Holiday Brisket and Beef Tostadas
Treat your holiday guests to two dinners with one night's effort
Nov 11, 2007
It's holiday time. For this meal planning column that means it's time to discuss how best to serve guests for the holidays. This beef brisket is a crowd-pleasing holiday favorite. For those who have out of town guests, this Mini Meal Plan is the perfect solution for providing two great dinners with one night's effort. We'll show you how to use leftover beef brisket to make fun and festive beef tostadas with little effort. That's the beauty of the Mini Meal Plan, you cook once, and eat twice. And, both meals work great for crowds as you can double or triple the recipes with ease.
A beef brisket makes a great showing as the centerpiece of a holiday supper. Ingeniously, the leftover brisket can be turned into tostada meat for a fun, completely unique second dinner. You'll taste a hint of the Holidays in the leftover brisket meat, but only you will know that your tostadas were made with leftovers.
Serve your holiday brisket with a nice side of twice-baked potatoes, salad and rolls for a beautiful, delicious holiday presentation. Serve the tostadas with chips, salsa and Margaritas (if you so choose) for a light, fun, post-holiday dinner.
This meal plan serves 4 each night. If you're having a large crowd, make sure to double or triple the recipe as appropriate.
Meal 1: Holiday Brisket
Ingredients
- 1 4-pound brisket
- 1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
- 1 onion
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Rub the brisket with salt, pepper and garlic. Place seasoned meat in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Top with onion. In separate bowl mix together cranberry sauce, flour and wine. Pour over brisket. Cook in oven at 300 degrees F (180 degrees C) for four hours. Remove brisket from oven and cool slightly. Place on serving platter topped with it's own gravy and slice across the grain.
Meal 2: Shredded Beef Tostadas
Ingredients
- Leftover beef brisket (approximately 1 lb.)
- 8 tostada shells
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 avocado
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- ¼ cup diced onion
- ¼ cup diced tomato
- ¼ head or 2 cups lettuce, shredded
- 1 cup pepper jack cheese
Remove leftover brisket from gravy. Place in a pot on the stove, and mix with 1 cup salsa. Warm over medium heat, stirring occasionally and aggressively until meat falls apart. Meanwhile, mash avocado with garlic salt and stir in tomatoes and onion to make guacamole. Put equal portions of shredded meat on each of 8 tostada shells, and top with equal portions of cheese, guacamole and lettuce.
