Solar Sirloin Tips and Rumbledethumps

Not exactly corned beef and collops for St. Paddy's day, but the Scotch in me (genetic, not ingested) always likes to add a little curve ball to the celebration. It also helps to NOT have ingredients on hand to start the old creative juices flowing.  But, I did use a marinade and potatoes and cabbage for my side. No question, plating leaves a lot to be desired but, by then, the Scotch had been ingested and I was hungry!

Marinated Sirloin Beef Tips

Slice 8oz top sirloin, crosswise, in 1/8th inch strips. Remove fat. In medium skillet over med-high heat, saute 1/4 lb bacon until it begins to crisp. Remove bacon and add to marinade.

Marinade: 1/4 cup black coffee, 1/2 cup blackberry merlot, 1 tsp yellow mustard, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp stevia, 1/2 tsp mace.

Saute sirloin tips in bacon, 1 minute per side; add tips to marinade. Cover and set aside for at least an hour. Remove skillet from heat whilst preparing the Rumbledethumps.

Preheat solar oven to 225F.  Use a rectangular casserole or the 4-qt roaster.

Rumbledethumps:  You will need to pare and slice some potatoes, a quarter head of a small cabbage, 1 large sliced and chopped carrot, a chopped medium red onion, and two cloves of rough-chopped garlic. 

Don't even ask what I did with that photo! The potatoes were so big that, after slicing the first one,  I ended up using just one for my sister and myself. Like the old Russian soup, this recipe really grows with each added ingredient! I think the traditional Rumbledethumps were just potatoes and cabbage, but everyone made it their own and onions became a part of the recipe very early on. (I added the carrot to celebrate me Scottish roots, I did, and add a touch of orange to the plate.)

Return the skillet to the medium-high burner and soften the bacon fat to saute the onions and garlic. Wait until the onions begin to turn translucent before adding the delicate garlic so that it doesn't burn. Then, add the carrots and potatoes and stir to blend.

Make a roux from 1 Tablespoon butter and 1 Tablespoon flour. Create a circle in the pan with the ingredients and let the roux soften and melt in the center, cooking the flour for about a minute. Slowly stir in 1-1/2 cups beef broth/water and blend all ingredients until gravy thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste, if using water. Gravy will definitely be wet looking.

Create a separate container with tin foil (or use one of those throw-away mini foil bread pans) to hold the meat in the center of your baking dish. Place marinated sirloin tips and a quarter cup of the marinade in the foil container, and seal.

Surround foil container with ingredients from skillet; cover and bake in solar oven for approximately 1-1/2 to 2 hours, until potatoes are fork tender.  As I said before, plating was not top priority, at this point.

Peasant fare, but, oh, so, delicious.  Enjoy with the rest of the Blackberry Merlot!