Easy Carne Guisada (134 of 150)

Photo from Jo Cooks

Sherrie came over for dinner tonight. She's been a busy girl so we had dinner and got caught up. 

This one was just ok. I like the original one I made better. It still had the guisada flavor, but it felt like something was missing. 

I used a can of diced tomatoes instead of chopped romas. I don't like using fresh tomatoes when I need a slow cook taste. 

Watch your salt on this one. Beef bouillon cubes generally has a lot of salt, so taste towards the end or cooking and then season accordingly.

Easy Carne Guisada

Recipe from Jo Cooks

Serves 6

• ¼ c olive oil (or vegetable oil)
• 3 pounds stew meat (cut into small bite size pieces, 1-inch cubes)
• 1 large onion (or 2 small ones, chopped)
• 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• 3 large roma tomatoes (diced)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp cumin (ground)
• 1½ tsp chili powder
• 1 T tomato paste
• 1 cube beef bouillon
• 3 T all-purpose flour (or more for thicker gravy)
• 3-4 c beef broth (low sodium)
• 2 T fresh cilantro (chopped, for garnish)

Sear the beef. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add the stew meat and cook until browned on all sides, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the beef to a plate and set aside. You might have to do this in batches, you don't want to overcrowd the meat in the pan. If doing in batches, only add 1 tablespoon of oil at a time.

Cook the veggies. Drizzle the remaining olive oil to the skillet. Add the onion, bell pepper and cook for about 3 minutes until the onion becomes translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute until aromatic. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for another minute.

Add the spices. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder. Stir well. Add the tomato paste and crumble up the beef bouillon, stir, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Start the gravy. Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir well while cooking for another 1 to 2 minutes to remove the raw flour taste. Add a cup of the beef broth and stir everything together. The mixture should start to thicken from the flour.

Add the beef and cook. Add the beef back to the skillet then another 2 cups of beef broth, stir until combined. Cover and cook for 1 and a half hours or more until the meat falls apart, over low heat, stirring occasionally. Add more beef broth if gravy is too thick.

Garnish and serve. Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper as needed. Garnish with cilantro and serve alongside with rice and tortillas.