NuM NuM

Short ribs are the perfect meal to entertain with when hosting a dinner party. They can be prepared well in advance and are very forgiving when it comes to time constraints. As you know, the longer it sits the better it gets, and overnight is always best. The ribs roast in the oven for hours in a pool of sweet and salty umami flavorings, producing fall off the bone meat which have absorbed all those delicious seasonings. Serve them over a bed of mashed potatoes and your guests will swoon! When you prepare these, you'll want to cook a larger serving then required - since they'll make the ultimate short rib sandwich the next day. I'm envisioning layers of shredded meat and caramelized onions, topped with melted gruyere cheese. Leftovers never had it so good. Enjoy!


David Chang's Braised Short Ribs
Recipe from NY Times
Photo from Food Network

1½ cups pear or apple juice
1 cup sake (Ozeki Sake Dry)
1 cup mirin
½ cup sugar
1 cup Lite soy sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
10 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons neutral oil, like corn or grapeseed
4 to 5 pounds short ribs, trim any visible fat on top of the meat
2 large onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 tablespoons butter
8 to 12 small potatoes, preferably fingerlings, trimmed or the little round potatoes mom gets
½ cup chopped scallions
4 cups cooked white rice.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, combine juice, sake, mirin, sugar, soy sauce, about 20 grinds of pepper, both forms of garlic, sesame oil and 1½ cups water. Bring to a boil, then simmer.

2. Put corn or grapeseed oil in a large ovenproof braising pan or skillet over medium-high heat and add ribs, seasoning them liberally with salt and pepper. Brown well on one side, moving them around to promote even browning. Turn, add onions and half the carrots, and brown other side, stirring vegetables occasionally.

3. Carefully pour braising liquid over meat and bake, bone-side up and submerged in liquid (add water or juice if necessary), for 3 to 4 hours, until meat falls from bones. Cool ribs in liquid for 1 hour remove bones from meat, then remove meat to a separate dish; strain liquid in pot. (I did not strain the veggies since I like to eat them along with the meat) At this point, place ribs in pot with liquid and refrigerate overnight if making ahead.

4. If you have refrigerated the ribs, remove fat from top of liquid. Heat to a boil then simmer, reducing liquid until syrupy. If it seems too thick, thin with a bit of water. (I did not reduce my liquid to a syrup consistency since I was afraid the sauce may get too salty due to the soy sauce. I only reheated the ribs and served)

5. About ½ hour before you are ready to serve, put butter in a skillet and add potatoes and remaining carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally and seasoning with salt and pepper, until browned and nearly tender, about 20 minutes. Add to meat. Taste mixture and adjust seasonings if necessary, then garnish with scallions and serve on rice.

This is the kind of dish you should eat when it's cold and dreary and all you want is something warm to fill your belly. So let's just pretend it's not summer and 90 degrees out. I had Moussaka for the first time in Greece and fell in love with this dish. It's very similar to lasagna minus the pasta and tomato sauce. The meat is flavored with red wine, all spice, and cinnamon slowly simmered until it becomes rich and thick. The meat is then layered with potatoes and eggplants and topped with a creamy bechamel sauce. Anything bathed in bechamel makes everything better! If you can imagine from all those ingredients, this is a hearty and rich dish. It was delicious, rich and decadent - almost sinful - I feel like I'm describing a dessert. Well, if dessert could be savory - this would be it. Enjoy!


Moussaka
Anchorage Greek Festival Recipe
Excerpted from Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska © 2007 by Laurie Helen Constantino
Serves 4-6

*This dish can be made ahead of time

Meat Sauce:
• 1 pound ground beef or lamb (I used ground sirloin 93/7)
• 1 3/4 - 2 cups diced yellow onion, 1/4" dice
• 1 Tbsp. minced fresh garlic
• 2.5 - ounce tomato paste
• 3/4 cups red wine
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 Tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tbs minced fresh Italian parsley
• 1/4 cup Panko or toasted dried bread crumbs

Vegetables:
• 1- 2 large eggplants, approximately 1 1/2 pounds
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large baking potatoes

Béchamel:
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2.5 cups whole milk (I used 2%)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• Salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground white pepper (can substitute black pepper)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Brown the meat, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, in a large pot. Add the onions and continue browning. When the onions have softened and begun to turn golden, add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the tomato paste, wine, salt, pepper, cinnamon sticks, and allspice, and cook for 45 minutes to one hour, until the sauce is thick and rich. Stir in the minced parsley and Panko or bread crumbs. Remove cinnamon stick and taste and correct the seasoning as needed.

While the sauce is cooking, preheat the oven to 450°F. Slice the eggplant longways (lengthwise) 1/2" thick. Lightly salt the slices and put in a colander to release excess moisture for about 1/2 hour. Lay on paper towels to soak up any extra moisture. Then spray PAM and season lightly with ground pepper. Bake eggplant slices for 15 - 20 minutes, turning them over after 10 minutes, or until the slices are golden brown.

Peel and slice the potatoes lengthwise 3/8" thick. (You don't want paper thin slices - on my mandoline I used a medium slice) Brush both sides of each potato slice with olive oil, and season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake potato slices for 8- 10 minutes in preheated 450°F oven until they are just tender. The potatoes should not be cooked all the way through.

Warm the milk over low heat or in the microwave. Melt the butter in a large saucepan, mix in the flour and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly stir in the warm milk and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thick and smooth. (You may need to turn up the heat to medium high in order for it to thicken) Add the nutmeg, salt and white pepper to taste. Quickly whisk one cup of hot milk sauce into the egg yolks, and stir the egg-milk mixture back into the sauce. Cook over very low heat for two minutes, stirring constantly, being careful not to let the sauce get hotter than a low boil. Remove the sauce from the heat and whisk in 1/4 cup grated cheese. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

To assemble the Moussaka, lightly brush the sides and bottom of a 8" x 8” pan with olive oil. Place a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the pan. Spread half the meat sauce evenly over the potatoes, and sprinkle 2 tbs grated cheese over the meat sauce. Layer half the eggplant over the cheese. Cover with the remaining meat sauce, and sprinkle with 2 tbs more cheese. Cover with the remaining eggplant.

Pour as much béchamel as possible over the last layer of eggplant (the pan will be very full). Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until the béchamel is puffed and golden brown. Let cool for 30 minutes, cut into large squares, and serve.

Mmmm...look at that melting cheese. Lobster played chef tonight and cooked us a delicious gourmet meal. He made filet mignon with a balsamic syrup reduction. If you've never reduced balsamic vinegar like this, I highly recommend it. Once reduced, the vinegar becomes rich and sweet and you can pour it over anything...ANY-THING!! It's especially good over vanilla ice cream and strawberries.

But for tonight's meal, lobster paired it with steak. The combinatiom of sweet and savory was sublime - not to mention sweet and salty is my favorite combo. The meal took me back to a meal we had on our honeymoon in Florence at this restaurant. If you're ever in Italy, I highly recommend you give it a try. You can order a pasta sampler, meat sampler and even a dessert sampler in which they bring you three to five different dishes for each course - it literally is an endless orgy of eating. If you can't travel to Italy, you're in luck because they have a sister restaurant in San Diego. Alas, try the recipe and see if you're a fan of the sweet and savory too.

Filet Mignon with Balsamic Syrup and Cantal Cheese - 6 servings
Adapted from here

1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
6 (5 to 6-ounce) filet mignon steaks (each about 1-inch thick)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces Cantal cheese, blue cheese, or goat cheese

Directions
Boil the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/3 cup, stirring occasionally, about 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the broiler. Melt the butter in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper. Cook the steaks to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer the steaks to a baking sheet. Crumble the cheese over the steaks and broil just until the cheese melts, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with pepper.

Transfer the steaks to plates. Drizzle the balsamic sauce around the steaks and serve

nummm...please wipe the drool from your chin.

This weekend lobster's sister and hubby are in town from Texas. It was so nice spending time with them and reminiscing about the old days. Lobster's sister is married to a TRUE southern Texas cowboy. Imagine a big hat, cowboy boots, and a big southern drawl to boot...haha...I kid. But he being a southern texan and me in his eyes being a Korean F.O.B., there is much banter that goes back and forth. "Round eye, almond eye, kim chee lover, white man." :) It's all out of love. He's my favorite brother-in-law, he's also my only brother-in-law but that doesn't matter. As much as we banter back and forth, the one thing I can't make fun of is his barbecuing skillz. He even enters barbecue cook-offs, he's that good.

I think the first time I ever really had American ribs were from him and they were damn GOOD! I'm so glad lobster's sister married this non-yellow man b/c he was the one who originally taught lobster how to cook his famous ribs. So, as you can imagine we put him to work this weekend and indulged in some kick-ass glutinous eating. We ate these gargantuan porterhouse steaks along with some grilled asparagus and they were num num. Unfortunately, I'm unable to post his secret recipe but I'll let you gawk at the photo instead. Tomorrow we're having some smoked ribs on lobster's egg and I'm going to make an apple tarte tatin that I've been eyeing for awhile. Can't wait!

Tonight was mexican night. I'm getting a kick out of planning our menus for the week and I'm trying to switch up the meals so we don't get bored eating American food all the time. You would think being Korean, the house would be perfumed with the lovely lingering smell of kim chee jigae, kim chee fried rice, and kim chee everything and anything. Hmm...maybe since tonight was Mexican night I could've made kimchee galbee tacos. Alas, I've come to the conclusion that I'm afraid of cooking Korean dishes. My biggest fear is that the food will taste horribly and won't be as good as my mom's :( Hopefully I'll get over it and blog about some Korean meals soon.

Anyway, this was a good meal. Fajitas are about as Mexican as I'll get. I think I'll even go as far as making enchiladas - but that's more of a Spanish dish anyway. This recipe is from Cooking Light website. It was a good, well balanced meal. Two in a row for me!!! It was nothing to write home about but it was a nice spin to what would normally be a not so healthy dish. I like to sneak in less fattening meals as often as I can so lobster won't know he's actually eating well. I made this for lobster and my brother and they both thoroughly enjoyed it...HA!!! They didn't even realize it was good for them. Lobster cooked the meal on his dalmation out in the freezing cold. Cold for Californians (is that even a word?) is anything below 70. My definition on the other hand is any time I have to crawl out of my snuggie...best gift EVERRRR BTW!!! Anyway, back to the meal, would I make this again...hmmm probably. Is it something I'll be craving in my next few months of endless blogging...not so much.

Beef and Chicken Fajitas
8 servings

Ingredients
• MARINADE:
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon grated lime rind
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (14.25-ounce) can low-salt beef broth


FAJITAS:
• 1 (1-pound) flank steak
• 1 pound skinned, boned chicken breast
• 2 red bell peppers, each cut into 12 wedges
• 2 green bell peppers, each cut into 12 wedges
• 1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion, cut into 16 wedges
• Cooking spray
• 16 (6-inch) fat-free flour tortillas
• 1 cup bottled salsa
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Fresh cilantro sprigs

Preparation
To prepare marinade, combine first 10 ingredients in a large bowl; set aside.
To prepare fajitas, trim fat from steak. Score a diamond pattern on both sides of the steak. Combine 1 1/2 cups marinade, steak, and chicken in a large zip-top plastic bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 4 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Combine remaining marinade, bell peppers, and onion in a zip-top plastic bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Prepare grill.

Remove steak and chicken from bag; discard marinade. Remove vegetables from bag; reserve marinade. Place reserved marinade in a small saucepan; set aside. Place steak, chicken, and vegetables on grill rack coated with cooking spray; cook 8 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Wrap tortillas tightly in foil; place tortilla packet on grill rack the last 2 minutes of grilling time. Bring reserved marinade to a boil. Cut steak and chicken diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Place the steak, chicken, and vegetables on a serving platter; drizzle with reserved marinade.

Arrange about 1 ounce steak, about 1 ounce chicken, 3 bell pepper wedges, and 1 onion wedge in a tortilla; top with 1 tablespoon salsa, about 1 teaspoon sour cream, and 1/2 tablespoon cilantro. Fold sides of tortilla over filling. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information
(serving size: 2 fajitas)
Calories: 407

**To heat up the tortillas I placed a stack inside the pocket of two damp paper towels and put then in a casserole dish. I then covered it with a lid and stuck it in a 250 degree oven for twenty minutes.