Spice Place Blog

We started out today planning to prepare Cajun Dirty Rice but didn’t have many of the ingredients on hand so we decided to improvise and make something similar. This recipe for Cajun Ground Beef and Rice is probably more healthy since it uses lean ground beef instead of chicken livers and gizzards that’s in Dirty Rice. In the end we came up with a great meal, so we’re sharing it here. The principle seasonings in this dish are Cajun Seasoning and Tabasco Sauce but the celery, onion, and green pepper certainly contibute to the great taste.

Cajun Ground Beef and Rice Recipe

Precook the basmati rice

This recipe requires precooked basmati rice. We cook this first and refrigerate it so that the basmati rice stays together when combined with the Cajun Beef during the final steps of the recipe.

• 1 cup uncooked basmati rice
• 1 can chicken broth

1. A standard can of prepared chicken broth contains about 2 cups of broth. Pour into a sauce pan, and bring to a boil.
2. Add 1 cup basmati rice, and return to boil.
3. Cover and cook about 12-14 minutes until all broth has been absorbed by the basmati rice.
4. Remove from heat, allow to cool, and refrigerate.

Make the Cajun Beef Recipe

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 tsp chopped garlic or about 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 green pepper, chopped fine
• 1 stalk celery, chopped fine
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1 1/2 tsp McCormick Cajun Seasoning
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp Tabasco Sauce
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 scallion, chopped fine

1. Place 1 tbsp canola or olive oil in a large non-stick skillet, along with 1 pound lean ground beef. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until beef is cooked through.
2. Add diced onion, diced pepper, chopped garlic, and chopped celery. Cook, stirring frequently for 3 - 5 minutes or until vegetables begin to turn translucent.
3. Add Cajun Seasoning, chicken broth, and Tabasco Sauce. Stir well, then cook 30 - 45 minutes, stirring often, until broth thickens.
4. Add fresh ground pepper, chopped scallion, along with basmati rice. Mix carefully until rice separates into individual grains, and then cook until rice warms.
5. Enjoy. Add more Cajun Seasoning at the table as desired. This isn not a hot seasoned recipe as prepared.

This recipe is a bit of work, but the rewards are well worth the effort. We’ve made these cabbage rolls for years, and they’re always well received at the dining room table. Cabbage rolls require slow cooking for the flavors to blend, so they’re cooked in a slow oven. Some folks cook their cabbage rolls in a pot on the stove, but we find our cabbage rolls stay together better if we bake them in a covered baking pan. These cabbage rolls are really good on a cold winter Sunday afternoon served with buttered, toasted rye bread as we have in the picture.

Recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Rolls also known as Blind Pigeons

• 1 large head of cabbage
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 pound lean ground pork
• 1 large sweet onion
• 1 tsp Nina chopped garlic (or 2 cloves garlic chopped)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup cooked basmati rice
• 1 large (28 oz) can tomato juice
• 8 to 10 slices of bacon

1. To precook the cabbage, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. While the pot is heating, core the head of cabbage. Place the head of cabbage in the boiling water and cook just until you can start to peel the cabbage leaves off.
3. Peel the leaves from the head of cabbage, and place the cooked cabbage leaves on a plate.
4. Chop the onion finely.
5. Cook the lean ground beef and lean ground pork along with chopped onions. Add
   salt and pepper to taste. Cook until onions are tender and beef and pork are cooked
   thoroughly.
6. In the meantime cook rice according to package directions.
7. Combine the cooked meat mixture and the cooked rice.
8. Place strips of bacon evenly spaced in large roasting pan.
9. Take a large cabbage leaf and cut a “v” out of the bottom of the leaf to remove the tough core section.
10. Place a large spoonful of the meat and rice mixture towards the top and center of the leaf.
11. To roll the cabbage rolls take the bottom edge of the leaf and fold it towards the center over the meat and rice mixture. Take the side of the cabbage leaf and tuck it under the meat mixture. Take the top and fold it down over the center of leaf. Take the bottom of leaf and fold it towards the center of the leaf. Roll the leaf so the open edge is under the cabbage roll.
12. Place prepared cabbage rolls on top of bacon slices in roasting pan. Repeat until all meat mixture is finished.
13. Pour tomato juice over prepared cabbage rolls. Place extra cabbage leaves
    over the top of the prepared cabbage rolls. This keeps the moisture in.
    Slow cook the cabbage rolls in a 300-325° F. oven for 1 to 2 hours*.

Serve with toasted buttered rye bread.

*Cook longer to allow the flavors to blend. Since everything is cooked, the baking time is to allow seasonings to mix together.

There’s nothing secret to making a good homemade beef vegetable soup. It’s really all about taking your time and letting the soup cook to allow the flavors to blend together.

We make our beef vegetable soup completely from scratch. There’s no need for any of those kits from the grocery store. All you really need is to plan ahead, and make a beef broth first. Patience is called for in making this soup. So about 6 hours before serving, place 4 large beef soup bones in a large stockpot, and cover with water. Place over medium heat and begin to heat to a boil.

While the water is heating, dice up a large onion, and 1 1/2 cups of celery. Toss the onion and celery in the pot, cover, and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, for about 2 hours [longer is better].

Using a set of tongs, remove the bones from the pot and place on a dinner plate. Allow to cool 5 minutes or more, or until you can handle. Scrape any marrow from the bones onto the dinner plate, and discard the bones. Add the marrow back to the stockpot.

Add the following to the pot:

• 1/2 pound of baby carrots (cut in half, if desired)
• 1/2 tsp thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp rosemary leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp parsley flakes
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 3 medium sized turnips, peeled and diced (about 2 1/2 - 3 cups)
• 1 can diced tomatoes

Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer. Meanwhile, cut up a about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of chuck roast into 3/4 inch chunks. Cook the beef chuck roast chunks in a covered, non-stick skillet, turning often, until cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to remove the beef, and add to the stock pot. Simmer the vegetable soup for 1 1/2 hours, then add:
2 cups frozen lima beans
1 cup egg noodles

Cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and allow to cool a little before serving. Serve with buttered toasted sourdough bread, or piping hot biscuits. You can add salt to the served bowls of Beef Vegetable Soup but we don’t find it necessary.

Refrigerate any left over Beef Vegetable Soup, and add a little water when reheating. Beef vegetable soup always tastes better the next day.

A beef Eye of Round roast can be an easy meal. There’s not too much preparation, and you stuff the roast in the oven and wait for it to cook. What could be simpler? The cooking time depends on how big the roast is and as a guess we’d say an hour to an hour and a half would be usual.

We season our roast with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. If you don’t have any Lawry’s around, you can also simply season the Eye of Round roast with salt and fresh ground pepper [but you really ought to try Lawry's Seasoned Salt]. When we were young, and just growing up, it was always a treat to get the end cut of the roast, because that’s where most of the taste and seasonings are.

Our recipe calls for placing the roast in a Reynold’s oven bag. We find that the bag does a great job of holding the juices in so we end up with a juicy side of beef. You don’t have to use the oven bag, and can do just as well with a pan with a lid, or by tightly covering the pan with aluminum foil. But, one of the benefits of the oven bag is the easy cleanup — everything cooks in the bag so there is nothing burnt onto the pan.

• Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
• Adolph’s Tenderizer
• 3-4 potatoes
• 15-20 baby carrots, can be cut in half
• 1 can sliced mushrooms
• 1 large sweet onion,
• 1 can low sodium beef broth
• 3-4 lb eye round roast
• Reynolds Oven Bag (or aluminum foil)

1. Sprinkle Lawry’s Seasoned Salt & Adolph’s Tenderizer all over roast and
   pierce meat all over.
2. Peel potatoes and cut into large chunks
3. Place roast in extra large oven bag
4. Peel and quarter onion.
5. Distribute the carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and onion in oven bag around roast.
6. Pour enough beef broth into oven bag to keep vegetables moist during cooking.
7. Put several slits in top of oven bag.
8. Cook until roast has an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

If we ran a restaurant, there is one recipe that we’d offer on the menu and we know it would be a hit. Now, this isn’t a steak and cheese sandwich. It’s a Rib Eye steak, broiled to medium well (or your desired doneness) and then topped with a sauce made with savory . It’s absolutely the best tasting steak we’ve ever had.

To make this recipe, first prepare the cheese sauce (recipe below). Then broil a Rib Eye steak seasoned only with salt and pepper until the desired doneness is reached. Remove the steak from the broiler, top with the cheese sauce, and serve. Yum!

Cheese Sauce

• 1 large sweet onion, sliced thinly
• 2 tbsps butter
• 2 tsps sugar
• 1 1/2 tsps flour
• 1/2 cup beef bouillon
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Slice onion in half and the slice thinly
2. Melt butter in large skillet
3. Add sugar to melted butter
4. Add onion to melted butter and sugar
5. Cook onion until limp and lightly browned
6. Add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes
7. Add beef broth and milk
8. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat until thickened
9. Add grated cheeses
10. Cook until cheeses are melted
11. Serve over cooked steaks

Any left over cheese sauce can be frozen and thawed when needed.

If you’re like us, you usually have larger eyes while cooking then when eating. That is, you end up making more food then you can eat at a sitting. We’ve tried our best over the years to reduce this effect, but only on a few occasions have we been successful. Many times the reason is due to the sizes of packages of food, seasoning mixes, and cuts of meats and so it’s out of our control without going to trouble to reproportioning mixes. Since we don’t like to waste food, we work hard to come up with creative ways to re-serve the same dish. So today we’re going to describe a hearty and tasty meal that we served for breakfast the other day, and it’s certainly suitable for a lunch or dinner meal too.

In the movie shorts The Little Rascals, there was a negative association with hash, and if I remember right, it was usually corned beef hash. Don’t accept the negative connotation for that hash [it was in the script, if you know what I mean] the hash we make is excellent. I’m certain that you can make an excellent tasting corned beef hash too.

But our recipe is for Roast Beef Hash, and in particular the roast we’re using is Standing Rib Roast. This recipe will taste good with most roast beef, so don’t feel limited to a Standing Rib Roast.

Recipe for Beef Hash

• One cup or more of diced roast beef
• Two cups peeled and diced potatoes
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup diced green pepper
• 1 tsp Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

1. In a large non-stick skillet cook the diced potatoes in about 1 tbsp canola oil. Simmer covered about 6 minutes, turning the potatoes every two minutes.
2. Add to the skillet the diced onions, and green peppers, and stir. Cook uncovered about 3 minutes, turning a couple times.
3. Add the diced beef, turn and stir in, and sprinkle with the Lawry’s Seasoned Salt.
4. Cook 3 to 4 minutes more, stirring and turning until beef is well heated and potatoes are cooked through.

A standing rib roast is one of the easiest roasts to make, and is also one of the most delightfully flavored to eat. Many people today prefer to go out to dinner and eat at restaurants where the standing rib roast is also known as prime rib. But, you can make a standing rib roast at home that tastes just as good as the one you get at the restaurant. The secret is Lawry’s Seasoned Salt .

Lawry’s Seasoned Salt was originally developed at Lawry’s Prime Rib Restaurant in Beverly Hills, CA. It’s available worldwide now, and we sell it at Spice Place in a 40 oz jar. It’s taste is simply wonderful with a standing rib roast, any beef roast or steak, and even simply sprinkled on french fries or hash brown potatoes.

This past New Years Day we had a standing rib roast for dinner and here’s how we made it:

• 5 - 6 pound standing rib roast
• Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

1. Preheat oven to 300° F.
2. Remove any visible fat from the top, and sides of the roast.
3. Season the standing rib roast on all sides with the Lawry’S Seasoned Salt.
4. Sprinkle lightly with garlic powder.
5. Place the roast in a roasting pan with the fat side up.
6. If you have a remote monitoring thermometer, insert the sensor now.
7. Place a bread pan on the bottom rack of the oven and fill with water.
8. Place the roast in the oven and cook 3 - 4 hours until the internal temerature measured by a thermometer is at least 165° F (medium).
9. Remove from oven, and let sit 10 minutes before slicing.

Makes 3 -4 servings. Serve with a green salad, mashed potatoes, and Au Jus Gravy, and your favorite vegetable.