Korean Beef Short Ribs

"Bow Chicka Bao Bao!!"
(yes...Dave and I kept saying that as we made this.  And yes...we think we are so clever)

Now, let me put this out there before anyone says anything.  I'm not sure what makes this meat "Korean," except for the fact that I adapted the recipe from an existing recipe that claimed it was.  Either way, it was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten!!  When trying to figure out what to serve it with, I immediately thought of a steamed Bao bun.  What an amazing combination!

Ingredients:
for the beef:
2-3 cloves garlic
3/4 inches of ginger, peeled
1/3 cups soy sauce - we used low sodium
1/4 cups brown sugar
3 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs sesame oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/5 pounds beef short ribs - we used boneless
a bit of cornstarch and water

for the steamed buns:
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp oil
2 tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour, plus about another half cup for kneading

for the cucumber slaw:
1 cucumber
1/2 carrot (or 1 small carrot)
4 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
large pinch of salt
1 pinch red pepper flakes

Directions:
for the beef:

1. Finely mince garlic and ginger.  Mix with soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes. 
2. Place short ribs into a crock pot and pour sauce over ribs. 
3. Cover, and cook on low for about 8 hours. 
4. When the meat is falling apart, turn off the heat, remove from the pot, and shred the beef.
5. Pour the juice from the crock pot into a container and place in the fridge to cool while you prepare the other components.

 this is how you know it's ready

once I removed the sauce they got a little dry. don't worry- they will be rejuicified  later!

for the steamed buns:

1. Place the yeast into the warm water, stir, and let sit for 5 minutes to activate.
2. Once bubbly, add the sugar and oil to the yeast mixture.
3. Combine 2 cups of flour with the baking powder, then add to the yeast mixture.
4. Mix the dough (it will be very sticky).  Knead and continue to add flour until smooth (for us, it took about a half cup of extra flour)
5. Cover dough, put it in a warm place, and let rise for 30 minutes.
6. Once risen, cut small pieces of dough and flatten into discs.
7. Place each disc onto a square of parchment paper, and steam for 10 minutes.

thanks, Dave, for doing the tough stuff! :)

 

 haha, that little disc got out of frame, and Dave wouldn't let me try a second photo!!

amazingly fluffy and delicious!

for the cucumber slaw:

1. Peel cucumber and carrot and chop into matchsticks. 
2. Combine the rice vinegar, sugar, salt and red pepper flakes. 
3. Add the dressing to the cucumber and carrot and mix well.

 
to finish:

1. Remove the sauce from the refrigerator- by now you should be able to skim off the excess fat.
2. Place in a sauce pan and simmer until thickened. I wanted it a bit thicker so I added some cornstarch mixed with water. 
3. Pour the sauce on top of the meat, and stir to combine 
4. Serve on buns with some of the slaw and enjoy!

Beef recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen
Bun recipe from this video on YouTube

Beef and Celery Dumplings

SOOOO excited...my Lightscoop came in the mail a few days ago, and now I can finally take some decent pictures in my kitchen. There are no windows in the kitchen of our small apartment, so the 'scoop has saved my life!  This means that I can do process shots, and I don't need to put my dinner in the craft room light tent before eating it :)

Once again, this is a recipe that I threw together with no directions...dumplings are awesome because you can just make them to taste, and throw in whatever you'd like.

Ingredients:
1 lb of ground meat - we used all beef, but Dave wants to throw in some pork next time. (I'll allow it)
3 cloves of garlic
4 (ish) scallions
1 1/2 or 2 celery stalks (depending on how big they are)
ginger (not sure how much - we were out of fresh ginger so I tossed in a bit of ground. Buuuut you should use fresh)
6 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tbs sesame oil
Package of dumpling wrappers or wonton wrappers (we used wonton, which is why we have square dumplings)
1 egg, beaten (optional)


Directions:

1. Finely mince the garlic, celery, scallions and ginger.
2. Combine the minced garlic, celery, scallions and ginger with the ground meat.  
3. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil
4. Mix - by hand works best!
5. Place a small amount (see pic below) of the meat mixture onto one of the wrappers.
6. If using a round dumpling wrapper, fold in half and seal along the edges.  If using square wonton wrappers, bring all four corners to the center and seal the edges.  You can seal the edges with either water or a bit of beaten egg.
7. At this point, you can cook or freeze these to make later!  We did a bit of both :)
8. To Steam:  Place in a steaming basket over a bit of boiling water and steam until the meat is cooked through.  This took about 5 minutes for us, and will take a few extra minutes if your dumplings are frozen.
9. To Pan Sear, potsticker-style: Heat up a bit of oil in a skillet, and add a layer of dumplings.  Cook until the bottom is browned nicely, then add some water to the pan and cover.  Reduce the heat slightly and cook for about 4 minutes (again, it will take longer if your dumplings are frozen)

These were totally awesome!

I couldn't decide if I preferred the above pic or the one below...so you get both! :)

You can use about this much (or slightly more) filling in each dumpling

 Aww...check out these guys all ready to freeze!  I froze them on the sheet first, then put them all in a Ziploc bag (yep...we used the brand-name! hehe)

Steamy goodness.....

Yum yum yum!

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

 Ahhh...this is another one of those non-recipe recipes.  I kind of made it up as I went along (tasting and adding more of things along the way), so the measurements are not exact.  But you all are pretty smart- you can edit this however you'd like! (plus different sized potatoes will change things too)

I've had mashed sweet potatoes before, but everyone seems to want to make it like a dessert.  This does have sweetness, but potato flavor still rules.  I made this as a side the other night, and Dave fried up some fish.  A great meal!

Ingredients:
3 sweet potatoes
2 tbs butter
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tbs honey
1/2 tbs brown sugar
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Peel sweet potatoes, and slice into thin discs.
2. Steam potatoes until nice and tender.  This took about 15 minutes.
3. Melt butter in a pot and add cooked potatoes, cinnamon, honey, and brown sugar.
4. Mash the potatoes. I used my trusty immersion blender!
5. Season with salt and pepper (and more sweetener/cinnamon if needed)

I garnished with some sliced apple because we had one laying around :)

Raspberry Bourbon Smash

I just posted about our New Year's Eve festivities, and thought you might like to have the recipe for our delicious cocktail of the night!

Ingredients (per drink):
1 tbs raspberry jam (we used preserves from Trader Joe's)
1 tbs triple sec
2 tbs orange juice
bourbon and lime seltzer to taste (I like just under 2 tbs bourbon)

Directions:

1. Mix well and pour over ice

Easy!

recipe adapted from Minimalist Baker

New Year's Eve

Once again, Dave and I hosted a New Year's Eve party at our apartment.  I wanted to be as comfy as possible, so Dave let everyone (all 3 of them...haha!) know that I would be in my pjs :)  No one showed up in pajamas, but it wasn't long before the gals joined me.

In attendance:   Myself,  Dave, Theresa, Matt, and Leah (sadly Adam was out of town)

Check out the pics below, and scroll down to see if you can figure out what the theme of our munchies was! Sorry the photos stink- I quickly snapped these during the party, and didn't really care how they turned out!

 

Yep, you guessed it (I'm assuming you did)...Chips and Dips!!  Here's the lineup:

Homemade Soft Pretzels with Spicy Ale Cheese Sauce
Waffle-cut Potato Chips and Pretzel Snaps with Onion Yogurt Dip
Creamy Thai Slaw with Baked Wonton Chips
Apple and Walnut Crab Dip with Sea Salt Crackers
Spicy Pepper Hummus with Fresh Veggies
Cannoli Dip with Cinnamon Sugar Pita Chips
Mini Cinnamon Roll Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing
Fresh Guacamole with Tortilla Chips (courtesy of Theresa/Matt)
Crackers and Cheese (courtesy of Leah)
Signature Cocktail - Raspberry Bourbon Smash

The best part was mixing and matching :)  I'm hoping to post some of the recipes soon, and I'll have to bug Theresa for the guacamole recipe, hehe! 

Happy 2014!