Carne Guisada

I'm not sure why I haven't blogged about this one before.  I know the first time we had it was after Christmas in 2013, so that is around the time I received Homesick Texan's Cookbook.  And it was comfort food.  And it was good.

So D decided we needed to have it again. It turns out you don't have to wait until the winter.  You can have it when it is 95 degrees out too.

This is more of a weekend meal because of the 5 hour simmer time.   Everything breaks down into a spicy meat paste and it's really just something you should make.  We have it on tortillas with sour cream.

Carne Guisada

Adapted from Homesick Texan
Serves 8-10

Photo by ALB

Ingredients
3-4 pounds of chuck or bottom round beef, cut into 1-inch cubes (used 3 to figure out NI)
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
5 cloves of garlic, minced (about 1/4 cup)
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes or 3 fresh tomatoes, diced
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
2 serrano peppers, diced
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
1 bay leaf
2 cups of water
1 12 oz. bottle of dark Mexican beer such as Negro Modelo
1 tablespoon of flour (optional)

Preparation
In a large pot or a Dutch oven, brown the beef on medium high heat in 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil, may have to do in batches.

Remove beef from pot, add the final 2 tablespoons of peanut oil and cook on medium heat the onions and chiles for about 10 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Throw in the browned beef, add the herbs, spices, water, tomatoes and beer and mix everything really well. Turn up the heat to high, bring the stew to a boil and then turn heat down to low and simmer for five hours, stirring occasionally. At this point, some of the meat will have turned to strings thus thickening the gravy.

Nutritional Information (from My Fitness Pal)
Servings: 8; Amount Per Serving
Calories: 367; Total Fat: 20 g; Saturated Fat: 6 g; Monounsaturated Fat: 7 g; Polyunsaturated Fat: 5 g; Trans Fat: 0 g; Cholesterol 110: mg; Sodium: 259 mg; Potassium: 624 mg; Total Carbohydrate: 8 g; Dietary Fiber: 2 g; Sugars: 2 g; Protein: 34 g