Carne con Chile
Guess what? I have a beef recipe today. If you haven’t noticed, it’s rare in this house (pun intended). I picked up some cheap thin cut chuck over the weekend and decided to cook one of my favorite childhood meals - carne con chile. It translates to "meat with chili". Not cornbread chili though. Think salsa. We’re cooking thin slices of beef in red salsa.
There are multiple ways to make carne con chile. This is my Mama’s quick version. She used to make this for my Dad and serve us kids the pan fried beef before adding the salsa. If you have picky eaters or little ones, I suggest doing the same. Oh, and if you want to make extra salsa for huevos rancheros, I’d do that too. Two meals out of one is so my thing.
The ingredients are basic ingredients that you can find at any grocery store.
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 lbs steak of choice cut into strips (I used thin-cut chuck steak)
2 garlic cloves
4 tomatoes
6-8 jalapeños or serranos (adjust to your spice level - half of each works too)
½ medium onion
Salt & Pepper to taste (or season salt)
PREP
Salsa
Place serranos, tomatoes, garlic and onion in a saucepan with water. Bring to a boil and cook until they are tender. My tomatoes usually burst to let me know they’re done (my bad). Turn off heat and cool before transferring to the blender. Prep the steak while you wait.
Beef
Heat olive oil in a large saute pan. Place slices of steak in the pan, lightly season with salt and pepper, sear steak until there’s no pink visible.
Go back to the salsa veggies. Pour all contents into the blender with a cup of water (the same water they boiled in) and 1 spoonful of Knorr. By spoonful I mean the small spoon from the silverware set. One of those equals a spoonful to me. Blend for salsa consistency.
Add the salsa to the steak in the pan. Add another cup of water and 1 more spoonful of Knorr. Reduce heat and low simmer for 30-45 minutes. This is to marinate the flavors and tenderize the steak. The more the merrier in my opinion but aim for a 30 minute low simmer.
SERVE:
Serve with beans, rice or both! I usually choose beans since I need all the fiber I can get.
Warm tortillas work too! We like to roll them up and dip into the salsa.
You can find my 30 minute bean and rice recipes linked below. Enjoy and remember you can modify to your liking.
Side Ideas:
Xx Dee
SHOP DINNERWARE
