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Tag Archives: Beef
While we were in Montana last November I wrote a post about how I was appalled that the beef sold at the local grocery store (Safeway) was not local beef. Instead it was from somewhere else. Shortly after coming home from Montana I received an email from Le Cense, which happens to be in Dillon, Montana, which happens to be where we were for over a week – they are not only local but they have grass-fed beef! Long story short, they sent us some steaks, which we have had in the freezer. We did do a steak tasting with one of them and have been saving the rest for another night. Tonight was the night.
We had planned on having dinner with a friend of ours, but that never happened. While we were looking forward to hanging out with him, gnawing on some beef, drinking wine and catching up, we were kind of excited to be home alone as it has been a pretty crazy couple of weeks. Dinner was going to be simple. Pan grilled steaks, some veggies and a great bottle of 2006 Tobin James Cab/Syrah blen(big & bold so that it would stand up next to the steaks) .
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I have to start off by saying that when we found out about this dining opportunity we were well into day three (3) of the Recession/Depression Dinner series. As well I was a bit guilty because I felt like a) I was cheating on all of you for pushing back the last R/D dinner by a couple nights and b) I was cheating on Carrie over at The Oliver Ranch Company, by straying away from my sustainable ways of eating beef! But once one is presented an opportunity like this, one must seize the moment and have a good time!
Our friend, Mike, has his pilots license. As well, he has a new girlfriend, one that we keep saying we should meet over dinner. When Mike called during the week and suggested flying us all down to Harris Ranch for dinner on Saturday, we jumped at it! After all how exciting is that, flying into a ranch to have dinner, pretty much a 10!
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Friday was a pretty busy day for us with regards to food. We started off our afternoon by having lunch with some of the folks over at Foodbuzz. I have been emailing Ryan (the girl) about Chez Us stuff for a few weeks now and finally just threw it out there that it was time for us to meet her (we did not know she was a she until I called from the lobby – oops, should have read the about page abit more). It is always nice to put the face with the voice! It was great fun as Dorian, Kristin and Doug all joined us as well, it was nice to learn more about FB and to share Chez Us with them. Be sure to read all about it over at the Pink Spoon.
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Whenever I have a cold I seem to want spicy. Almost immediately after eating chicken soup at lunch, I knew that we had to have something with SPICE for dinner. We both love Thai, Lenny more so, so I knew when I mentioned that I wanted a Thai inspired dinner there would not be any objections.
On our cold scooter ride home we decided to swing by Bi-Rite to pick up the necessities for dinner, while braving the cold, I knew this meal would hit the spot! I have seen a few different recipes for Thai Beef Salad, a few of them over at Donna Hay’s place as well as over at the Steamy Kitchen. Just happens while wandering the store I completely forget what I needed, so I decide to wing it. Needless to say once getting home I realized I had forgotten basil, mint and cucumbers, so tonight’s salad would be Chez Us inspired Thai Beef Salad. The good news is once we got home I remembered that Brother John gave us some of his homegrown Thai peppers so I did not have to use the ones we picked up!
I made a dressing of equal parts raw sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and fresh squeezed lime juice, then I microplaned some lemon grass, lime zest and chili pepper into it, giving it a shake shake shake and letting rest for about 45 minutes. Then I prepared a bed of baby red romaine, cilantro, red peppers, red onions and tomatoes; I don’t think there are usually tomatoes but I kind of lost my mind back at the grocery store. I wanted the grassfed beef to be simple so that the dressing and veggies would be a nice compliment. I used the stove top grill and cooked the beef with some sesame oil and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.
After laying thinly sliced pieces of beef across the greens, I drizzled the dressing and garnished with more lime zest and diced Thai peppers. The salad was refreshing, spicy and exactly what the doctor ordered!
 
I have learned more the past month, about the beef industry and the beef we purchase and eat, then I ever thought I would – this is a very good thing! Being a regular reader you know how I was appalled but intrigued, when I found out that the beef we purchased, while in Montana, was not from Montana; but, instead imported from either the USA, Mexico or Canada. Shortly after that post I received an email from Le Cense saying they were shipping us some steaks out to us. Now this was funny being we were just in Dillon, MT and did not have the access nor the resources to try out the beef while there. As well, due to this post, I had the pleasure of meeting Carrie of The Oliver Ranch Company, they hand-select Artisan Ranchers who produce delicious (we have yet to try, but am pretty sure of it) cuts of meat. Carrie enlightened me to how the industry works, from how the cattle is raised at birth to slaughter – it truly was fascinating and I cannot wait to suck all this knowledge in even more so in 2009.
But at this time I am going to go back to the steak tasting we did using one of the the Le Cense steaks and 3 other brands. While I was in Reno last week I sucked in my sister and brother inlaw as well as two friends to be the guinea pigs for our 1st Chez Us steak tasting. I used the Le Cense steak as well as two steaks I purchased at Whole Foods – one being grass feed and the other being hormone free (I will list the ranches later), the other two steaks I purchased at Raleys and they were just your run of the mill, “could be from the USA, Canada or Mexico” beef.
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It has been somewhat of a crudy day … really busy, haven’t started holiday shopping, coming down with a cold & exhausted; but, then I got home after a doctor appointment to find a nice package on the door. I have to say I love getting surprise mail delivered, with the internet now, it seldom happens.
Shortly after writing a piece about the beef in Montana, I received an email from Le Cense, a cattle ranch that is located in Dillon, Mt. I signed up for their newsletter online and left it at that. Almost immediately afterwards, they contacted me to say that I could stop by any time to check out their facilities and to try out some of their grass fed beef; unfortunately, we don’t live in Dillon. Today I received a nice package full of New York Steaks and some extra goodies (tshirts, stickers, a shopping bag). We are definitely looking forward to trying out their grassfed steak and sharing the experience with you.
Whenever I travel, one of the first things I do is figure out what food that region is known for and I make sure we eat lots of it – France it is wine and cheese, Wyoming it is buffalo, Hawaii lots of great local sushi, Boston it is lobsters and Portuguese food, etc.. you get it by now! Well, when I think of Montana the first thing that comes to mind is “Montana Beef” and after today, now I am questioning all of the beef inspired meals I have had there, the past 14 years.
When one is out in the wild wild west as we are this week, one would think that you would be eating the freshest and hopefully most humanely cuts of beef; right? After all, my family’s house is sandwiched amongst a few different cattle ranches. One would also think that the local grocery store (only Safeway & Iga) would sell the beef that is right in the backyard. One would also think that there would be a local butcher so that you could take advantage of all that great Montana beef.
Then I find out that most of the ranches sell their cattle to slaughterhouses far from Dillon for the actual slaughtering. This shocks me. Then after picking up the beef for dinner I see the words I hoped to never see, when there are cattle running around your house, printed on the label, “product of the USA or Mexico”, which clearly translates to, “not from Dillon”; this shocks me even more, after all the resources are in their backyards.
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While, we have only joined Meeta in one of her Monthly Mingles – we had a great time. I was not going to do this months only because it was a “one-dish” meal and what comes to mind for us involves a crock pot food or casserole type meal, neither appealed to us, so we decided to sit this one out.
I was getting ready to put away my February issue of Food and Wine, when I decided to take one last flip through it. There on the cover was the topic, “the Ultimate One-Pot Meal”. I slowly turned to page 101, thinking it was going to involve a crock-pot or would be a casserole. So happy to see it was a nice slow braised meal cooked in one-pot and in the oven. The perfect meal for the lazy Saturday night we were planning.
FW gives you four options and we chose the Japanese style. We did use a few potatoes instead of the Daikon. As well I cooked Udon noodles instead of the egg noodles they suggest. The pot-roast was very easy to make and while it is cooking the house smells truly incredible. Great way to get the mood going for a “lazy but romantic” evening.
While the roast was slowly cooking we used up the left-over bubbly from our pre and Valentine’s dinners. We added a couple splashes of Bonny Doon Framboise and garnished with raspberries. What a great way to end your day and start your evening!
Then it was time to really chow down on the pot roast and buttered udon noodles. The roast was very tender and the carrots and potatoes were not over cooked, a slight crunch to them still. The broth was very flavorful – the saltiness of the Soy Sauce, and the sweetness of the Mirin and the Star Anise (which I almost did not add as I like to photograph with them) brought a very interesting flavor, a little spicy and not overwhelming, very exotic, definitely worked very well together – we loved it! Served a hunk of crusty bread with it and we popped open a lovely Bordeaux from the Loire Valley. For dessert we had a couple meringues left over, which, I made with my sweet little 4 year old friend, E. for Valentines – she is all about pink and love – I topped them with raspberries and drizzled deep dark chocolate over the tops.
Truly a great evening with the one you love!
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