My Beef Dishes




Lasagna with Beef and Vegetables

July 17th, 2010 in Beef Dishes, Main Dish Recipes, Pasta Dishes by MeCooking

Several weekends ago, when I asked Yuriy what should we prepare for dinner, I got an answer – lasagna, and I was intimidated a bit – I never prepared lasagna before. So I spent some time in internet researching recipes and found several I liked. I’ve combined them, added some touch to my taste and prepared this lasagna.

This was my first attempt to make lasagna. And main challenge for me was to properly prepare noodles: according to the instructions on the pack they required boiling before using. I’ve added 2 tablespoons of oil to the boiling water and was boiling them layer by layer and it totally helped to prevent noodles from sticking while boiling.

This lasagna turned out perfectly: balanced combination of meat and vegetables (just how I like it), noodles were very tender, it was totally worth all the time I’ve spend boiling them, getting out of water and trying arrange them in the pan.

Macaroni with Ground Boiled Beef

July 3rd, 2010 in Beef Dishes, Main Dish Recipes, Pasta Dishes by MeCooking

Lots of recipes require using clear soup (meat broth, stock), however not all of them also require boiled meat which is often used to prepare meat broth. So the question is, are there any good recipes which actually require boiled meat and no broth?

This is one of them: russian pasta with ground boiled beef and fried onions (btw, it is called “makarony po-flotski” in Russia; I have no idea why, but we always called this dish so).

Any “al dente” kind of pasta will work here: I’ve used penne, just read instructions on the pack and cook them accordingly. You may also vary proportion of meat to pasta to taste.

Beef Roasted with Cheese and Onion

May 1st, 2010 in Beef Dishes, Main Dish Recipes by MeCooking

That is probably one of my favorite dinner recipes: slices of beef roasted under mayonnaise, shredded mozzarella and onions, and it is very easy to cook.

You can make steps 1-7 some time in advance, then put meat into the fridge and continue later; just get meat to the preheated oven about 1 hour before you are going to serve it. That comes extremely handy when you need to get a lot of other things taken care of right before the dinner.

Some dry red wine is a nice addition to this dish, especially if the dinner is going to get romantic.

Fried Beef Liver with Onions

April 24th, 2010 in Beef Dishes, Main Dish Recipes by MeCooking

Liver is an irreplaceable source of various nutrients which are very important for human health. It has biggest concentration of a vitamin A comparing to all other food sources; natural source of vitamin D, B12 and C, phosphorus and copper; it is high on protein of animal origin; and the most important, it is rich source of easily absorbed iron – that made liver a part of the treatment for pernicious anemia.

Saying all of that, I was very surprised of how hard it was to find fresh beef liver in a local shops (true to tell I didn’t try a local farmer markets, didn’t locate any around yet). I am also pretty sure, what liver dishes are not very popular in this part of the earth globe, however they are traditional in Europe: Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and a believe a lot of other countries.

So here is my attempt to fix that: fried beef liver with onions – is perfect lunch or dinner dish, it is very easy to cook and, as I already mentioned above, it is very nutritious. Important tip: do not overcook liver, to preserve as much goodness as you can.

Stewed Beef with Onions

March 27th, 2010 in Beef Dishes, Main Dish Recipes by MeCooking

It felt like a time for some nice beef stew recipe, so here it goes: beef stewed with onions is a dish my mom was always cooking, when I was little. Well, maybe she didn’t put a wine, but besides of that – that is the dish I am used to from my childhood.

It is very easy to do, probably the easiest stew recipe I know, and doesn’t take much time to cook. Wine adds a nice hint to the taste, but it is completely optional: just replace it with a cup of water if you don’t have a cup of dry red wine.

This dish goes good with mashed potatoes or boiled buckwheat as a side dish.

Minced Beef Cutlets

January 23rd, 2010 in Beef Dishes, Main Dish Recipes by MeCooking

This it a traditional russian recipe for minced meat cutlets which includes meat, white bread soaked in milk and a lot of onions. Some people prepare those cutlets from beef only, some add a bit of pork or pork fat in them. I prefer just beef.

You may grind or mince meat yourself or buy a ground one and simply add finely chopped or grated onions: whatever you prefer. Either way I am sure it will taste delicious!

I’ve served those cutlets with fried potatoes and greek salad, just in case you were curious.

Beef Stew with Vegetables

August 22nd, 2009 in Beef Dishes, Main Dish Recipes by MeCooking

One of the most delicious ways to prepare beef is to stew it with vegetables. Stewed meat shares its juices with vegetables which makes the dish not only nutritious but also very tasty. Stews are a bit time consuming to prepare, but it is totally worth it. Serve stews hot without side dish.

In this post I’ve prepared beef stew with potato, bean, carrots and tomatoes. Read step-by-step instructions how to prepare Beef Stew with Vegetables with pictures.