Thursday, June 23, 2016

Slow Cooker Beef Lettuce Wraps with Quick Pickles

It's summer time and it's hot here in New Mexico. These lettuce wraps are a great light meal, especially wonderful while eating outside! We loved that most of the work is done early in the morning and at the end of the day a delicious meal is cooked. The white miso did not add as much flavor as we expected it to, in fact, it was hard to taste it at all in the meat. The soy marinade is always tasty on meat though. The sesame oil frying at the end allowed the meat to get crispy and the sesame seeds added a nice touch to the dish. The pickles were just crunchy and went very well with the wraps.

The original recipe calls for Bibb lettuce, but we haven't been able to find that lettuce here yet, so we just use whatever we can find. We find the buttercrunch lettuce works well for these!

Here is the original recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-beef-lettuce-wraps-quick-pickles

Lettuce Wrap

Arranged on a plate

Another close up

Colorful carrots 
Cucumbers marinating

meat, ready for letucce wraps! 
the sauce

just out of the slow cooker

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
8 garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
1 (2-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed
1/2 cup unsalted beef stock
1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce
11 tablespoons rice vinegar, divided
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil, divided
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted tomato paste
1 tablespoon white miso (soybean paste)
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3/4 cup thinly sliced English cucumber
3/4 cup julienne-cut carrot
1 cup water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
16 lettuce leaves
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Coat bottom and sides of a 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Layer onion slices in bottom of slow cooker; top with garlic.

2. Heat canola oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add chuck roast to pan; cook 2 to 3 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Place beef on top of onions and garlic; pour any drippings from pan over top.

3. Combine stock, soy sauce, 3 tablespoons vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, and next 4 ingredients (through red pepper) in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Pour mixture over beef and onions in slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

4. Place cucumber and carrot in 2 shallow bowls 15 minutes before meat is done. Combine remaining 1/2 cup vinegar, 1 cup water, and granulated sugar in a small saucepan over high heat; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; divide vinegar mixture evenly between cucumbers and carrots. Let stand until ready to serve; drain well.

5. Transfer beef from slow cooker to a large platter; shred with 2 forks. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat; add shredded beef to pan, pressing into an even layer. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, without stirring. Turn off heat. Sprinkle evenly with salt and 1/4 cup cooking liquid from slow cooker; toss to coat. Discard remaining cooking liquid, onions, and garlic. Divide beef and pickles among lettuce leaves; sprinkle with sesame seeds.

What we liked:

Very good, relatively easy and light!

What we didn't like:

Nothing, it was great

What Kaspian thought about it:

He ate mac and cheese...

Next time:

No change. Definitely going on the make it again list though!

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