You all know me; I gotta have variety. With the amount of meat you have available to you, you can use it in several ways, each providing you with extraordinary, beefy goodness. Here's how I'd use them, the order of which is important only to you.
1. Beef, and Mushroom Kabobs - Season beef cubes with salt and pepper, and alternate on a skewer with chunks of protabella mushrooms. Brush all with butter, cook over hot coals.
2. Beef Stir-Fry - Leave beef in large cubes so they can be cooked rare or medium rare. Place beef cubes into a marinade of soy sauce, black pepper, a touch of ginger, and onion powder for no more than 20 minutes. Heat your wok, or heavy, cast iron pan to screaming hot. While the pan is heating, roughly chop green and red bell pepper, onion, water chestnuts, and mushrooms. Add snow peas to the mix. Remove the meat from the marinade, and place with the other ingredients into a large bowl. Add 3 tbs. peanut oil to the pan, swirl around to coat, and dump all ingredients in. Cook just until the meat is browned. Add a bit of additional soy sauce as the food is cooking (no more than a tbs.) Serve over buttered noodles, or rice.
3. Beef Stew - There is nothing wrong with using some of that beefy goodness to make an exceptional stew, if you like stew. First, season with salt and pepper, then brown the beef, and set aside. Next, peel and cut potatoes, mushrooms, celery, and carrots into bite-sized chunks. Cook these in beef stock until tender. While the veggies are cooking, melt 3 tbs. butter in the frying pan, and add 3 tbs. all purpose flour, to make a roux. cook the roux over medium heat until medium brown. Slowly add liquid from the cooked veggies to make a thick sauce. Add all of the sauce back into the veggie pot. Add the meat. Serve with good, buttered bread, or bread rolls.
4.French Dip Sandwiches - if you're like me, you save and freeze stocks and broths. Now is the time to break out some of that beef stock and get it hot, and into dipping bowls. Gently fry some sliced onion until lightly softened, but still with a bit of crunch. Quickly brown some beef cubes, and set onto hoagie buns, along with the onion. Splash on some A1 sauce if desired, and lay a thin slicew of muenster, or swiss cheese on top.
Ok, now close that sandwich, dip, and enjoy.
5. Surf & Turf - Beef and Scallop Kabobs, need I say more?
6. Canivore Chile, Small Batch - Let me preface this with a note of caution. The meat in chili adds to the combined goodness of all of the ingredients that make up the chili. But here, I'm suggesting that the chili be made to enhance the goodness of the beef. Here's how I'd make it to go with your beef, so as make the beef the star of the dish. Combine 15 oz. diced tomato with 2 tbs. chili powder, 2 chipotle peppers, 1 chopped onion, 1 stalk cliced celery, 1/2 tbs. each ground cumin, ground coriander, 15 oz. cooked pinto, black, or dark red kidney beans, or some combination of the beans, 1 tsp. cocoa powder, 1 cup beef broth, 1/2 tsp. freshly chopped cilantro, 1 tbs, cooking oil. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan, and add the onion, peppers, and spices. Cook until the onion has softened. Add all of the remaining ingredients, except for the beef cubes, and simmer for 1 hour over very low heat. Just before your are ready to eat, Brown the beef cubes, leaving them at medium rare. Place into serving bowls, and fill with the chili.
7. Carne Asada - Oh yeh! One of my favorite ways to eat beef is as carne asada, made the way I first had it at a little Mexican Restaurant in El Cajon, Ca. named "La Cotija". Only in this version, the beef us left in chunks, so as to be able to fully enjoy the rich, beef flavor. Ingredients: Beef cubes, diced onion, diced jalapeno peppers, lime juice, freshly chopped cilantro, cooking oil. Fire up the charcoal. Put the meat on skewers. Cook to rare. Remove to a plate. Place a heavy pan over the charcoal. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan, and cover the grill, allowing the smoke to flavor the veggies. Cook until hot, but not fully tender. Add the beef and get everything hot. Have guacamole ready to put on tacos or burritos, or both. Serve in flour tortillas as burritos, or in fresh corn tortillas as tacos.
8. Taco Salad - Make your favorite leafy salad, toss with chili powder, add crushed corn chips, and shredded sharp-cheddar, and seared beef cubes. Serve with a fruity vinaigrette.
9. I really like the fondue idea posted by Dawgluver. Lightly marinade the meat in Lee & Perrin's Worcestershire Sauce for 15 minutes or so. Heat oil in the fondue pot, and set the raw beef cubes on the table. Everyone cokes there own beef, one bite at a time. You might have other items that can be stuck with the fondue fork, and fried as well. Options are unlimited.
10. Beef pockets - Flaky phyllo, or puff pastry, or even yeasty bread dough, wrapped around seasoned and seared beef cubes, Fontina cheese, sliced peppers, baked to golden brown perfection. You might even want to put gravy on 'em. I'm thinking that this would be a fabulous way to use the beef cubes.
Hope this gives you some ideas for using your beefy treasure in ways that will make the rib-eye cap the star of the meal.
Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
