Carne Guisada

My family loves carne guisada, but to get good quality you have to hijack someone's abuela or go to a hole in the wall mexican restaurant.

Most folks around here eat carne guisada on a flour tortilla with melted cheese. "They call it super melt" I think it's a cross between velveeta and those prepackaged american cheese slices.

So my mission was to figure out how to make it at home. The wife said: "think spicy beef stew."

So here's what I came up with.

Take one small onion, one clove of garlic, one bell pepper and two or three small tomatoes, put them in a food processor until they are smooth. Take this mixture and put it in sauce pan on medium heat until it starts to boil, add 1 cup of water, 1/2 tsp cumin powder 1/2 tsp paprika and 1/2 tsp salt. stir well, lower the heat and cover.

Take one pound of beef cubes (stew meat) and make sure they are in bite sized pieces. season them with salt and pepper then put them in a skillet on medium heat with 2 Tbs of vegetable oil. Brown the meat slowly making sure to get all sides. Remove from heat and add 1 Tbs flour to the meat and stir well till it's mixed in completely.

Take your beef cubes and flour mixture and pour it into the pot containing your tomato onion spice mixture stir well. Raise the heat on the pot to medium and let it simmer covered for 30 to 40 minutes, check the tenderness of the meat at the end to make sure because a few more minutes won't hurt. The gravy should be fairly thick at this point.

Put the carne guisada in a serving dish and serve with a bowl of shredded cheddar cheese and warm flour tortillas