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Beef

Ribeye Steak

Apr 7th, 2010
by dave.
3 comments

Ribeye

Quick post today, got a lot of catching up to do in the queue, there are about 5 other things to post about and I’m trying to come up with something good to write about :)

Boston got 20+ inches of rain over the past 3 weeks and it’s still flooded in many parts of New England. I traveled home for Easter and figured this time I wouldn’t drive through rush hour and take the train instead. Easy right? Not quite. I got an automated call the night before traveling saying that the train was canceled due to flooding. Yikes! I called the next day and managed to get onto a train that went out west through Springfield and then down into Connecticut…but it was 2.5 hours longer than the normal train was. Not to mention it ran late an extra 30 minutes so 8 hours in the darn train, felt like my legs were going to atrophy.

And of course my train back got canceled too, but I had a friend visiting family in NY and was able to hitch a ride back in what turned out to be massive traffic too. Must’ve been the Easter ham. Or the potatoes. Maybe the ham AND potatoes.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Mar 24th, 2010
by dave.
No comments yet

Spaghetti & Meatballs

This past week has been some of the best weather I’ve seen (for March anyway) in Boston in the past 8 years. After 10-11 inches of rain in 3 days and massive flooding throughout the state, it hit 72 degrees on Saturday. From deluge to shorts weather…freaky. I won’t complain though, I got to dust off the golf clubs and hit up the driving range. And I guess a lot of others had the same idea, ended up waiting 30 minutes to get a booth, the line was 2 deep at one point!!!

I’ve also been on the hunt for a good tripod and head. Up until now, I’ve been shooting without a tripod and most of the time without flash. So it’s been tough to turn out good shots (can’t hold steady) and I’m getting a little tired of sifting through a dozen shots to find out none of them look any good! I’ve heard of a few brands, Manfrotto comes to mind, but I just started really looking this week. Pics to come once I get it though.

Anyway, onto the food. I’m a huge fan of Ree at The Pioneer Woman Cooks. She provides a step by step pictorial on almost all of her dishes as well as interesting tidbits and tips for each dish. But the thing I like the most is how homey the dishes feel, I’m an big admirer of homestyle cooking. There’s something to be said about the creativity home cooks have had over the years to feed their families, good times and bad.

Spaghetti and Meatballs is no exception. When I started cooking I never really paid any attention to staple dishes like this and Macaroni and Cheese. I guess my experience had been mostly cafeteria food and made from a box, so maybe that’s why I was blocking it out! But really, the stuff is classic for a reason, because it’s good AND it’s easy to make!

Recipe originally from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Time: 90 minutes
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
– 1 lb ground beef (85 or 90% lean)
– 1 lb ground pork
– 2 eggs
– 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
– 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
– 3/4-1 cup grated Romano cheese
– 1/4 cup Italian parsley, minced
– 1/4 tsp salt
– Fresh ground black pepper
– 1-2 tbsp skim milk
– 4 – 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sauce:
– 28oz can Italian plum tomatoes
– 28oz can crushed tomatoes
– 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
– 5 cloves garlic, minced
– 1/2 cup dry white wine
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 2 tsp sugar
– Fresh ground black pepper
– Red pepper flakes
– 1/4 cup Italian parsley, minced
– 1 – 2 lbs Spaghetti, cooked

Method:
1. Combine meat, garlic, breadcrumbs, romano, salt, pepper, parsley, eggs, and milk in a mixing bowl. Mix together well. Roll into meatballs (should be around 30).
2. Heat a dutch oven over medium heat. Add olive oil and cook meatballs, 8 at a time until browned, it’s ok if slightly undercooked, the meatballs will be returned to the sauce later. Remove meatballs and drain.
3. When finished with the meatballs, add onions and garlic, stirring for a couple minutes. Make sure to scrape up the brown bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add in tomatoes, wine, salt, pepper, sugar, and parsley. Stir to combine and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add meatballs back to the pot, reduce heat, and cook another 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir-fried Beef with Hot Peppers

Feb 17th, 2010
by dave.
2 comments

Stir-fried Beef and Peppers

I had a few friends over for dinner several weeks back and cooked a hodgepodge of Asian dishes. I don’t have a whole lot of experience cooking dinners for more than a couple people and figured it’d be a great opportunity to work on how to get everything on the table while still hot. Unfortunately, that meant that I was busy in the kitchen while everyone arrived but in the end it was well worth the effort.

One thing I’ve picked up is that prepping all of the vegetables, sauces, and marinating the meat ahead of time really helps. This way, you’re never wasting any time chopping garlic when you could be paying attention to the three or four dishes going on the stove! Not to mention, it makes it easier on cleanup too, as the mixing bowls and knives can be cleaned and put away well beforehand as well. And as is with stir-fry, dishes are cooked very quickly so you don’t want to be bogged down with other tasks.

I ended up serving three Cantonese dishes, a Korean dish, and Thai dish. Four things I’ve posted before (Pad See Ew, steamed striped bass, yo-choy, and a seafood stir-fry) and the dish I’m posting about today. I’ve had similar dishes in the past but never tried making it myself. So I figured, what the heck, it’d be a nice dish to try out. This recipe is from Practical Korean Cooking, one of the de facto books on Korean recipes.

A word of caution though. I wasn’t paying attention to how long I had the hot peppers for but they had enough time to get spicier than I remember. One of my buddies was determined to best the spice and I guess he did, but he looked like he was in pain with every bite =P

Stir-fried Beef with Hot Peppers

Time: 25-30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
– 3/4 – 1 lb beef tenderloin/flank/eye of round, matchstick sliced
– 1 tbsp ShaoHsing rice wine
– 2 tsp Soy sauce
– 1 tsp Sugar
– 1 tbsp Corn Starch
– 3-5 Long Hot Green Peppers
– 3-5 Long Hot Red Peppers
– 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
– 1 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp sugar

Method:
1. Combine meat, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, and corn starch in a bowl and let marinate for 10 minutes.
2. Julienne the peppers and discard the seeds. They can be soaked in warm water to remove some of the spiciness.
3. In a frying pan or wok, add the peppers and remaining salt and sugar, stir frying for about 1-2 minutes. Remove and set aside.
4. Still over high heat, add a little canola oil and garlic, then after about 30 seconds add the beef. Stir-fry the beef until just barely cooked and then add the peppers back in.
5. Stir fry another minute or so and then serve with rice.

Savory hamburgers!

Feb 3rd, 2010
by dave.
No comments yet

Savory Burger

I wish I had a better name for this post but alas I’m not that creative. Maybe “tasty hamburger” or “zesty burger” might’ve worked (hmm, “goodburger” =P) but I’ll stick with this one for now.

I’ve always been a big fan of marinated burgers (don’t get me wrong, I love the plain ones too!) but I’ve never tried making them myself. I usually end up buying some of the ones at Whole Foods whenever they’re on sale (which is next to never) so needless to say, I don’t have them very often. But I’ve had this on the list of “things to do” for the past 5-6 months so I figured what the heck, I might as well put the new cast-iron pan to good use and make burgers!

This recipe originally came from White On Rice Couple and it’s really amazing how good something can taste with just a few simple ingredients. The folks at White on Rice do a fantastic job with their food. They grow many of their own ingredients and are AWESOME with photography, I really should use some of their tips =P

Anyway, in addition to fish sauce and the other ingredients, I dashed in a little Worcestershire sauce and minced a shallot. I should probably make the recipe word-for-word just to compare tastes but I’ve always liked a little Worcestershire sauce with meatloaf so I figured heck, why not try it with a burger!

Savory hamburgers

Serves 4-6 (depending on burger size)
Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:
– 2 – 2 1/4 lb Ground beef (I use 90/10)
– 2 – 2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
– 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
– 1 small shallot, minced
– 3 cloves garlic, finely minced then crushed
– 1/2 tsp sugar
– 1 tsp ground black pepper
– Hamburger buns

Method:
1. Combine all of the sauces and spices in a bowl, mix well. Add beef, try as best to get the marinade all over the beef (as evenly distributed as you can) and marinate for 20 minutes.
2. Roll the beef into balls and flatten into patties (roughly 1/2 lb). Make a thumbprint in the middle of the patty, this helps keep the patty uniform when cooking (the middle always rises).
3. Bring a cast-iron pan up over high heat. Lightly oil the pan and add in the hamburgers. Let cook relatively undisturbed (I usually move them slightly to avoid sticking) on each side for 3-5 minutes depending on how well done you like your burger. Time will also depend on the thickness of the patties.

Beef Chow Fun 2.0

Jan 6th, 2010
by dave.
1 comment

Beef Chow Fun

Happy New Year and I hope everyone had a nice, safe, and relaxing holiday. And that all of the travel plans weren’t too much of a pain. And that you all ate a lot…I definitely did. I think there are studies that say the average American gains between 5-10 pounds been Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Then again, there are studies that say they only gain an average of 1 pound. Gotta love science, there’ll always be studies for and against something.

I’ve been getting pretty busy during the week these days and believe it or not, I’m running out of time to cook sometimes (unless I want to eat dinner at 10pm of course). So I’ve been getting creative. I’m trying to cook some things in about 30 minutes and other times when I get back late, eat leftovers and then cook something up that I can just heat up for lunch/dinner another day. I guess there’s also the instant boxed stuff, but that’s no fun =)

I wrote about a staple Chinese recipe, Beef Chow Fun, a while back…originally adapted from Grace Young’s Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen. I’ve been trying to come up with a few variations on the recipe, I found the original one a little bit greasy, and not enough of the saltier/soy flavor that I was used to. Then there’s the “gravy” version. It’s a similar recipe, only with a thick gravy sauce poured over top, delicious.

Beef Chow Fun

Serves 4
Time 30 minutes

Ingredients:
– 1.5 – 2 lb Fresh Wide Rice Noodles
– 1 lb Beef flank, sliced
– 1 Medium onion, chopped
– 4 stalks Scallions, chopped
– 1 small handful bean sprouts, rinsed
– 5 tsp soy sauce
– 1 – 2 tsp ShaoHsing Rice wine

Marinade:
– 2 tsp soy sauce
– 1 tsp corn starch
– 1/2 tsp sesame oil
– 1 tsp ShaoHsing rice wine
– Few grinds of white pepper

Method:
1. Marinate beef for about 10-20 minutes.
2. Heat wok/frying pan over high heat, swirl in 2 tbsp oil, stir-fry beef until just barely cooked. Set aside.
3. Clean pan, return to stove. Add 2-3 tbsp oil and the chopped onions and white parts of the scallions. Stir fry about a minute. Dash in the ShaoHsing rice wine.
4. Add in soy sauce, let bubble (20-30 seconds). Add in the noodles, stir-fry and combine.
5. Add beef back in, give a couple stirs.
6. Add green parts of scallions and bean sprouts. Stir fry another minute then serve.

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