Brisket Birthday Dinner

Yesterday was my husbands birthday so the dinner menu was centered around him, which means one thing, BEEF. While reading my Cooking Light magazine this past month I came across a page showing beef brisket sandwiches that looked amazing. After returning to the page to find the recipe I saw that it was an add from Beef It's What's For Dinner. Wandering to their website for the first time I found a basic recipe that was perfect to work off of to make the sandwiches (recipe below). I chose to make them in a crock pot instead of the oven since we were out golfing while they cooked.

On the side we had Grilled Corn with Roasted Jalapeno Butter (Source: Cooking Light June 2011). Roasting the jalapeno reduced the spicy kick and the honey and lime zest gave it a great sweet balance (sounds weird but tasted great). 

Lastly, we balanced our plate with a salad made with lettuce and spring mix from my crop share, red peppers, tomatoes, feta cheese and an avocado. Topped with my coworkers favorite vinaigrette (if she's okay with me sharing it I'll post it tomorrow). 

Even though corn is a starchy vegetable I think we did a good job trying to live up to the MyPlate food guide!

It was delicious and enjoyed by all but it didn't stop there, per Ryan's request we had chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake from DQ! I rarely feel like a meal was the perfect amount of food and all worth remaking but this one nailed it. Not too much food a great combination. 

Beer Braised Beef Brisket Sandwiches (Inspired and Adapted from a Beef It's What's For Dinner recipe)

-4 pounds of beef brisket - fat trimmed off

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-salt & pepper

-1 (12 ounce) bottle of beer

-1 (12 ounce) bottle of chili sauce

-Olive Oil

-2 onions (chopped into 12 pieces each)

-Buns

Directions: 

Rub minced garlic onto beef. Heat oil in a pan and place the beef in the pan and brown it on each side (1-3 minutes per side). Remove beef from heat and season with salt and pepper

Turn crock pot to high and place the chopped onions on the bottom and the beef on top of them. Mix the bottle of beer and chili sauce and pour over the beef. Cover and let cook for 4-5 hours. Remove beef from crock pot and slice thinly against the grain. Place back in the crock pot on low until you are ready to eat. 

Serve with good buns and the sauce on top.