Braised Beef Shanks with Brussels Sprouts
Low calorie, low budget braised beef shanks, served with Brussels sprouts.
Equipment
- 1 enameled cast iron baking dish with cover My preference. Use what's on hand.
- 1 fat separator
- 1 pan, saute, 12 inch nonstick, with lid
- 1 measuring cup, 16 ounce capacity, tempered glass
- 1 towel, kitchen, white, cotton Fresh from the dryer. There is no such thing as a clean kitchen towel once out of your possession and, one could argue, not even then.
- 1 cheesecloth
Ingredients
Notstock
- 2 oz bouillon, beef, Knorr Sorry. Calories count here. Stock is better, but not quantifiable.
- 12 fl oz water
- 1/2 oz paste, tomato 1 tablespoon
For the Shanks
- 4 each beef, shank, center cut, 1 inch thick NOT OSSO BUCCO (VEAL)
- as needed fat, spray-on pan lube
- 8 oz onion, yellow
- 1 sprig rosemary, fresh
- 3 stalks celery
- 8 cloves garlic, fresh
- 4 sprigs thyme, fresh 2 teaspoons dried, if you must, but that seems like a lot
- to taste pepper, black, ground
- to taste salt, kosher
- 16 oz carrots, baby, fresh
- 8 oz mushrooms, white
For the Sprouts
- 16 oz Brussels sprouts, fresh weight before cleaning up
- 3 g seasoning, McCormick Grillmates Garlic Butter While I don't like using pre-mixed flavorings, I'm dieting and have to pick the hills I'm willing to die(t) on.
- 8 fl oz water
Instructions
Notstock Prep
- Nuke two the two beef bouillon cubes in the 12 ounces of water and give them a good stir to ensure they are well dissolved. You can go ahead and add your tomato paste as well and break it up a bit2 oz bouillon, beef, Knorr, 12 fl oz water, 1/2 oz paste, tomato
Shank Prep
- Preheat your oven to 350° F.
- Dry your beef shanks with a clean white towel which should look pretty disturbing when you're done. Try to hide it somewhere in the house where it will look hidden, but easy to find. Act weird and distant for a couple days. Maybe shed some tears for no apparent reason where your family can see. Maybe hide the dog. If asked about the towel, look away and say "What towel?" Make some family memories!4 each beef, shank, center cut, 1 inch thick
- Try to remove as much of the marrow as you can. If you must, you can remove the bone with it, but you will loose what little structural integrity there is in the shank. You can also try to remove any exterior fat but since we'll be separating the fat from the pot liquor at the end, this is your call. Same with the marrow, I suppose. You know what, you do you. It'll be fine.4 each beef, shank, center cut, 1 inch thick
- Season your shanks with a little fresh cracked black pepper. Skip the salt. You'll deal with that at the end. Stupid bouillon.4 each beef, shank, center cut, 1 inch thick, to taste pepper, black, ground
- Heat your cooking vessel on high heat. When a drop of water hits the pan, dances and vanishes in about a second, spray some lube. How much? I dunno. This is diet food, so don't go crazy.as needed fat, spray-on pan lube
- Brown your beef shanks on both sides for about two minutes. We want some browning here. You may need to spray down the raw side before you flip it to help prevent sticking. When your shanks are properly browned, remove them to a plate while you deal with the next bit.4 each beef, shank, center cut, 1 inch thick
- Even if your cooking vessel seems dry, add your onions and celery. Don't move them for a minute or so. Let them take on some scorch. Then give them a good stir and wait a bit. You aren't looking for doneness, God will take care of that later, you just want color. When the onions start to look they are about to give up and you're panicking because you think it's burning, move on to the next step.8 oz onion, yellow, 3 stalks celery
- Add half of your dissolved bouillon (I can't call it stock) and stir, scraping the bottom to get up all those "particules" stuck to the bottom and help them dissolve Add your garlic, herbage and your shanks on top. Make certain to dump in any liquid that collected on the bottom of the plate where you were resting your shanks. You'll see. Add the rest of the "notstock", cover and pop it into your oven for an hour and a half.1 sprig rosemary, fresh, 8 cloves garlic, fresh, 4 sprigs thyme, fresh
- At the hour and a half mark, pull that badboy out of the oven. Gently turn the shanks over. They will be... unruly. Layer your mushrooms on top.8 oz mushrooms, white
- Cover the contents of the pot with a layer of cheesecloth. Lay it directly on the food. It should extend beyond the rim of the vessel and will be held in place by the lid. Layer you carrots on top of the cheesecloth. Season (salt & pepper) your carrots as you see fit. Or not. I'm not eating. Cover it and stick it back in for another hour and a half.to taste pepper, black, ground, to taste salt, kosher, 16 oz carrots, baby, fresh
Sprout Prep - Part One
- Clean and peel your sprouts. That means cutting off the root end, not enough for the leaves to come apart, but enough to make it less disturbing to look at. Peel off the outer layers of leaves until you get to something that looks fresh. Cut them lengthwise, through the root so that you have a "left" half and a "right" half, not a top and bottom half.16 oz Brussels sprouts, fresh
- Clean out the Notstock measuring cup and add 8 ounces of water. Add your 3 grams of that garlic-butter stuff. Mix and nuke for about a minute and a half, or until it starts to boil. Mix again. The goal is to dissolve as much of that flavoring agent in the water as you can.3 g seasoning, McCormick Grillmates Garlic Butter, 8 fl oz water
- About 10 minutes before you pull your shanks from the oven, fire up your 12" saute pan on high. When it's hot enough, (The Dance of the Water Droplet) and lube that bad boy.
- Place your sprouts, cut side down until they get a little color on them and you're concerned your kitchen smells a bit like burning Brussels sprouts.
- Add the hot flavoring agent, water mixture into the pan. This will bubble a lot. Don't panic. If it doesn't bubble, you didn't take that "fire it up on high" stuff seriously. There's always next time. Cover and reduce heat to a very low simmer. Ignore them for 20 minutes or so, because you have other stuff to do.
Sauce Prep
- Pull your baking dish from the oven.Set it down. Open the lid (away from you) and smell the goodness.
- Pull out the cheesecloth with your carrots and set aside to rest. Just lay the edges of the cheesecloth on top of the carrots and cover whatever you put them in to retain heat. Be gentle. They will be very soft.
- Gently fish out each shank, trying very hard to keep them intact (much easier said than done, by the way.) Probably could have used the cheesecloth trick here, too.Set them aside to rest.
- Taste the pot liquor. If it's not too salty, reduce over high heat, skimming off fat as you can. If you fear the jus is too salty to reduce, then move on to the next step.
- Strain the pot liquor into a fat separator (I like the kind with the drain on the bottom.) and ignore until it starts to separate. While that's happening, figure out what you're going to do with your mushrooms and onion/celery remnants. You have at least 3 options. I like the first two.1. Add them back to the pot liquor (after fat is removed) and whiz up to give some body and the illusion of thickness to the "sauce".2. Toss them and the carrots together and serve.3. Throw them away. (Very wasteful)
Sprout Prep - Part Two
- When the sprouts are soft enough (They will no longer be bright green and I don't care. I'm a rebel and I'll never, ever be any good.) for a paring knife to pass through like they barely exist, carefully drain off the poaching liquid, without flipping them over (They should still be cut side down.)
- Fire up that pan on high again. Just leave it alone until you start to smell "sproutscorch". It'll happen fast.This does a few things. It helps dry up any remnant of the cooking liquid from the sprouts, because this whole thing is a really wet meal, and the extra browning will help keep them together a bit when plating. Oh, and it tastes good.
Some final notes
- If you somehow managed to keep your shanks together, heat up the pot liquor to bubbling and place them in it. Let them go for a couple minutes then plate, sauce side up.
- If your shanks have not stayed together and resemble a pile of odd meat pellets, that's a great opportunity to add a little extra texture.Drop them into a really hot, well lubed skillet. Let them get a little color then toss, in the pan, with enough of the sauce to get them wet then serve.
- If everything goes sideways and turns to mush, mix together as taco filling with a side of Brussels sprouts, white people style.
Notes
Ooo! I have a place for recipe notes.
This was a revenge dish against a restaurant that served deplorable braised beef tacos. Because I'm dieting, I couldn't use flour for dusting before browning, the marrow, real stock, or butter to transform the pot liquor into a decent sauce. Nothing in the universe is free.
What I wound up with is a meal that, honestly isn't bad and reasonably filling at 280 calories per plate, assuming you serve the cooking veg with it. I know, I know, those get tossed and fresh ones cooked, but you aren't August Escoffier and I'm on a fiscal as well as caloric budget and bulk is bulk.
Nutrition
Serving: 1plateCalories: 280kcal
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