Beef with Mushrooms

Hi, all! I wish everyone were having a good day but I heard there's a typhoon over in the Philippines where a lot of my family and friends are, so I hope everyone is safe and dry and warm.

Anyway, I posted my lunch yesterday on Facebook and I've received a couple of requests for the recipe. It's quite simple, really and very easy to make.

I love mushrooms so I put Beef with Mushrooms on my menu list and finally got to do it. Here's how:

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo beef, cut into 1/2 inch cubes                                                                                

                    * I used beef stew cuts. If you want your beef tender, I think you should boil                                             beforehand. This is what I'm gonna do next time.)

• flour for dredging 
• 2 beef cubes in 3 cups water for the beef broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 cups of mushroom, sliced                                                                                                       

                    * I used Brown Mushrooms (it said on the packaging) for this recipe.

• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in skillet ready for frying.
2. Dredge beef in flour and fry until brown.
3. Once fried, lower the heat and pour in all ingredients except mushrooms : onion, parsley, celery and beef broth.
4. Let boil and simmer till your beef is tender (about 30 - 45 minutes).
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Put in the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes more.
7. Serve and enjoy!

I couldn't help but enjoy a cup of rice topped with my beef and mushrooms! That was lunch. I had it again for dinner but this time I had bread with it instead. Still, yummy!

Sharing what I learned in the process of preparing this dish,  about differentiating Parsley and Cilantro. I opened the fridge and found 2 almost identical bunches of green leaves which threw me off a little so I did some research and asked how the "pros" could tell them apart.

Some of my friends use the smell as clue to which is which.

Cilantro smells like " tacos, enchilada, guacamole, salsa, latin america, etc." , says Jen. While Koc says "Cilantro smells and tastes very strong...Parsley on the other hand has little to no smell".

Cristie, a former restaurant owner, says they often used parsley to garnish plates. And parsley smelled minty so it can freshen the breath.

And because I'm no pro and my sense of smell is often (too often!) unreliable, how did I tell them apart, eventually?

I read the tag! Smart move, huh!

I wish to someday become an expert, like Jen, Koc and Cristie. Thank you, ladies for your input! :-)

Until the next post. Ciao!

Ting