Yogimommy Makes Slow Braised Red Chile Beef

I found this recipe for Slow Braised Red Chile Beef after searching Google for a recipe to make red chile beef.  We had made red chile beef in the past without any recipe and we liked it, but we felt there was something missing from our sauce.  We had a beef brisket on hand that we had thawed with the intent of making red chile beef in the crock pot.  We had a very busy day ahead of us--so coming home to dinner being practically done sounded heavenly.

Overall, I made a few modifications to the recipe to incorporate what I had on hand but a lot of modifications to the directions because I wanted to do my red chile beef in the crock pot rather than the oven:

• 2 cans of low sodium chicken broth (I would have used beef broth but I had just bought a bunch of chicken broth on sale and did not have beef broth on hand.  I also cut the amount down a little because we all felt our previous version had too much liquid in it.)
• 6 dried New Mexico chiles stemmed and seeded (I only had 6 on hand after the last time I made red chile--if I had had more on hand, I would have put more in the sauce.  And I choose New Mexico chiles because that is what I found--I do not know the difference between New Mexico chiles and California chiles and would use whichever I found.)
• 1 large sweet onion, cut into chunks and divided (I put half of the onion into the sauce and half with the meat to cook in the sauce.)
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1-2 Poblano peppers diced
• 1 Tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano (I used whole dried oregano from the Mexican spices section of my local grocery store)
• About a 3 pound beef brisket trimmed very well.
• Kosher salt
• Pepper

Steps:

1. Bring the chicken broth to a boil.  Add half the onion, the garlic cloves, and the chiles to the hot liquid then take it off the heat.  Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until the chiles are soft and pliable.  
2. Move the mixture to a blender.  Add the dried oregano.  Blend until well mixed.  (I had to do this in stages because I was using my Magic Bullet.)
3. Season the brisket with the salt, pepper, and cumin.  Put the brisket in the crock pot.  Add the remaining onion and the poblanos to the crock pot.  Cover with the sauce.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  It is done when the meat shreds easily (for us this happened at about 6.5 to 7 hours).  
5. At the end, we decided to add potatoes to the mix to soak up some of the sauce.  We added more salt and pepper at that time.  We also put the meat back in to continue absorbing the sauce now that it was shredded. 
6. We served our red chile beef with whole wheat tortillas, light sour cream, and grated cheese.  I had meant to add avocado to mine, but totally forgot when I was putting my dinner together.  

Overall, my family loved this dish.  I do not know what made the big difference from our previous attempt (using less liquid, allowing the onions and garlic to soften in the broth and blend with the sauce, the oregano, the cumin, the brisket--we used chuck roast last time), but this one was so much better.  Even cutting the liquid down as we did, we ended up with a lot of liquid in the end which is why we added the potatoes.  Next time though we may blend some corn starch in when we make the sauce and see if that will leave us with less liquid or a thicker sauce.

This one is definitely a keeper for our family.  It was so easy.  It capitalized on the flavors we love.  And we had so much left that we have plans to make enchilada casseroles or tacos or maybe both for later meals.  I love meals that can be used to make meals later in the week.