Beef Bulgogi

This week I was really excited for the challenge. Korean. I have made this a few times before, but this was the newest recipe I developed, and I liked this better than the others I have made.

 For the marinade:
1/3 cup soy sauce (I used low sodium)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp tahini (Sesame seed paste)
2 tbsp honey
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp minced ginger

1.5 lbs ribeye, sliced very thin
1 bunch of scallions
about 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix all the ingredients listed for the marinade with a whisk. Put the beef, marinade, and about half of the scallions, very thinly sliced, into a large baggie. I marinated mine for about ten hours, but you could go as long as 24 or as little as one.

Put the vegetable oil in a wok and set it to about medium high. Once the oil is nice and hot add the beef. Discard any unused marinade. This will cook pretty quickly, but you want to keep mixing it up so that it cooks evenly.

I served this with some brown rice and snow peas. It was yummy.

Summery Chicken Stew?

This week's challenge is "One Pot", so all week I was thinking "bean and ham soup" so that I could use the ham bone from our Easter dinner. Dad's lower digestive system has been pretty unhappy this week, so I figured bean soup would be a bad idea. Then I started thinking "chicken stew", but the weather suddenly decided to get nice and warm and all day I've been thinking "I don't want to make stew!". I'm going to give it a shot anyway, but I'll try to make it a little more summery. I'm making this up as I go along, so it may fail. Here goes...

Dice a few red skinned potatoes and toss them in a pot.

Next, slice and dice a little yellow onion.

Now add a little diced carrot and celery.

Cut up some broccoli and mince a little garlic, or a lot of garlic.

Add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then about 3-ish cups of chicken broth. Mine is in ice cube form, so I don't really know how much is there.

Now put it over low heat to melt your chicken broth ice cubes. :)

Here comes the summery part...Add the juice and zest from a lemon. It will make the whole thing taste like sunshine. I hope. It's also a great way to find out if you have any teeny tiny cuts on your hands. I've also been holding onto the rind from some Parmesan for a while, so I'm tossing that in for extra flavor.

Next I diced a couple of chicken breasts and added them.

Now mix it all up, cover it and let it simmer on medium-low heat stirring once in a while. I also decided to add some fresh parsley from my garden. After a while you may want to turn it down to low. Let it simmer on low for a couple of hours. Serve with bread, fresh from the oven!

It doesn't look like anything special, but it sure was tasty!

Honeyed Chicken

Once again the week is getting away from me, so I will just be posting a picture today. I will update this with the recipe and more pics asap because it was delicious!

Slow Cooked Short Ribs and Mushrooms

Week 8 is slow cooking, so I decided to use my crock pot. This looked yummy, smelled yummy and tasted yummy. Too bad it felt weird. I have to blame the butcher for this fail. Every bite we took felt like it had tiny shards of bone in it, so we all finally gave up and got something else to eat. :(

I swear it looked better in person. It just didn't photograph well. Anyway, here is what I did Wednesday morning...

I diced a yellow onion and put that in the crock.

 I quartered a package of baby bellas and a half a package of button mushrooms and added them.

I minced about 8 cloves of garlic and added that along with some fresh cracked black pepper and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary.

Next I cut the short ribs into single pieces, then floured them and did a quick sear to brown them.

I added 4 cups of beef broth, then started laying the short ribs in the crock.

I topped it all with a few more sprigs of rosemary, put on the top, set it to low and went to work.

I came home to this...

Looking and smelling good, I decided to debone it.

I skimmed the fat off the top of the liquid, added the mushrooms and onions to the meat, and decided to reduce the sauce that was left.

I steamed some rice and made a carrot and ginger puree to serve with the short ribs, and then I settled in for what I thought would be a nice dinner. Too bad there were bone shards in every bite. The whole thing was a huge waste of time and money. Can you tell I'm still bitter?

Brazillian Inspired Grilled Flank Steak with Fresh Salsa

Okay, so I was sick for most of the week, and while I am feeling better, I am seriously lacking motivation right now. Probably because Hubby and I went out for lunch and I ate a whole Reuben, most of my fries, and drank two beers. So now, I'm not even hungry, but I have to cook dinner and write a blog post. 

This week's challenge is Brazilian. (Insert waxing joke here, since every time I say it, Hubby giggles like a school boy.) I had a hard time deciding what to make this week. I finally found a recipe for Brazilian style flank steak that looked yummy, so I decided to use this for inspiration.

For the flank steak...
1.5 lb flank steak
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
pepper

For the salsa:
1 tomatillo
2 plum tomatoes
2 hearts of palm
2 thick slices of red onion
2 serrano peppers
cilantro
red wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime

First, I got the flank steak marinating, then I got to work on the salsa. Sorry there aren't very many pics, but like I said, I'm lacking motivation right now.

While the flank steak marinates, put together the salsa.

Get your grill up to about 400 degrees, then cook the steak for about 8 minutes per side for medium. When it comes off the grill, let it rest for about 5 minutes on a cutting board, covered with foil.

When it's done resting, cut it in thin strips, across the grain.

I served this with the salsa, black beans, and some white rice.

 You should also serve this with a caipirinha. I will make this again, but the salsa was too spicy. Next time I'll only use one serrano, and maybe add more hearts of palm and tomatoes. Maybe I'll even add a little sugar. We'll see.


*Editing before posting, a day after I cooked this. 

Shrimp Scampi and Pasta in a White Wine Sauce

I'll have to finish writing out the direction later. I am sick and really can't concentrate, but I needed to get this up to post on Reddit.


1.5 lbs jumbo shrimp, peeled, and de-veined
1 bulb if garlic, minced (Yes, a whole bulb. We have to keep the vampires at bay!)
2 Roma tomatoes, diced and de-seeded
the juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp of butter
dry white wine
parsley
salt and pepper
linguine, cooked according to package directions
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

On medium heat, melt the butter, then add the garlic. Saute garlic for about 3-4 minutes, but do not let it burn. Add the lemon juice, and some wine, about 1/2 cup. Let the liquid come up to temp, then add the shrimp and tomatoes.

Edit 2/12/12, Little to no chance I will finish this post. I'm still very tired and to be honest, it wasn't my best scampi. It was edible, but really lacked something. 

Pan Fried, Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia

Week 4 of 52 Weeks of Cooking is pan frying. I had this idea in mind for pan fried, cornmeal crusted tilapia, but Hubby is kind of picky about fish. Needless to say, I was thrilled when he suggested it!

tiliapia fillets
cornmeal
flour
2 eggs
vegetable oil
salt and pepper
seasoning of your choice

I bought a package of frozen, individually wrapped tilapia fillets at Safeway for this challenge. When I opened the package, I realized they were pretty thin, so I decided to make two for each of us.

I started by setting up an assembly line. Starting with the fillets...

A plate of flour...

A bowl with the eggs, scrambled, and a plate with cornmeal, mixed with your seasoning of choice. I decided to use Dizzy Pig's Shakin' the Tree. It is their version of lemon pepper.

Now that you have this set up, start heating the oil in a large frying pan.

Flour the fish on both sides.

Then dip the fish in the egg.

Let the excess drip off, then coat each side in the cornmeal mixture.

Place each fillet on a cookie sheet until you are ready to fry them.

When the oil is hot, place the fillets in the oil. Depending on the size of the pan and the fillets, you may have to do this in batches.

Turn them after about 2-3 minutes.

Cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until cooked throughout. Move to a plate lined with paper towels to drain the excess oil.

I served this with roasted red potatoes, roasted asparagus and lemon wedges.