San Antonio Beef
Inspired from an original recipe from Ellen Brennan, co-owner of the venerable Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans.
There is no explanation as to why this dish has the geographic moniker of San Antonio when it comes from a restaurant in New Orleans. If anything, the very existence of the Cajun Holy Trinity - namely onion, green bell pepper and celery - might specifically qualify this as a Louisiana dish. In fact, there are a number of similar recipes on the Internet that call themselves Cajun Pot Roast, which might have been more apropos. Nevertheless, this recipe is from a 1998 publication Sugar Less for Life...With the Brennans. The subtext reads: “Cookbook and Easy Guide by the Famous Family of Good Food.” The book was authored by Ellen Brennan, an in-law member of the Brennan family that founded Brennan’s Restaurant in 1946 and famous for its Bananas Foster which was invented there in 1951.
The Sugar Busters Caper
Sugar Busters was one of the low-carb diet fads of the late 1990s. Their first publication in ‘98 was written by four New Orleans physicians, and the book was called Sugar Busters - Cut Sugar to Trim Fat, with the subtext of, "Featuring easy recipes from New Orleans' top restaurants." And therein lies the rub.
The author of the Forward for this book was the aforementioned Ellen Brennan, wife of Ted Brennan and co-owner of Brennan's. It seems that Ellen liked the idea of a Sugar Busters cookbook concept so much that she hijacked it. Following the success of her first cookbook, Breakfast With the Brennans, she followed it with Sugar Bust for Life...With the Brennans, hoping to not only cash in on the notoriety of her own name, but also that of the Sugar Busters franchise. All sorts of legal posturing and lawsuits ensued such that the name of the book was changed for its second printing which was titled, Sugar Less for Life...With the Brennans. It’s full of legal disclaimers that this book is not in any way affiliated with the original Sugar Busters partnership
Regardless of its name and a lot of legal posturing that no reader genuinely cares about, these are recipes from the Brennan Restaurant franchise, and the fact that they are low sugar or low carb is incidental. Good food is good food, and My Number One Fan found this dish that we’ve since adopted as staple in our rotation of menus. The only modifications we made to Ellen's original recipe was adding red bell pepper, and substituting beef broth and red wine for water. The meat should easily shred when fully cooked. The liquid will have mostly evaporated, leaving behind a deliciously rich, intense vegetable ragout, spooned over the roast and accompanying rice, mashed potatoes or cheese grits.
San Anotnio Beef
Ingredients
- 4-5 lb boneless chuck roast
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow or sweet onion, diced (like, Vidalia or Texas-1015)
- 1 large green bell pepper, diced
- 3-4 tall stalks celery, diced
- 3 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 6-oz can tomato paste (like, Hunt's)
- 1 14.5-oz can beef broth plus another cup if needed (like, Swanson's)
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
- 2 tsp smoked salt. (like, San Francisco Salt Company Cherry Wood)
- Worcestershire black pepper (like, McCormick)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Pat the roast dry with paper towels.
- In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil until shimmering. Liberally salt and pepper the roast, then lower it into the fat and brown the beef on both sides, searing the meat, about 4 minutes on each side.
- Remove the meat from the pot onto a platter, and then sauté the onion, celery and green bell pepper in the hot oil until they pick up some color, about 10 minutes.
- Season the vegetables with the smoked salt and more black pepper. Add the garlic and tomato paste to the vegetables and sauté for 3 more minutes, stirring constantly.
- Pour in the beef broth, red wine, vinegar, Worcestershire and Tabasco sauces, and stir well to get up the crusty bits from the bottom of the dutch oven. Bring the liquid to a simmer.
- Return the beef roast to the braising liquid. Cover the Dutch oven with its lid and place in the oven for 6 to 7 hours. Check the roast about half way through the cooking period and add another cup of beef broth if needed.
- The meat should easily shred when fully cooked.
Notes
- If cooking at altitudes above 5,000 feet, raise the oven temperature to 335°F and add 1 hour to the cooking time.
- The braising liquid makes a delicious gravy. Spoon off any fat on the surface and use as-is, or blend the cooked veggies into the sauce with an immersion blender.
Mini-Meatloaf Bell Pepper Rings
Ingredients
- 1 lb 85/15 ground sirloin
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 bell peppers, any colors
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (like, Progresso)
- 2 tbsp thyme
- 2 tbsp rubbed sage
- 4 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 4 tbsp ketchup (like, Heinz No Sugar Added)
- 1 14.4-oz can petite diced tomatoes (like, Hunt's or Red Gold)
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 tbsp dried basil
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
- 10-12 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Using a saucepan large enough to submerge the two bell peppers, fill with salted water and bring to a boil.
- Slice the tops and bottoms off of the two bell peppers. Discard the stems, but retain the part of the bell pepper that was removed.
- Core the peppers of seeds and membrane, and place them in the boiling water for 3 minutes.
- Remove the peppers from the heat, drain off the water and flush the sauce pan with cold tap water until the peppers are cool to the touch. Remove the peppers from the pot and pat dry.
- Cut each bell pepper in half width-wise so you have four rings, each about 1-1/2" - 2" in height.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Take a broiling pan, the kind that has an insert with a grate and a bottom pan to catch the grease, and spray lightly with non-stick spray.
- In the meantime, finely dice the tops and bottoms of the peppers you previously removed, and add to the yellow onion. Over medium high heat, sauté them in the olive oil until they begin to caramelize, about 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic at the last minute and sauté for just a few seconds before removing from the heat. Put the peppers and onions in a large mixing bowl and allow to cool a bit.
- Adding in layers as you go (it will make for easier mixing), crumble the ground beef over the peppers and onions.
- Add the beaten egg, cream, ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, thyme and sage. Season liberally with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the mix.
- Using wet hands (which will keep the mixture from sticking to you), thoroughly combine all the ingredients. Once mixed, it should easily adhere together into the shape of four even portions about the size of a baseball. If the mixture is too dry, add a bit more cream; or if it is too loose, add a few more bread crumbs.
- Place the four pepper rings on your broiling pan, and fill each with even portions of the meat mixture. The mixture will overfill each ring, which is okay. Just mound it up and then using a spatula, flatten the tops of each mound of meatloaf.
- Thoroughly drain the liquid from the can of petite diced tomatoes. In another mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes with one cup of the shredded cheddar cheese and the dried basil.
- Again using your hands, mound and press the tomato and cheese mixture onto the top of each stuffed pepper ring. Finish each stuffed pepper ring with 1/4 cup more shredded cheddar cheese.
- Bake for 1 hour and serve immediately.