Beef Brisket

I picked up a beef brisket while it was on sale and was not really sure what to do with it. I asked around and ended up combining two recipes, one from Shayna's Aunt and one from "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" on the food network.

1 lb. beef brisket (next time I'm definitely going to get a bigger brisket, we barely had any leftovers!)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

6 slices of Bacon

1 large onion

3 celery ribs

2 cloves of garlic

1 package of mushrooms (not sure how many exactly, maybe 15 smallish)

1 cup balsamic vinegar

12 oz beef broth

1 package lipton onion soup mix

First, coat a large pan with the olive oil and heat it up. Salt the brisket and add it to the hot oiled pan. Brown well on both sides and then remove the brisket from the pan. Chop up the bacon and add it to the hot oil. Once crispy add in the onion, celery, garlic, and mushrooms. Stir fry about 10 minutes and add the balsamic vinegar, simmer for another 10 minutes. In a roasting pan add the beef broth and the lipton soup mix. When the veggies are soft add them to the roasting pan and lay the brisket on top. Seal the pan with tin foil and bake in the oven for about 3 hours at 425 degrees. Every 45 minutes or so I turned the brisket over and basted it with the juices. For the last 30 minutes I uncovered the brisket so that the gravy could thicken a bit. We sliced ours thinly and topped it with the gravy, sides were potato pancakes, and the whipped butternut squash I wrote about earlier, it was delicious! (hint- if the gravy is not thick when the brisket is done stir in cornstarch a tablespoon at a time to thicken it up)