Pasta with Shredded Grass-Fed Brisket Recipe (slow cooker version, too!)

pasta with shredded grass-fed beef brisket | pamela salzman

Just because I don’t eat meat, doesn’t mean my family doesn’t love it and ask for it.  So I will make it on occasion, but my rule is that it has to be grass-fed.  Read my other brisket post about why.  I make beef more in the winter than in the summer because it has a very warming thermal nature, and becomes even more warming when cooked with onions, which means it can actually raise the thermostat in your body and heat you up a little.  Perfect these chilly nights, and I know so many of you have been suffering through the worst winter ever!  It’s almost over! (I hope!)

pat meat dry, season and sear

chop veggies

I’ve been making a version of this recipe for about 15 years, and my grandmother made something similar which everyone loved.  Of course grandmothers never write recipes down because they don’t measure anything (a pinch of this, a sprinkle of that.)  Thank goodness for google which helped me come up with a great roadmap for one of my family’s favorites.  In fact, my older daughter has requested this dish many times for her birthday in past years!

dry red wine and organic diced tomatoes in a glass jar

brisket and sauce before and after

This is different from the brisket I learned how to make for Jewish holidays.  That brisket is braised in an oniony sauce as well, but it’s sliced whereas this one is shredded and the sauce is more tomato-veggie, much more Italian.  We used to eat this over wide pasta, like pappardelle or fettuccine or egg noodles.  But spaghetti and even orecchiette are great.  Since I don’t make as much pasta as I used to, we have been enjoying this more over cauliflower mashed potatoes or polenta.  For those of you who are hooked on spaghetti squash, I think this would be great on it!

cut and shred

Brisket is one of those very tough cuts of meat that can only be made meltingly tender by cooking it low and slow for a long period of time with lots of moisture.  Don’t try and grill, sear or stir-fry brisket.  You’ll end up with the toughest, chewiest meat ever.  Yuck!  You can also use chuck roast in this recipe since that cut also needs a long, low and slow preparation.  Since it takes three hours minimum to cook, you’ll need to get this going early in the day or do it in a slow cooker, or make it the day before and reheat it.  All methods will result in a super soft, very flavorful brisket and sauce.  Although I personally think the flavor is a little better the next day.  And, this will freeze beautifully!  I think this sounds like a good weekend project for those of us who will be stuck inside from monsoon rains (not complaining, just saying) or the bitter cold.  Hoping this can help you find a way to stay cozy this weekend!

pasta with shredded grass-fed beef brisket | pamela salzman

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Pasta with Shredded Grass-Fed Brisket
Author: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 2 ½-3 pound piece of brisket, preferably grass-fed
  • sea salt or kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 3 Tablespoons unrefined olive oil, divided
  • 2 large onions, chopped
  • 2 medium carrots, chopped
  • 2 medium stalks of celery, chopped
  • 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1 cup dry red wine
  • 2 cups rich chicken stock or beef broth (use whichever you have that’s homemade)
  • 1 14- to 15-ounce can diced tomatoes or 18-ounce glass jar
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 pound pasta, cooked and drained
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pat brisket dry and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a large oven-proof pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Sear the meat on both sides until nicely browned, about 12 minutes total.
  2. Transfer meat to a platter. Add 2 Tablespoons oil to the pot and then add the chopped vegetables and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sauté over medium heat until tender and golden.
  3. Stir in the wine, stock, tomatoes and bay leaves and deglaze the bottom of the pan by scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil and place brisket back in the pot. Cover and transfer pot to the oven. Braise the meat for 3-4 hours or until tender enough to shred with a fork.
  4. Remove from the oven and transfer meat to a cutting board. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Remove excess fat from the meat, cut into 2-inch chunks, and shred with two forks.
  5. If you would like a smoother sauce, pureé the vegetable mixture either directly in the pot with an immersion blender or in a food processor or blender. Otherwise you can leave it chunky. This can be done a day before and reheated in the same Dutch oven over medium heat on the stove.
  6. Add the shredded meat back into the sauce and stir together. Serve over cooked pasta or polenta, millet-cauliflower mash, mashed potatoes or cauliflower-mashed potatoes.
Notes
Use less liquid if you want less of a sauce.

SLOW COOKER VERSION
-Sear meat on both sides in a skillet or Dutch oven.  Transfer to slow cooker.
-Saute vegetables until tender.  Season with salt.
-Deglaze pan with ⅔ cup wine, 1 ½ cups stock and same amount of tomatoes as stove-top recipe, making sure to scrape all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot.  Transfer contents plus bay leaves to slow cooker.
-Cover and cook on LOW for 7-9 hours or HIGH 4-5 hours.  Proceed with remaining steps 4-6 above.

 

Onion-braised grass-fed beef brisket recipe

 

grass-fed braised beef brisket|pamela salzman

Let me come right out and say that I don’t like to promote the consumption of too much beef for several reasons.  In our house we eat beef about three times per month, and when I make it I plan for about 3-4 ounces per person.   Furthermore, I only purchase GRASS-FED beef.  Call me old-fashioned, but I am a firm believer that if you are going to eat animal protein, then it should be an animal that was raised in a natural environment with a diet that is also native to that species.  With respect to cows, that means cows that graze in pastures eating GRASS.  There is plenty of research supporting the notion that grass-fed beef – compared to its confined feedlot counterpart – is lower in fat and contains cancer preventive, fat-burning properties.  Grass-fed beef also contains higher amounts of Omega-3 fats and is generally raised without the use of antibiotics and hormones.  It is almost like making a choice between eating a fit and happy animal which has eaten a health food diet, and eating a stressed out, overweight animal which was fed fast food its whole life.  If you need more convincing, please read Michael Pollan’s fantastic book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

There’s also the heavy environmental impact of raising cattle, which is less severe with grass-fed beef, but still a discouraging consideration.  That said …

Beef is a very warming food, more appropriate for the colder months, and it becomes even more warming when cooked with onions.  Brisket is a very tough cut that needs long, slow braising to help tenderize it.  If you like your brisket so soft that you don’t need a knife to cut it, this recipe will not disappoint.  The meat shreds easily and melts in your mouth.  Best of all, the house will be filled with a wonderful, warm aroma.  But do plan ahead since cooking this the day before helps to develop the mélange of flavors.  Really, the only way you can screw this up is by letting it dry out.  Lastly, be aware that brisket shrinks tremendously once it has cooked.  A 6-pound brisket fed a class of 12 women with enough for two of my kiddies to enjoy it as an after-school snack.


4.3 from 3 reviews
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onion-braised grass-fed beef brisket recipe
Author: 
Serves: 8-12
 
Ingredients
  • 1 5-to-6-pound grass-fed beef brisket, preferably first cut
  • 3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt plus more for seasoning
  • ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more for seasoning
  • 3 large yellow onions, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces (about 5 cups or 3 pounds)
  • 2-3 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 3 medium tomatoes, if in season, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped (optional)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup red wine (or use all water)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. In a dutch oven or other heavy baking pan large enough to hold brisket, heat 1 tablespoon oil in oven 10 minutes. Pat brisket dry and season well with salt (I used about 4 teaspoons) and pepper on the top and bottom. Roast brisket in pan, uncovered, 30 minutes.
  3. While brisket is roasting, in a large heavy skillet cook onions in remaining 2 tablespoons oil over moderately high heat, stirring, until softened and beginning to turn golden. Reduce heat to moderate and cook onions, stirring occasionally and reducing heat if necessary, until deep golden, about 20 minutes more. Stir in garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper and cook 1 minute. Stir in water and wine and bring to a boil. Spoon onion mixture and chopped tomatoes over brisket and bake, tightly covered, 3 ½ hours, or until brisket is tender. (Check pan every hour and if necessary, add more water.) Remove brisket from oven and let cool in onion mixture 1 hour.
  4. Remove brisket from pan, scraping onion mixture back into pan, and chill, wrapped in foil, overnight. Spoon onion mixture into a 1-quart measure and chill, covered, overnight.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Discard fat from onion mixture and transfer to a blender. Add enough water to the blender to measure 3 cups total. Blend until smooth.
  6. Slice the brisket against the grain as thick or thin as you prefer. In a large ovenproof skillet heat gravy until hot, add brisket and heat in oven 30 minutes. Or you can continue to heat on the stove, covered until heated through.