Bistec Ranchero-Beef & Potatoes with Green Chile

Bistec Ranchero! Also known as carne con papa, carne guisada and sometimes carne con chile. This is just one of the many hundreds of variations. I am starting with the good stuff right from the top! The video! Although most of my life as a home cook, following recipes stressed me out, lol! There are times when a visual on how the recipe comes together is helpful. Helpful to see the ingredients. But mostly helpful in making us hungry before we get to the end of the video! Right? At least that is what happens to me.

Here is the beauty of these kinds of recipes!

The wonderful thing about cooking at home is that we can make the recipes our own. What do I mean by that? I encourage my followers to cook at home from scratch all of the time. It’s much more satisfying to sit down to a homecooked meal, than to spend way too much for take out food that often disappoints. Make it your own! If you prefer not to cook with beef, and prefer chicken, then use chicken. Why would it be bad? Some people prefer pork with green chile. That is delicious too. If I wanted to create a seafood dish out of this, I would serve the potatoes fried on the side and gently poach some jumbo fish or mahi mahi filets in the green chile stew towards the end. I will be trying that dish soon because I picked up more hatch peppers this week!

What do you consider Mexican Comfort Foods?

A simple homemade flour or corn tortilla with refried beans, a slice of queso fresco or fresh avocado. That’s simple, but comforting in so many ways! Sometimes I think we consider certain foods like this bistec ranchero, comfort foods because they remind us of home and mom’s cooking. We find comfort in our food memories, of sitting and enjoying meals together, talking to each other instead of staring into a cell phone, lol! Love on a plate. That is how I always describe mom’s cooking. It wasn’t until I was married and cooking for my husband that I truly understood what it means to share your food with others.

If you are not familiar with Hatch green chiles, beware!

I love spicy foods! One year, during Hatch season, I got the bright idea to order a whole case of HOT hatch green chile. How hot could it be? I love habaneros and chile piquin! Those are hot! I prepared my bistec with green chiles that year and couldn’t wait to enjoy it with homemade flour tortillas! First bite. Oh! Second bite. Oh my! Needless to say, it was so hot, that I could not taste the food and I began to sweat, lol! Even my friends who claimed to like extra spicy food, were crying, ha, ha, ha! I still buy hot hatch green chiles, but now I mix them with mild ones. Lesson learned.

How Spicy Is It??

Often when I share my recipes on social media, I get that one question. “How spicy is it?” As I mentioned, I could tolerate spicy and so my recipes tend to include more chile peppers than average Mexican recipes. On any given day, I could purchase serrano peppers and the heat level will vary every single time. Sometimes the jalapeños I purchase are spicier than the serrano peppers. My response to people when they ask how spicy? It depends on how spicy the peppers are that they purchased. If you slice a fresh pepper open, you could almost smell how spicy it is. The best way to know is to taste a small piece neat the seeds. It really is the only way to know.

What’s the best cut of beef for carne guisada, stewed beef dishes?

Back in the day, I remember mom preparing American beef stew for us. She served it with steamed white rice and slices of white sandwich bread. We enjoyed it more once we added several dashes of Mexican hot sauce. Dad would eat with tortillas, always! He, he, he! In my opinion, that cut of stewed beef was always tough and chewy even when she cooked it for hours. My favorite cuts of beef are chuck roast, ribeye, beef shoulder and even thin sliced flank or skirt work well. The key thing is the marbling of some fat in the beef, for me, yields a better carne guisada.

My least favorite job of roasting peppers is removing the seeds!

For years, I was roasting peppers whole with the stems and seeds intact. Then came the messy job of peeling and removing all the seeds inside. What a mess. One day, several years back, I had a light bulb moment! What if I remove the stems and seeds ahead of time, before roasting? It worked like a charm!

I did it! I jump on the air fryer trend!

For a few years I resisted the whole air fryer and instant pot trend. I still don’t own an instant pot and I am ok with that. Traditional pressure cookers is what I do have and I find them very easy to use with excellent results. As a food blogger, I do get many offers to review products of all kinds. That’s what happened when it came to the air fryer. Curiosity got the best of me and I agreed to share my review in exchange for this deluxe air fryer. Works great so far and no heating up the house with big oven roasting methods. All air fryers are slightly different and the cooking times will vary of course.

I confess, that I try to avoid wasting the plastic bag.

When mom roasted poblanos for chiles rellenos she would sweat the roasted peppers in a clean kitchen towel or a paper bag. No plastic bags needed. I confess that sometimes I still reach for a plastic bag when I am rushing through the recipe. It is more likely that I will have a plastic bag than a paper bag. Another method that works well is a plastic storage container. Find the method that works best for you.

Don’t over brown the beef. Brown it just enough and then continue with the recipe. What you want is for some of the beef juices to still be released into the recipe as it cooks the rest of the way.

Let’s Get To The Recipe! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! I would love your feedback and some of the things I shared with you today. Have an awesome day!

I really enjoy grinding whole spices in my molcajete!