Moroccan Beef Brisket

So it finally happened.  We all got sick.

It was only a matter of time.  Cross country move, new baby, no sleep... good food or no good food... we were eventually going to get run down and sick.

You know how your house totally falls apart when both parents are sick?  Laundry piles up, dishes pile up, the kitchen and bathroom don't get cleaned, beds don't get made, everyone wears their pajamas all day long... at least when I load the crockpot full of a nutritious dinner in the morning, I can walk through the chaos and mess all day and know that at least we're going to have a good dinner.

And a good dinner it was!  I found this recipe on the Food Network site the other day, and it was a easily modification to make it paleo friendly.  It's a totally different recipe than most of my other ones up on this blog.  It's sweet and subtle and yummy and warm and complex all at once.  The dried apricots really complement the earthy flavors of the parsnips.  It's really tasty.  (And I never mind having to crack open a bottle of wine for a recipe; it means that it *has* to get drunk that night as well.)

The Tools:

-6 qt. crockpot (don't use any smaller - this filled my oval crock pretty full)

-2 lbs boneless beef brisket
-1 red onion, sliced into think wedges
-2 parsnips, chopped into thin(ish) slices
-1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground if you have it
-1 tsp sea salt
-2 t ground coriander
-2 t ground cumin
-1/2 t ground cinnamon
-1/4 t ground nutmeg
-2 large cloves garlic, crushed
-1 cup dried apricots (I used a 6 oz package, and it was about perfect)
-1 cup dry red wine
-1/2 cup beef broth
-2 T honey

optional garnish: cilantro

The Process:

Arrange parsnips and onions on the bottom of the slow cooker.

Take black pepper, sea salt, corinader, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg and garlic and combine into a pastey/dry rub mixture in a bowl.  Rub mixture into the beef brisket.  Place beef brisket on top of the parnsips/onions in the crockpot.

Combine red wine, beef broth and honey in a bowl.  Whisk together.  Pour over brisket in the crockpot.

Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or HIGH or 3-4.  (I definitely would go with LOW if you can; brisket can get a bit dry if cooked too quickly.)  Serve with juices from the crock ladled over the top.  The original recipe called for couscous; you could serve this with whipped parnsips or riced cauliflower if you like. We just ate it plain; it was delicious!

Enjoy!

Share this post