Brisket a la Chard

For the past year or so I’ve been posting weekend recipes on my buddy, Doug’s fitness site. Recently he asked me if I could start gearing my recipes towards the Paleolithic diet also known as the Caveman diet. I didn’t know much about it but I’m learning fast and I really didn’t realize the extent of the Paleo community out there. Basically Paleos don’t eat grains, corn, starchy veg, sugar, dairy or legumes. On the flip side they love meat, seafood, veggies, fruit and nuts. This is today’s recipe which turned out great, bursting with flavour.

Enjoy!

RECIPE:

Serves 6

3 lbs beef grass fed brisket

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

8 oz pearl onions – peeled (see tip below)

2 cups red wine (anything you’re drinking will do)

2 quarts (8 cups) organic beef broth

1 cup fresh oregano

4 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive or grape seed oil (Grape seed oil gets to a higher temperature before burning so is ideal for high heat searing.)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Preheat large skillet on high for 1 minute. Season the brisket with S&P on both sides. Drizzle olive or grape seed oil in pan and sear meat for 3-4 minutes each side until golden. Remove to a deep oven proof dish. Rub the Dijon mustard into brisket once seared. Once brisket has been removed from skillet reduce heat to medium and wipe out same pan with a kitchen towel. Add wine, onions, herbs and garlic to pan and cook for 3 minutes. Add to meat along with beef broth. Cover with foil and pop in the oven for 2 1/2 – 3 hrs or until the meat is tender enough to slice.

To reheat (if not serving immediately) – slice brisket into 1/2″ slices and place back into sauce. Reheat in 350°F oven for 20 minutes, covered.

TIP: To peel pearl onions, boil them for 1 minute first, drain and peel. The skins will come right off. Way easier.

Watch your fingers though, muy caliente!

Serving suggestion: Saute Swiss Chard.

Swiss Chard is similar to spinach in that it’s a leafy green veg but needs more cooking as the leaves tend to be a little tougher and bitter.

To cook chard: Strip the chard leaves from the stalks. Keep the stalks for your homemade Veg stock. Roll the leaves tight and chop into strips. Place the chopped leaves in a colander a rinse under cold water to wash. Let drain.

Preheat large saute pan on medium heat. Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil in pan and saute chard for 10 minutes, partially covered. (See Note below.) Add 1 cup low sodium chicken stock and partially cover again. Cook for another 10 minutes until tender. Taste and season with S&P.

NOTE: With this particular recipe I added the chard, at this point, to the beef and let the flavours interact and finish cooking the chard in the braising liquid.

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients.