New Basic becomes Old Favorite: Nach Waxman's Brisket of Beef

I have been using this recipe since The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins came out in 1989. It is great for those weekends when you will be at home for most of the day doing other things. Once you do the initial browning of the brisket and cooking of onions, you put your brisket on top of the onions, frost (like a cake) with tomato paste and little kosher salt and some pepper, cover it, slide it in oven and forget about it for at least an hour and a half. At that point you slice the brisket, put it back in the skillet, cover it back up and slide back in oven for another hour and a half to two hours. (At this point, you can add some whole peeled potatoes to the pan if you wish. I usually just make mashed potatoes in a separate pan).

Easy!!

Nach Waxman's Brisket of Beef

Ingredients

1 beef brisket 5-6 pounds
1-2 teaspoons flour, unbleached all-purpose
black pepper to taste
1/4 cup corn corn oil
8 onions thickly sliced and separated into rings
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 cloves garlic quartered
1 carrot peeled

Note: I do this all in a large Cast Iron Skillet and cover it with a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil. Once in the oven do not uncover this dish too often. You will lose a lot of moisture and your brisket will dry out.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F Trim the brisket of most of its fat, and dust it very lightly with the flour.

Sprinkle with pepper. Heat the oil in a large heavy flameproof casserole.

Add the brisket, and brown on both sides over medium-high heat until some crisp spots appear on the surface. Transfer the brisket to a dish.

Keeping the heat medium high, add the onions to the casserole and stir, scraping up the brown particles left from the meat.

Cook until the onions have softened and developed a handsome brown color, 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the casserole from the heat, and place the brisket, along with any juices that have accumulated, on top of the onions.

Spread the tomato paste over the brisket as if you were icing a cake. Sprinkle with pepper and the coarse salt. Add the garlic and carrot, and cover tightly.

Place the casserole on the middle rack in the oven, and bake for 1-1/2 hours. Remove the casserole from the oven, and transfer the meat to a carving board. Cut it into 1/8 - 1/4 inch-thick slices. Return the slices to the pot, overlapping them at an angle so that you can see a bit of the top edge of each slice (in effect ressembling the brisket, slightly slanted).

Correct the seasoning if necessary, and if absolutely necessary add 2 or 3 teaspoons of water to the casserole. Cover, and return the casserole to the oven. Cook until the meat is brown and fork-tender, 1-3/4 to 2 hours longer.

Slice the carrot, and transfer the roast, onions and carrot slices to a heated platter. Serve at once.

I usually serve this with Mashed Potatoes, Cole Slaw, pickles and warm French Bread rolls. Baked BBQ Beans and Potato Salad are good side dishes to have with this as well. Beer or Iced Tea go great with this as do fragrant red wines such as Malbec, Shiraz or Merlot.

Source: "The New Basics Cookbook" by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins