CityMama™

Corned beef and cabbage

It was frickin' delicious.

Pork Belly-Shiso Skewers

The pork belly-shiso skewer about to be grilled.

If you've been reading this blog regularly, you've probably figured out that my surreptitious goal is get everyone out of their regular grocery store comfort zone and into Asian markets. Don't be afraid! You can find wonderful treasures at your local Korean or Japanese market, for example, like thin-sliced pork belly and fragrant shiso leaves.

Shiso is a fragrant herb that tastes not quite minty, not quite basil-y. It's perfumey like both of those herbs, but it has a subtle, flowery flavor all its own. You often find it in sushi rolls (maki) paired with ume (pickled plum). Pork belly is basically bacon, but unsmoked and cured. Together these two items are sublime.

The next time you are looking to impress your friends and family, try these super-simple pork and shiso skewers. Only four ingredients...once you find them. My brother, sister and I cooked together on Friday night (something I love to do) and this is what we came up with.

PORK BELLY AND SHISO SKEWERS

We made these as well as chicken-shiso skewers and shiitake mushroom-green onion skewers. When you make skewers part of the fun, I think, is making lots of different ones.

• 1 package (about a pound) of thinly-sliced pork belly
• 1 bunch of fresh shiso washed and spun dry
• sesame oil
• salt

Season pork belly with salt and sesame oil. Place one shiso lead atop each piece of pork belly. Roll up, skewer and grill. Optional: add a piece of green onion and roll that up, too.

Kotlet-e-Gusht (Persian Meat Patties)

O how I love Middle Eastern food. These were a huge huge (did I say huge?) hit with the entire family. Next time I am making a double batch so I can freeze them. I look at the pictures and I want some now!!

I served these with rice and sauteed fresh tomatoes, but next time I am going to make flat bread sandwiches with them. They were so fragrant and so tasty. My girls gobbled these up.

The recipe is from CityMama reader Karen. And here it is copied from her email to me:

KOTLET-E-GUSHT 
from Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij
(if you are interested at all in Persian cooking, this is a great cookbook)

• 1 large potato
• 1 lb ground beef, lamb or veal (CityMama Note: I used one pound of organic beef)
• 1 medium onion, grated
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp turmeric

boil potato, peel & mash well. set aside.
in a bowl combine all ingredients, knead for 10 minutes to form a smooth paste.

Not sure if I got the shape right. Did I?

using damp hands, shape mixture into lumps the size of an egg, then flatten into oblong shaped patties. brown on both sides in a skillet with 1/4 cup hot oil over medium heat, adding more oil if needed.

I chose to use the breadcrumbs. Glad I did.

she rolls her patties in bread crumbs before frying, I don't care much for that so I skip that step. she also serves these with a saute of fresh tomatoes over the top with basmati.  we prefer to eat these as make your own sandwiches with flat bread (lavosh, pita, tortillas), sliced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sweet onion and pickles.  my husband likes his with mayo, the girls and I eat them with plain yogurt. these pack, travel and freeze very well - I usually make a double batch and stash some away in the freezer.

Happy Corned Beef Day!

Who's cooking corned beef today?  I might. (My recipe here.) We forgot to pick some up over the weekend and so far nothing has compelled me to run out and pick some up.  J. said he'd maybe bring me some at lunch today. We'll see. If he does, I'll cook it (because I do love it), and if not, we'll cook it up on the weekend. Last year we had loads of fun on St. Paddy's day. We were sitting outside, even!

Part of the reason why I'm not into it this year is because of the beef recall. I broke my no meat streak in grand style this weekend by eating a bone-in ribe-eye at Fleming's, but it took a lot of nerve.  While I was eating it, I didn't have that feeling of "Oh god I miss this," and frankly, the seafood sounded better. So corned beef? We'll see.

I did send Bunny off to school with a green lunch, though, so I'm not a total party pooper.

Avocado sandwich on whole grain bread, peas, Japanese pistachios, and a green honey stick.

Thai Beef Salad

I can still remember the first time I tried Thai Beef Salad.  I was in junior high and a Thai restaurant opened in my town. I could not believe the flavor explosions that were happening in my mouth—the cilantro, the mint, the lime juice, the salty fish sauce. It all worked together to create magical deliciousness. It's still one of my favorite "salads" and something I order everytime we have Thai food.

When making it at home, I don't follow any specific recipe. I make it when we have leftover steak to use up. I add greens (in the case above I added lettuce and watercress), cukes, the thai herb trio of cilantro; mint, and Thai basil; plenty of lime juice; and fish sauce. My girls go nuts over this.

You can make a dressing or sauce for it like this one, or you can do what I do when I am in a pinch: I just add fresh lime juice and fish sauce to regular, plain vinaigrette.

Ox tail soup for the new year

There was a time, during the mad cow scare a few years back, that we pretty much stopped eating beef, especially ox tails. And that was a major bummer. When I think about going completely vegetarian, one of the first things I think about is how much I would miss eating ox tail soup. And prosciutto.

Whenever go to Hawaii, ox tail soup is one of the meals I must have within the first 48 hours of toes touching sand. In Hawaii, it's done up Chinese style; the soup is garnished with grated fresh ginger (puh-lenty), cilantro, chili pepper, vinegared soy sauce, and chopped green onions.

If you like beef stew or pot roast or any dish made with tougher cuts of beef, I would venture to say you'd like ox tails, too. Below is a slight riff on the version my mom makes, and down the line I will post my recipe for tomato-y, red wine-infused Roman-style ox tails.

Ox tails are usually available from any old school butcher. You might also find them at Costco (mine carries them) and most definitely at larger Korean grocery stores.

Korean Braised Short Ribs (Kalbi Jim)

See the recipe at my personal blog, CityMama.

Boeuf Bourguignon (or what to do with those half empty bottles of red wine)

We're not one of those couples that can ever finish a bottle of wine when we open it to drink at home. I don't know why, we just don't. Actually, I have a theory: I love the first glass of red wine. After that, the thrill is gone, as it were. So inevitably, we end up with 3 or 4 partially filled bottles of red wine sitting on our counter. If I don't use it for sauces within a week, then it just goes to waste and gets dumped.

But in the fall and winter, those bottles of wine go into coq au vin (or coq "faux" vin), beef stew, lentil stews, long-simmering tomato-beef ragus for spaghetti, and if I have a lot if it, into boeuf bourgignon. Traditionally this beef stew is made with burgundy, but tonight I used cabernet, a petit syrah, and a cabernet/petit syrah blended table red. I think it came out great if I do say so myself.

I made a big batch tonight because tonight is when I felt like cooking it, but we'll have it on Friday night when we have friends to dinner. (The bowl above was devoured by my husband who decided someone needed to taste it to make sure it will be fit to serve.) This recipe makes a lot because I had a lot of wine to use up. You can make it all and freeze half for another time, or half the recipe.

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON

With a nod to Anthony Bourdain

• 8 pounds of beef cross rib chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into 1.5-2-inch chunks. (I buy 2 3-4 pound roasts and cut them up myself)
• olive oil
• 4-6 yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 8 tablespoons of flour
• about 4-5 cups of red wine (burgundy or whatever you got)
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cloves of garlic
• some water
• salt and pepper
• optional: carrots

Heat 3-4 glugs of olive oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat until it starts to smoke. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Working in 3-4 batches, sear the meat until very brown on all sides. Add a little more olive oil as needed with each batch. Set meat aside. Continue searing until all meat is browned. This takes a while so be patient.

Reduce heat to medium and add the onions. Salt and pepper them and cook for about 15 minutes, until soft and translucent. Stir them often.

Sprinkle in the flour and cook for about 5 minutes more.

Slowly add in the wine stirring contantly, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and when you can no longer see any lumps of flour, add the meat and accumulated juices back into the pot along with the garlic and bay leaves.

Add water as needed to make sure the meat is fully covered with liquid. (Don't worry, this will reduce and the stew will not be "watery.") Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer partially covered for 3-4 hours until meat is fork-tender.  If you want some veg, add about 6 carrots, cut into 2-inch hunks with about an hour left to go.

It's much better the next day, so wait to eat it if you can, otherwise, dig in. Serve with mashed potatoes or boiled new potatoes or buttered pappardelle or egg noodles. Serves 8-10.

Korean Beef Stew (Jang Jolim)

This simple beef stew is one of the first things I ask my mom to cook whenever she visits or when I visit her. The beef is fork-tender because it's braised in a sweet (but not too sweet) soy sauce. It's a comforting crowd pleaser and, because it's better the next day, you can cook a batch on the weekend and serve it during the week.

Don't be put off by the amount of chili peppers in the stew—it needs that many to give it its special flavor. Despite the abundance of chilis, it never gets beyond mildly spicy.

Try this the next time you want to make beef stew but don't want to make the same ol' recipe.

KOREAN BEEF STEW

• 2 pounds chuck steak cut into 2 inch chunks (Whole Foods has chuck steaks)
• 10 green jalapeño peppers, leave whole
• 1 cup of soy sauce (Korean preferred)
• 1 cup of light brown sugar (not packed)
• 1/2 cup of water (if needed)

Place all ingredients into a heavy-bottomed pot (Staub or Le Creuset enameled cast iron Dutch ovens also work well for this).

Just whack it all into a pot.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for at least an hour, preferably longer, until beef is tender but not falling apart. Even better the next day. And the sauce is delicious on rice. Serves 4-6.

Accompaniments: steamed rice, kimchi, vegetables.

Cheeseburgers with Sage Cheddar and Bacon (and lots of napkins)

I love writing about raw food and becoming vegetarian then following it up with a post about cheeseburgers.  I'm an unabashed Libra. What can I say?

Tonight we had grilled burgers topped with sage cheddar and bacon. The hamburger patties themselves were from Costco. They come in a huge pack and I divide them up and freeze them in 4's.  I really like the Costco hamburger patties (these are fresh, not frozen, and are located near the steaks) because they are so thick and so incredibly juicy. We've done them for friends and always get compliments. I just shrug and say, "Costco."  They don't need anything except salt and pepper.

To the burgers I added hunks of sage cheddar that I bought from a local maker at our neighborhood farmer's market. Then I topped them with thick-cut bacon (another reason to have ready-cooked bacon on hand), onions and lettuce. We like our burgers with mayo and ketchup, and for me, a squeeze of Sriracha.

Maybe tomorrow is vegetarian day.