RECIPE WEDNESDAY - Beef Tips with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

Last week I broke down the #14 brisket into multiple meals and mentioned that a third was set aside for a recipe I found on Pinterest for Tri-Tips with gravy and mashed potatoes.

I have to say that using the brisket was an excellent choice... and less expensive over all than the Tri Tip would have been.

The 1/3 of the brisket:

became this:

Even with trimming nearly all the fat/ hide away, this chunk still had quite a bit of marbling so I knew the meat would cook nicely and be tender enough for me to eat without my teeth if I had to. There are days my bottom plate just does not want to play nice. Anyway, that's another post. Back to the recipe.

I divided the chunks into two portions. One I used for this recipe and the other I froze to have when Bob comes home later in the month. 

I added a bit of olive oil to my heavy cast aluminum skillet. then chopped a medium yellow onion and added the equivalent of 2 garlic gloves of crushed garlic. When the onions were just soft, I added a couple of Tablespoons of butter and the meat junks. I cooked these just enough to brown the meat. 

I transferred this mixture to the crock pot then deglazed the skillet with about 1- 1/4 cup of beef broth. After deglazing, I added a can of Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup. The original recipe called for Beef Consomme but I had the Golden Mushroom and planned to add slices of portabella later. When the soup and broth were blended, I added them to crockpot, put the lid on and set the temp to LOW. I let this simmer for about 5.5 hours. 

About 1/2 way through cooking time I sauted the mushroom slices just to soften then added them to the crock pot.

Note - I did not add any other seasonings. I knew the soup and broth would have plenty of salt and I could add pepper to taste once I'd dished it up. Cooking that long, a lot of your spice flavors tend to dissipate in a crock pot. Their good for a 3-4 hour cook but anything longer and you are re-adding at the end. 

The original recipe also called for removing the meat from the pan at the end and making the juices into a gravy. But then their recipe is for the oven (slow cooked - NOT slow cooker). And I was hungry so I just spooned some of the 'pot liquor' as we called it growing up over the mashed potatoes

This recipe turned out quite tasty. 

When I got ready to put left overs away, I did take the steps to make the gravy, using a flower and milk thickening and packaged the gravy separately from the meat.

Next week, I take on Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings - with my own spin, of course.

Enjoy the Journey!