stir to combine well. Bring mixture to a boil, return brisket and any accumulated juices to the pot, spoon some of the tomato-vinegar mixture over the brisket, cover tightly, and transfer to the oven. Cook until the brisket is fork tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Remove the brisket from the oven, transfer the meat to a cutting board, and let rest for 10 to 20 minutes or, if serving later, cover and refrigerate the meat and sauce for several hours or overnight. When you are ready to serve, cut the meat against the grain into 1/4- inch thick slices. Return the sliced brisket to the sauce until heated through, then serve.

Yield: 10 servings, serving size: 4-ounces brisket plus 3 tablespoons of sauce




adapted from 2007, Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved

Grilled NY strip steaks, corn on the cob and citrus-cucumber and cilantro salad

Tonight's meal was exceptional and and highly over due. After all of the burgers, brats and hot dogs at BBQ's this summer, we felt it was necessary to enjoy some steaks.

To start we lightly oiled our strip steaks with vegetable oil and then seasoned it generously with kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper and granulated garlic. Cooking steaks works best after the meat has set out for an hour or so. Doing this ensures that the mean will cook more evenly. Cook the steaks on the grill over indirect heat for 5-7 min per side (depending on how hot your grill is) for medium steak. After cooking, let the steaks rest for 10 minutes before serving to lock in the juices!

Next, we trimmed the wispy ends of the corn cobs and soaked each ear in water for 1/2 hour. If you dry grill the corn, it burns, soaking the ears helps to prevent this from happening. Don't worry if the corn shucks blacken a bit, the corn is safe inside. Grill the corn for 10-12 minutes per side over direct heat. Pinch the ear for doneness- it should be soft but not mushy. To serve, pull the husks back (careful it's HOT) and use them as your eating handle. Rub down with butter and sprinkle with Kosher salt.

The citrus-cucumber and cilantro salad was a nice hodge podge of some left over fresh veggies/ herbs from the farmer's market and our pizza night. First, slice 2 medium cucumbers into 1/8" slices and then cut in half to make half moons. Toss in a bowl with 1 teaspoon Kosher salt to pull out some of the water from the cucumbers (this will make your salad less watery and more delish)for at least 15 minutes. Next, rinse them with cold water really well, and drain/dry to get all excess moisture off, put them all back in the bowl. Then you can add to the bowl 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion, 1 teaspoon EVOO, 1 teaspoon White Wine Vinegar, 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, a pinch of salt, a grind of pepper, and you've got a salad!