This post is a roundup of inspiration to utilize more than just expensive cuts of beef. The Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence and Organic Alberta have the perfect workshop to get you thinking outside the burger box. The “beef connoisseurs” workshop will be Saturday, September 26, 2015. Attendees will learn lots of tips and recipes and have a chance to ask true experts for advice.
Since not all of us can make it to the workshop, this post shares some inspiring recipes from a couple of my favourite cooks – Ede Rogrigues of Gaucho Brazilian Barbecue and Noorbanu Nimji of A Spicy Touch cookbooks. While Canadian cooks are still learning about using more affordable cuts of meat, industry chefs and other cultures have made it their practice to be frugal.
I met chef Ede Rodgrigues several years ago when he catered a friend’s 50th birthday party. Ede sets up a complete Churrascaria (charcoal grill) and cooks over open fire when he caters. The results are succulent.
Ede was born in Liberato Salzano Brazil and learned to cook in Porto Alegre in the 1980s. He and his brother set up Brazilian barbecue restaurants in both Japan and China before he moved to Canada. Meeting his wife, Rosina when she spent a few years as a teacher in China, was the impetus for Ede’s move to Calgary but he says that Alberta’s cowboy culture and high quality beef made the Brazilian Gaucho (cowboy) cooking that is his specialty a good fit between Alberta’s culture and his own.
Ede explained that the Brazilian barbecue style of cooking is based on that country’s aboriginal people who threaded the meat they killed on stakes before cooking it on open fire. The Gauchos copied this technique and eventually it became a tradition for Brazilian families to gather and spend their Sundays cooking a variety of meats in this way – along with their daily black beans and rice. As families got busier restaurants popped up to mimic these feasts and a craze was born. Chefs like Ede and his brother took the Churrascaria concept global. Now Ede is sharing some of his most favourite recipes locally.
I hope you’ll give them a try and if you want a really special treat join Gaucho as they celebrate 10 years in business with a City Palate magazine collaborative dinner on November 9th.
Tickets and details can be found <a href="http://THE CHEF & THE FARMER Gaucho Brazilian Barbecue and Tinhorn Creek Wines
Start the evening with a Caipirinha (world's most refreshing alcoholic lime beverage) and enjoy churrasca with treats from Tinhorn Creek winery, Spolumbo's, Certified Angus Beef and White Gold Cheese.
Have fun with these recipes. I hope they help you savour it all.
Garlic Beef from chef Ede Rodrigues of Gaucho Brazilian Barbecue
Time: 1.5 – 2 hours
Yield: 6 – 8 servings
2 – 2.5 lb sirloin or rump roast
Tip: Bring the meat to room temperature before cooking and it will cook more evenly.
Sauce
2 Tablespoons canola oil (I used organic for taste)
2 Tablespoons white wine
¼ cup minced garlic
Tip: the recipe also works well using roasted garlic instead of freshly minced.
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 Tablespoon of chopped green onion
Heat your grill to medium-high.
Place the meat on the rotisserie attachment or in a roasting pan.
Place the marinade ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a fine paste.
Brush the sauce on the meat generously and begin roasting, continue to apply the sauce throughout the grilling process.
Use a meat thermometer to check for desired temperature.
Give the meat one last application of the sauce, as it gets close to finish.
Remove the meat from the rotisserie to a rack, tent with foil and let the meat rest 5 – 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Parmesan Beef from chef Ede Rodrigues of Gaucho Brazilian Barbecue
Time: 30 minutes plus 24 hours of marinating time
Yield: 10 servings
3.5 lbs top sirloin cut in 2-inch cubes
Marinade
¼ cup canola (I used organic for colour and flavour)
1 Tablespoon of minced garlic
1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon of chopped green onion
Parmesan cheese for grating
Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor and pulse to form a smooth paste.
Pour over the beef cubes and mix thoroughly before placing them in the fridge to marinate for at least 24 hours.
Soak some bamboo skewers in water for several hours so that they won’t burn on the grill and skewer several beef cubes on each.
Cook on a medium-high grill to desired temperature, roll them in a bed of grated Parmesan and return to the grill to melt the cheese and form a coating on the beef.
Enjoy with salad, rice and beans.
Barbecued Crosscut Beef Short Ribs with Chilli Lime Sauce
Time: 30 minutes plus at least 8 hours of marinating time
Yield: 4 servings
This recipe comes from A Spicy Touch: family favourites from Noorbanu Nimji’s Kitchen by Noorbanu Nimji and Karen Anderson. It’s the specialty of Noorbanu’s grandson Imran Mangalji. The ribs are quick and easy to make, addictive delicious and sure to be a legendary party pleaser. The crosscut rib might be unfamiliar to you. It is popular in Korean restaurants that feature L.A. Golbi ribs. Ask your butcher to cut the long thin strips of beef short ribs for you.
4 lbs beef short ribs – long thin strips of crosscut ribs
¼ cup Garlic Paste
¼ cup Ginger Paste
3 Tablespoons olive oil
Place the ribs in a large bowl and coat them with the garlic and ginger pastes and oil.
Marinate overnight (or at least 8 hours) in the refrigerator in a covered container.
Place the ribs on a hot preheated grill and cook about 4 to 5 minutes per side or according to your preference.
Remove the ribs to a platter and use kitchen shears or a sharp knife to cut them into serving size portions. Tip: cut between the bones.
Enjoy as an appetizer with the Chilli Lime Sauce that follows or as a meal with your choice of salad, chutneys, potatoes and vegetables.
Chilli Lime Sauce
Time: 5 minutes
Yield: ¾ cup
½ cup butter
¼ cup lime juice
3 teaspoons Indian chilli powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Melt the butter and stir in the lime juice, chilli powder, salt and pepper.
Serve as a dipping sauce for the ribs or if pour over the whole batch if all your guests can take some heat.
Enjoy the ribs with the chilli lime sauce and a side of cooling Cucumber Raita.
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