Beef Burgundy

I first had a version of this dish at McGuire's Irish Pub (beware of the bathroom signs, read carefully!) in Destin, Florida while I was visiting a friend earlier this year. It was amazing...I'm pretty sure I got food drunk off of this dish instead of regular drunk off of the beers I was drinking. I was hell bent on recreating this when I got home and succeeded the first time about a month after my trip but it definitely needed some tweaking and finesse. This time I nailed it. You can easily make this in a dutch oven but I did a lot of the cooking head of time and put everything in a crock pot on low the morning of the day I wanted to serve it. Don't get hung up with what type of wine to use, I had a Merlot on hand so I used that, you could easily use a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Pinot Noir.


Ingredients
1-1/2 pounds of stew meat
1 package of bacon, sliced in 1 inch sections
1 pound of sliced mushrooms
1 yellow onion, rough chopped
8 oz of beef broth
8 oz of red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp flour

Directions
This first portion can be done up to a day ahead of time and placed in the refrigerator. In a large skillet, cook bacon pieces until crispy. Remove from pan and let drain on paper towels. Drain oil from pan. Place pan back over medium high heat, add meat and brown on all sides. Remove from pan. Add onions and mushrooms, cook until onions are golden brown and mushrooms have released their juices, about 12 minutes. Remove from pan and mix with beef and bacon.

In crock pot, whisk beef broth, wine, tomato paste and thyme together. Add in beef, bacon, onions and mushrooms to broth mixture. Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

Once cooking cycle is complete, remove all beef, bacon and vegetables from the crock pot. Pour remaining sauce in a sauce pan and heat over medium high heat. Let reduce by half. Mix flour with 4 tbsp of sauce and pour back into sauce pan, continue to cook until thickened slightly.

Prior to serving, bake a piece of puff pastry large enough to cover serving dish(es) at 400 degrees until golden brown. Serve beef with sauce in casserole dish or individual ramekins and top with puff pastry. (I cooked the pasty over top the casserole but the dish was too big to support the pasty...that explains the concave crust in the picture above. It still tastes delicious though!)

Chicken Bacon and Caramelized Onion Pizza

This pizza was inspired by an appetizer I made recently (that I have yet to post). It has everything we love: chicken, bacon and onions. It requires a little bit of effort if you don't have the ingredients leftover from another meal but it's still so worth it.

Ingredients

1 pre-made pizza crust
4 oz of tomato sauce
10 oz of fresh whole milk mozzarella, sliced
2 chicken breasts
6 pieces of bacon
1 yellow onion
2 tsp of sugar
olive oil
1 tbsp of butter

Directions

Heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Cook bacon and cool. Once cool to handle rough chop.

Slice the onion (no wider than 1/4 inch). In a large saute pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter over a medium heat. Add the onions and saute for approximately 15 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Add the sugar to the onions and continually stir onions to prevent sugars from burning. Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes or until onions are a deep golden brown and smell sweet. Remove from pan.

If you don't have left over chicken, season two chicken breasts with garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper and saute in a pan with olive oil until just cooked through (about 5-7 minutes on the first side and 2-4 minutes on the second side). Remove from pan. Slice chicken into even strips.

Roll out the pizza dough onto an cookie sheet. Spread tomato sauce evenly to the edges. Place half of the cheese on top of the sauce; add the chicken and onions. Top with cheese and bacon. Sprinkle with oregano if you desire.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until cheese and crust are golden brown.

Serve immediately.

BLT Chicken Wraps

Ingredients:

1 package of thick cut bacon

1 bag of pre-washed spring mix salad

8 slices of deli style chicken

1 tomato

4 tortilla wraps

Mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Fry bacon in skillet until cooked through. Spread a teaspoon of mayo on one half of each tortilla. Place spring mix, tomato and two slices of chicken on the same half of the tortilla. Top with bacon. Salt and pepper to taste. Roll the tortillas length wise.

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

These were so friggin tasty and such a hit with three guys just back from deployment! So much of a hit that I never got a chance to take a picture of the finished product. These bad boys were being eaten straight of the grill. Wash them down with a cold beer and enjoy!

Ingredients

12 medium sized jalapenos, sliced in half lengthwise and seeds removed

1 package of thick cut bacon

10 oz cream cheese (approximately)

Directions

Stuff each pepper half with cream cheese.

Wrap each pepper with half a piece of bacon.

Refrigerator for 30 minutes or until ready to cook.

Heat grill to medium heat. Spray top rack with non-stick spray or brush with vegetable oil. Place a piece of aluminum foil (with the sides folded up) underneath the rack. (This will catch the grease from the bacon.) Grill peppers until bacon is cooked.

Serve immediately.