ASADO NEGRO Copyright 2016 The Mobile Home Gourmet, MobileHomeGourmet.com, all rights reserved.

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1 ASADO NEGRO Serves 8. By Dennis W. Viau; modified from Internet recipes. This Venezuelan dish uses an economical cut of beef, which is cooked a long time to help it tenderize. The title literally means roast black. The beef is browned, then roasted in a dark mixture of dark liquids. This is not an easy recipe, but more a special dinner you might make for holidays or other occasions. Ingredients: 3- to 4-pound (1.4 to 1.8kg) beef eye of round roast Salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 to 4 tablespoons oil for frying (corn oil, canola oil, safflower, etc.) 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 cup dry red wine 1 cup Marsala wine (dry or sweet) 2 tablespoons butter 4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 large red onion, peeled and thinly sliced 2 celery stalks, chopped 2 leeks, white and green parts only, well washed and chopped 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped 1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce Optional: 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 cup beef stock 2 to 3 bay leaves Rice, cooked according to package directions Optional: 1 each red, yellow, and green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and sliced, then pan roasted or grilled until tender. Season with salt and pepper before serving. Directions: Start heating the oven to 350 F (175 C). Trim the beef of large pieces of fat. Heat the oil in a large, deep pot, such as a Dutch oven, over medium-high heat. Brown the beef on all sides, then transfer to a platter. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Set aside. Do not drain the pan. Add the sugars, red wine, and Marsala. Heat until the liquid boils. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until less than half the volume remains in the pan. Add the butter and garlic. Cook about 1 minute. Then add the chopped red onion, celery, leeks, and peppers. Cover the pan and cook 5 to 10 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce, (optional soy sauce), beef stock, and bay leaves. Push some vegetables aside in the pan to make room for the beef. Return the roast to the pot, pushing it down into the vegetables, and cover the pan. Bake 2 to 3 hours until very tender, turning the beef over every 30 minutes to cook evenly in the liquid. Transfer the beef to a platter and tent with foil. Strain the liquid, discarding the solids. If necessary, return the liquid to the pot and simmer over medium-low heat to reduce until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste

2 2 Place the roast on a serving platter. Slice part of the roast, then drape the meat with some of the reduced sauce. The remaining sauce can be placed in a gravy boat and set on the table for extra garnish. Serve with rice and additional fried peppers, if desired. 1 STEP-BY-STEP Larger pieces of fat can be trimmed from beef before browning. 2 Heat the oil in a large pot, such as an enameled dutch oven, and brown the roast on all sides.

3 3 3 Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, wine and Marsala to the pot. Bring to a boil, scraping the bottom to release the fond, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the liquid is reduced by more than half. 4 While the liquid is reducing, chop the vegetables. An easy way to separate the flesh of bell peppers from the seeds and membranes (something I learned from a Gordan Ramsay video) is to place the pepper on a cutting board, stem side down, and cut downward close to the outside area. The seeds and membranes will remain attached to the stem section, easy to dispose.

4 5 4 I planned to grill extra peppers separately, so I reserved a quarter of the onion before chopping the remaining three quarters. 6 Rinse and chop the celery. I didn t fuss over the chopping because I knew I would be discarding these vegetables after they were used to flavor the liquid in the pot.

5 7 5 Leeks are notorious for harboring mud inside. Cut each leek lengthwise, then peel back the layers to check for mud in between. Rinse well. 8 Again, I reserved part of one leek to grill later with bell peppers and red onion. The remaining leeks were chopped coarsely for the pot.

6 9 6 Lightly season the beef with salt and pepper. It will be cooked in a closed pot, so any salt will season the liquid, to be concentrated and used for garnish later. Therefore, don t salt too much. 10 After the liquid has reduced, add the butter and garlic. Cook about 1 minute.

7 11 7 Add all the vegetables. If the pot looks too full, cover and steam for 5 to 10 minutes. The vegetables will cook down, making room in the pot. 12 Add the Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, (and optional soy sauce), then nestle the beef in the vegetables, pushing some vegetables aside so that the beef sets down in the liquid. Cover and bake 2 to 3 hours, turning the roast over every 30 minutes.

8 13 8 Here is my Asado Negro, looking quite dark from cooking in the liquid. Transfer the beef to a platter and tent with foil. Some recipes said to serve the beef with these vegetables. However, after cooking 2 to 3 hours in the pot, they didn t look appetizing. I wanted a fresher vegetable flavor for the side dish, so I grilled some sliced peppers along with part of the red onion and leek I set aside earlier. 14 I placed a colander over a large bowl and strained the liquid that was in the bottom of the pot, and then I discarded the solids. For comparison, you can see the difference between the overcooked vegetables and the grilled fresh vegetables on the left.

9 15 9 Slice the beef, either some of it or all of it, and transfer to a clean serving platter. Garnish with the liquid reserved from the bottom of the cooking pot. The liquid can be reduced on the stove if necessary to thicken it. The remaining liquid can be placed in a serving dish and set on the table for additional garnish. 16 Finally, I arranged the grilled fresh vegetables around the beef before bringing the platter to the table.

10 17 10 According to some recipes, cooked rice is traditional with Asado Negro. When I make rice for this kind of meal, I like to add some frozen peas during the last few minutes of cooking time. 18 Conclusion This was not a simple meal, something you could whip together when you come home from work at the end of the day. However, for a special occasion or holiday, this would be an ideal dinner.