Carne en su jugo & frijoles charros / Meat in its juice & cowboy beans

This main course is from Jalisco, Cowboy Country, and is pretty meat-heavy. It’s also hearty and great for the colder months of the year.

‘Carne en su jugo‘, or meat in its juice

Serves 8.

the ‘jugo‘ (juice) starts with 10 tomatillos (husks removed), 1/2 cup cubed onion, a garlic clove, a few serranos (halved and without seeds unless you like it hot!) and a dash of salt, all simmered in a pot of water until the tomatillos turn browny-green.
transfer the drained tomatillos and friends to a blender, add 1 cup cilantro, stems removed, and half a cup of the water used for simmering. Blend to a smooth sauce. Salt to taste and reserve.
bacon is fried until crispy, remove the bacon but keep the fat.
the carne, 2 lbs of inside round, thinly sliced (‘roulade’ style), is added to the bacon fat and fried until cooked.
the ‘cambray’ onions for the ‘carne en su jugo‘. The onions are browned in a hot pan, the same one that was earlier used to fry the bacon and then the carne (meat), which builds on all the flavours. Pearl onions are an acceptable substitute if you can’t find ‘cambray’ onions.
browning the cambray onions

add everything to the pot and simmer 10 minutes.

carne en su jugo

Frijoles charros, or cowboy beans

The carne en su jugo was served with Frijoles charros. This dish started with a kilo of flor de mayo beans (or pinto beans as a substitute). They had been slow-cooked with 1/2 cup onion and 2 cloves garlic for several hours.
Flor de mayo beans

2 links of sliced chorizo were fried in a very hot pan in 1 Tbsp of oil. Once the chorizo was crispy around the edges, 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion and one Serrano chile were fried..

chorizo, onion and garlic to add to the beans

Added the mix to the pot of cooked beans.

‘Carne en su jugo‘ and ‘frijoles charros‘ served with sliced radishes on top. Super delicioso, but I was so full I could only try a little. I really regret not bringing along a container so I could take some home. These recipes are tops on my list of dishes to try at home.