Ground beef recipes ... something different

Dumplings, perogies and meat crepes are some of the very few ways I eat meat, so that's all I have to recommend other than the usual.

Cook some ground beef and add it to steamed or roasted cauliflower, whatever spices you like (just salt and pepper is fine to me) and a sprinkle of cheese if that's your thing. I'm not doing low carb, but if you happen to be, someone once mentioned thst the dish is like a low carb hamburger helper.

I swear by these meatballs.

https://cookbookhoarder.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/swedish-meatballs.pdf

It is a bulk recipe so you can make a whole bunch at once and save yourself loads of time.

Lettuce wraps (I do this with beef instead of chicken: http://damndelicious.net/2014/05/30/pf-changs-chicken-lettuce-wraps/

subcounter wrote: »

Pastel De Papa, they're so good.

I had never heard of this... after Googling now I MUST make it. Immediately.

Alatariel75 wrote: »

My Dad's signature dish growing up was "*kitten* on a Shingle" - basically browned ground beef, a bag of frozen mixed veg (the cheap one where everything is in cubes), once cooked, mix through enough water and instant gravy to make it the consistency of pie filling and eat it on toast or crackers. It's still one of my go-to no-time dinners, or comfort foods.

Hmmm...must be a regional thing. In my SoCal family, "SoaS" was what we called chipped beef.

Bobotie. Or moussaka.

individual meat patties ... a.k.a. salisbury steak but gravy is optional. We make it by adding a couple of slices of bread (per lb of meat) that have soaked in some water, and a minced onion, salt and pepper to taste. Mix together like for meatloaf, then fashion little torpedo shaped patties and either fry or bake em. Serve with pickles or fermented vegetables.

Mince and doughballs:

Brown a pound of the beef, remove from the pan and add a diced onion and a diced carrot. Cook til the onion is soft. Add two or three tablespoons of flour, stir in and add the beef and a bit of beef stock (from cubes is fine, or whatever you want). Bring to the boil and simmer a bit until the beef is cooked and you're sure it's going to be the right consistency (add more stock if needed). Season to taste and put in a deep oven dish. Make sure the oven is heated (moderate, 180C/350F) and put the dish in - it needs to be hot for the next step.

Make up doughballs by rubbing 1-2oz fat (eg butter - dripping or grated suet are best if you have it) into 8oz self raising flour. Add a pinch of salt, herbs if you want them, and enough milk to mix to a soft dough, similar to scones/biscuits.

Pull off lumps of the dough and drop them into the hot mince. Don't shape or roll them, they should be irregular, like fluffy clouds. Cover with a lid or foil - make sure they have room to rise, they will about double - and bake for about 20 min until the doughballs are cooked through. If you want you can then bake them uncovered for 5 min to brown a little, but don't dry them out or make them hard.

This is not exactly low calorie but is rib-sticking and satisfying, traditional Scottish fare. Doughballs are what the English would call dumplings, but doughballs should be irregular and super-fluffy, where English dumplings are generally rolled into balls. I have reduced the fat in the doughballs - the traditional recipe is 4oz fat to 8oz flour, but I find that can make them heavy.

I didn't mention the seemingly ubiquitous fat-draining step you see in ground beef recipes as I have never needed to do that, and if your beef is good quality and grass fed, neither will you.

Enjoy your half a cow! Sounds amazing.