Hanukkah Recipe: Brisket & Tzimmes

Hanukkah is coming up and no Jewish holiday meal is complete without a brisket! Brisket is the most popular cut of meat cooked by Ashkenazim (Jews of Eastern Europe). According to an article in the JWeekly, "Brisket is a beef cut taken from the breast section beneath the first five ribs, behind the foreshank. It is an inexpensive boneless cut that requires long, slow cooking to break down the collagen in the connective muscle tissues and achieve tenderness. Poor Eastern European Jews favored this cut because it was low in cost and high in taste and volume." 

Get Your B12: Spiced Braised Beef Cheeks With Kalamata Olives

Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of Vitamin B12 in your diet. Today, I would like to share a unique recipe with you that is a great way to make sure you are getting food based Vitamin B12. It's another one pot meal that will last you several days and allow you to "cook once, eat twice."

Beef is one of the best sources of Vitamin B12, with one 3oz serving providing 60-80% of your daily recommended value (depending on the cut). This recipe calls for beef cheeks, though you could probably use any stew cut.

Spiced Braised Beef Cheeks With Kalamata Olives
Ingredients:
2 lbs of Beef Cheeks
5 carrots
2 celery stalks
3 Cippolini onions
2 tbsp red palm oil
1 large sprig of thyme
5 green peppercorns
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp of Trader Joe's South African Seasoning Grinder
1/4 piece of star anise
1 tsp The Spice House Choucroute Garni Spice Blend
2 large bay leaves
1 tbsp Celtic Salt
4 cups of Bone Broth
2 cups water
1/2 cup kalamata olives
1/4 cup olive juice

Proces:
1. In a dutch oven, heat red palm oil and add quartered onion

 2. In pestle, using a mortar crush all spices and salt. Add to pot.

3. Saute for 10 minutes


4. Add Beef Cheeks

5. Let Beef Cheeks brown

 6. Chop carrots and celery and add to pot

7. Add broth and water, bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes

8. Add olives and olive juice
 

9. Cover and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours


10. Enjoy with Spaghetti Squash!

Shared on: Melt in Your Mouth Mondays, Scratch Cookin' Tuesday

Roasted Smoked Paprika Chicken With Rosemary Scented Root Vegetables

Last week, my teacher at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Joshua Rosenthal, gave a lecture where he discussed making cooking good food easy. I love his saying: "Cook Once, Eat Twice." I've always loved one pot meals because of their convenience and often cook a pot of soup for lunches to take to work and a stew to eat at home for dinner. Doing this, makes healthy eating possible and enjoyable for me. While I love to cook, I know that with kids, jobs, and competing responsibilities, it's not always easy. I have already shared a number of my favorite one pot meals with you already: Beef Heart Bourguignon, Tongue Stew, Grain-Free Plov Style Tongue Stew, and Tongue Stew with Garbanzo Beans, but I am aware that not everyone has access to or even enjoys offal and so I have a recipe for a chicken stew that will surely please.

The dish uses two salts that I am absolutely loving right now: Selena Naturally's Rosemary Celtic Salt and Makai Pure Sea Salt. Celtic Salt is unprocessed and is dried by the sun and the wind, locking in a vast array of vital trace minerals. Paired with rosemary grown on the Northern California Coast, the Rosemary Celtic Sea Salt has a really incredible rosemary flavor that stands out as the vegetable seasoning in this dish. The Makai Pure Sea Salt is also unique and I use this to season the chicken.  This salt is harvested from 2,000 ft underneath the Pacific Ocean floor and has a high mineral content. It has 33% less sodium in comparison to regular table salt and provides 2% of your daily value for calcium and magnesium. I'm grateful to Selina Naturally for sending me these to try, because they really are something special!

 Roasted Smoked Paprika Chicken With Rosemary Scented Root Vegetables
Ingredients:
1 Organic/Pasture Raised Chicken
1 tbsp duck fat/coconut oil/ghee/red palm oil
5 large carrots
2 large parsnips
2 large turnips
2 large onions
2 springs of thyme
1 whole garlic bulb
3 tsp The Spice House Smoked Paprika
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 tsp Selena Naturally Rosemary Celtic Sea Salt
2 tsp Selena Naturally Makai Sea Salt

Process:
1. Chop carrots, parsnips, and turnips in to small chunks

2. Cut onions in fourths

3. Insert garlic bulb into chicken cavity

4. Place tbsp of oil at the bottom of a dutch oven

5. Add vegetables and sprinkle with Selena Naturally Rosemary Celtic Sea Salt and mix well to coat vegetables

6. Sprinkle The Spice House Smoked Paprika, pepper and Selena Naturally Makai Sea Salt on top of chicken covering the breasts and thighs

7. Place chicken on top of vegetables

8. Bake at 425 for 90 minutes

9. Enjoy!

 

Shared at: The Polivka Family