Ari's Beef Brisket

We recently had an international food day at work, and this recipe was one of my favorites. Ari brought in a traditional recipe that has been in his family for a long time. This Beef Brisket is very easy to make, and results in a delicous, tender beef with a nicely sweet gravy. I just made this today for dinner and it turned out great!

Shopping List (Serves 4 to 6)

3 to 3 1/2 lb. fresh beef brisket (This is not corned beef. Simply ask for Beef Brisket at the butcher shop)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 envelope regular onion soup mix

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3/4 cup ketchup

1 disposable roasting pan

Instructions:

Use disposable roasting pan that fits brisket with some space, and place brisket in pan. Sprinkle / Rub sugar,soup mix, garlic powder over meat. Drizzle ketchup over all. Add water to bottom, enough to come up to the meat, and if it comes up over the meat a little, its okay. Wrap over with foil sealing securely, leave some air space.

Bake in 325 over for 3.5 hrs. I put mine of the oven bottom shelf. Take a look at the brisket and see if its cooked enough, it may need another 15 - 30 minutes depending on strength of your oven. The way to tell is how evenly the meat is throughout so you may need to cut it to see.

Take meat and place on cutting surface. Let cool. Trim fat from bottom and then slice thin across grain to get it into serving portions.

Save sauce and after you have sliced it, put sauce over meat in a serving dish.

Hint: After a day of refrigeration, when it was warming up, I added some more water (sprinkling it over the meat) and a little more ketchup and then mixed it all in, rotating the pieces of sliced meat from bottom to top to ensure even simmering. I let it simmer again like a soup... and that made it even more tender and juicy.

You can get bottle of horseradish to serve with it if you want.

You can't really overcook brisket if enough water is involved.

I served the brisket with sliced potatoes and onions sauteed in the frying pan, along with some cinammon streusel muffins. It was a nice combination. And for the kids, naturally we had some macaroni and cheese!

Darn good Lobster Bisque

I've always wanted to make a good Lobster Bisque. But until yesterday, I had never tried. I lucked onto a good starting point for the recipe from www.allrecipes.com. The recipe below is a combination of the original from "all recipes", some tweaks suggested by one of their readers, and a few tweaks of my own. We had 6 of our neighbors over last night and those that tried it, loved it. I got lucky on my first try with this one!

INGREDIENTS (8 servings)

2 cups chicken broth
1 chopped medium onion
6 chopped green onions
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
4 lobsters (1 lb), boiled, picked into small chunks
3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more to taste)

DIRECTIONS

In a small frying pan place 1/4 cup chicken stock and the chopped onions (season with some salt and pepper). Cook over a medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes.

In a medium size pot over medium heat melt the butter. Slowly whisk in flour. Whisk until a creamy mixture is created.

Gradually pour in stock, whisking constantly. Whisk in cream, salt, onions, lobster meat, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne pepper.

Heat until soup is almost boiling. Do not boil the soup as the milk will curdle when boiled. Then, on low heat, simmer for at least 1 hr, more if you have time.

Jay's Chocolate Chip Cookies (The Best)

These are definitely an awesome Chocolate Chip Cookie and now represent the best CCC I have found. Thanks to Jay for experimenting with recipes and coming up with this one!

2 cups flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 stick of margarine
2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350

Let the butter and margarine sit on the counter for an hour or two (if frozen) It should be soft (a quick microwave zap to soften works also).

Put softened butter, both sugars, and vanilla into a bowl and mix until smooth and creamy

Crack the eggs into a small bowl and break up with a fork

Mix eggs into the sugar/butter mixture one at a time

Mix salt, flour and baking soda in a bowl. add the flour mixture to the sugar/butter mixture a third at a time

Add chocolate chips

Scoop them onto the cookie trays and cook for 9-13 minutes (or until they are the color you like, they should just about flatten out before removing from oven)

Makes a thin, chewy cookie. very tasty!