I was reading a thread on an AIP Facebook group recently, and a few members complained about the annoyance of the recipe introduction on food blogs. My thought was, “What are we bloggers? Recipe pimps? Just give you what you want, quick and dirty, without any personality and for the cheap price of zero dollars!?”
Blogging is a creative outlet for a lot of people. It’s something we spend a lot of our free time doing to most often provide free content to a specific community of people. I started Grazed & Enthused two years ago so I could share flavorful, interesting protocol-compliant food as well as my passion for home cooking. But I also enjoy the two-way conversation I have started with so many of my readers both on the blog and via social media.
I’ve even made some good, real-life friends this way, and I know that my writing helps personify me before I meet online friends IRL. IRL = in real life. I just learned that last week. So without this platform, I would be a lot more lonely in this healing journey. If you have zero interest in everything but the recipe, scroll on. God forbid you move your finger swiftly over your mousepad for free delicious recipes for an additional three seconds. People complain so much on the internet, and I am complaining about those people.
Now. About this recipe! I freakin’ looooove skillets. They are so affordable and if you bulk them up with vegetables, you can really get a ton of bang for your buck. This skillet could easily serve you six times for roughly $25. That’s two days worth of meals for the price of one meal out!
I was low on greens when I made this, but it would be really yummy and even more nutritious with finely shredded kale mixed in when you add the butternut squash. This Cuisinart 12-inch stainless steel skillet with a lid is my favorite skillet for making big hashes and such because you can get really nice browning on meat and vegetables, and it has nice high sides so you get minimal spill-over when tossing everything together.
I based the five-spice seasoning off my recipe in The Healing Kitchen but modified it slightly to leave out the mace and changed up the ratios a bit. And added parsley. So it’s pretty much not like it at all. There’s a LOT of flavor going on in this recipe though, which isn’t always apparent on the AIP. I have noticed that all of my Paleo cookbooks are filled with nightshades and it’s because they add SO much flavor. Without them things can get a little bland. But not over here on G&E. I promise to never serve you anything bland.
Enjoy this spiced nightshade-free skillet over cauliflower rice!
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Five Spice Beef Skillet
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 pounds grass fed ground beef
- 2 cups thinly sliced fennel bulb
- 1 cup roughly chopped red onion
- 4 cups shredded butternut squash
- 1/2 cup homemade beef or chicken broth
- 1/2 cup dried currants
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- handful each of parsley and cilantro, chopped
Instructions
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In a small bowl, mix together the parsley, sea salt, ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon.
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In a large skillet, cook the ground beef over medium heat, breaking up with a spoon into crumbled pieces. Once cooked through, stir in half of the seasoning mixture. Transfer seasoned beef to a bowl and set aside.
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Add fennel and red onion to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes until the fennel is crisp-tender. If ground beef did not render enough fat to cook the vegetables, add a tablespoon of your fat of choice.
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Add butternut squash, remaining seasoning, and broth to the skillet. Turn heat to medium low and cover with a lid. Steam cook the vegetables for 2 minutes until the squash is tender.
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Remove from the heat and stir in the ground beef, currants, lemon, herbs, and additional sea salt if desired.
3 Responses
About to make this…..how much cinnamon?
Sorry about that – just added – 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon!
I love the blog entries! Often if I’m cruising for a recipe, I won’t read them, but once I find the one I want, I always go back and read. Partly because the entry might give some clues and hints about the recipes, but it’s also nice to feel some kinship with people who share my approach to food. I always learn something.
Anyway. I googled fennel beef and paleo, and I found your recipe, and I know you have fabulous recipes! I bought cilantro instead of parsley, and with my CSA, I now have three cilantros! But basically, I didn’t have the parsley for the end, I only used 1.5 lbs of beef (why our cow came in 1.5 ground beef chubs, who knows), and I guesstimated the butternut (likely too much) and I added 5 ounces of greens. Because of all that, I had to add a little extra broth. I had raisins, instead of currents, and I wish I had more!
As I’m sneaking a few bites before serving so I can leave this review, it’s delicious! Persian flavors and lots of them! It’s a keeper!