Slow Braised Guajillo Pepper Beef

So, I had set out to recreate this Slow-Braised Guajillo Pepper Beef from Agave Azul:

I didn’t quite make it.  But I figured, as long as it was tasty, it didn’t really matter.  What DOES matter is the cut of meat for this recipe.  The round roast I used wasn’t the best choice.  Chuck roast?  Short ribs?  YUP!  Round roast?  HELLTODANO!  It’s just not the right cut for this recipe.  OR, it needs to be larger and submerged in more sauce than I had.  One of the two.

And, like I growled previously, I had nice pictures taken of the chiles reconstituting, the hogoa cooking, the sauce blended, but…well…we won’t go there again.  What I DO have is this:

As you can see, it’s is much more red that the first picture.  I’m trying to remember what was in the sauce for it to be like that, but for the life of me just can’t seem to remember.  On the other hand, this dish was excellent and I will make it again regardless of it being a copycat failure.  LOL

I tried the arepas.  They didn’t turn out so well.   I think I’ll try the dough again, but in the oven?  The corn dough was popping like pop corn, so I didn’t even try to make those.  I had flour tortillas instead and they worked just as well.

I served it with guacamole.  S, “Nice pico!”  Me,” Um, that’s not pico, it’s guac.”  S,”I thought guac was all creamy and what not?”  Me,”Nope.  Only the Americanized version.  Authentic guac isn’t blended into a paste, to my knowledge anyway.  I’ve always had guac like this.”  S,”Oh.”

Cooking Directions

1. Cut tops off the peppers and remove the seeds. Immerse the peppers in the boiling water; making sure to weigh them down with a glass container to keep them submerged. Allow to soak for 35 minutes or longer.
2. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add oil and saute onions until soft; about 4 minutes. Add green onions and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and reduce heat; simmer for 30 minutes. Add beef stock and guajillo broth mixture to pan and allow to simmer an additional 20 minutes.
3. Chop the guajillo peppers and puree in a food process until smooth. Add the tomato and onion mixture and process again until smooth.
4. Heat a pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and sear roast on all sides. At this point, you can:
5. 1- Add the roast to a slow cooker, pour the pepper mixture over top, and cook on low for 8-10 hours; periodically basting the meat with the sauce.
6. Or:
7. 2 – Pour the sauce over the top of the roast in the Dutch oven and place in a 250F oven for 4 hours; periodically basting the meat with the sauce.
8. Continue to cook until the meat is easily shredded with forks. Serve with arepas or corn tortillas. 

I have left overs.  I think either nachos or some type of breakfast concotion similar to something I pinned this weekend.  *I* would like that but S doesn’t seem to be interested in breakfasts like that.  He’s set into no breakfast and a larger brunch or our typical scramble breakfast.  *shrugs*  Oh well!  On to the next adventure for AKH!

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