There is something to be said for the meaty one pot braised dishes of fall and winter. Something to be said for coming home to a warm and fragrant kitchen and something to be said for curling up with a book while your dinner bubbles effortlessly away in the oven.

Here's a great little south of the border inspired braised "steak" dish, that only takes about an hour to complete. It uses couldn't-be-cheaper blade steaks as a base and layers on the flavors with notes of cumin and roasted vegetables. Pair with creamy mashed potatoes and I can guarantee you will have no complainers at the table.

Slow Braised Mexican Steaks

• 4 thin cut blade steaks. About 1 ½ lbs.
• 6-8 plum tomatoes cut into quarters
• 2 large sliced onions, sautéed until softened
• 4 sweet red, yellow or green peppers, sliced and sautéed until softened
• Salt, freshly ground black pepper and ½ tsp of cumin seed.
• 3 Tbls soy sauce

Easy Steps to Mexican Braised Steaks

1. Season the steaks with salt and pepper.
2. Preheat the oven to 350
3. Heat a Dutch oven (or other oven safe casserole dish) over high, and when hot, add a bit of vegetable oil. Brown the steaks quickly, ideally doing them one at a time.
4. Remove the Dutch oven from the heat and add in the steaks, tomato slices, cumin, soy sauce, onions and sweet peppers.

5. Add ¼ cup of water

6. Cover with a tight fitting lid (If your lid is not tight fitting, use aluminum foil – this is important!!!) and let braise in the preheated oven for 1 hour.
7. After an hour, remove from the oven. The meat is done and although not falling apart, will be pretty tender. Check the sauce (The vegetables and juices) and if desired, boil down until desired consistency is reached. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

This is a significant variation from a recipe from Molly Stevens book, "All About Braising" which although only a few years old is already considered a culinary classic. If you like to cook, buy this book.