Poutine

Poutine is my absolute favorite comfort food. I saw the cheese curds at Trader Joe's and I had to come up with something to make this fav at home!

Ingredients:
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 pound boneless beef chuck
4 TBSP butter
1 cup diced onion
pinch of cayenne
1/3 cup all purpose flour
5 cups low sodium beef broth
20 oz of frozen fries
1 cup cheese curds (I used TJs brand)
1 TBSP fresh chives
Sweet and spicy pickled jalepenos for garnish
2 TBSP Worcestershire
2 TBSP dark soy sauce
Salt and pepper
1 cup dark stout beer or amber beer

Directions:
1. Chop beef into small bite-sized cubes.
2. Marinate in a ziploc bag with salt, pepper, soy sauce and Worcestershire for at least 1 hour but up to 8 hours.
3. Heat a large dutch oven to medium high heat and add oil. Then add beef.  Brown on all sides and let some of the liquid evaporate - about 7-9 minutes.
4. Add onions, cayenne and pepper and saute for about 5-8 minutes or until soft.

5. Add the beer and simmer until mostly evaporated - about 8 minutes. 
6. Add flour. Scrap and turn until you smell pie crust - about 5 minutes.
7. Pour in the broth and stir and scrape to bring up all the pan fond. Simmer low for 60-90 minutes stirring occasionally. Taste for seasoning. Now if the gravy needs a little more salt add it here. You don't want to add salt throughout the process because the meat had a very salt marinade to break down the fibers.
9. While you gravy is working, preheat the oven to 425. Lay fries out in a single layer. Bake for about 12 minutes or until desired crispiness.  I turned mine 1x in the process for even cooking.
10. When the fries and gravy are done, place the cheese curds over the fries and put back in the oven for 2 minutes to melt the cheese.
11. Top the fries and curds with healthy scoops of gravy. Garnish with chives and pickled jalepenos.
Serve right away!

Enjoy this with a nice cold beer. I chose BrewPorts Doctor Porter for this dish.