High Desert Table

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Slow Cooker Beef & Chile Stew

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The last few weeks I’ve been feeling the pace of life speed up. Between school, work, and shorter days, I knew it was time to pull out my crock pot and make a big pot of something warm that would feed us throughout the week. This Slow Cooker Beef & Chile Stew is a nourishing, hearty, and deeply flavorful recipe that brought a hefty dose of warmth and ease to our meal times lately.

Save some for a snow day

Whenever I make a big pot of something, I usually try to squirrel away a quart in the freezer to share or for a rainy day. I put two quarts in the freezer this time, and we ate the rest for multiple breakfasts and dinners. This stew is particularly good for breakfast with an egg on top and a warm tortilla on the side. If you don’t have a slow cooker, keep reading! You can easily make this in a Dutch oven by braising it at 300 F. for three-ish hours.

Choosing a cut of meat

You’ll notice the recipe calls for beef stew meat, which is easy to find in most grocery stores. In general, the best stew meat is cuts with collagen-rich connective tissues that slowly melt and tenderize in a low heat and slow cooking environment. Chuck, Round, Sirloin, and Brisket are perfect candidates for this type of stew-making, while more tender cuts are best enjoyed by searing, grilling, or roasting. Also, it’s important to remember that other meats like lamb, bison, elk, and pork can also be used interchangeably.

As with many recipes that turn out to be family favorites, I started with what I had. I had butternut squash, onion, a head of cauliflower, a tub of mild red chile and chopped green chile in the freezer, bacon, and an open bottle of red wine. I then picked up mushrooms, beef, and broth, heading home with everything I needed to put this one-pot meal together in the slow cooker.

Flexible veggies

As you look at the ingredients, remember that you can swap out other vegetables, if, for example, you don’t love mushrooms. Potato, pea, pearl onion, cabbage, parsnip, turnip, celery root, and carrot are just some of the vegetables that could be substituted for the ones used here. And if you want to add greens I would recommend adding them towards the end of the cooking process.

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Slow Cooker Beef & Chile Stew

Slow Cooker Beef and Chile Stew - in a bowl with spoon
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Indulge in the warmth and ease of this Slow Cooker Beef & Chile Stew, a hearty one-pot meal perfect for busy weeknights. Packed with nourishing ingredients, including beef stew meat and a medley of vegetables, this recipe delivers deep, flavorful satisfaction. Discover the joy of batch cooking as you freeze portions for later or savor it with an egg on top for a comforting breakfast. Learn how to customize the stew with various vegetables and explore the versatility of cuts like Chuck, Round, Sirloin, and Brisket.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 5 hours
  • Total Time: 6 hours
  • Yield: 5 quarts
  • Category: stew
  • Method: braise
  • Cuisine: New Mexican

Ingredients

Units
  • 3 slices, applewood smoked bacon, sliced
  • 2 1/2 lb. beef stew meat, trimmed of excess fat
  • 2 T. Masa Harina
  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 1 large red onion, diced
  • 8 oz. crimini mushrooms, quartered
  • 6 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  • 2 T. High Desert Herbs or Herbes de Provence
  • 1 c. red wine
  • 2 c. (1 pint) New Mexico red chile puree
  • 2 c. (1 pint) New Mexico chopped green chile
  • 1 medium head cauliflower, all tender stems and florets cut into 1” pieces
  • 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded & cut into 1” pieces
  • 6 c. chicken broth
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

The step with the bacon

In a large heavy-bottomed pot over low heat, slowly cook the bacon until the fat is rendered and the bacon crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and add it to the slow cooker crock.

Sear the meat

Turn the heat up to medium-high. Gently toss the trimmed beef with the masa harina, salt and pepper. Sear the meat on all sides until caramelized, working in batches if needed so as not to overcrowd the pan and meat in the slow cooker crock with the bacon.

Prep the rest

Add olive oil to the pot. Add the onion and mushrooms. Cook for around five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and dried herbs. Cook for a minute, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the red wine and let simmer for a few minutes, scraping any bits of goodness from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Carefully transfer this mixture to the slow cooker crock. Place the crock into the slow cooker base.

Cook it slow

Add the red chile puree, chopped green chile, cauliflower, butternut squash, and chicken broth. Let cook in the slow cooker for 5 hours.

Mouthwatering Marinated Chicken Tacos: Discover the Secret to Taco Night

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Taco night in our house happens pretty much every week. Sometimes it feels like a miracle dinner because it’s a night when an array of toppings on the table work for everyone. We have a stack of white ramekins on the shelf. Usually, I fill all of them with small things that fit into tacos with ease—shredded cheese, avocado, onion, cilantro, sour cream, cucumbers, and blueberries (the kid’s favorite). I love to heat a large skillet, add a bit of butter and make “smashed tacos”, searing our filled tacos on each side until the tortilla gets crisp and the cheese is melted and bubbling.

Sometimes a rotisserie chicken, beans, or avocado work perfectly as the main taco filling. But when I have time, marinated chicken breasts and/or thighs are one of our favorites. When I was thinking about this recipe, I went to the grocery store planning on getting a dozen chicken thighs to marinate. Chicken thighs are a fattier cut of chicken, and are juicy and full of flavor. But when I arrived, chicken breasts were on sale and so I thought, why not test this marinade on what tends to be the driest cut of chicken? Standing in the middle of the store, I decided to go for it and I’m so glad I did. You can use chicken breasts, thighs, beef skirts, or flank steak.

Now, I don’t want to perpetuate chicken breasts’ dry reputation, so it’s important to take note of a few details. In this recipe, I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts because they are easy to grill, slice, and fill tacos with. But this is certainly the driest avenue to go when it comes to choosing what chicken to use. Bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts retain more moisture and don’t dry out nearly as fast. This marinade will work with any cut of chicken you want to try it with and various cooking methods.

Trust the marinade

One small detail that often gets overlooked is trusting the marinade has done its job. After marinating and before cooking, it’s a good idea to dry off the chicken with clean paper towels. This prevents grill flare-ups and burned areas and encourages a nice, even sear.

Something’s fishy

You’ll notice that this recipe calls for fish sauce, which might have you scratching your head, but this Southeast Asian condiment adds a subtle, umami seasoning punch to the marinade in the best of ways. The recipe also calls for an overnight marinade, but a few hours will still impart significant flavor benefits if you’re short on time. Here, I marinate six chicken breasts which is more than enough for a family of four, but it leaves some for leftovers over the next couple of days.

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Marinated Chicken Taco Night

Marinated Chicken grilled and ready for Taco Night
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Elevate your taco night with this flavorful marinated chicken tacos recipe. Learn tips for grilling juicy chicken breasts and discover the secret ingredient, fish sauce, for an umami punch.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 12 hours
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 12.5 hours
  • Yield: 6-8 servings
  • Category: dinner
  • Method: marinate
  • Cuisine: Mexican

Ingredients

Units
  • 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 T. coriander seeds, lightly toasted
  • 2 limes, zested and juiced
  • 5 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 2 T. fish sauce
  • 2 T. honey
  • 1 c. cilantro leaves and stems, sliced though

Instructions

fresh ingredients ready for Chicken Taco Night
fresh ingredients ready for Chicken Taco Night

 

The chicken marinade

Place chicken breasts in a large bowl or container that is easy to cover. In a very dry blender place the lightly toasted coriander seeds and blend just until they are crushed but not completely pulverized. To the blender, add the lime zest and juice, garlic cloves, olive oil, fish sauce, honey, and cilantro. Blend this marinade until smooth and pour over the chicken, making sure to get the exterior of all the chicken breasts evenly coated. Cover the chicken, and place it on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator.

Let the chicken marinate for 3-12 hours.

Tip for safely storing marinating chicken

It’s super important to keep your hands and surfaces clean throughout the entire process when working with raw chicken. Placing raw chicken on the bottom shelf is important because if for any reason some raw chicken liquid spills or drips out, it eliminates the danger of it spilling on any food below it.

Grilling the chicken

Carefully pat the chicken breasts dry with clean paper towels and cook on a hot grill until the chicken is cooked to 165 F. Remove the chicken from the grill, cover, and let rest for ten minutes before slicing and serving.

Marinated Chicken on the grill
Marinated Chicken
on the grill

Nutrition

  • Calories: 3450

Red Chile Mezcal BBQ Pulled Pork

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For years my go-to way of preparing pulled pork revolved around the idea of submerging caramelized meat in the oven with broth and aromatics (like onion, garlic, cilantro stems, and a jalapeno) over low heat for many hours, sometimes even overnight in the crock pot. I have always loved braising because eventually all of the toughness disappears, not only creating strands of tender meat but just as much because of the luscious broth that’s left behind that can be used for reheating meat, soup, stew or to freeze for a rainy day. 

Why roast it?

This recipe approaches pork shoulder in another effective way—through roasting. And even though we forfeit a few quarts of liquid gold that come from braising, we end up with melt-in-your-mouth shreds of tender meat and crispy pork skin speckled throughout, perfect for drizzling, dunking or tossing in Red Chile High Desert BBQ Sauce, a chile based sauce spiked with a generous pour of mezcal and softened with a hunk of butter. 

The butt is the shoulder

This recipe calls for Pork Shoulder (also called Picnic Shoulder or Picnic Roast), but Pork Butt (also called Boston Butt) is technically part of the front shoulder and some might even argue is a better choice so let’s talk about it: Pork Butt is not from the rear of the pig at all, but a primal cut right behind the pig head. Late in the 19th century the topsy-turvy name was coined and stuck. The shoulder on the other hand, sits right below the butt and travels down the front leg toward the hoof. Pork Butt has more fat marbling throughout the meat, which renders during cooking adding more moisture and flavor. Pork shoulder has less fat throughout the meat, but often a thicker piece of fat on top, which crisps up beautifully during the final minutes of cooking. So either way you can’t lose. 

Prep the day before

I like to make pulled pork and BBQ sauce the day before a backyard barbecue, so when I wake up the next morning all I have to do is sip on coffee and think about how all the big lifting for the day is done. The grill is also wide open, with plenty of room for grilling buttered buns, vegetables, and fruit. Aside from making delicious sandwiches, this combo of roasted pork and bbq sauce can be put to use in many ways. You could fill tortillas for tacos, sprinkle on salads, serve with rice or quinoa, eggs, etc. The Bbq Sauce stands on its own, pairing well with shrimp, white fish, veggies, chicken, or drizzled on burgers and brats.

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Red Chile Mezcal BBQ Pulled Pork

HDT BBQ Pulled Pork roasted sauced and ready to eat
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This bbq pulled pork turns your classic american backyard barbecue into a Southwest-themed party by kicking up the flavors with red chile and mezcal. This slow-cooked meat is perfect on toasted buns, tortillas, crispy taco shells, or on your favorite southwest salad.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 4 hours
  • Total Time: 5 hours
  • Yield: 10-12 servings
  • Category: BBQ
  • Method: Roast
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Units

for the pork:

  • 3 t. whole coriander seed
  • 1 t. black peppercorns
  • 1 t. dried juniper berries
  • 2 T. packed brown sugar
  • 1 T. red chile powder, whatever heat you prefer
  • 1 T. high desert herbs or herbes de provence
  • 2 t. kosher salt
  • 2 t. garlic powder
  • 1 t. dried culinary lavender
  • 4 lb. boneless pork shoulder

for the high desert bbq sauce:

  • 4 T. butter
  • 1 c. diced onion
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1/2 c. mezcal
  • 2 c. (1 pt.) mild Red chile puree
  • 2 t. Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 c. brown sugar
  • 2 t. worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 t. black pepper
  • 1 1/2 t. kosher salt

Instructions

Making the spice rub

The night before, make the spice rub: In a small pan over medium heat, toast the coriander, peppercorns, and juniper berries until they are lightly toasted and you start to smell their fragrance wafts out from the pan. Transfer this to a very dry blender, along with the brown sugar, red chile powder, herbs, salt, garlic powder, and lavender. Blend until pulverized into a fine powder. Lightly score any thick areas of fat with a sharp knife. Using all the spice rub, massage the pork all over with the spice rub and refrigerate overnight in an ovenproof baking dish.

ingredients prepped on a plate including peppercorn, red chile powder, and more

Making the BBQ sauce

To make the bbq sauce: In a saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and let simmer until the onions turn translucent, around 10-15 minutes. Add the mezcal and let simmer for another 15 minutes. Add the chile puree, apple cider vinegar, dijon, brown sugar, Worcestershire, black pepper, and salt. Let this mixture simmer for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Carefully transfer the sauce to a blender and puree until smooth.

Roasting the pork shoulder

The next day when you’re ready to roast the pork shoulder, pull the pork from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for a half hour. Preheat the oven to 275 F. Roast pork in the oven, uncovered for around 3-4 hours, or until the internal temperature reads 190 F. on a thermometer. Turn the heat up to 500 F. and roast for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the skin is a deep golden brown and crispy. Remove the pork from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes.

HDT BBQ Pulled Pork roasted sauced and ready to eat

Pull apart the meat and crispy skin into strips and serve warm with bbq sauce on the side.

High Desert Green Chile Cheeseburger

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There is so much about cooking and eating in the Southwest that is special, including green chile cheeseburgers which top the list for me, especially during the grilling season. I think about burgers made in other places and all the care and effort that goes into coming up with the most creative combination of toppings, or signature burger patties, but at the end of the day it feels like we have an unfair advantage—we have fire roasted green chile. The best burgers I have ever had are in New Mexico and while they vary to some degree, they all have green chile in common. Over time, I have discovered that my favorite burgers tend to be the simplest. I love making this burger and eating it just as is, sometimes with a bun, sometimes wrapped in big pieces of lettuce, but always with melted cheese and a spoonful of poblano jam on top. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but with this combination, I don’t even add my usual burger go-to’s of mayo, ketchup, and raw slices of onion. 

The cheese

I didn’t want to choose the cheese for you because this is such a personal choice. The day I made these, we melted blue cheese on top of the burgers because this is one of our favorite cheeses, but goat cheese, cheddar, and American would be great too. 

The patty

The most important thing for a good burger is a flavorful burger patty. Here, we accomplish this by adding two kinds of meat, half ground chuck and half-ground sirloin. The chuck brings the texture while the ground sirloin brings the flavor. Combined together with good seasoning and frozen grated butter for additional flavor and moisture, results in my favorite burger patty of all time. You’ll notice that we add a generous (1 tablespoon) of dried herbs to the burger. I have an affinity for the herb blend I make called High Desert Herbs, a combination of marjoram, sage, lavender, rosemary, chile, and thyme (available at stokli.com) but it’s also similar to Herbes de Provence and can be substituted with any or all of the dried herbs listed above.   

The jam

The jam can easily be made a few days in advance and can be adjusted with different chiles. If you want a spicier jam, instead of poblano, you might want to try a hatch, anaheim or even poblano chile. Or, you can create your own signature jam by combining more than one chile together. 

HDT Green Chile Cheeseburger - Poblano Jam
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High Desert Green Chile Cheeseburger

HDT Green Chile Cheeseburger - plated
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This New Mexico-inspired green chile cheeseburger combines the heat of green or poblano chiles with the creamy richness of your favorite cheese, creating a mouthwatering fusion that will leave your taste buds craving more.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 8 burgers
  • Category: burgers
  • Method: grilling
  • Cuisine: New Mexican Inspired

Ingredients

Units

for the poblano jam:

  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 1 large shallot, sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 4 fire-roasted poblano chiles, peeled, seeded & diced
  • 1/4 c. sherry vinegar
  • 1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
  • Salt and pepper to taste

for the burgers:

  • 1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1 lb. ground beef chuck
  • 1 lb. ground beef sirloin
  • 1 T. High Desert Herbs or Herbes de Provence
  • 2 t. kosher or flakey sea salt
  • 1/2 t. Black pepper

for everything else:

  • 8 buns
  • your favorite cheese and toppings

Instructions

Making the jam

To make the poblano jam, heat the oil over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the shallots and cook for around ten minutes, until they caramelize. Add the garlic and cook for another few minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Add the diced chiles, vinegar, sugar, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Let this mixture come to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for around 10 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced by around half in the pan. You can leave this as is or transfer the mixture to a blender and pulse a few times to make a slightly smoother consistency. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper as needed. Transfer the jam to a heat-proof jar and serve warm with the burgers or refrigerate if making in advance.

Making the burgers

To make the burgers, first, grate the butter into a bowl with a box grater and freeze the butter for around ten minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine both types of ground beef, herbs, salt, pepper, and frozen butter until the mixture is well combined. Form into 8 patties and keep refrigerated. When you’re ready to grill, preheat the grill and cook the burgers to your desired temperature. When they’re almost done, top with cheese, close the grill, and cook the burger for another couple minutes, until the cheese is melted. This is a great time to place the buns cut side down on the grill to slightly toast them. To serve, place burgers on the buns and top with poblano jam. Enjoy with your favorite condiments and other toppings.

Pan-Seared Steak Method

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Even though our grills might be covered for the season, we can still make mouth-watering, perfectly cooked and seasoned steaks indoors. Today, I am going to walk you through my favorite way to cook a steak indoors. I first learned to properly cook a steak when cooking at The Peninsula Hotel in Chicago under the tutelage of Chef Graham Elliot. We were a small team of four cooks working five nights a week in the hotel’s fine dining restaurant inside the workings of a large hotel kitchen. Our open kitchen was small, with a dining bar allowing guests a front-row seat to watch us cook. We each worked a station on our own (garde manger, hot apps, butcher, and saucier) for three months, after which time we would rotate around to another station. When working as the butcher, not only was it our responsibility to break down fish and other cuts of meat on the menu, during service we cooked every piece of meat that left the kitchen, from 3-course to 21-course tasting menus per guest. To get the job done we had a four-gas burner range and a small convection oven which we kept at 500 F. the entire night. There was no grill or wood-burning oven, but I soon learned that all I needed was right in front of me: a large soup spoon (never tongs), a few well-seasoned cast iron pans, salt, my trust pepper grinder, a high smoke point oil, butter, and aromatics. 

In this recipe you’ll notice that the aromatics I use are lemon, cilantro stems, jalapeno and garlic. This is just one out of an almost infinite number of variations you could try. Use the herbs and flavors that work for you. If you have sage or lavender in the garden, try it! Normally I tend to use thyme, rosemary, garlic and lemon. But on this night, I used what I had (leftover cilantro and jalapenos from taco night earlier in the week) and it ended up being one of the best pan-seared steaks I have ever made. The important thing to remember when choosing aromatics is that they need to be carefully dried after being washed. Natural juice from a lemon, lime, or piece of ginger isn’t a big deal, but you never want to add water to a pan with hot oil, as it will result in dangerous splattering and possible burns.

At first glance, this method might appear too easy for a whole recipe’s worth of attention, but let me assure you. It’s the best way of cooking a steak I’ve ever come across. Aside from maybe the Japanese three-crust method which I’ll save for grilling season since it requires an open flame. Because this recipe is mostly about a method or technique, I would especially recommend reading the entire method in advance.

And this technique isn’t only for steak. Over the years I have found myself using this method for fish, chicken, all kinds of red meats, even cauliflower steak. When it comes to beef though, choosing a good quality porterhouse, beef tenderloin, filet mignon, t-bone, strip or rump steak are good choices.

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Pan-Seared Steak Method

HDT Pan Seared Steak - plated and ready to serve
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This method will teach you how to cook a mouth-watering pan-seared steak indoors in a cast iron pan. When I don’t have a grill, this is hands down my favorite technique for cooking a well-seasoned steak. 

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 2 servings
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: sear
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

  • 1 large steak, 1-1 1/2 inch thick
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 t. neutral oil with a high smoke point (grapeseed, avocado, vegetable, sunflower)
  • 2 T. butter
  • 1/2 lemon, sliced
  • 1 small handful of cilantro stems
  • 2 jalapenos, sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, sliced

Instructions

First, dry the steak with a paper towel and let it come to room temperature so it can cook evenly and retain its juices. This will take anywhere from 10-30 minutes depending on the temperature of your kitchen as well as the size of the steak.

Now, season the steak generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Place a cast iron or other heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat and add the oil. When you can see the oil ripple as you gently tip the pan to one side, you know the pan is hot enough (do not put the steak into a cold pan). Gently place the steak in the pan and let it sear where it is (resisting the temptation to move it around) for around 3 minutes. If you want to help it along, carefully press down on the steak with the back of a spoon to create more pressure as it’s searing which will create even more caramelization in the flavor-filled crust. Turn the steak over and repeat this process so both sides get a good sear.

HDT Pan Seared Steak - prep and ingredients
prep ingredients

At this point, turn the heat to medium and add the butter, lemon, cilantro stems, jalapeno, and garlic. With your spoon, move the steak toward the top of the pan and move the aromatics to the side or on top of the steak. Carefully tip the pan towards you while it’s still over the heat, being careful no butter spills out, and spoon the sizzling butter over the steak, again and again, to finish cooking the steak. This will probably take anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steak and how well done you prefer it to be cooked.

pan searing the steak
pan searing the steak

 

You can certainly take the temperature of the steak with a thermometer to find your perfect cook (rare: 125 F. | medium-rare: 130-135 F. | medium: 135-140 F. | medium-well: 140-150 F. | well: 155 F.) by inserting the thermometer into the thickest part of the steak. But I prefer and recommend the poke-with-your-finger method. Not only does it teach you to just know when a steak is done, but I find it to be more accurate during the fast pace reality of cooking. You feel it with your finger, take it off at the perfect time, and boom it’s done and ready for resting.

The Finger Test

The best way I have found to learn the poke method is to use your very own hand as a guide. The first step is to touch your ring finger to your thumb and turn your hand so the palm is facing you. If you press on your hand just below your thumb this will mimic what it feels like when you poke a well-done steak. Move your finger slightly to the left around your thumb and you will feel what a medium-well steak feels like. Keep working your way around your thumb and you will eventually reach what a rare steak feels like. Use this method as long as you need to learn and then the day will come when you’ll know everything you need to know with a single poke of your finger.

Once the steak is cooked to your preferred temperature, transfer the steak and all the aromatics to a shallow bowl (so as not to lose any of the juices) and loosely cover it with foil for 5-10 minutes before serving so the inside juices can redistribute and don’t just spill out once the steak is cut with a knife.