AD/Sponsored Collaboration – the seasoning mix in this article was gifted to our household for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.
When it comes to pre-made spice mix, I don’t tend to have a whole lot in my cupboard, opting for my own spice mixes, based on my own tastes. With that in mind, when Schwartz reached out, looking for some coverage of their seasoning mix, I wanted to try them out and see if they were good. Schwartz seasoning mix comes in a variety of different flavors, but the Beef Casserole and Seasonal Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon were my two of choice. I felt that these two could make a balanced meal, once you make up a bit of mash!
Beef Casserole with a slight twist
The beef casserole was pretty simple! The packet of Schwartz seasoning mix had a simplistic, idiot proof recipe on the back, guaranteed to work even if you don’t cook often at all. The amount of ingredients needed were also small in number and included mainly pantry staples. With one onion, two carrots, some olive oil, water and 450 grams of beef, I was ready to take on the casserole. The recipe came in three steps, cutting up your veggies via slicing carrots and chopping the onion. Then heating up your oil, adding in all of the vegetables and meat, cooking it off, before adding in the seasoning mix after you’ve added water to it. From there, you just need to pop the dish into a pre-heated oven.
This is where I made a few little changes. Instead of cooking my beef in the same pot as my veggies, I gave them a hard sear on their own, making sure not to overcrowd my pan, by adding a few pieces at a time until they were browned all over. I find this adds a bit of depth when it comes to beefy flavor. I also added a teaspoon of English mustard to my Schwartz seasoning mix once it was added to water, whisking it in. This added a kick to the normally subtle gravy, giving a bit of heat but not too much. I quite like a bit of a kick in my gravy, and this really did the trick.
Once everything was combined, you just pop it into the oven for two hours and you’re done. I found the beef casserole seasoning mix made a great gravy, with really no actual effort on my part. As someone who use to struggle a lot with thickening a gravy from stock and drippings, being able to use a flavor packet and make such a rounded gravy is a great idea for those that do struggle. It’s also just really simple to use, which is a big appeal. I thought that the mix might be too salty, as that’s always what I hear, but it was quite herbaceous.
Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon as per the recipe
While thinking about this meal, based around the beef casserole Schwartz seasoning mix, I wanted to add a vegetable. Since it’s the Christmas season, Tescos has a Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon mix. I am a fan of sprouts and bacon, so I figured this could only add to the taste. This recipe was also very straight forward and I didn’t deviate from it, apart from adding a bit of finishing butter right at the end. You basically just need to cut all your brussels sprouts in half and cut your bacon into strips. You then heat your bacon in a dry pain for around 5 minutes, until they are crispy and cooked. Add in your halved sprouts and cook for a further 10ish minutes, then add your seasoning mix and it’s appropriate water, for another minute or so. I added a tablespoon of butter at the end, to melt on, as I enjoy finishing butter on my vegetables.
That’s it, you’ll have some pretty delicious sprouts. As a spice mix, when smelling the spices, I didn’t think they were going to work with the brussels sprouts, but they really did. They were delicious, tender and packed full of flavor. Going forward, I am probably going to start using this spice mix for my sprouts, as I really did enjoy it.
To complete my meal, I also made up some standard mash potatoes to soak up that gravy and make everything feel more rounded. I think that using these spice mixes, especially if you do not have a huge pallet for spices, is a very good way to quickly bring a good balance of flavor to a meal. Everything is so simple to use and easy to implement – it’s great for a midweek meal. You can add some of your own flavors, like I did with the Beef Casserole, or just follow the recipe exactly as stated to get a grips on basic cooking. It’s a great middle of the road – and for the Beef Casserole specifically, I can totally see that being used as a spice rub or similar for beef as well.