Mexican Steak & Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2/3 lb stew beef (cut into 2 to 2.5" pieces)
- 1/4 t Salt (Table) (to taste)
- 1/4 t ground black pepper (to taste)
- 1 T vegetable oil (as needed)
- Mix together:
- 1/4 c Flour (Plain)
- 3/4 t chili powder
- 3/4 t dried oregano
- 1/2 T ground cumin
- 3/4 t Salt (Table)
- 1 T minced chipotle pepper (or 1/2t ground chipotle pepper)
- The rest:
- 1/3 c water (warm)
- 2/3 c beef stock
- water (as needed to cover)
- To serve:
- Mexican mashed potatoes (recipe link below)
- finely chopped cilantro (optional)
Method
Sprinkle beef evenly with salt and black pepper. Brown on all sides in hot oil in a small Dutch oven (or oven-proof pot) over high heat. Stir together flour, chili powder, oregano, cumin, chipotle chili pepper, and remaining salt in a large bowl. Whisk in warm water until smooth. Add flour mixture to Dutch oven. Stir in beef stock. Add water as necessary to cover meat. Bring to a boil over high heat; cover tightly, place in oven on slow cook (or the lowest setting you have), and slow cook 6 to 8 hours or until meat is tender.
To serve, divide mashed potatoes evenly between 2 plates. Arrange beef equally on top of mashed potatoes, and top with gravy mixture. Sprinkle each serving with chopped cilantro.
Notes
Mexican Mashed potatoes recipe is here: http://myst.starforge.co.uk/index.cgi?block=3&op=view&id=432
To do this as a slow cooker "been out all day, want to come home and not wait two hours for dinner" recipe, do some of the mashed potato recipe the night before: roast the garlic and corn, take the corn off the cob and squeeze the garlic out of its skin; set aside in the fridge. Then, shortly before you want to eat, boil the potatoes, prepare the butter mixture, mash, plate, and eat!
You can also add sour cream and avocado as garnishes if you desire.
SJ Note 1 Oct 2010: This was tasty, but could have been more Mexican-flavored. I've adjusted the spice mixture here for next time. I did it as a slow cooker meal this time, but omitted the corn and just used smoked garlic instead of roasted garlic, so no prep the night before. The two of us got the meat going in the morning in about 10 minutes. A good, easy meal!
SJ Note 6 Feb 2011: This was fantastic! Definitely a keeper. Made a double batch of the beef this time; we'll see how it freezes, thaws, and reheats.