As with most of my recipes, I started with some meat I wanted to use. I had a pack of carne picada beef (a sliced then shredded cut of chuck or some other braising beef) so I was looking for carne picada recipes. Then I stumbled upon something called Carne Guisada. It has potatoes! This is my version of Carne Guisada for the crock pot. Easy and great for a cold rainy evening.
Carne Guisada de Angela
1.25# picada beef (large shred)
EVOO
1 med white onion, frenched
4 cloves garlic, minced
10 small white potatoes, quartered
1 red or green pepper, diced
1/2 tsp ea S/P
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 small can green chiles
1 cup chicken broth (plus another half cup towards the end of cooking)
1/4 cup red wine or apple cider, wine or sherry vinegar
2 Tbl worcestershire sauce
optional: sour cream garnish
Dredge:
1/3 cup flour
1 Tbl chili powder
1 tsp ancho powder
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Preheat crock pot on High. Spray with cooking spray and put a little EVOO in the bottom. Add onions, garlic, pepper and potatoes and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and oregano.
Dredge the beef in mixture in chunks and put on top of veg. Add green chiles on top of beef.
Check every hour or so to see if you need more broth. This should make a juicy stew.
Cook on high for about 4 hours until the beef is tender. Check your seasoning, potatoes tend to suck up salt.
Add the wine or vinegar after the cooking is done to brighten up the flavour; same for the worcestershire sauce. This stew tends to taste flat after it’s been refrigerated, so be ready to add more vinegar and worcestershire when you reheat. This is a medium spicy stew. If you are heat sensitive, cut back on chili powder and red pepper flakes. Sour cream is a lovely garnish for this stew.