What a simple sounding recipe…beef and noodles. However, the process I use to make a healthy version of beef and noodles is anything but simple! This will not be a 30 minute meal. We love the combination of beef over noodles, so when I saw chuck roasts on sale this week, I snatched up a big one. Walk with me through the process and see if this doesn’t tickle your taste buds!
Brown all sides of the roast in an hot oiled heavy duty pan. (I love my Le Crueset) The purpose of this is to make a dark rich broth.
Add 2 small whole onions, celery (I used dried celery), and salt and pepper. Cover generously with water. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer on low for 3-4 hours.
I had to leave for a couple hours and when I returned the wonderful smell of this roast had permeated the entire apartment building! I could have been blind folded and my nose would have led me right to our door. Remove roast from liquid and strain out onions and celery. The roast at this point is fall apart tender, so I removed the meat in pieces with tongs. Pour liquid in another container and place in fridge or freezer. The purpose of this is to separate all the fat from the broth. It will rise to the top, harden and then you just lift it off and discard. I used the freezer for a quicker process. In several hours this is what it looked like.
Even though I tried to pick out a lean roast, there was at least a quarter inch of fat that rose to the top that I discarded. As I picked off that ugly white hunk of fat I had to think how harmful that fat is to our body. Yuk.
Much better, huh? While the fat was congealing, I cut the roast into bite size pieces and placed in fridge.
Make a slurry of 1/2 c. beef broth and 1/3 c. cup corn starch. (You will need to tweak this amount as to how much broth you use for the gravy) I had about 4 c. of broth. Bring broth to boil in large saucepan. Whisk in slurry and continue stirring until mixture thickens and is clear. (not cloudy) Add cut-up beef and heat though out.
Serve over whole grain cooked noodles. I used part broth and part water to cook the noodles in. That boosted the flavor of the noodles.
I would consider this comfort food! The beef is fork tender swimming in a savory rich beef gravy and the best part is that I would consider this a low-fat beef dish served over high fiber whole grain noodles. It definitely needed to be teamed with the bright colors of veggies, salad and garnished with parsley!
Made this yesterday and we really loved it. I just changed a little. I had no onions or celery so I added a little red wine and a few cloves of minced garlic. Removed the fat as you suggest and what a great idea. I was really surprised at the amount! I returned the cut meat and broth to the dutch oven and added a little more water and when it was boiling, I added a 16 oz. bag of egg noodles directly and cooked until done. (I’m into one pot cooking when I can!) At the last minute, I stirred in a little cornstarch mixed in water to thicken it up a bit. It was incredible. Next time I may add some sauted mushrooms near the end. Thanks much!