Red Wine Sirloin Tips

Here in Virginia, things have been COLD!!!  I was totally surprised last Wednesday when I woke up and found out that the schools were closed and I had a snow day!  There wasn't even snow on the ground at that point.  By late afternoon, however, winter showed her true colors.  Sleet, freezing rain, and dun dun dun... Thunder Snow (what the heck is that anyway?) wreaked havoc all over the Northern Virginia area leaving many people stranded in their cars for hours, stuck in the house, and shivering in the dark and cold without power.  My parents were one of the hundreds without power, so after 1 frigid night, they called and asked to stay with us until the power came back on. 

I had bought some sirloin tips from Holy Cow Delivery, but had no idea what to do with them.  With my parents on their way over for dinner, I decided that I better find something yummy to make!  I raided the fridge and here's what I put together:

Red Wine Sirloin Tips

* 2 lbs sirloin tips

* 1 large onion, thinly sliced

* 1 package of sliced mushrooms

* 2 tbs tomato paste

* 1 1/2 cups red wine **

* 3 cloves garlic

* 2 1/2 cups beef broth **

* 1 tbs dried oregano

* 1 tbs dried basil

** I have no idea if red wine is paleo, but I drink it still :)  If you prefer not to use the red wine, just omit it and up the beef broth so you are using a whole quart**

First, I sprinkled some salt and pepper over the beef tips.  I wanted to brown the meat, so I used some leftover duck fat that I had from making the Cassoulet a few weeks ago.  I thought that I might as well use this to brown the meat, so I did. :)  You could also use oil, butter, etc... whatever you think.



I browned the meat in batches because you don't want to crowd the meat. If you put too much in there, the meat won't have enough room to "breathe" and it will end up steaming rather than cooking. Once I had browned the meat, I set it aside on a plate while I finished the browning process.

Once all of the meat was browned, I had a nice brown crust on the bottom of the pot.  It looks like it's burned, but it's not!  I poured the red wine and beef broth in the pan and scraped up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. When all of the browned bits are dissolved, I let the liquid reduce a bit.  I think this helps to thicken it, as well as concentrate the flavors a bit.  Once it was thickened, I poured the liquid into a separate bowl and let it sit while I took care of the veggies.

Next, I added in the sliced onions and let them cook a bit with some bacon fat I had.  I've really started liking onions recently, but I like them when they're cooked down a bit, it seems to take a lot of the zip out of them and just allow the flavor and the sweetness to really come through.

Next, I added in the sliced mushrooms.  I LOVE mushrooms, but Curt isn't a fan of the texture, so I have to slice them pretty big so he can easily pick them out.  Anyway, I sauteed the onions and mushrooms until everything was starting to cook nicely and soften up.

Then... I added the wine/broth mixture back into the pot and let everything simmer for about 10 minutes.  I just wanted to give the flavors a chance to blend together.

Next, I added in the tomato paste and stirred everything so that the paste was evenly distributed.  Then, I added in the beef tips.  I put the cover on and threw it in the oven which I had preheated to 350.

It didn't take long for the beef tips to cook through. So technically, I could have eaten the meal after about 20 minutes, however, I wanted to let everything get really tender, so I let everything cook for about an hour. 

 

By the time I took it out of the oven, the house was smelling delicious!  I ladled a nice big portion onto a few plates and served it with some roasted asparagus. 

 

The dish fed me, Curt, and my parents and there was also a good amount left over for future meals.  I feel like this is one of those meals that just tastes better the longer it has to sit.  Everything was nice and tender with lots of flavor.  I'm definitely going to have to make it again.  The meat was tender and it tasted great!  It was really easy and fulfilling.  Totally paleo too!