CityMama™

Cilantro Beef (or Turkey): Like Hamburger Helper, But So Not

This is a dish that I learned to make from my brother, and seriously, it could not be easier.  Since it uses ground beef (or turkey or lamb), it's quick to make which makes it perfect for a mid-week meal.

Think of it as a Chinese-style Hamburger Helper-type dish, though hopefully far more delicious—and better for you.  Put on a pot of rice and when the rice is done, start this recipe. It'll be done in less than 10-15 minutes. Sooner if you prep everything in advance.

It doesn't look like much, but I promise you this is one of the best things you will ever put into your mouth.

And if you are one of those people who hates cilantro? Shhhh! Keep it to yourself!

CILANTRO BEEF (or, in my case, turkey)

• 1-2 tbsps canola, peanut, or macadamia nut oil (Amount of oil depends on meat used. I find that turkey needs the 2 tbsps because it's so lean.)
• 1/2 of a large sweet onion (Vidalia, Maui, Texas Sweet), diced
• a 1-inch piece of ginger, sliced (don't bother peeling, you'll saute it briefly then remove it)
• 1 bunch of organic cilantro, finely chopped (don't chop the last inch of stems, but some stems are fine)
• 1 lb of (organic) ground beef, turkey, or lamb
• 2 tbsps of organic low-salt soy sauce (oyster sauce works well in this, too.)
• white pepper to taste, about 1/4-1/2 tsp (must be white pepper)

Sauté the onion and ginger in the oil over medium-high heat until onions are soft and just starting to turn color, about 5 minutes. Add beef or turkey and sauté until cooked through, breaking it up into crumbles. Remove the ginger pieces. Add in soy sauce and white pepper. Cook for about a minute. Dump in all the cilantro at once, give the dish a final stir then remove from heat. 

Serve over rice (or brown rice as I do). This would also be great over rice noodles.  And if you like heat, don't forget to pass the garlic-chili sauce!

Ox tail party in photos (and a recipe, too)

 

Ox tails on the table.

Last weekend, J. and I kicked off the holidays with a small dinner party. We invited a few friends and I cooked up a big batch of Roman style ox tails and polenta to go with it. We love to throw dinner parties, and with the girls ensconced at their grandma's for the night, it almost felt like the kind of parties we used to throw. (Know what I mean?)

I had so much fun tinkering with the table setting, setting out candles, and selecting the different wines. Five bottles and some Jameson's later, we were playing a furious game of "girls against boys"  Guess The Celebrity (girls rule, boys drool), which devolved into a penis-y game of charades.

A great time was had by all, especially us.  Here are some photos from the party if you want to take a peek.

As far as the ox tails, go, here is my basic recipe (which I tripled for the party).  If you've never had them before, they are so worth cooking. They are fall-off-the-bone tender and taste just like beef shortribs.  One tip I have for you, though, is to get the ox tails from a Korean market if you have one near you. (I go to Han Kook in Sunnyvale or Kukje in Daly City.)  They are much cheaper at a Korean market where I paid about $13 per 2.5 lb package.

Also make them one day ahead, not only because they'll taste better, but also because after you refrigerate them you can degrease them almost completely.

I changed my original recipe slightly by doing the following:

• sauteeing some chopped pancetta with 3-4 bay leaves, shallots, celery and garlic before adding the oven-browned ox tails, tomatoes, and wine.
• adding about 6 cloves to the simmering sauce (I put them in those DIY tea bags, the kind for loose teas, so I can remove it later)

Other than that, the recipe is about the same. It's very forgiving--just think of it as making a rich, meaty spaghetti sauce (we served the ox tails over pasta the next night), and the meat you are adding is ox tails.

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.